Omaha daily bee., 1914-10-11
TELLS HOW ARMIES SUBOIST
Reserve officer Says Fighting Men
Pay for What They Get.
WRITER HATES THE ENGLISH
Terrible Cold HARNESSES the SOL
dierr, who Have 60 sleep In
the bitches with scant
Clothing.

Correspondence OF the Associated Ptess)
ROTTERDAM. Sept is.-Irhe following
letter OF a reserve officer 20 his mother.
published In the Cologne Gazette on Sep
tember &c. throws an illuminating light
on subsistence conditions In the German
forces now in France II is instructive
also In a number OF other respects.
1T is a hot morning. the men are busy
digging trenches and now the crash OF
artillery which kept up all morning, Is no
longer heard. ] am sitting under a tree
reading again and again your dear letter
and the remainder Of my mali. Indeed.
dear mother, ~ 1t could bo done I would
telegraph you every day But that 10 TIM
possible So now, while have the time,
| viii write you as long a letter as pos
sible One never knows what the future
will bring.
This Is a very ldyilic spot am dis
turbcd now and then in a most agreeable
manner. Ripe plums fall from the tree
most conscientiously l eat them. / have
brcakfasted wen. and the company bar
Der gave me a shave--which was needed
badly In addition / have managed to
get some washing done, and now I feel
again like a gentleman.
Divides with College Chum.
"As | already told you the commissary
officer OF our battalion and went to
the same college. have been obliged to
pay Tor this happy coincidence with many
a bite ! needed myself. But yesterday
he told me that he had managed to get
two honest-to-goodness, real and other
wise bonaflde hams. lost no time ae-
ceptlng my. share--it was fine and will
last until tonight To the great surprise
OF the captain I managed to get one
eighth pound Of butter from a farm. Com
nnlssary bread. ham and butter-what a
Lueullan feast / had last night. But
there in nothing to smoke. Kindly send
me a few cigarettes and some pipe to-
bacco.
The owner OF the farm where I got
the tobacco Is woman. 20 years Old and
rather wealthy. She left the place, not
because she feared the Germans, but the
French, as her manager told me. wish
these people had sense enough to remain
on their farms. We do them no injury
and pay for everything we take, while the
property of those who run away Is nat
urally without owner and thus not pro-
tected.
There In no evidence here Of volks-
krieg' (war carried on by the population
as In Bolgium). The people are rather
afraid and do everything TO get along
with us. Everything is upside down
nowadays. dear mother. Master alone
Is the soldier right and wrong arc mat
tiers which he rules on, ali power and re-
sponsibllity has been placed on his shout
ders. thank God that our hands are
clean and that our officers conduct is
beyond criticism. In asked a
woman whether she had complaint to
mako against our soldiers. and she said
NO, the German soldiers are good lads
r. shells Durn Villages.
But with this the burning OF villages
has nothing to do. Most OF them are set
afire by artillery fire shells, and when
they are burned down purposely. Il Is
done because tina inhabitants have fired
upon our soldiers, In the villages ---
and no stone remained in place.
Some OF our hussars entered them and
were treacherously shot Town. The ex-
ample has brought good results. We re-
GREETED that we had to do II. and now
that the people have been brought to
their senses further measures OF that
sort have been prohibited.
In the village Of - !. saw an old
man sit in house which had been de-
stroyed. In front OF him stood vener-
able gray. old man-the priest-who sur
veyed the remnant of his congregation
with sorrow, l entered the village at
the head OF two battallons, and when
the old priest saw me he looked at me
in way that cut into my very soul.