The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1914-09-05


tlie poisonill Of supple LETT behind
Ifor the Russians. and the enaplo
Ement 81 difigibles hate ii, turn been
ladyaneed to discredit the llenofy of
German arms The list S TOO; long
Ito be answered in detail the charges
boften too untounded to merit any
tthfng but contempt. I cannot, how.
lever, pass over them without re-
mark.
The friendliness of the German
people and of the German govern
ment for the United States is incon-
Itestable. The stories which have
been circulated from Paris and Lon
don of the maltreatment Of American
refugees bore the stamp of falsity on
the face of them. With the return
of the 'malterated" Americans comes
complete and damning refutation OF
these reports. That hardships were
Experienced can be readily believed
and understood but that Ameri-
cans or other neutrals caught tn the
throcs OF the German mobilization
we're subjected to unnecessary incon-
venience or to insults is denied IN
i their own words.
at Is not possible to enumerate all
, the various kindnesses accorded 10.
Americans. 1t is enough to say that
il would not be possible for any ma
, ton to be kinder to a foreign people
in times of war than was Germany.
We wish to state that anyone VINO
! has believed that Americans nave
been mistreated in Germany has not
known or understood the facts.
These words were written by Mrs
BENJAMIN Harrison and twenty-tour
fellow-refugees from Germany, VINO
arrived on the Ryndam yesterday.
The use Of diriEiblc balloons by
the German army has been condemn
od-and why? Because in the de-
ycIopmcnt of the dirigible,' as IN oth-
or lines, the German military author
, tiles have outdistanced Great Brltaih
and France. When French aviator
dropped Gallo bombs into the CITY OF
Nuremberg. an unfortified town. II
was acclaimed as an exploit. "heh
the German aerial corps does the
same thing at Antwerp, a fortified
citv II is denounced as committing
an act OF barbarism. why! AS Ger
many has Outdistanccd Great Britain
in preparing for war in the ar 30
has Great Britain maintained her SUI
rrcmacy on the seas. and yet 40 we
hear German condemnation OF inc
British use of drcadnoughts or SUD-
marines as barbarous?
1t matters very little whether one
Is killed by a bomb from the AR OF
torpedo from beneath the water.
Great Britain and France were as
well equipped with dirigibles as Ger
many is, does one suppose for mo-
ment that they would not use Them
as they are now using their aero
planes, and that then they would
characterize the employment OF the
dirigibles against fortified places as
barbarous?
So crude is this campaign of mis-
representation that at times 1t an
proaches the amusing. The use oil
"dum-dum" bullets by German troops
is charged in one column and in the
next a French soldier is reported to
have survived eleven bullet wounds!
| | have read of Louvain and dirigibles
until l am weary, but not one line or
condemnation have l found in the
IAnglophilc press of the injection into
, this white mans war of the Turcos.
the Japanese and the Sikhs and
Ghurkas of India. Why not be at
least moderate, if one cannot be fair?
Why talk of "dum-dums," when Eng
land has defended them and used
them against black troops. and is
now turning those same troops
against the Germans? Why rail
about Louvain on the anniversary of
the British destruction of Washing
ton? Courage and honor go hand in
hand, and that the German soldier is
anything btu coward has been prov
ed on every battlefield on which he
has figured. Ruthlessness, beyond
the actual requirements of war, finds
no place in his makeup. with but
one side of the story presented to us,
let lis reserve our judgment. Char
ity. If nothing else. demands that we
close our ears to these tales of bar
barities spread broadcast by the enc
mics alike of German civilization aid
German honor.
81