White Pine news weekly mining review. [volume] (East Ely, Nev.) 1910-1920, 1914-10-04

not being modified on the western
borde. of Russia. This converse
ton between the German Ambassa-
dor and the Russian officer took
place on July 80. The German Gen.
eral staff had conclusive proof the
the Russians and started mobilizing
on July Is. Yet the Kaiser chung to
his confidence in the Cars wish to
prevent war.
1.-The General Staff, my informant
told me, showed the Kaiser indis-
putable proof that the Russians had
crossed the eastern border of Ger
many, and that the French had in
vaded the country on her western
frontier. The stan urged the Kaiser
to declare war. and told him that they
would not be responsible to the peo-
pie If desirable action was not taken
at once. The Kaiser asked for an
hour alone In which to think 1t over
AT the end of the hour the mem
Der of the General Staff from whom
my friend received the information
went to the door of the room into
which the Kaiser had retired, and
saw his Emperor seated with bis
elbows on a table, and his head be-
tween his hands. He turned to his
officer and the other members of the
staff. and said: Apparently ! can
rot do otherwise
'It was not until then that Ger
many declared war on Russia. No
one who has been in Germany and
has known these facts can believe
that country was the aggressor.
"As for the atrocities charged
against the Germans in Belgium, I
feel certain that they began and end
ed with the following incident: For
forty-eight hours after Liege was
taken by the Germans the town was
absolutely quiet. Then suddenly a
perfect fusillade of bullets was rain
ed upon the Germans from men, wo-
men, and children in the houses The
houses were Immediately taken, to
silence this sniping.
Several of the civilians taken
from the houses admitted that they
had been supplied with ammunition.
and had been told what to do and
when to do 1t. The Germans ma
turally felt that they had to make an
example of Liege which would pre-
any repetition of such an out
break by civilians.
Prof Morris Jastow. Jr., of the
University of Pennsylvania, corrobo-
rated Mr.. Lewis's story about the
Kaiser's reluctance to declare war.
Professor Jastrow was with his wife
in Munich, where he was working on
a new book, and did moi leave there
until August "a.
II cannot 20 into the causes for the
a here, but | can say that the
Kaisers attitude has been totally
misunderstood. | have il on the best
of authority hat the Kaiser refused
to sign the declaration of war against
Russia even after the ultimatum to
that country to stop her mobilization
had expired.
Not until his General STAFF snow
ed him kilograms which said that the
Russians had crossed the border
into Germany would he sign the
document. As the man who witness
ed the signing of the declaration of
a expressed it to me. The Kaiser
had to be pushed
"All Europe is looking to us
Americans to act as mediators. 1t Is
therefore of the utmost Importance
that the American people as we'll as
its government should remain neu-
trial. | have read of President Will
sons proclamation on this point and
urge that We all follow his advice.
while in Munich ! served on sey-
eral of the committees which Consul
General Gaffney appointed to expedite
the relief of the Americans stranded
there. Under the leadership of FL
bert +. Baldwin of the Outlook. we
published thirteen numbers of a daily
newspaper which we called American
Notes in Munich. 1t acted as an ex-
cellent medium for spreading infor-
nation. as we'll as supplying, all the
news of the war which we could OBJ
tain from the German papers and any
other reliable source"
--