The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-08-12
ATTACK ON LIEGE
 MERELY A RUSE
Former Vice Consul Gordon
 Scott Takes That View.
PREPARATIONS FOR
 BLOW AT FRANCE
Believes Germany Has Many
 Cards Up Her Sleeve.


 to hide preparations for crushing at-
 tack on France.
 This is the personal opinion of Ma
 jor Gordon Scott, formerly an ofncer in the. Ninth Pennsyfvanfa Infantry
 and for more than two years vice
 consul for the United States at Afx-
 la-Chapelle in Westp haliap Germany He has travelled through Iiege, Bel giuIn and has seen the forts there
 which have been reported as having w5thstood the attacks Of oztnunapeT1ng German troops for days; and has wit messed the preparations which the | Germans have been making along their frontier for years against the day when they should be- at war With France again.
 .He flaa seen the hidden fortifcations
 at Cologne and the long lines of trenches that have been built along l the entire frontier that faces France and Belgium. Although he diSciaims
 any authority for his statements, he | refuses to believe that after all these | preparatfens Germany can allow her self to be baked in her first step, and l particularly by a nation that was con I jsidered a nonantity until Ldege def1ed the advance of her troops
 We'll Qualified to Judge.
 | Major Scott is especially well qual I flied to judge whereof he speaks. for
 his familiarity with the scenes he | talks of, his military training and ex- Iperienee, and his knowledge of Flu ropess military efI1ciency are coupled twith his training in the diplomatic. relations of the powers. He was sent | tosaAix-la-C -Chapelle. a few months be- l fore the begining the the Spaish- 1 American war, and returned when it began,sto, take his place in the Ninth | lRennsy1vani Infantry. He complet-, 1 ed the war, and then returned to Ger lnnany, where hise post had been kept ffa1rJ hi lyears. To a Exporter yesterday he
 summed up his views of the present l war as follows:
 1 ssGermany' s only hope in this war, it seems to me is to strike the first iteIling blows. If she can do this, and come out the victor, in one or two great battless 1nfiicting trem endous loss of life on her enemies, the world Twill realize what a terrible conflict is Eahead, and there will be a demand | from all parts of the world for peace. I 4stGernany has been preparing for Il war for a long time. I remember rid- ling along the frontier of Belgium, II around Liege, and seeing there the Hong lines of trenches that ran away Il into the horizon on each side. I
 know military trenches when I see ithern, for have seen them built and 1 fought in. was riding with General Karl avon Bartei,s commander of the ldiNision of the army in that district,
 
 lwere there for. tOhs they are all lover, he replied. Perhaps they are
 to carry wkter--I do not know
 Careful Preparation,
 -lS.sI have seen the preparation of Germany in another way. I had a.
 friend who had completed his studies as an engineer, and he was working lin the government railroad shops for two years as is required before a
 diploma is given. Every month he received a sealed letter. He was re- quired to keep that letter unopened :. unless he received a code word sent l by 5teIegrapfl and then he was to open it. We steamed one of these enve1- opes one time, ands read the letter II within. It contained complete instruc- ,J tions for his part in the mobilization ,1 of the German army for the twenty 1. one days following the sending of the icode word, beginning with naming the al place where he was required to be { within three hours after opening the !, tIetter, and giving the movements of , his train for every hour in the day. ] That is done with every officer in the ! German army and every head of the
 irailroad system.
 t With such preparations made for ! war, does it seem likely that Ger [ many would allow herself to be balk-
 ed for days by a small number o1 [ troops at a Belgian frontier town  2 pute that. They say that the Ger. 2 . mans have taken the town, but the ' forts are still unconquered. Forti II that are built to defend towns ol
 frontiers are seldom built with defen l. ces to the rear. If the Germans ar, ed in the town, it would be simple mat l. ter to change their attack to the req, e and drive out the defenders. Ther, y are no big guns there to stop them. I IT sseen1s to me as though a mere detach 6a a Aif ar k1a tt tw9en the forts or around them. int, D the, deserted town, while the arm, l. keeps up a. demonstration in front a There is some reason for this and n Hooks like a. ruse to attract the at = tenton of France away from a gigan ; tic movement that threatens her. n "Germany's only hope in this wa s-i seems to lie in striking two or thre 70 terrific blows first, and inf1icting sucl -e terrible carnage that the whole worl E. will demand that such conflict b d discontinued. If she can send her ar B. my into France and repeat the battl re of 'Gravelotte, the world will talk B steps to, stop the war. That, it ma "a be, as the Kaisers S idea in ernbroilin d. nearly all of Europe in the war, al ,- Though there is no desire for it. Peo ra pie already are beginning to wonde m and be afraid of what it will entai if and it will need little to cause som - action to be taken to stop a. Cont : mental war. I would not be at al : surprised if Germany is found to b
 preparing just such action, and if s
 France is the only nation agains
 whom itocan be directed. I think tha K very shortly you will find a mi1lio
 Germans pouring over the Frenc n frontier at an unexpected place, .whil " the French and Belgians are bus Id somewhere eIse.'' nt Land Conflict.
 r. t'There is anottersreason why Ger st many must invade France in force " went on Major eScott. 'It stands S reason that this war, if it goes ol SC must be land conflict German IL can do little agaianst the combine of nayies of England, France and Russi tn which far outnumber it's own. TT st only thing the German navy can q IiS f1,1 Nr1,-+1, er-,-,. 7.1-,-