The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1915-05-18

village unfortunately and kill
hem. or such as they selected from |
them. without the least re-
gard to guilt or innocence. The mere |
crime 'Civilisten haben geschossen'
vas enough to hand over a whole viii
iage or district and ven outlying
places TO ruthless slaughter.
W gladly record the
where the evidence shows that hu-
mainly has not wholly disappeared
from some members Of the German
army and that they realized that the
responsible heads of that organization
was employing them not in war but
in butchery; L am merely executing
orders, and l should De shot If l did
not execute them. said an officer To
a witness at Louvain. At Brussels
another officer says: 1 have not one
one hundredth part of what We have
been ordered TO do by the High Ger
man Military authorities"
Testimony Overwhelming.
That these acts should have been
perpetrated on the peaceful popula-
ton of an u~noffending ountry which
was not at war with its invader but
merely defending its own neutrality.
guaranteed by the invading power.
may excite aInaZement and eVen in
c%redulity. 1t was with amazement
and almost with incredibly that the
>ot1i - Wv -
!ating to such acts. But when the evi-
dence regarding Liege was followed
by that regarding AerSchot, Louvain.
Andenne, Dinant. and the other towns
and villages, the cumulative effect OF
sue a mass of concurrent testimony
became irresistible, and We were driv-
en- to the conclusion that the things
described had really happened. The
question hen arose how they could
have happened. Not mere military
license, for the discipline of the Ger
man army is proverbially stringent,
and it's obedience explicit. Not from
any special ferocity of the troops, foI
whoever has Travelled among the Ger
man p~easantry knows hat they are
as kindly and good-natured as any
people in Europe, and those who car
recall the war of 1870 will remember
that no charges resembling those
proved by these disposition were ther
established. The successes r%ecentl,
committed in Belgium were, mOreOve1
too widespread and too uniform il
their character to be mere sporadic
outburSts of passion of rapacity.
The explanation EN- to be tha
these excuses were committed
some cases ordered. in others above
lon a system and in of
set That purpose was t
strike terror into the civil population
and dishearten the Belgian OOPS, S
as to crush down resistance and e
! tinguish the very spirit of self-de
; Tense. The preteXt hat civilians ha
9 fired upon the invading troops wa
: used to Justify not merely the shoot
, ing Of individual francs-tireurs bu
the murder of large numbers of In
, nocent civilians, an act absolutely for
= hidden by the rules Of civilized wal
: fare.
Anything For Success.
I In the minds of Prussian officer
war seems to have become a sort {
sacred mission. m OF the highes
functions of the omnlpOtent state
4 which is itself as much an army as
+ state. Ordinary morality and the OIL
6 binary sentiment of pity vanish in II
+ presence, superseded by a new stand
O ard which justifieS to the soldier ever
e means that can to success
Y however shocking to a natural sens
r of justice and humanity, however rt
O voting to his own feelings. The spir
Of war is diefied. Obedience to TT
d state and it's war lord leaves no roc
for any other duty Or feeling. Cruel'
# becomes legitimate when 1t promise
victory. Proclaimed by the heads
the army, this doctrine would seem
have permeated the officers and a
fected ever the private soldiers, leat
!; ing them to justify the killing of MOI
combatants as an act of var, and
accustoming them to slaughter tn;
even women and children become
last h victims. 1t annot be SUI
posed to be a national doctrine, for
neither springs from o reflects IL
- mind and feelings of the German pc
pie as they a heretofore be-
!. known to other nations. 1t is spec
=, fcally military doctrine, the outcon
of a theory held by a ruling caste WI
~ have brooded and though, written al
" talked and dreamed about war un
O they have fallen under its obsessit
and been hypnotised by its spirit.
w The View Is Official.
THE doctrine is plainly set for
30 in the German Official Monograph
~ the usages of War on land, issu,
- under the direction of the Germ;
~ staff. h book is p~ervaded throug
out by the view hat whatever mi
If tary needs suggest becomes there
- lawful, and upon this principle.
the diaries show. the German office