Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1915-05-08

tne caliihSeS, anu lne POSITIONS are
screened by freshly cut boughs.
Tiny railways have been run from
the main freight yards In Graudenz
to all these positions Everything is
ready for the pressing OF the button
that will cause the heights and hol-
lows around Graudenz TO beleh fire
and hurI iron. The earth is honey
comhed with trenches and between
the lines of trenches little villages of
pine and canvas have sprung up.
Here dwell the civilian workmen
who are gouging out more trenches
and lining them with three-inch
planking. All these toy villages can
be swept away in a few hours and
would be swept away II Graudenz
We're threatened.
Ii is oVerpowering.
No stone or Brick.
And not the least amazing part OF
! It is that a layman would pass with
/ in few rods OF these titanic works
of steel and concrete and fall To
realize that the rolling fields had
been at all disturbed. For the vitals
OF the system lie mostly under
eround-buried in earth and turf and
planted over with young trees
The building materials is steel,
concrete. and wood-no stone and no
brick. Then the layer of earth, the
layer Of turf, and young trees. De-
scend into the stals, OF the system
and instantly there comes to the lips
that word that Is forever on the Ger
nun lips in these war days-the
word "kolossal''
TO get a pictorial sense of the works
around Graudenz is worth while. be-
cause those works are not exceptional
but typical. They are typical Of hun
dreds of miles of the new border for
tifications of Germany They have
their counterpart along miles of for
est and field around Posen. and
/ Thorn, and Kulmsee. Kongsberg
! fronts Russia with similar works
The system plunges under and over
the ground TO points lying between
and way south of Dresden and Bres-
lau. Ii even leaps far over the bor-
der and honeyeombs Russian soil. In
front of Lodz there are now twenty
! lines of German trenches with barbed
Wire entanglements
system Repeats Itself.
Turn TO the western borders of the
empire aud you find the system re-
peating itself on both sides of the
frontier, Koln is protected by new
field Notifications but, new as they
are, their value has been discounted
by the fact that they have been du-
plicgted at dozens of the most inn
! portant German positions in the paci-
fled parts of Belgium.
J If Germany is to be beaten, that is
precisely the reason why this is going
/ to be a long war-one year more at
least, perhaps two The field fortifi-
l ~ IN a - n sae.f
prove il. Germany has too much to
lose to be willing to lose soon hence
she has prepared herself Tor re-
sistance which, if the worst comes,
would be likely to be a matter more
of years than of months.
When Gen. Won Falkenhayn, then
minister of war, brought his fist
down on the table in Il French cha
teau so hard that the inkwells jumped,
and said to me, III half the manhood
Of Germany falls in this war, the 9TH
er half will be standing ready to take
their places" he doubtless felt all he
said.
Messages TO Europe.
Well, any vehement minister or sec
rotary of any of the governments now
at war can talk that way They all
do ii. 1t is the expected thing They
mean it, but talk carries no entreneh-
ments These border Notifications
don't do any talking They are a
blunt fact and they give two brief
messages to Europe.
The first is that Russian attempt
against the steel walls and reinforced
trenches Germany has thrown in
front of her eastern cities Will involve
the most frightful slaughter of the
ages.
The second is that IL Germany is to
lose this war she is going to be two
or three years doing it.
For that much Graudenz stands
All the work done here has been
done since August The civilian
workmen are under the direct super
vision of civilian bosses and contrac-
tons. over the bosses and contract
ors are officers. ! noticed that when
the officers came on the scene the
contractors did not salute them in the
military manner, but by lifting their
hats
The health of the workmen is as
carefully looked after as the health of
the soldier is.
Comfort Provided for.
The temporary houses of wood and
canvas are dry and warm and each
of the little villages which have
sprung up in the midst Of the forti-
fications contains a hathhouse accom-
modatng two companies a day. The
baths are compulsory.
At the windows Of many of the
workmens houses hang lace curtains.
That is Characteristic of the Ger
mans No sooner has he finished his
rough work than he tries to prettify
his surroundings
That in the half buried field forts
there should be water taps on every
hand, and every kind Of electrical and
yentilating device that can possibly
be Of use in the event Of a long siege
Is not so surprising when YOU con-
slider German thoroughness. but it is
astonishing that work done in the
most pressing emergency a govern
ment ever has had to face should
have been so scrupulously finished off
in every detail
These finishing touches include
some superfluities, such as the dado
lin stencil which has been run along
the dungeonlike corridors Of the field
fortresses. The walls have been done
in an enamel paint Of delicate gray
and the touch of relief in deep red
produces quite festive effect.
like American Hotel.
As I have said. the whole place In
its scheme of sanitation its massive
ness and its multitude of devices
making for convenience is like the
utilitarian parts of a modern Ameri
can fireproof hotel, and you could be
az comfortable there, though not as
luxurious. as YOU could be in the
Furstenhof III Berlin,
over at the horse barracks on the
other side of town the new stables