The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1915-02-02
IN The FATHERLAND
INTERESTING BITS OF NEWS
FROM THE GREAT GERMAN
EMPIRE.
WHAT'S DOING IN Old HOME
Summary OF the Most Important Hap
penngs in the Land Of the Kaiser
Readers.

sort OF inland navy OF motor boats,
which formerly served pleasure pur-
poses on the lakes around Berlin, bur
which now cruise up and down the
Belgian rivers and canals as if organ
lied for the work. The boats are for
the greater part very fast and under
take sort of dispatch, police and
reconnaissance service. They are
painted gray, carry machine guns and
In some cases small wireless outfits
However, the oldest part about them
Is possibly the crew. Almost without
exception the captain Of the boat is the
owner and the crew is usually formed
by men who pass much of the summer
In the shells of the Berlin rowing
clubs. They are all volunteers and be-
fore they could be sent to the front
had to be trained in the use of the
rife. But many Of them took to this
rapidly. At a recent fire test on the
Wannsea the "bootsabteilung," as the
service is known, established per-
centage of % hits, which is consid-
cred high average. Many of the
captain-owner are elderly, well-to-do
men. But that, it is asserted, has not
lessened their efficiency as canal
cruiser commanders.
e. e. Hunt says in Collier Copy
right: This is the spirit of war time
Germany-the spirit of complete Civ
ing, the spirit which oversubscribes
huge war loans and overcrowds the
ranks of the volunteers; the spirit Of
humble self-sacrifice which has so
often upset the plans of cautious and
cynical leaders of men. | confess |
cannot understand it; but not even
the Germans themselves understand
1t. They are constantly amazed at
their own spirit. They never tire of
talking about it; the unanimity of
feeling regarding the war; the en-.
thusfasm with which the nation
leaped to arms. That socialists should
march with junkers, Jews with anti
Semites, and Poles with Prussians-
that is the miracle of all miracles to
the man on the street" in Berlin.
And it amazes the whole world for
that matter. This last and greatest
crusade shows that the age of mira
cles is not past"
There is a friendly rivalry among
the wounded in the Berlin hospitals
for The distinction of having been
the worst shot-up man in the war
One who claims 26 wounds ho,dS the
mr. lint &c,
envied for his remarkable combination
of peril and luck Near Dixmude he
received an order which he was to
take on his bicycle to the firing line.
He had to pass, on his way, a road
that was exposed to a hot machine
gun fire from the enemy He was
hit eight times and dropped off into
a ditch at the side of the road, but
succeeded nevertheless in handing his
message to another soldier, who car
ried it to its destination. One hui
let had grazed his skull, another
passed through the upper jaw, one
through the chin, one through the
bone of the right arm, and one struck
his left wrist. Two others struck his
HSlluGL anu HIS SuOeS.
Louis Gathman, who claims to be
the inventor of the high explosive
shells Germany is using so success
fully in its big guns, told minority
of the senate committee on expendi-
lures in the war department he had
been endeavoring to interest the ord
nance officials of the American war
department for many years. He said
he had made no effort to give his in
yention to foreign governments until
it had been repeatedly refused by
American army officers. Gathman de-
clared the coast defenses of the Unit
cause they still use the armor pierre
ing, instead of explosive, type of pro-
jectile.
January Is was the forty-fourth an
ntyersary of the proclamation of the
modern German empire and the ac-
ceptance by Williams of the imperial
crown. The ceremony which marked
the birth Of the powerful new nation,
the completion of the task of unifica-
ton attempted by the Prussian king,
Bismarck and Won Moltke, was per-
formed in the palace of Versailles on
January Is, 1871. In the throne room
of this palace-the architectural mas
terpiece of Louis XIV-a gorgeous and
magnificent chamber with walls lined
with paintings depicting the triumphs
OF France, the Prussian king accepted
for himself and his descendants the
title of German emperor.
An autograph letter from Kaiser
Franz Joseph to Count Leopold Won
Berchtold, accepting his resignation as
foreign minister of Austria Hungary,
says in part: Il express my warmest
thanks, my full recognition of he dis
tinguished services you have rendered
to my house and to the monarchy in
times of peace, as we'll as during this
great war. It is with regret that I see
you sever yourself from these func.
lions and | confer upon you, as a
token of my continuous affection. the
brilliansi of the grand cross of the
Order of st. Stephen
Miss Elizabeth Reid Rogers, daugh-
ter of Mr.. and Mrs. Richard Reid Roe-
ers of Washington, D. c., was married
in Trinity church, Berlin, to Prince
Chr;cfiop of T4ncSoo TIL