Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1915-04-29
HOW EXPERTS Do It.
German Administration in Bel
GUM Model of Efficiency.
Public and Private Activities Are Di-
rected by Soldiers Who, in Peace,
Are Bankers, Lawyers
and Scientists.
BY OSWALD r. sCHuETTE.

Correspondent. Chicago Daily News)
Brussels, Belgium.-Germany's ad-
ministration of the civil affairs Of Bel
GUM presents new picture Of the
German reserve officer
The reserve corps of German Off
GERS always has been the admiration
of the military world. No other ma
ton has been able to call out from
civil life an aggregation of men so eff
f1ciently trained as officers for the vast
reserves needed for war But the
military training of these men is only
one side Of their qualification. In pri-
vate life they are the learned pro-
fessional men of the nation. They are
the lawyers, the physicians, the bank
ers, the engineers, the directors of
big enterprises, the scientists who
have given to Germany her peculiar
industrial efficiency.
Now they put on their uniforms and
their shoulder straps and<march off to
the front. But there are many things
to be done in war besides leading
armies against the enemy Not the
least of these is such a problem as
that of Belgium.
Here is a nation, of alien race and
tongue, bitterly hostile, with indus
tries paralyzed = another invading
power must not only restore peace
and order, but call back to life the
crippled industrial organization. No
merely military organization could do
this
And it is here that your reserve Of
f1cer shines. Governor General Won
Kissing had only to denote the de-
mands of the work to be done and
he had the greatest experts of Ger
many at his command
Personal influence has disappeared
entirely. Personal gain is not even
thought of. Let US do something of
which we shall be proud" said Gen
eraI Won Kissing. And his assistants
have been living up to that motto.
A catalogue of the experts who
wear military uniforms while they
work out Belgian civil problems would
make an American governor jealous
Here is a director of the reichsbank
at Berlin-one of the greatest fnan-
ciers of Germany. He is a major of
the reserves, but he hangs his sword
on a coat rack each morning and goes
to work with a pen. Major Won Lumm
is now detailed" as the general com
missioner Of banking" in Belgium.
His first task was to reorganize the
whole financial regime of the king
dom, found a new national bank and
invent a new currency. Mere trifes.
Then there is Captain Won KesseI,
who is a member of the Prussian
house of representative and famous
authority on municipal government
and social economics. He is now the
adjutant of the military governor of
Liege, Lieutenant Colonel Won Rem
ner. AS such he has worked out the
great industrial problems of that big,
busy city and has started things to
work again. Each day he finds a new
way Of opening up factory.
Probably more interesting is Cap
tain Drape, who was director of the
gas works of Luxembourg when the war
broke out. He was wounded at
Liege. When Antwerp was taken he
was hurried there because the water
works had been destroyed in the bonn
bardment In five days he had dug
up an auxiliary pump in some factory
and had the system in operation again
"a vital matter in city the size of
Antwerp.
Then he went to work on the street
cars of Antwerp. In three days he
had them running. The same speed
put the gas works and the electric
plant in operation. In IA days he had
10 interurban railroads that center at
Antwerp at work
A man who could wave a magic