Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1915-05-13

IAN invading army may be entitled
TO shoot at sight a civilian caught red
handed, or any one who though not
caught red-handed il proved guilty on
inquiry But this was not the prac-
! tiee followed by the Germany troops.
They do not seem To have made any
inquiry They seized the civilians OF
the village indiscrininateiy and killed
them, or such as they selected from
among them. without the least regard
TO. guilt or innocence. The mere crime
civilist haben geschossen' was enough
to hand over a whole village or dis
trict and even outlying places to ruth
less slaughter
1--WE gladly record the instances
where the evidence shows the human
lily has not wholly disappeared from
some members of the German army
and that they realized that the re-
sponslble head. of that organization
were employing them not in war but
in butchery. 7 am merely executing
orders. and ! should he shot II did
not execute them, said an officer TO
a witness at Louvain. AT Brussels
another officer says; I have not done
| one-hpndredth part Of what we have
been ordered to do by the high Ger
ttdh uuitdfN dutnpfititS.
That these acts should have been per-
petrated on the peaceful population of
an unoffending country which was not
at war with it's invaders but merely
defending Its own neutrality guaran-
teed by the invading power may ex-
cite amazemept and even credulity
IT was with amazement and almost
with increduiity that the committee
first read the dispositions relating to
such acts But when the evidence
regarding Liege was followed by that
regarding. Aerschot. Louvain. Anden-
ne. Dinant and the other towns and
villages, the cumulative effect of such
a mass of concurrent events became
/ irresistible and we were driven to
the conclusion that the things describ-
ed had really happened. The ques-
ton then arose how they could have
| happened. Not mere military IT,
cense, for the discipline. of the Ger
man army is proverbially stringent,
and it's obedience explicit. Not from
any special ferocity OF the troops, for
who ever has travelled among the
German peasantry knows that they
are as kindly and good natured as
any people in Europe, and those who
can recall the war Of 1870 will re-
member that no charge resembling
those proved by these dispositions
were then established. The excuses
recently committed in Belgium were.
moreover. too widespread and too UNI
form in their character to be mere
sporadic outbursts Of passion. of RAJ
pacty
THE explanation seems to be that
these excuses were committed--in
Ia, rtI, oil
ON a system and in pursuance of a
set purpose. That purpose was to
strike terror into the civil population
and dlshearten the Belgian troops. so
as to crush down resistance and ex-
tinguish the very spirit of self-defense.
The pretext that civilians had fired
upon the invading troops was used to
justify not merely the shooting of in
dividual francs-tieruers, but the
murder of large numbers of innocent
civilians, an act absolutely forbidden
by the rules of civilized warfare.
I'm the minds of Prussian officers
war seems to have become q sort of
sacred mission, one of the highest
functions of the omnipotent state,
which is Itself as much an army as a
state. Ordinary mortality and the
ordinary sentiment Of pity vanish in
Its presence, superseded BY Il new
standard which iustifies to the core
every means that can conduce to sue
cess. however shocking to a natural
sense of justice and humanity, how
ever revolving to his own feelings. |
The spirit of war ia defied Obedience
to the state and its war lord leaves no
room for any other duty or feeling. /
Cruelty becomes legitimate when If
promises victory. Proclaimed by the |
heads of the army, this doctrine would !
seem to have permeated the officers |
and affected even the private soldiers. |
leading them to justify the killing of |
as an act of war. and /
so accustoming them to slaughter 1
that even wemen and children be-
come at last the victims. 1t can not
be supposed to be national doctrine,
for it neither springs from nor reflects
the mind and feelings of the German
people as they have heretofore been
known to other nations. IT is speci-
fically military doctrine, the outcome
of theory held by ruling cast who
have brooded and thought, written
and talked and dreamed about war
until they have fallen under its OBJ
session and been hypnotized by it's
spirit.
'The doctrine is plainly set forth
In the German official monograph on
the usages of war on land. issued UNI
der the direction of the German
staff. This book is pervaded through
out by the view that whatever mill
tary needs suggest becomes thereby
lawful and upon this principle, as
The diaries show, the German oifieersl
acted.
IF this explanation be the truel
lne. the mystery is resolved and that
which seemed scarcely credible be-
comes more Ineligible, though not
ess pernicious.
This is not the case that history
records in which false theory dis
suising itself as loyalty to a state or {
o a church, has perverted the con-
;eption Of duty and becomes asource ,
If danger to the world" /
Another division of the report is on {
he killing of non-combatants in :
France" This is not as detailed as
he case of Belgium, as the commit /
zee states that the French official re- {
port gives. the most complete account {
Is to the invaded districts in France In
L adds: Id
"The evidence before us proves !
hat, in the parts of France referred
o, murder Of unoffending civilians {
md other acts Of cruelty, including |
aggravated cases of rape. carried out
inder threat of deaths. and sone-
lines actually followed by murder of
he victims, were committed BY some {
# the German troops {
A special chapter is given to the {
treatment of women and children. {
The latter, It is said. frequently re- I
eived milder treatment than the {
nen. But many Instances are given Of