The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-05-28
AN IMMENSE
 MILITARY BARRACK
Everywhere One Meets Sol
 diers of Every Rank
BUT FEW WOUNDED
Are Systematically Sent Elsewhere in Order to Avoid Adding to Anxiety of the Berliners-Swinging Be-
 tween Confidence and Misgiving
R, FnEpERrCK WERNER

"Berin. May -(speciall- Berlin gives you the impression of an immense military barraclx. Everywhere you meet soldiers of every rank and every age. On the other side you see fewer wounded here than any other city in Germany for these are systematically sent else W here so as to avoid adding to the anx- iety of the Berliners and keep up the spirit in the capital to the utmost. In front Of the royal palace stand seven big Russian guns captured from the Russians and Frederick the Greats s statue Is surrounded by Belgian cannons.
 The doors of the "Ruhmeshalle" 0Hall of Gory) in unter den Linden are kept open at all hours that people who are downhearted may revive their spirits by looking at the many trophies exhibited inside.
 Twice I have seen the Empress drive past on her way to the military hospitals where she is a frequent. almost daily. visitor. No ovations greet her, but the respect that everybody feels for this lxindhearted and sorely tried woman Is shown on every face. and every head is respectfully uncovered as she passes.
 I have talked to people of all classes during the last week and although they readily admit that the situation Is se- rious, nobody believes that Germany will be defeated on her own soil.
 "Our country Is menaced on all sides, they say, powerful enemies have plotted to bring about our ruin, but just wait and see. The world does not know us yet When the hour comes to defend our coun. try against an invasion, we will fight as no people ever fought before, fight tc the last man. the last pfennig and the last bag of flour"
 Peculiar Tone of Papers The tone of leading papers Is contin' ually swinging between firm confidence and admissions of serious misgivings. The Koenische Zeitung writes: We must face the unpleas sant truth that in spite of all our victories the sit uation is exceedingly grave. The ques- ton before us Is whether We must lose or are able to defend our kultur, our DO. litical unity, our freedom or whether we are to return to the miserles of the 3o' years war.
 "ln the east we are threatened by tho Slavs. in the west we are fighting against | the lust of revenge of the French, bu l even more against the dabolic politics oi England against which country the en l tire German people justly concentrate | their hatred"
 1 Almost simultaneously the kreuzzetun, | writes of the war In 1870:
 | Bismarck reached every goal he SC himself. He did not believe in or wan preventive wars. but this did not stop hin
 from giving the Ems dispatch forn | whi h made war inevitable. He did thi
 because the other side wanted war, an he desired to avoid a first Humiliation There are those who hold that he acte wrongly, but we are grateful to him fo what he did, and are convinced that hi
 act was iustifabe before the Almighty May God always give Germany statesme
 who take up their task as seriously am | intelligently as did Bismarck"
 Mental Diseases in German Army
 In the Muenchener Medzn Vochen schrift Munich Medical Weekly) I fin
 an article signed by the famous Professo Gaupp of Tuebingen an expert on menta
 diseases, on insanity in the German
 army. from which I quote:
 At the beginning of the war the stat of health of the German troops. espe inl I ly a regards nervous diseases. was splen
 did, but the awful conditions under whc | this war is being carried on has brough in many cases of mental and nervous dis
 orders, manifesting themselves in insom
 mia and abnormal sensitiveness to the in l 6uence of alcohol, often resulting in ab normal drunkenness.
 Since the French offensive began fl
 the middle of December a large numbe l of men have been incapacitated by menta and nervous diseases. morbid excitem6n 1 and absolute nervous prostration Thes I cases are found In many men who hay
 never been actually wounded, and ar
 caused by the explosion of heavy shells