New-York tribune., 1916-07-26
THE MILLS OF GOD
With Some Frank Words Upon the Kaiser
and the Hyphen.
10 the Editor Of The Tribune.

TO the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: In an interview with a Judge Nip.
pert, published in this mornings Tribune,
there appears the statement that the Kaiser
is angry at Americas use of the hyphen.
Well, what about il?
In the first place. no real American takes
any interest in whether the Kaiser IS angry
or not; in the second place, 1t is the Ger
man-Amercans themselves who are respon-
sble for its USE They are the only people
from Europe who have divided allegiance;
therefore we don't speak Of Swedish-Amer-
cans or French-Americans or Engsh-Amer-
leans, etc. IL is only the German Americans
who have conspired, fomented strikes, de-
stroyed factories, blown up ships and IN
fringed the neutrality Of the United states
Like all German propaganda, this inter-
view defeats its own object. American cu
zens don't want TO be lectured as 70 the
rights and wrongs of the European war; they
are able and prefer TO form their own ludg'
ment. The judge appears TO have been
overwhelmed by the honor of talking 10 the
Kaiser, and repeats his words as though they
were the words of an oracle. But alas Tor
the falliblity of German oracles. lt would
be well for the judge 70 read carefully your
article in to-days issue entitled "The Ger
man Appeal" This might give him some
idea of the reliability Of oracles of the Teu-
tonic brand.
"Such people as my people are not
doomed to defeat" he reports the Kaiser as
saving. "They are destined to be victorious,
because every man. woman and child in the
German Empire is doing his or her share in
the homes and factories, as well as in the
trenches" No doubt the judge thought this
very fine. and it really sounds dramatic, per-
haps little melodramatic. The French, the
English and the Russians are doing just the
same "in their homes, factories and trenches
and with as much confidence as, probably II
the inner truth were known more confidence
than, the Kaiser and his party have.
But the judge made one fatal mistake in
drawing a comparison between the atrocities
of the Germans in Belgium and the North OF
France and those OF the Cossacks in East
Prussia. We don't know very much Of the
latter, as the German official statements, like
their signatures 10 treaties, are not 70 be
relied on, though some may have occurred,
which is not to be wondered al, with hall
disciplined half wild soldiery who have
never had a very high reputation for culture;
but what of the well ordered perfectly sys.
tematized horrors which the professors OF
Kultur perpetrated in Belgium and France!
The numbering of old men, women and chill
dren, the Staying of priests, the dishonoring
of nuns and children in orphan asylums, the
wanton destruction of churches and universi.
ties, the filthy defling Of homes, the killing
Of wounded the sinking of steamers Of all
these and others that cannot be mentioned
in print we have indisputable proofs among
them the result of Lord Bryce's commission.
I think the judge and the Kaiser will at
the end o. 1917 realize the tremendous truth
of these lines of one of their own poets,
Won Logau, translated by Longfelow:
Though the mills of God grind slowly y"
they grind exceeding small;
Though with patience He stands waiting
with cxactness grinds He all"
CONSTANT READER.
New York July 10 1916