The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-06-04
WAR KEPT UP
BY LIES,SAYS
LIEBKNECHT
Socialist Leader Defied
Government in Speech
On May Day.
NOW FACES DEATH
FOR HIGH TREASON

As~e by mail. u tho fret fuli account Of
,hs may Day. bread riots Uhtch took
piace In the Imperial Palace grounds IN
Berlin on May /. when Or. Kari Lieb-
tnecAt. the uitra radical Socialist leader.
wade a ritrtokc attack on me Gorern-
msnf. The speech. Uhich is otuen beiou.
led to Dr. Ltebknecht's arrest. the pro.
pretty o. rhich uds later made the sub
ject o. O heated debate in the Rrtchstoo.
A despatch received here Thursday
.did thai Dr. Liebknccht Is TO be tried
By ~coart-mdrtidi for hiJh reason. the
penalty for Uhich Il death.
BERLIN, May 1. Very early In the morn
lnr-with three other comrades I reach
Hortensienstrasse. where Comrade i.ieb
knecht lives. We enter No. ~. climb mp
the stairs, ring his he'll. Comrade Lieb-
suecht opens the door himself. lie -
thin. his hair looks unusually black IN
mis- face IL desth'y pale. lie walks like
a dad man, walking with grim steps,
He leaves us and soon returns with his
wife she is a Russian. She mods well
come to us all. suddenly a terrible fear
comes 10 me. No one has spoken a
word, Yet we all feel that we are IN the
presence Of a supreme moment. From
tomrlde l.iehknecht's grim silence ""
judge that he is about to hurl prudcnc.
TO the four winds and defy the Govern
ment.
He and out. one to each OF us. a
copy ~ the speech which he will de-
liver. So far not one word is spoken.
while We are hurriedly reading his
speech. which is to be delivered within
a few hours. he remarks. 81 have sew
e-al thousands of these printed"
We have finished reading the prosr' =
trs which will make history and send
Inn - prison. Then We go into con.
ference.
We ave been will him just an o
We leave him.
Shor'lv after . 3 " ss,ne afternoon.
May pay-I have taken "A nasty lunch
at the Central Hotel. As | near the
door I hear the footsteps Of great null
titudes. As far as | can see. all the
streets and side streets are full Of surg
.ug, silently moving human beings al
moving I'm the direction whore the May
Day demonstration is t0 take pace.
These are men and women. mos'.y
women. The men among them are
mostly over 80. suddenly II becomes
apparent To me that there are more chill
dren in the crowd than men and women
togcthcr. As they march ] notice that |
annot see one In the crowd who has a
mile on her or his face. Along Ito
route no one il cheering them. | h"I
lever seen such immense crowds In the
s'rects Of Berlin. Not even during the
Aghadir crises had the streets of Berlin
held such mul,itudes The crowds move
rs though they are n part of a fuuers'
procession. They are all sad. very sad.
| recognize a group Of comrades in NE
-rowd. | rush in and join them, Mund
halten keep your mouth shut) 's The
urVritton rule. and every one seems to
observe 4, strictly.
Guards Ride Through CrOwd.
Some one has turned the head Of ,hs
procession into Inter den LinGcI
We do not know why very few of "
have noticed 1t anyhow. We suddenly
see a Platoon OF mounted guards dash.
irg through the crowd. but they are rid
iug on the sidewalk, The part OF the
PROCESSION that had been marching or
's- sidewalk PUSHES to the middle of the
street in order to escape from being
'rdmpled upon by the mounted guards
Another group Of MOUNTED guards rides
lIrriedly. and still another follows. The
Ieopl" IN the procession all about me
90 not seem to notice them. Not even
n Wll4Sp'I olc HtdIN' HcI io''oA' US
have a strange sound TO my ears,
On reaching the palace grounds zee
IN the distance five persons From their
elbows up they tower over the heads ol
30 multitude surrounding them. ] leave
my friends and elbow my way through,
the thick crowd. | explain my impoiite
alvance on the ground that ! am a re-
porter on a party (Sociaiist) paper,
finally reach the spot whore comrads
7 ..hlH.al, .Sl 4, ~, ar, ., ra Iau "a ra at a nd
.rg The crowds are close where they
sre standing and ! annot make ont
/. whether they are standing on n raised
Platform or in a motor car. ] am about
twenty or twenty-five feet from the doc
tor
suddenly one of the comrades near
Or Liebknecht raises his hand and n
once proceeds to speak. The multitude
30 anxious to hear him. Every one Is
,punding hush" in order to obtain s.
l-nre and thus making more noise. Or
liebknecht uncovers his head some ons
rear by offers to relieve him Of his hat
lca,hly silence reigns all about tho
grounds. The interior OF a cathedral
rJunot he more silent. The doctor be-
gus;
Comrades and friends They star
20 cheer him. He holds up his hand
'"rh!ddingly. then he resumes:
N'lIt YEARS dEo a. WHY sS'Siaiis w
observed that In Prussia We Germans
live three great rights. which are: We
can he soldiers. we can pay taxes ana
W. can keep our mouths shut. The
Socialist who made this observation hal
made it with a grim humor, but to-day
the hnmor Of IL must he disconnected
Tom II, il is all too grim. Especially
IN these days this observation IL toe
true. To-day we are sharing these thres
great prussian State privileges In full
Every German citizen IN given the full
irlvIlege to carry q rife In a. manner
Even the BOY Scout has been melted Il
pay the ridiculous role OF a soldier
They have thus planted the spirit OF hat,
deep In his youthful soul. Meanwhile
the Old andstuermer In forced to per
form forced labor In invaded countries
IN spite NJ the TACT that under the aw.
of the imperial constitution he cannot
be called out for m other purpose THAI
for the defence OF the fatherland.
As for his second ~privilege--his RICH
:. 7" pay taxes-in this respect the Ger
' nan citizen IL. up to the present time
Jar ahead OF his brothers In fOreigi
lands whom he In engaged In exterminat'
ihg And yet more privileges of thli
Wind are awaiting him In the days Il
cnne-after the end Of the war. Tn,
hsh taxes which the German people
nave 20 far paid are insignificant com
pared TO the great burdens which h
Must carry after the war. n for which
LIS masters are daily preparing HIN