New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-01-24
To tho Editor Of The Tribune.

To tho Editor OF The Tribune.
n Sir: II Is a mistake 10 THINK tna' '"'
worst thing Germany has done - to mutilh'e
and murder many thousands or women anu
children. She honcycombs country win
her secret agents before she lays u waste
In time Of peace. with her spy system, H"'
works like "A mole over wide area tl INV
rrouud g. ready 90 cave in under inc i''V
her soldiers She plays on the good VIII an"
lrustfuncss Of other peoples ull she mas
tanned the available Information. That be
travail of hospitality, that taking advantage
Of human feeling. is bascr thing than her
unique savngcry in wartime.
During my months In Belgium have been
surrounded by evidences Of this spy sys-
tenn the long, slow preparedness which Ger
manv makes in another country ahead OF her
deadly pounco. II f. silent, peaceful IN
.vasion. as destructive a. the housc-to-house
burning and the mutlation Of babies and
mothers to which It later leads.
The German military power, which is the
modern Germany. Is able 20 make its VIII
prevail and obtain agents TO carry out TINS
policy By disseminating new ethic phIo'-
ophy Of llfe. which came 70 expression WIN
bismarck and has gone on extending Us IN
nuence since tho Victories OF lS1O-1l. Inc
German people believe they serve higher
God than the rest of US We servo VERY
iuperfectly and only part Of the tme) such
ideals as mercy, pity and Loyalty 10 the giyer
Of the bread We eat The Germans serve
/ efficiently and all the time) the state su-
premc deity, who sends them TO spy OUT
land In peace time. 10 build gun foundations
/ in innocent looking houses, buy up poverty
stricken peasants, measure distances WIN
/ friendship and worm out secrets. WIN tha'
information digested and those preparations
COMPLETED, tho stats IAN entity beyond good
and eviN calls on its citizens 70 make war,
and. IN making It, 20 practise frightfulness'
T, orders It's servants TO lay aside pity and
burn peasants in their homes, to bayonet
women and children, to shoot old men. VI
course, there arc exceptions 20 this. lhere
are Germans OF the vintage Of ~, and later
many Of them who are honest and peaceabIe
dwellers in the country which shelters them
gut the imperial system has little use for
them. They do not serve its purpose.
The Issues of the War
The issue OF tho war, rs Belgium and
France see Il. IS this: Are they TO live or die
Are they TO be charted out once again through
wears till their secret weakness is accurately
located. and then is an army to be let loose
on them that will visit a universal torture
m ,beir children and wives? Peace VII be-
intolerable til this menace is removed The
restoration Of territory in Begun a"d
Northern France and the return 20 the status
quo before the war are not sufficient guaran-
tees for the future The status quo before
the war means another insidious INVASION
carried on unremittingly month by m6nth
by business agents, commercial travellers,
genial tourists and studlous gentlemen In
villas. all making ready for another six weeks
picnic which will be the death OF France a
crippled, broken Teutonic military power Is
the only guarantee that new army Of spies
will not take the road 20 Brussels and Paris
on the day that peace f. signed. No simple
solution Ike. call It all of. Wen start IN
fresh. Bygones are byPones,' meets the real
situation. The Allied nations have been in
tested with a cloud Of witnesses for many
years. Arc they to submit once again 20 that
secret process Of the Germans?
How can the Allies state their term, Of
peace in other than militant way? There
is nothing here TO be arbitrated. Pleasant
sentiments Of brotherhood evade the point at
issue. The only way Of just peace is by con
verting" Germany There is only one cure
for long-continued treachery, and that IS 20
demonstrate IT'S failure. To pause short OF O.
thorough victory over the deep, inset habits
and methods OF Germany is TO destroy the
spirit Of France. II will not be well for the
premier race Of the world to 60 down in de-
feat. We reed her thrifty Lorraine peasants
and Brittany sailors. her unfaling gift 70
the light OF the world, more than We need a
thorough German spy system and soldiery
obedient to commands OF vileness.
Very much more slowly England, too, IS
learning what the fight IL about
j In The Tribune Of Thanksgiving Day !
specified the atrocities which I had wit
messed. o, that record, Theodore Roosevelt
writes:
"Remember, there IS not the slightest room
for honest question either "a 20 the dreadful
the unspeakably hdeous, outrages committed
on the Begians, or as 70 the fact that these
outrages were methodically committed by the
express command OF the German government
in order TO terrorize both the Belgians and
among neutrals those men who are az cold
and tmid and selfish az our governmental.
leaders have shown themselves 70 be. Let
any man who doubts read the statement o.:
an American eyewitness of these fearful
atrocities, Mr.. Arthur II. Gleason, in the New
York Tribune OF November 25, 1915"
How the Atrocities Originated.
II IS German violation OF the Fundamental,
decencles that makes it difficult to find com
mon ground 70 build on for the future. l.
Is az this point that the spy system OF slow
seeping treschery and the atrocity pro-
gramme of dramatic frightfulness overlap