The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1917-11-25
Native of Germany Reveals
Many Crimes Committed
By Ruling Class

the period that the German autocracy
was forcing the pan-Germanistic move
ment upon the people. Everything
was war. war. Soldiers. were always
marching and drilling. The whole ma
ton had but one thought. the coming
war. l can well recall as a little fell
low I used to watch the soldiers drill
How l hated the officers who drilled
the men from morning till night on
the parade grounds. Many privates
would collapse from sheer exhaustion,
only to be beaten to their feet by the
officers or dragged from the field by
the collar l have seen an officer step
up to q common soldier who was com
PEELED to stand at attention and with
out warning strike him in the face
with his fist with such force that the
poor fellow would fall to the ground
unconscious. with stream of blood
gushing from his nose and mouth. The
soldier would have no recourse-he
was just common soldier.
Il knew that something was wrong
with the country, but | did not know
what it was. | hated. but did not
know whom to hate. 1t was my re-
solve never to be a soldier, and never
was, for when it came time for my
two years OF training l starved myself
for a month SO that l could not pass
the physical tests. We all knew that
something was wrong and at home my
father used to wonder what it was and
talk about that something He did
not dare to talk openly. because he
was an inspector in the port of Ham
ho1 IN 10 ix,ire fAr g,
large family-and then, the prisons in
Germany are not very pleasant places
Somehow the kaiser's ears could hear
conversations in every nook and cor
ner of the empire.
MANY times my grandfather was
mentioned. My, father would say that
things in his time were not as they are
now. My people were Danish and my
grandfather was one of the first men,
bers If the reichstag from Schleswig-
Holstein after that little neck of land
between Germany and Denmark came
under the German rule and was one
of the first railroad builders in Schles-
wig HolStein.
"A few men of exceptional vision saw
the menace to the world that Ger
many. when ruled by the pan German
lists, would become, buV1they were very
few. Five or six years ago America
was turning to Germany for direction
and ideals along all lines. German
school systems were being introduced
in this country. and German methods
in many pursuits were in the ascend
ancy. But there was one man in the
country at least--there may have been
others-who opened himself to ridi-
Guile and contempt, not only in Ger
many. but right here in America. by
trying to point out the gravity of the
developments in Germany. That mar
is Professor Albion Small of Chicago
university"
Says Germany Viii Lose.
Mr. Peters came to Missoula several
months ago to attend the university
During his short stay here he has made
many friends and at the university he
has been accepted as an authority or
many subjects pertaining to European
conditions, life and ideals. He reads
the accounts of the war and says very
little. for to him the titanic struggle
means more than to most Americans.
He can feel the tremor of the tot.
tering power of Germany. He can lool
into the future and see where thu
great ambitions of the German ruler!
will end and as a native of that coun
try across the Atlantic his heart erie!
out in sympathy for the great common
class who are struggling along unde
the whip of the mighty men, fightins
for something they do not understand
Those poor soldiers in the Teutol
trenches will suffer for something 70
which they have not been responsible
he says, but the awakening in the fu
ture, though it will be a defeat for tn
autocracy, it will be a victory for tn
! common class of that country and
better Germany will spring up.