Gilpin observer., 1917-12-13
please receive these lines from a COM
mon Prussian soldier"
SoldIer Tel1s of AtrocIfIAa

please receive these lines from a COM
mon Prussian soldier"
Soldier Tells Of Atrocities.
Here is the testimony Of another Ger
man soldier on the eastern front:
Russian Poland December 1S, II.
"In the name Of Christianity I send
you these words.
wounded Russians are killed with
the bayonet according to orders.
"And Russians who have surrender
ed are often shot down in masses ac-
cording to orders. in spite Of their
heart-rending prayers.
"In the hope that you, as the repre-
sentative of Christian state. viii
protest against this. I sign myself.
"A GERMAN SOLDIER AND
CHRISTIAN.
The third letter. from the western
front, shows the same horror of the
system of which the writer was wit
ness.
ITO the American Government,
Washington. U. S. A,
"Englishmen who have surrendered
are shot down in small groups. With
the French one is more considerate.
ask whether men let themselves be
taken prisoner in order to be dis
armed and shot down afterward? Is
that chivalry in battle? It is no longer
secret among the people; one hears
everywhere that few prisoners are
taken; they are shot down in small
groups. They say naively: we don't
want any unnecessary mouths to feed.
Where there is no one to enter COM
plant. there is no judge Is there
then no power In the world which can
put an end to these murders and res
cue the victims? Where is Chris.
tianity? Where is right? Might is
right.
"a SOLDIER AND A MAN WHO is
NO BARBARIAN"
Socialists Oppose System
Many of the Germans. as has been
| already indicated. do not believe the
reports of the atrocities committed by
the Belgian civilians and refuse to ac-
cept the system of frightfulness. The
Vorwaerts, the leading socialist paper
which has very wide circle of read
ers, has opposed the policy Of fright
fulness. All honor to Its editors who
have so courageously opposed the pow
erful military authority It's editorial,
entitled "Our Foes" published August
%, 1914. reads as follows:
"What should one say when even
such an organ as the Deutsches Off,
zier-Blatt expresses its sympathy with
demand that the beasts who are
taken as francs-tireurs should not be
killed, but only wounded so that they
may then be left to fate which makes
| any help impossibleY Or what should
we say when the Deutsches Offizier-
Blatt states that a punitive destruc-
| tion even Of whole regions cannot 'af-
ford full recompense for the bones Of a
single murdered Pomeranian grena-
dier? Those are the desires of blood
thirsty fanatics and we are thoroughly
ashamed of ourselves because 1t is
possible that there are people among
| us who urge such things"
"Barbarism," Declares vorwaerts.
On the following day, August "a,
| 1914, the Vorwaerts returned to the
| attack in an editorial Against Bar
| barism."
"One might, in the frst
| place. possibly believe that such de-
mand for bloody vengeance [against
alleged Belgian Outrages] emanates
| from single disease-racked brain;
but It appears that whole groups
among certain classes who represent
| German kultur want to indulge in or
| giles Of barbarism and to devise
whole system for the purpose OF or
| ganizing n war Of revenge
Three years later. August 90, 1917,
| the Vorwaerts quoted the following
| passage from the Deutsche Tageszei-
| tung:
1--WE have ring of politicians who
| hold that might makes right (Macht-
| politiker), who desplse the forces Of
| the inner life and believe that they
must eliminate all ethical points of
| view from foreign and social
| politics. For them, Germany OF the
present and of the future Is the coun
try of the Krupps and Borsigs. of the
| Zeppelins and the U-boats. Any idea
of n connection between politics and
| morals Is rejected and any reference
| to the right of a moral method of con-
sideration is ridiculed as delusion and
| sentimentality"
The German officers were provided
| with the forms to be used In terror
| lzing the conquered people. The com
mon soldiers were provided with
phrase books which would enable them
to impose their will upon the terrified
people. Minister Brand Whitlock In
his report to the state department on
Contorphar 1O17 yttaS.
"The German soldiers were provid-
ed with phrase books giving alternate
translation In German and French of
such sentences as:
"'Hands up ut Is the very first
sentence in the book.)
"'Carry out all the furniture.