Evening star., 1917-12-10
POLICY
OF FR|GHTFULNESS
Proof That Government
Teaches and UphoIds Un-
! speakable Atrocities.
SOLDIERS OFTEN REVOLT

A severe indictment of Germany, not
Of opinion but one of fact, is contained
in a book called German War Prac-
tices" Just issued by the committee on
public Information.
Prof D. C. Munro of Princeton. and
other scholars, edited the volume. 1t
contains some of the blacklist pages in
history, and recounts deeds that make
one despair of the human race"
The book is designed TO show that
frightfulness is a definite policy of the
German government, and that it is so
sinister that German soldiers them
selves, at times, have revolted. In
dividual acts of wanton cruelty and
harbarous destruction are cited only to
illustrate the operation of the system.
The dumfounding evidence which
this book presents to the jury of man
kind Is drawn mainly from German and
American sources, and includes official
proclamationS and utteranccS OF the
responsible. heads of the imperial Ger
man government. letters and diaries of
German soldiers. quotations from Ger
man newspapers and material draw II
from the archives Of the State Depart
ment which lay bare the story of in-
conceivable German atrocities.
Supplements Bryce Report.
The book supplements the Bryce re-
port. which was the first official survey
of the path of horror. ruin and death
left by the German army on the lands
of innocent and dcfehseless people. The
book is supplemental also to the otf-
cial reports by the Belgian commission
and the French minister of foreign af
fairs. and il revealS more of the damn
ing Germaf war philosophy as express
ed IN the German white book and vari-
NJ
volting crimes on the grounds of eN-
pelienCy and the advancement of that
"kultur' which now mocks its own
name thrnughou the civilized world.
The humanity of German soldiers was
50 torn by the system of brutality that
they cried out in letters to Ambassa-
dor Gerard. one expressing his protest
against the slaughter of the Russians
in the MaSurian lakes and swampS by
saying. There is no God. there is no
morality and no ethics any more: there
are no human beings any more, but
only beasts"
The illuminating reports of Brand
Whitlock. minister to Belgium. tell Of
miseries inflicted upon the Belgian peo-
pie, Mr.. Whtlock saying: ''One is so
overwhelmed with the horror of the
now is. difficult TO write calmly and
Justly about it,
Herbert Hoover's Testimony.
Herbert Hoover, writing for this book
of his experiences in Belgium SAYS:
The sight of the destroyed homes and
cities. the widowed and fa.herless, the
destitute. the physical misery of the
people. but partially nourished at best:
the deportation of men by tens of thou
sands to slavery in German mines and
factories. the execution of men and
women Tor paltry effusions of their
loyalty to their country. the sacking of
every resource through financial rob-
berry, the fattening of armies on the
slender produce of the country. the
horses and textiles: all these things
we had to witness. dumb to help other
than by protest and sympathy during
this long and terrible time. and still
Snese are not the events of battle heat.
but the effects of a grinding heel of a
race demanding the mastership of the
world. All these things are known to
the world-but what can never be
pie. the expressionless faces of mil
lions whose souls have passed the
whole gamut of emotions. And why?
Because these, a free and democratic
people. dared plunge their bodies be-
Tore the march of autocracy"
Frederick C. Walcott's description of
devastated Poland comprehends the
monstrous woes inflicted by the Prus-
people.
In a statement prepared for the book,
vernon Kellogg said: Il went into
Belgium and occupied France a neutral
and I maintained while there a stead
lastly neutral behavior. but l came out
no neutral. I went in also a
hater of war, but / came out a more
ardent hater of war; but, also / came
out with lneradicable conviction, again,
that the only way in which Germany
under its present rule and in its pres
ent state of mind can be kept from
doing what it has done is by force of
arms"
People Burn With Village.
The book gives excerpts from the
diaries of German soldiers of which
these are specimens: TN the night of
August 1913 the village of ST Maurice
was punished for having fired on Ger
man soldiers by being burnt to the
GROUND By the German troops
me village was surrounded, men post
ed ABOUT a yard from one another SO
that no one could get out Then the
Uhlans SET fire to it house BY house:
neither man, woman or child could es-
cape only the greater part of the live
stock we carried off. as that could be