Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1917-04-21
II KNOW, BECAUSE I SAW.
IChristian scienee Nonilor.l

One OF the most terrible indictments
of a civilized nation ever launched was
that publicly made before the members
and guests of the Cauadian club. in New
York, on Monday night. The speaker
was no mere layman repeating the Cos
sip of the clubs or the questionable re-
ports of political organizations. He was
the ex-amhassador of the United States
of America, speaking with a full sense
of his responsibility aud out of know
ledge gained with his own ewes. II was.
in short. from the experience acquired
during his visits TO the prison-eamps,
in Germany. where the men of the allied
armies taken in battle are confined.
that Mr. Gerard spoke. and his words
should be given the full publicity in
tepded for them, in order that the world
may understand something of the con
ditions in which the United States has
entered the war, as the president point
ed out, in his great speech to congress,
in hopes of preventing the repetition
of them in the future.
81 want TO tell YOU Canadians to-
night, Mr.. Gerard said, f'some Of the
things ] saw your fellow-eountrymen en-
dure in the German prisoner of war
camps" and. he added 81 know be-
cause ! saw" Then in perfectly simple
and direct language which had no need
of embroidery, he told his tale He had
read one day in the papers that num-
Der of Germans in a certain town had
been sent to prison, and their names
printed in the North German Gazette,
that they "might be exposed to shame.
and their falsity made known to genera
ti0ns of Germans TO come - When he
read that, he was, he said reioieed, be-
cause he felt that at last some of these
people were to be punished for maltreat-
ing prisoners of war. He told the United
States consul in the town, therefore, to
make report to him on the subject,
and, when he received the report, he
found, to his astonishmcnt, the eircum-
stances were these. A train-load of Can
adian prisoners had been shunted into Il
siding in the town. The men were starry
ing and had no means of quenehing
their thirst. Some of the townspeople
had given them food and drink. and it
was for this ministration to the needs
of the prisoners of the Fatherland that
the culprits had been sent to prison, and
their names held up to execration by the
government.
This, however, was far from all Mr..
Gerard had to say. He told how, when
typhus broke out in Russian prison
ers camp, the custodians sent for the
English and French prisoners, and, with
the brutal Jest that "Allies ought to
stick together" flung them into the
jaws of certain death in the infected
camp SO demoralized indeed, were the
very children, by the brutalities they
daily witnessed, that he had seen little
boys with bows and arrows tipped with
nails, marching about the camps, "With
German simplicity and kindness, "
shooting these arrows into the defense
less prisoners. One other story Mr.
Gerard told, rs bad as any of these. 1t
was the story of a certain camp in
which the guards had trained sheep
dogs to bite the prisoners as they went
through on their rounds, and it was
rarely, the ambassador added, that they
failed to bite some prisoners. This par
tleular ease was, however, too much for
Mr.. Gerard. He complained direct to
Berlin ON the subject, and then when,
after long interval, no notice was tax
en- of his complaint, he addressed him
self direct to the commandant. "I told
him. he said "that | was a very good
pistol shot, and that felt like going
out and shooting some trained dogs,
and seeing what they would do about.
it." The hint was taken. Shortly aft
erwards the commondant was removed.
Such was the story Mr.. Gerard told
the Canadian club of New York, almost
simultaneously with the publication of
the more terrible report of Mr.. Sharp,
the ambassador of the United States to
the French Republic, on the subject of
the wantoin destruction Of the evacuat-
ed districts il northern france, and on
the very evening of the day on which
the most terrible report of all that of
an official of the United States. in Bel
GUM, who had witnessed the methods
by which the people of that Kingdom
have been dragooned into the slavery
of forced labor, through the argument
of the whip and the machine gun. was
given to the press. These three state
ments have been made by officials Of
the United States, two of them ambas-