Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1917-12-12
REVIEW OF GERMAN
WAR PRACTICES

0oMo u Iue QUICKEST pages IN all
history, comprising a documentary
record Of "deeds that make one de-
spair of the future of the human
race" are found in a book named
German War Practices" which has
just been issued at the Government
Printing Office by the Committee on
Public Information for free distri-
button. 1t is edited by Prof. D. c.
Munro, of Princeton, and other
scholars.
The dumbfounding evidence which
this book presents to the jury IF
mankind is drawn mainly from Ger
man and American sources, and in
cludes official proclamations and ut
terances of the responsible heads of
the Imperial German government; let
tiers and diaries of German soldiers,
quotations from German newspapers,
and material drawn from the ar
chives of the State Department
which lay bare the story Of incon-
ceivable German atrocities.
The purpose Of the book is to show
that the system of frightfuiness, it.
self the greatest atrocity, is the def
mite policy Of the German Govern
ment, so sinister that German SOL
diers have themselves at times re-
volted. Individual acts of wanton
cruelty and barbaric destruction are
cited only to illustrate the operation
Of the remorseless system.
The book supplements the Bryce
report 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 defense
less people. The book is supplement
tai also to the official reports by the
Belgian Commission and the French
Minister Of Foreign Affairs, and it
reveals more Of the damning German
war philosophy as expressed in the
German White Book and various Of
fetal utterances, extenuating revolt
ing crimes on the grounds of exped-
iency and the advancement of that
"Kultur" which now mocks it's own
name throughout the civilized world.
The humanity Of German soldiers
was so torn by the system Of brutal
ity that they cried out in letters to
Ambassador 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
people, Mr.. Whitlock saying: zone is
so overwhelmed with the horror Of
the thing itself, that it has been, and
even now is, difficult to write calmly
and justly about it."
Herbert Hoover, writing for this
book Of his experiences in Belgium,
says: ''The sight of the destroyed
homes and cities, the widowed and
fatherless, the destitute, the physical
misery Of the people but partially
nourished at best, the deportation of
men by tens Of thousands to slavery
in German mines and factories, the
execution Of men and women for pal
try illusions Of their loyalty to their
country, the sacking Of every re-
source through financial robbery, the
fattening Of armies on the slender
produce of the country, the denuda-
ton Of the country Of cattle, 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 these
are not the events of battle heat, but
the effects of grinding heel Of d
race demanding the mastership If
the world. All these things are known
to the world but what can never be
known is the dumb agony Of the peu-
pie, the expressionless faces Of mil
lions whose souls have passed the
whole gamut Of emotions. And why7
Because these, a free and democrat
ic people, dared plunge their bodies
before the march Of autocracy.
Frederick C. Walcott's description
Of devastated Poland comprehends
the monstrous woes inflicted by the
Prussian system upon those defense
less people.
In statement prepared for the
book, Vernon kellogg said: 81 went
into Belgium and occupied France a
Neutral, and I maintained while there
a steadfastly neutral behavior, but ]
came out no neutral. ]
went in also a hater Of war, but ]
came out a more ardent hater of
war; but, also I came out with in
| eradicable conviction, again, that the
only way in which Germany under
it's present rule and in it's present
state Of mind can be kept from doing
what it has done is by force of
arms"
The book gives excerpts from the
diaries of German soldiers of which
these are specimens: 'In the night of
August 1919 the village Of Saint
| Maurice Was nnnicho1 for HAVING nr