The weekly Alaska citizen., 1917-12-31
,tR1A AN >QLQ|L{,
 Ol .,. EF.. st~
 tv1 |t1LIn UlrLAI

Since the War began many docu nIeuts have been publi5h-d VII. wee found, some on uv.u u4..u p.4.U4. 70, others on GeIuIun .o.u4-4- ..>..... Ill battle. Some mt4u Ho,~UJV.. whore combatants had out uom.. ,.4 :. mp casions, some Were luIL,4a I.J4.. .c4atI eS, reNeanng tho a.,-.-..- v- ,ue people behInd tho .u-o. v. coutoe, there Is dangcI uI vu-4D,. conclusions too widely GeAeIu.Iz~ ~u O.. .ucn isolated and perhaps GAG pOI1I. 4l scraps of evidence. Nevertheless, "uun the evidence emanatea igoIn men of some cultivation and of pIaIu Iy open minds, one can reasOnaD4y 4O4m an OplnIon from it. Such l.. the case with a notebook Captu.Ct. uuung the battle of Champagnc, Ia4, summer It's owner, Hermann GcI- Ken, of Bremen, was, before th, war, a schoolmaster in uonoIulu, engaged there in spreading the doc tIlne ot pan-Germanism.
 The four lines of verse which Gcl. len wrote, as d motto, on the first page of his diary, are indicative 0. nis state of mind:
 Hart ist der krieg.
 Schwer ist der Ieit,
 Unser verde der Sieg,
 Freide sci nicht mehr welt"
 (War is cruel and the time |, hard. Let victory fall to us anu peace come soon).
 It is likely, considering the dat under these verses (Easter, 19I5J, that they were inscribed when Gel Ken, after a long and difficult jou. ney. had joined his regimont, Apr, 1915. They also probably express his feelings in June, 1917, the second date written beneath them. Anu what a contrast they oiicr to tn discoveries you make on turnIn over the pages of the diary. IL i. 4lhe looking on al the rapid and ,Io lent development of an attack |. cOnaCieQCe
 .4elmann Gerken wrote at th1 b shining of his notebook, d. kind . moral rule: German idvaliam is IL great strength of our nation anu T. .,la4unty of our prUdeatindtlOn. h. 4d-aIiam" must have ben a lit chilled by the extremely material JIG manifesto which the pan-German. sent to the chancellor last winter. For, having read their petition, Gel k1n asks, Jan. 31, 1917:
 What Is the government thinkin of?
 All those generals, those counc. ors of sanitation, those privy couL cillors, those manufacturers. lano owners, preachers, editors, etc. can see that their demands, at this tim mean our destruction. They ou8L to be mobilized in two hours, and hours later be put before Verdun Then they would see the difficulties of this war in an utterly differen. light"
 On Feb. 10, after returning. prob ably, from a leave, he states that his faith has received severe shocks.
 T am no longer convinced tha death on the field or any other sac rifice can serve my future or the future of the German people. A! that l saw recently in Germany wa lying and imposture, save only in my own home. If the truth could once come to light it might be I could survive the war"
 This is set down In the small, pre- else writing of pedagogue accus- toned to teaching the elegancies Of German caligraphy, on pages com pletely filled carefully arranged, painstakingly numbered. That, and many other more impressive things
 On Monday. Feb. 5. they have learned of America's declaration Of war.
 We received it." he affirms, with calmness, confidence and even satis-