Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1917-09-26
BASE GERMAN ATROCITIES.
Searching Arrangement Made by Con-
gresham Dale.

delivered in the House by Congress-
man Dale of Vermont:
Mr.. Chairman, l most cordially
agree with the gentleman from Ken
lucky (Mr. Sherley), who has in his
very clear style impressed upon this
committee the necessity of raising
revenue to prosecute this war even
though there are objections from
some sources.
I have asked the House to indulge
me for just few minutes in touching
upon a phase Of this great warfare
that has been brought very keenly to
our attention during the past few
days. That is the attack upon the
American base hospitals, in which the
first among our forces in France have
been k iied-four men killed, four
others seriously wounded and MANNED
for life, and five others moderately
| wounded.
Mr. Chairman, this organization in
which they are serving represents the
most effective effort Of humanity to
lessen the horror Of war. It is q
branch of the military establishment
based on the broadest sense of COM
passion in these recent times. To it's
insignia no human heart has ever re-
! sDonded in hate. Under the banners
=
has passed on the pledge Of civilized
nations that the Red Cross in the
white field must not be rent by shot
or shell. Any belligerent who at this
time attacks that system not only ig-
nores the common ethics of war, but
strikes below the belt and becomes
contemplate.
Why, gentlemen, this organization
was established by twelve great Eur
opean nations. At it's creation its
articles were signed by Prussia and
! later Germany pledged its faith to it.
The first liberal donor was that bene-
fcent woman, still living, at thought
of whom one seems to hear clear
pure tone among all these sweet bells
! tangled out Of tune-Louise of Baden,
daughter Of Wilhelm I, once king Of
Prussia and Emperor Of Germany.
In the TrancO-PruSsian war the
first blood that flowed from German
soldiers was staunched by Red Cross
! nurses, and over all the magnificent
castles Of the grand duchess, turned
by her into hospitals, flOated with the
scarlet and gold of Baden the red and
white Of that great international So
ciety To these fields and hospitals,
to help care for these soldiers as the
patron of the grand duchess, went
that incompatible American woman,
Clara Barton. In 1887, when Miss
Barton went again to Germany as
president of the American Red Cross
and as the appointed delegate Of the
United States to the international
Red Cross convention at Carlsruhe,
she was received by the aged emperor
with the assurance that Germany well
coined all those who were engaged in
the great work of humanity.
These are some of the reasons-and
l have time to mention only few
why the Red Cross had a particular
confidence in the protection of the
German government, a confidence
akin to that which a faithful child
bears toward it's natural parent. The
ruin of that confidence was fright
full price to pay for a little wider
spread of frightfulness. And there is
deep significance in the fact that
the first to die among our troops in
France fell under the emblem that
the assailing foe was pledged by in
ternational covenant to pass unharm-
ed. 1t is because of acts like this, be-
cause of the violation of all interna-
tional covenants by the imperial gov
eminent many times repeated, on sea
and land, that she has lost the one
time deep friendliness of this govern
ment toward her. That is a reason
why we are in this war, and it is
madman's price for any nation to pay
for little wider spread Of frightful-
mes.
1t has been proclaimed that we
have no enmity toward the German
people. That is true respecting them
in common with all peoples of the
earth. But by its conduct of affairs
a nation makes character, a person
ality, and by that created essence
takes its place in civilization. From
her once high and honorable state, by
her own Infamous use of strength and
very culture, Germany has sunk her
self in the ranks of humanity until
the kindest word that may be spoken
Of her is pity. The glory inherited
from the past this generation has
flung away and left but odium for it's
children. 1t surrendered to fright
fulness at the price of reason, and
thereafter hideous madness drove it
on. Because of this, the one place at
which cruelty paused before agony
and the majesty of war perceived in
helplessness a right divine has been
defled, and the red cross, emblem Of
the immortal soul in the white field of
civiliZati ton, once the mark of immuni-
ty, is now the target for assault, and
for the safety of those whom it would
protect it must be blotted from the
sight of the nameless ignominy that
spies upon it.
Does there exist somewhere a no.
ton that brave men and women will
fail in their devotion to stricken SOL
diers because the emblem of their SER
vice is no longer a shield from in
fanny? l saw a few weeks since a
complete refutation of that in the de-
termined faces of contingent of
young men leaving our shores for one
of these very hospitals that have re-
Gently been attacked. There was no
ment The gate to the piers was
closed and guarded as the boat that
brought them down the river quietly