The twice-a-week Twin Falls times. (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1916-1918, 1917-08-23
THE REAL GERMAN SPIRIT


of the spirit and purpose of German
rulers in beginning and continuing
the present war TO convince any rea-
sonable person not only of the right
but of the necessity that the United
States join the armed opposition
thereto. However, this may be, the
statements of Mr.. Frederick c. Wal
colt, member of the American Relief
Commission, will be found very illumi-
native. Mr.. Walcott's duties brought
him in close touch with German head
quarters, and in an address recently
delivered upon What the Prussian
System Stands For" Mr.. Walcott said:
One day I was talking with Gov
ernor General Won Kissing, a willy
old officer developed in this system,
brought up by this philosophy that
knows no law, that believes the state
is supreme, that the individuals,
whether German or otherwise, are
simply so much human material to
be dealt with like brick and NOR
tar, and l asked: Governor, what
would you do if this relief system
broke DOWN."
THAT, Mr.. Walcott, is very sim
pie; we have had it all worked
out for weeks, because we have
expected it TO break down for a
long time. In thirty or sixty days
starvation would grip these people.
Starvation is a terrible force, and we
would use that to force out of Bel
GUM the skilled workmen-Of whom
there are many thousand, drive them
int n To-.
working men, so that they in turn
could go to the front and join the |
colOrs to fight against the English and
the French. We would move hundreds |
of thousands of others as rapidly as
our railway transportation would al
low down into the southeast into Me
sopotamia. All that land needs is irri-
cation works. and we have very inn
portant irrigation works planned We
could COLOMBO that country down there
and bring water there, and it would
blossom like the rose. The weak peo-
pie, the old and the young. we would
concentrate back of the English and
French lines; we would put firing
squads back of them, and we would
force them through those lines so
that the English and French could
take care of them. Then the Ger
man people could overflow into this
rich, fertile country and inhabit it.
Don't you see that when at the end
of the war we may have to give up
Belgium, give back her liberty. she
automatically becomes German PROV
incel' And with a cunning smile on
his crafty face he said: "And we
need the port of Antwerp. 1t is what
we want. what we need" This is
fvpioa1 Princeton, rooccpfr~. +l,o.,
ughly practical, absolutely direct and
simple, as all their reasoning is
Mr. Walcott being sent to Poland
sought to negotiate a method of ar
resting starvation in that worse than
Belgium stricken land. Securing an
agreement from the Germans he
went to England and obtained the
concurrence of the British cabinet
In this connection Mr. WaIcott's
testimony continues with the follow
ing shocking and almost unbelievable
statement of facts
"But when I got back to Poland so
much time had elapsed, and starvation
had become so useful a thing that the
Germans finally refused to agree to
the arrangements which we had made
Now, how does the Prussian mind
react to that condition: what does the
Prussian officer think about il all?
One day a Pole brought me a poster
and translated il for me. This proc
lamation made it a misdemeanor for
any Pole to give to any able-bodied
Pole who had declined to go into Ger
many to work, any food. Think of the
scientific cruelty of that.-putting It
up to you as the head Of family to
deliberately leave your family in star
walton and go into Germany to re-
place a German workman who would
fight your country There YOU would
be kept in a barbed-wire barricade
with an armed guard to keep you
from escaping, with one blanket to
sleep in on the factory floor at night:
knowing that the money that you
earned would be taken for the food
that YOU ate, and knowing in adj
vance that you could never commu-
nicate with your family.
When l learned these facts I was
boiling over with indignation, and ]
took it up with Governor General von
Beseley. 7 said: Governor. are these
the facts?" He said: IT don't know; J
have signed so many of those procla.
nations that 1 don't know what
have signed. But you take it over tC
the governor of the Warsaw district
and he will give you the fact"
rushed over to his office, and I said
General can this be true?" He said
Eyes, those are the facts" There
was no use in my arguing.-I was
probably the only foreign civilian II
that whole country. I got up, anC
said: General, l can't discuss this
thing with you; there is no use of my
talking about it. I didn't believe tina
could be true of any civilized natior
in the world" And I started to wall
out. The general said: Hold on {
minute. want to talk to you abou
it. We don't put your Interpretation
...n.. Ahnf We rrnnncn 70 ncn cfnr,Ln