The Kadoka press and Kadoka reporter. [volume] (Kadoka, S.D.) 1910-1923, 1917-12-21

Empercr Himself.
pamphlet just issued by the Com
mittee on Public Information tells of
the horrors deliberately and systemat-
ieally inflicted upon the people of Bel
eium by the German soldiers. under
the orders of their commanding Off
GERS. Quotations given are from docu-
nnents already made public or in the
| possession of the government at Wash
! inpton.
! For many years leaders in every civ
/ ilized nation have been trying TO make
warfare less brutal. The great land
! marks in this movement are the Ge-
neva and Hague conventions. The for
mer made rules as 10 the care Of the
sick and wounded and established the
Red Cross. At the first meeting at Ge
neya, in 1864, il was agreed, and until
the present war it has been taken for
granted, that the wounded, and the doc
tors and nurses who cared for them
would be safe from all attacks by the
enemy The Hague conventions.
drawn up in 1899 and 1907. made addi-
! tiOnal rules to soften the uSageS of war
and especially TO protect noncombat-
ants and conquered lands. Germany
took prominent part in these meet
IngS, and with the ether nations sol
emnly pledged her faith to keep all the
rules except one article in the Hague
regulations. This was article A,
which forbade the cOnqueror 10 force
any OF the conquered to give informa-
tion. All the other rules and regula-
tionS she accepted in the most binding
manner.
But Germany's military leaders had
no intention Of keeping these solemn
promises They had been trained
along different lines. Their leading
generals for many years had been urg-
ing policy of frightfulness. In the
middle Of the nineteenth century Won
Clausewitz was looked upon rs the
greatest military authority, and the
methods which he advocated were used
by the Prussian army in its successful
Ivy the PruSSian army in It's successful
rause these wars had been successful
the wisdom Of Won Clausewitz' meth
ods seemed to the PruSsian army to be
fully proved.
Policy of Frightfulness.
Now. the essence Of Won C!auSewitz'
teachings was that successful war in
wolves the ruthless application OF force.
In the opening chapter Of his master
work. "Vom Kricge" ("On War;, he
says:
"Violence arms itself with the inven-
tIons Of art and science Self
imposed restrictions almost impercep-
riEle and hardly worth mentioning,
termed usages of international law,
accompany II without essentially i'm
pairing its power. Now, philan-
,hropic souls might easily imagine that
there is skillful method of diSarm-
Ing or subduinG an enemy without
causing too much bloOdshed, and that
this is the true tendency Of the art Of
war. However plausible this may ap-
pear. still it is an error which must be
destroyed for in such dangerous
things as war, the errors which pro
ceed from spirit OF 'good-natured-
ness are precisely the worst. As the
use Of physical force 10 the utmost eX-
tent by no means excludes the CO.
operation Of the intelligence, II follows
that ne who uses force ruthlessly. with
out regard To blOodShed, must obtain
superiority, if his enemy does not
so use IT,"
In 1S77-7S. in the course Of series
Of articles upon Military Necessity
l.,
wrote. I'm the same spirit as Won Clau-
Sewtz:
"The enemy state must not he spared
the want and wretchednesS OF war
these are particularly useful in shat
tering it's energy and Suhduing it's will"
'Tudividual persons may be harshy
dealt with when an example is made
of them. intended 70 serve as warn
ing. Whenever natlonal war
breaks out terrorism becomes . nee
essary military principle" at Is II
gratuitous Illusion to suppose that
modern war does not demand far more
brutality. far more violence. and an
action far more general than was for
meriy the case" when international
war has hurst upon us. terrorism be
comes principle made necessary by
military considerations"
"War Established by God"
In 1881 Won Moltke. who had been
commander in chief Of the Pruesian
ormv In the Franco Prussian war, de
clared:
perpetual peace is dream and not
even a beautiful dream. War is an ele-
ment in the order Of the world estah-
ished by God. BY Il the most noble
virtues Of man are developed. courage
and renunciation, fidelity 10 duty and
the spirit Of sacrifce-the soldier gives
his ufe. without war. the world would
degenerate and lose itself In material
ism" "The soldier who endures suf-
tering. privation and fatigue. who
I courts dangers, cannot take only in
proportion TO The resources OF the
COUNTY. He must take all that i1 nee