The Brunswick news. [volume] (Brunswick, Ga.) 1906-2016, 1917-06-27
WHEN GENTLEMEN GO TO WAR.

INST tol the blood and the property o
the neighbors expressed itself in tn,
introduction of every conceivabl,
crime into warfare IAN officer anC
gentleman" was an expression which
was not without meaning and an off
Ger might not be guilty of conduc
unbecoming a gentleman. says the
Louisville Courier-Journal
In Americas revolution there were
occasional crimes. Men guilty OF
them were rebuked and punished by
officers. In the civil war the same
thing was true. "Monstrous crimes
in literature of the reconstruction pc
riod dealing with the war were such
acts of vandalism as running a sword
through an oil painting or injuring a
piano in an invaded southern home.
If the daughter of the house had al
lowed her intended" to conceal him
self in the garnet or cellar she feared
that she would betray the secret of
his presence by nervousness or by
some ill-guarded remark. and that he
would be taken prisoner. She was
not afraid that the Yankee officers
would murder the prisoner or subject
the women of the household to in
suits or mistreatment, and then or
der their men to chop down all of
the fruit trees on the place, burn the
residence and barn and kill the farm
animals.
There was time when a crow did
not cross the Shenandoah without
his rations, and there was
march to the sea, but
there is no record of a policy of mis-
treating women and non-combatants
and of destroying Systematically not
merely food and feed which could
serve an army, but also fruit trees
and buildings which had no military
off
stood for the deliberate poisoning of
wells. a part of the Prussian policy
n France he would have been il
amous the rest of his life. Theft
IF private property by officers was
as a crime. and was almost
1nheard OF. 1t is a common thing for
German officers to carry off the entire
contents of French chateaux as per-
;onal loot.
There have been many reports of
German submarine crews jeering at
browning passengers and members
If the crews of torpedoed steamers.
When the Spanish warship Almirante
lquendo was sinking, in the Spanish
American war and American sailors
'heered the hauling down of the
Spanish flag. the commander of the
Texas said to his men: Don't cheer
The poor devils are dying" Contrast
he sentiment with the German cele-
)ration of the sinking of the Lusi
.ania.
The mere existence of the familiar
.erm "civilized warfare" indicates
clearly a worldwide recognition of
commonly accepted, be-
tween the warfare conducted under
the direction Of Officers and gentle
men, and that conducted between
ferocious and conscienceless leaders
of barbarous or savage hordes. No
such difference between civilized and
warfare has been admit
ted, recognized or praCticed by the
Germans in the present war.
Fortunately for the world, the "of-
ficer and gentleman" still is the lead.
er of men in other nations than Prus-
sianized Germany. The allies never
could be guilty OF duplicating German
atrocities When this war has ended
by the victory of the allies, the one
enlightened power capable OF such
enormities will be put in leash and
savage warfare conducted with the
aid of modern military science viii
not be a menace of the future, as it
would be if Prussan peace should
end the war