New-York tribune., 1917-07-25
Famous Dutch Cartoonist
Arrives To Be at Centre
of World Conflict
Would Like to See
Germans Annihilated
Hollander Says Kaiserdom
and Civilization Cannot
Live Together

! lS 4HpOSslDIe, DuL DelleVe tnat IL
would be better for the world if the
Germans-all the Germans-were ex-
terminated"
His mild blue Dutch eyes held no
malice. His voice held no animosity-
only conviction. The slim fingers Of
his right hand-the hand that has been
so dread a foe to the Kaiser and all
aiserdom-beat tattoo upon his
knee.
"Of course. it is impossible" Louis
Raemaekers murmured regretfully.
america Now Centre of War"
The great Dutch cartoonist reached
New York yesterday. He came, he ex-
planned because he wished TO be at the
centre Of gravity Of the war"
at is here now," he said. "You do
not realize, perhaps, but America is
now the pivotal point Of the war-the
centre Of gravity. Formerly 1t was in
England Now it is here"
He is little man, this mighty foe
of Germany, who, by his pictured in
dictments of a nation and an ideal, has
wrought irreparable harm to the most
powerful nation in the world. The face
that hardens only when he speaks Of
Germany is mild in repose, with a red
mottled complexion.
The pleasant mouth that spoke the
Hg.Va la ha
annihiliated is only partly concealed by
a thin yellow mustsche. Below, there
is a tiny chin beard; from the broad
forehead above the yellow hair is re-
ceding.
Hands Never at Rest
He is not nervous, but his hands are
never still-the slim, delicate hands of
the artist Always, as he talks, they
move 1t is as if they were ever eager to
continue the work to which he has
given his life-as if, since they have
begun striking at Germany with their
terrible skill, they have no desire to
rest until the job is done.
These are the hands that first set the
stain Of Belgium upon the escutcheon
of Prussia. They have opened the eyes
Of the neutral world to the horror that
( is German war. They have painted the
hypocrisy and cruelty and treachery
that is Prussia in its true light. They
have drawn the Kaiser, Won Tirpltz,
| Hollweg and the other war lords as
| civilization must learn to see them.
And they belong to man, insignih-
cant in stature, mild Of face, rather
/ shy in manner and yet fighter for all
that men hope TO preserve-a hard, pit
ter, unreenting warrior from his little
feet, in their gray spats, to the thinning
hair Of his round head.
Had Many German Friends
"Many of my best friends have been
! German" he continued. my mother
! herself is German. My uncle was an
| officer in the German army. | know
them well. That is why ! am certain
that they must be beaten until every
bone is broken; that they must be
| trampled upon until their national
spirit Is shattered.
| Long before the war ! knew what
was going TO happen when 1t came, for
! knew them. Germans have two souls.
| One is the one with which they meet
! their friends, with which they live.
The other is the one that they devote
to the nation. They have been schooled
from the time they were children to do
what the nation required, no matter
how dirty and mean it might be.
There is nothing of the fanatic in
his condemnation of the nation against
whom he has been waging private war
for three years. But he speaks with
the sober authority Of absolute convic-
tion. You feel that his antagonism to
Germany is not hatred, but religion
"a work 10 which he had dedicated his
life. When you talk to him he appears
not as newspaper cartoonist, not en-
tirely al a hard vengeful fighter, but as
a prophet as well-a Peter the Herml.
OF crayon and drawing ink.
Saw War for Ten Years
Germany" he explained. says,
Think as ! do, or | will make you
She also SAYS, 4 understand all peoples,
but no one can understand me-"
Germans believe that they are or
dained of God to rule the world. They
arc convinced that they are hundreds
Iof miles above the rest of mankind. As
long as they hold this belief the world
lcgnnot live with them. As long as they
subordinate their own souls 70 the dc
n,,rds Of their nation, either they or
civilization must Succumb.
"Wben | first went 20 England he
,ro,t on. "thev did not like my cartoons.
l1bey were too bloody, too horrible, they
said. No one believed that war could
be like that. ,
"Since then" ne added, after pause,
"tbey have changed their minds. l
knew. For ten years before the war
began ! knew
Life Continually Threatened
He has painted and drawn the horror
~ Rolcium in a hundred different
forms. But no atrocity that ne mas de-
Iinested is anything but actual tact
All tho terrible pictures arc based on
ers, hand information from eyewit-
nesses lie has never seen the Kaiser
All of his pictures are drawn without
rnodeIs the vivid, lifelke figures
snr;nging from brain on IRE with the
inspiration of battle.
Nor has the bitter warfare that ne
has waged been all one-sided. Continu-
sIly for three years his life mas oeen
threatened. c -o.o
N INV mother that | would never dare
20 set foot in Germany again ne re-
lated. ale prophesied wen, unp,eats.
ant things for me II ever crossed '"e
tiers have come 20 him promis-
i,a ali sorts Of uncomfortable deaths
for himself and family
AIways Goes Armed
81 have always gone armed. ne sara.
"put | have not worried. nose WHO
o;,c 10 kill you do not tell about
arc FO,s Fso,e hand. And besides. he added.
.udden hard note IN his voice,
~ no. 80 sure that ! would not
bave shot first