American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1918-11-05

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French army was so poorly equipped.
1t was pointed out, that the officers
had to go TO the field In patent-leather
boots, and on the Russian front, only
the first-line men had guns, the others
being armed with clubs
Eventually, officers and soldiers re-
turning from the western front on fur
Tough or passing through the country
en- route from one front to the other
brought the report Of the defeat before
Paris. Soldiers who participated In
that disastrous retreat wrote from the
new trenches to their friends and rel
atives telling of the terrible expert
ences they had undergone, when they
went for days with nothing to eat but
raw potatoes and turnips which they
picked from the fields.
When these reports finally spread
through Germany the people began to
realize that their generals in the west
were not meeting with the same success
that Won Hindenburg had had in the
east and Won Hindenburg became the
idol of the people Immediately, a fact
that was very distasteful to the high
command.
The kaiser's dislike of Won linden
burg was of long standing. He had
never forgiven that general for the mis-
take he made during military maneuv
ers in peace time when by a brilliant
stroke of strategy he had succeeded in
capturing the kaiser's forces, including
the kaiser and his whole staffl
have referred in a previous chapter
to the kaiser's unbounded confidence
after the Italian collapse in 1917.
"Now, we've got the allies !" he ex-
claimed, with an air of conclusiveness
which emphasized the optimism he
displayed.
After the capture of Roumania, he
exhibited a similar degree Of exulta-
ton. He believed that in that achieve
ment he had successfully solved the
food p~roblem-the one cloud which
constantly darkened the kaiser's hori-
zon.
"Now the allies will never succeed in
starving u.s." he said to me In my Of
fee shortly after the Roumanian drive.
with Roumania in our pockets and
Servia already ours, their wonderful
agricultural possibilities will supply
our food needs and foil our enemies
efforts to starve US. Indeed, they had
better look out for themselves. Don't
forget we have a monopoly on the
potash mines Of the world. Without
proper fertilization. American crops
will go on decreasing and decreasing
and they won't get any potash until we
get ready to let them have itr'
The failure of the Zeppelins from a
military standpoint was undoubtedly q
great disappointment to the German
people at large, who had counted so
much upon them to bring disaster to
England, but 1t cannot be said that the
kaiser shared their chagrin. On the
contrary, 1 have reason to believe that
he never expected very much from that
arm of his military force except as II
might be useful to terrorize the civil
population.
A day or two after Zeppelin's death,
in 1917, a patient of mine. a lady, hap
pened to remark that it was too bad
that the count had not lived to see the
triumph of his invention, and when
saw the kaiser shortly afterwards
repeated her remark to see what he
would say.
II am convinced that the count lived
long enough to see all that the Yep
pelins were capable of accomplishing
was his only comment. 1t recalled the
answer he had given me some years
before when both Zeppelins and air
planes were in their infancy and l had
asked him which held the greater
promise. 1--WE do not know. Time
alone will tell" was his reply.
} The last time l conversed with the
kaiser was on November 90, 1917. W
to that time we had sent over 10000
troops, according to the figures which
have since been revealed by Secretary
/ Baker. According to the kalser's in.
{ formation, however, we had only 30,
r 900 men in France at that time anC
he was of the opinion that we would
never have many more.
america is having a fine time try.
ing to raise an army he declared
| sa%tirically. Il hear that 1000 mutiniet
[ the other day in New York and re
fused to get on a transport, and 6
town in the Northwest composed prin
cipally of citizens of Swedish blood
refused to register at ALL We are get
2 ting excellent information about al
| conditions in America"
Shortly before this had come the rev
pIatiOnS from Washington of the in
2 trigue of Count o Luxburg, the Ger
man minister to Argentina, and knew
. where the kaiser was getting the in
formation he referred to. In nearly
5 every case, it appeared, the kaiser's in
tormants were misleading him.
: Both before and after we entered
the war the kaiser was thoroughly con
vinced that we could play only a nom
2 lnal part in it so far as man power