Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-04-02

raging of women and the mutation of the bodies of
the innocent victims-these and unspeakable crimes
have been committed by German troops not IN rare
instances but repeatedly, wherever Prussian heel
has clanged not upon the impulse of drunken SOL
diery but at the nsgation of officers and as cal
culated part of the German Governments program
of frightfulness
These not matters of rumor or hearsay;
they attested by thousands of eye-witnesses by
tangible evidence preserved by the French and Bel
gian Governments, and in numerous cases by Ger
mans themselves. In the diary of Private Karl
Scheufele. of the Third Bavarian Regiment of Land
wehr Infantry. is a description of the burning of
the village of Ssint-Maurice on the night of August
Is, 1914
THE village was surrounded men posted
about yard from one another so that no one
could get out Then the Uhlans set fire to it.
house by house. Neither man. woman nor
child could escape; only, the greater part Of
the live stock carried of. as that could be
used. Any who ventured to out
shot down. All the inhabitants left in the
village were burnt with the houses"
This is among unnumbered instances of
what the Huns call ACKNOWLEDGMENT, that is,
systematic terrorism, which spares neither fresde
altar in its plan of conquest through mortal
fear To the development of this black system, the
Huns have marshaled all their Wanted eff
cheney and it is just that which renders their
course so intellectually criminal The cruelty of a
savage however terrible it may be. is less revolving
than the crueItv of q priestv Inouistor The
' worlds indictment of German miitarism is not
simply for savagery, but for making a science and
a business of savagery. 1t is typical of the Prus-
sian character that the Uhlans who burnt the vii
lage of Saint-Maurice carefully drove out the live
stock before applying the torches that were to
claim human victims. Cattle and swine could be
used" as Private Scheufele wrote; women and
children and aged but encumbrance.
And SOTO the flames with them!
We get another glimpse into this efficiency
through the following excerpts from diaries of
German soldiers, reproduced in Bediers thoroughly
authentic work, German Atrocities"
The inhabitants fled through the village.
Blood was spattered on all the houses. and as
for the faces of the dead, they were hideous.
Among them were many old men and women,
and one woman about to be delivered.
There were three children who had huddled
close to one another and had died together.
I'VE got into the property of well-to-do in
habitant, by breach effected in the rear, and
we occupied the house. There was the body of
the owner the floor. inside our men de-
stroyed everything. Outside, in the
country, the sight of the villagers who had
been shot defes all description The
safe was Quilted and its contents divided
among the men. All securities were torn up"
The Huns call this ACKNOWLEDGMENT. But
the morally sane world calls it MURDER AND
ROBBERY. e-sa- 'A'
The sinking OF the Lusftania and the Staying of
Edith Cavell are but outstanding tragedies amongst
tens of thousands of brutal acts committed in the
name of KuItur and sanctioned by German leader
ship. In Belgium, in France, in Serbia, in Poland,
in Lithuania, wherever the armies of the Kaiser
have gone runs the CHASTITY trail of German ruth
Iessness. 1t American commission that re-
ported concerning the atrocities of Hindenburgs
troops in Lithuana: "It was a terrible time for
girls. These poor creatures, some only fourteen
years of age, were stripped of all clothing, then
publicly Observation-Disclosures murdered. Many
mothers with tears in their eyes, told the delegates
how their young daughters were dragged away,
while they (the mothers) knet before soldiers and
officers, kissing their hands and beseeching for the
lives OF their loved ones" It is from official re-
ports, too. that gather the following incident
which occurred at Malines during the German occu-
patton:
"A child OF two came into the street as
eight German soldiers marching by.
soldier in the second. file stepped aside and
drove his bayonet into the chid's stomach
He lifted the child into the air on his bayo-
net and carried it away he and hts COM
panions still singing. The child screamed
when the soldier struck it with his bayo-
net but not afterwards"
Persons there who think that America
ought not to have entered the against this
hideous barbarism. There United States SEN
ators who persistently upheld the German cause
as against the Allied and who even opposed
| the assertion and defense of American rights
| when German terrorism was turned against our
own people There are other United States Sen
ators who, after having voted for declaration of
| war did their obdurate utmost to delay and de-
feat the essential to its effective pros
| ecution. Let these derive what satisfaction
| they can from having supported the Kaiser
against the President, for their day of reckon
ing is near. Who thinks that American troops
should not be fighting shoulder to shoulder with
| the French and English in this conflict whose
| issue hang democracy and civilization itself? A
| few slackers few pro-Germans and few Sen
ators.
But as for the great rank and file of Geor-