The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1918-10-12
SID SAYS:
It Was the United States Of
America That Yelled Down
That Stairway, Mr..
German Major.
BY JOHN M. SIDDALL,
Editor of the American Magazine.

Editor of the American Magazine.
l have just had q talk with Floyd
Gibbons, the famous war correspond
ent of The Chicago Tribune who push
ed so far to the front for news that a
German machine gun peppered him in
the arm and side and put out n
of his eyes.
"Tell me about u boys over there"
I said. To which Gibbons replied.
"Well, listen to his true story of
a German major who was taken pris-
oner by the Americans. We asked
him for his impressions of Americans
as fighters. He said that he knew
nothing whatever about the fighting
qualities of the Americans. He added,
however, in perfect English, that he
had found them extremely persua-
sive."
"Then he described exactly how he
was captured. He said that during a
terrific barrage delivered by the AL
lies he was in an underground COM
partment with forty-two wounded
German soldiers. When the barrage
ceased the Americans came over. The
German majors first look at an Amer
lean soldier came when one of Our
boys, a private, appeared at the open
ing to the underground compartment.
The very thought of hat fresh pri-
yate with his undignified informal
manner seemed to have gotten the
very goat of the major. For, accord
ing to the major, the private appeared
with a hand grenade in each hand
and his tin hat pushed back On his
head. Armed and rugged in that
manner he looked down the stairs into
the face of the German major and
yelled at him:
"'Come out of there, you Dutch
blankety blank-or I'll spill a whole
basket full of these things ON top of
your beam
"NO, sir, there was not the sign of
a smile on the majors face as he
told it. Not a trace of humor was
in him. Just plain disgust. The very
idea of taking a prisoner that way
and a high and mighty major at
that!"
There you have the difference be-
tween the United States and Germany
in a nutshell. 1t is the difference be-
tween a free people and a people who
get down on their knees and bow
and scrape before the idea of author
ity. 1t is the difference between a
people who stand up and express their
real thoughts and a people who sup
press them.
The private was splitting hand gre
nades, but he was also Spilling his
mind-in the good old American way
exactly as he spills it on the street
cars or at a ball game or at the fac
tory. This does not imply that he
does not know how to obey. Look
how he is obeying in the world to-
day! But just because he obeys is
no reason why he should give up the
right to think for himself and to
speak what is in his mind, in the Ian
guage that is in his mind. He de-
livered himself as he is-without fear
and without disguise.
The war is a war between these
two ideas-and Germany was doomed
the minute she found herself lined up
against a nation that produces that
kind of men. Because, with the free
dom of speech so comically illustrated
in this story, there goes a freedom of
action that sweeps everything before
it. Men who are free to think for
themselves and speak for themselves
also act for themselves. They de-
velop amazing self-reliance. If their
leaders are killed or injured those
below them have the initiative to
gather up their forces and go forward.
They do it here at home and they are
doing it over there.
The United States is a country
where human beings learn to travel
under their own power-without the
aid of tugs or other towing machines.
The private who captured that ma
jor SO impudently would step right
up and collar Hindenburg. lie only
wishes he could get the chance! Buy
Liberty Bonds-and make his job
easier.