The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1918-01-03
Review of German War Practices

Some of the blacklist pages in all
history, comprising a documentary
record of the "deeds that make n
despair of the future of the human
race" r found in a book named
German War Practices" which has
just been issued at the Government
Printing Office by the Committee on
Public Information for free distribu-
ton. 1t is edited by Prof. D. C. Mum
70, of Princeton, and other scholars.
The dumbfounding evidence which
this book presents to the jury of man
kind is drawn. mainly from German
and American sources, and includes
official proclamations and .%utterances
of the responsible heads of the Imper==.
ial German Government, letters and
diaries of German =. soldiers, quota
tions from German newspapers, and
material drawn from the archives of
the State Department which lay bare
the story of i~nconceivable German
atrocities.
The. purpose of the book is to show
that the system Of frightfulness, it..
self the greatest atrocity, is the def:
mite policy: Of the German Govern
ment, SO sinister that German soldiers
have themselves at times revolted. In
.dividual acts of wanton cruelty. and
barbaric destruction are cited only to:
illustrate the operation Of the re-
morseless system.
The book supplements the Bryce
report which was the first official sur
vey Of the path Of horror, ruin, and
death left by the German army on the
lands of innocent and d~efenseless peo-
pie. The book is supplemental also
to the official reports by the Belgian
Commission and the French Minister
Of Foreign Affairs, and it reveals
more of the damning German wal
philosophy as expressed in the Ger
man White Book and various official
utterances, extenuating revolving
crimes on the grounds of expediency
and the advancement Of that "Kul-
tur''' which now mocks it's own name
throughout the civilized world. The
humanity Of German soldiers was so
torn by the system Of brutality that
they cried out in letters to Ambassa-
dor Gerard, one expressing his protest
against the slaughter Of the Russians
in the Masurian lakes and swamps by
saying, There is no God, there is no
morality, and no ethics any more;
there are no human beings any more,
but only beasts"
The Illuminating reports Of Brand
Whitlock, Minister to Belgium, tell Of
miseries inflicted upon the Belgian
people, Mr.. Whitlock saying: Zone is
80 overwhelmed with the horror of the
thing itself, that it has been, and ev-
en- now is, difficult to write calmly
and justly about it,
Herbert Hoover, writing for this
book Of his experiences in Belgium,
says: 1.-THE sight Of the destroyed
homes and cities, the widowed and
fatherless, the destitute, the physical
misery Of the people but partially
nourished Ut best, the deportation Of
men by tens Of thousands to slavery
IN German mines and factories, the
execution Of men and women for pal
try efusions Of their loyalty to their
country, the sacking Of every resource.
through financial robbery, the fatten-5
ing 81 CRIMES on thes lender produce
q the country, the d~enudation of the
.countrJs III cattle, horses and textiles
III these things W. Ind % witness.
Sdp1nb sto help other fhan by profess
synpathys driag ~ - ~