The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1918-12-05

formation he referred to. In nearly
every case, It appeared. the kaiser's in
formants were misleading him.
Both before and after we entered
the war the kaiser was thoroughly con-
vinced that we could play only a nom
inal part In 1t so far as man power
was concerned and his assurance on
that point undoubtedly accounted for
his decision to carry through his sub
marine program even though 1t re-
suited In bringing us into the var
do you realize how many tons of
shipping It takes to ship a single SOL
dier2" he asked me on one occasion.
1 confessed my ignorance On that
point.
"Well, It takes six tons ~ the man!
To send over an army Of 50O.0OO men,
therefore. your country would require
100000 tons Of shipping In addition
to the tonnage required for regular
traffic. Where Is It coming from, with
my submarines sinking the allied YES
sells faster than they can ever be re-
placed? MY U-boats are doing Won
derful work and we are prepared to
take care Of oil the troops America
may try to land In France"
"How foolish for America to have
come into the war;" he went on. IF
she could succeed in landing q real
nrmy In France. what good would II
dor America can see how easy twas
for me to break through and to cap
ture SOC. 900 Of the ItalianS. and they
must realize that I can break through
on the western front and do the same
thing there. II America had kept out
Of the war she would have gone on
making untold profits and when peace
was finally declared she would have
been In a most enviable position
| among the nations Of the world. As II
Is, Wilson will never have a seat at
the peace table II I ri help 1t, and
now America shall have to pay all the
costs Of the warr Evidently he imag-
ined that his triumph would be SO
complete that there would be no peace
table, but that the warning nations
would be compelled to accept the
terms he offered them. in which event,
knowing the ~magnanimity Of the Ger
man makeup, l should say the world
ut large would have to be content with
very little. (
How the kaiser feels now that the
failure OF the U-boats to intercept
American troop ships must be pain
fully apparent to him, and Amer1ca
has SO overwhelmingly overcome the
shortage of shipping. I i don't know, but
It is more than probable that for some
time to come the real situation will, al
any rate. be successfully concealed
from the German people. / know tina
the failure of the U-boat campaign wa
unknown to the Germans up to tn
time l left Berlin--in January, 1913.
While the kaiser and the Germans
generally felt confident that we woult
never be able to send many mel
across. they protested to feel littl
concern even II we did.
According TO some of the German of
fcers with whom I spoke, even II "
landed 100000 men In France
would not be enough to break tn
deadlock, as the Germans were takini
q similar number of trained troop
from the Russian front. The onl,
menace of American participation Il
the war lay In the possibility that W
might add considerably to the allie
air strength. Man power alone. the
~contended, would neve; be sufficient I
help the allies much. but overwhelmin
superiority In the air might occas.o
the Germans some annoyance.
The kaiser himself had but a poo
opinion Of the fighting qualities Of tn
American soldier SO far as modern wa
requirements are concerned.
1.-THE American soldier would POI
sibly give a good account Of himsel
In open fighting" he declared, but b
Ii not built for the kind Of warfare b
will encounter In France. He lach
. the stolidity to endure life In tn
trenches. He Is, too high-strung an
1 couldn't stand the inactive life whic
; Is such an Important part Of moder
. warfare. Besides. he lacks disciplir
and trained officers"