The daily Alaskan., 1918-02-02

ism" "The soldier who endures suf- fering, privation and fatigue, wEo courts dangers, cannot take only Hn proportion to the resources of the country He must take all that is nee eSSary to his existence. One has no right to demand of him anything super human" "The great good in war Is that 1t should be ended quickly. In view of this. every means. except those which are positively cOndemnable, must be permitted. I cannot, in any way, agree with the declaration of St. Petersburg when it pretends that the weakening of the military forces of the enemy constitutes the only legitimate method of procedure in war. No! One must attack all the resources of the enemy government, his finances, his railroads, his stock of provisions and even his prestige. ."
 Many other examples might be cited from the writings of German generals. The very best illustration of this atti- tude, however Is to he found in the emperOr's various speeches, and eSpe- cially in his speech to his soldiers on the eve of their departure for China in 1900. On July 2 the kaiser went to Bremerhaven to bid farewell to the German troops. As they were drawn up, ready to embark for China, he ad- dressed to them a last official message from the fathcrland. The local news paper reported his speech in full. In it appeared this advice and admOniton from the emperor, the commander m chief of the army. the head of all Ger many:
 Soldiers Told to Be MerciIe5s.
 "As soon as you come to blows with the enemy he will be beaten. No mercy will be shown! No prisoners will be taken. As the Huns. under King At tila, made q name for themselves, which is still mighty in traditions and legends today, may the name of Ger man be so fixed in China by your deeds, thut no Chinese shall ever again dare even to look at q German aSkance. .. Open the way for Kultur once for. all
 Even the imperial councillors seem to have been shocked at the emperors speech, and efforts were promptly made to suppress the circulation of his exact words. The efforts were only partly successful. A few weeks later when the letters from the German sol diers in China were being published, in local German papers, the leading socialist newspaper, Vorwaerts, eX- cerpted from them reports of atroci- ties under the title~ "LetterS of tn" Huns" Many of the leaders in the relchstag felt very kCenly the brutality of the emperOr'S speech. The ObnoX- ious word Huns" had excited almost universal condemnation. When the reichStag met. in November, the speech was openly discussed. Herr Liebcr of the center Catholic party). after quot ing the mo mercy portion of the speech, added, "There are, alas, in Ger many groups enough who have regard ed the atrocities told in the letters which have been published as the duti- ful response of soldiers so addressed and encouraged" The leader of the social democrats, Herr Rebel, spoke even more pointedly. Toward the end of a two-hOur address on the atrocities committed by the German soldiers in China and on the speech of the em- peror. he said:
 If Germany wishes to be the bearer of civilization to the world, we will follow without contradiction. But the ways and means in which this world policy has been carried on thus far, in which 1t has been defined ny the em- peror are not, ill our opinion, the way to preserve the world position of Germany, to gain for Germany the respect of the world
 The consequences of the emperOr'S speech Rebel aptly describedI
 By 1t the signal was given garbed in the highest authority of the German empire. which must have most weighty consequences, not only for the troops who went to China but also for those who stayed at home. An expedition of revenge so barbarouS as this has never occurred in the last hundred years and not often in history; nj leat. nothing worse than this has hap rey 4d in history, either done by the r .ns, by the Vandals, by GenghiS ID. hv Tampcl9ne. or even by Tilly