Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1918-12-09
PEOPLE OF GERMANY
NOT BADLY TREATED
German Boys Wear Caps and
Other Parts OF Their Fathers
Uniforms.
MANY SOLDIERS RETURN HOME
Find Their Homes Intact, In Contrast
With French and Belgians-Iu-
habitants OF Tricr Try to Be
Friendly.
NY DAMON nuNYox


Stan Correspondent, Universnl Service.
WITH THE AMERICAN ARMY OF
OCCUPATION. TRIER. GERMANY. De-
'cember 3 tby Courier to Nancy.
France).-Nearly every small boy in
Trier and In the little country towns
on UP toward the Rhine now wears one
of those round caps with a red band
which became so familiar TO the Ameri-
can soldiers in France as the headgear
of the enemy. 1t is proof that tn.
German boys daddy" has come homo
from the war. Some of the youngsters
wear their "daddy's" old cowhide cam
palgn boots and even part of their
fathers uniform IL daddy" isn't wear
ing these articles himself. which Is not
infrequently the case
The male part OF the population in
this section OF Germany liz now half
soldier and half civilian SO far as APP
parel is concerned. The men are GO
Ing, about their daily tasks with old
military coats and civilian trousers or
Vice versa: Out in the country dis
tricts the farmers are still wearing en-
ire uniforms. but In most cases they
have stripped them of the soldiers
buttons. They are wearing them be-
cause they have nothing else TO wear
around town. however. they are many
i,o,r officers OF the German army
who are still In their rcsplcndcnt uni
form as n matter OF choice.
some OF them can be seen lolling
around the hotels with all their old
imperious manner. 1t is pretty hard to
believe that this particular species Of
German is very repentant.
TRAINS BRING MANY
SOLDIERS BACK FROM WAR
Trains arrive in Trier now and then
from various parts OF Germany. Most
turning home. Men and officers alike
tramp along the streets and down the
country roads carrying their luggage
on their backs. Many OF them are at
,eaded By their women folks who have
met them at the trains Practicall;
crrIH man in Tr'er., no matter how
OF dress. bears some unmistakable
mark OF having served in the army
The most common form is the military
haircut: which has not. yet had time
other. Their hands jerk up half way
TO their foreheads involuntarily when
man in officers uniform passes.
Americans. Frequent instances are
related OF Americans ard Germans dis
covering in the course of their con-
each other in the same sector in France
One German was found to-day who
was in the German forces that be-
.eaanered Whtttlesy's lost battalion
Without exception the German SOL
dieas sd. deoi arc that the americans are
add that if it had not been for the he
Yankees; Germany would have won the
war. The civilian population has had
an me- easy time at at the hands Of the
have becn imposed. 1t is mighty diff
ferent from the way the Germans
treated the peoples in the regions of
belgium and France. where they were
in power.
In turn the German civilians seem
rather TO be going out OF their way
g.,
troops.
HARD TO FORGET
DEsoLATIoN IN FRANCE
II is pretty hard and ndubitably
wrong to feel vengeful toward persons
who have undoubtedly suffered much,
hard to reconcile their present atti-
tude with their demeanor OF year
or so ago; II is pretty hard to forget
the ruined towns and homeless NO
men and children in France in this
most erman town, which has been in
no way damaged by war;
It's beautiful dwellings have not been
piled into masses of debris by shells
and fires in wantonness. It's soldiers
are coming home war-worn and weary.
but they have homes to come to- That
Is not SO with a great many soldiers
OF France and Belgium. Their homes
were plotted out in many instances
b. the very hands now stretched out
conciliatorily.
American people would be incapable
of treating the people Of a beaten coun-
try any less humanely than they are
treating the people in this region
They would be incapable OF manifest!ng
vengeance. especially when the mani
festation might fall upon women and
children. -
The fight is over They have won.
and there Is no bitterness in them
toward a beaten country and a beaten
people, but in the light Of the German
soldiers conduct in France and Rel
GUM 1t is interesting to contemplate
what the conditions would have been
in Trier tonight. where group OF men
and women just passed the hotel where
this dispatch is being written, singing
songs and making merry had this been
An American town and the soldier oc-
'cupants heen victorious Germans