Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-08-02
RUSSIA FIRST
ON LIST FOR
KAISER'S PLAN
Liberations of Thousands of
Subjects Used as a
Mask

New York-There is no longer any
doubt that Germany had decided up
on the present war long before 1914.
1t was to be waged first OF all
against Russia under the pretext that
Germany must liberate thousands OF
Germans suffering under the yoke of
Russia in the Baltic provinces.
Shortly after the outbreak of the
war the Kaiser said in one of his
speeches:
The will OF my fathers is being
fulfilled. The day has come when I
must cross the Vistula and the Me
men at the head of my armies and
add to our empire the crown lands OF
Poland. The historical mistake OF
former rulers will be rectihed. We
will rectlfy it,
One of the Pan-German leaders
thus defined the purpose of the war:
I'VE must bring the German plow
to the very heart of the Russian
steppes in the name OF those German
heroes who have for three centuries
shed their blood in order to trans
form the Slav marshes into German
kultur land"
During the nve years preceding the
war the German agents in Russia
circulated pamphlets and other forms
OF literature about Pan-Germanism
among the Russian Germans. They
were told that the German empire
would rule the whole world and that
Russia would be German as far as
the Urai and the volga- But they
did not conhue themselves to this
sort OF literature. They organized
n these
dreams OF the Kaiser. while the Rus
sian authorities kept their eyes
closed TO all that was happening. The
very first rule OF the German soci-
cites and schools in Russia read as
follows:
Engineers rs Laborers
The purpose of the societies is in
preserve for Germany her sons
abroad. to help Germans in every way
possible to remain Germans, anf
wherever they may have lost their
national character, to help restore II
TO them"
German professors who taught at
Russian schools and universities
have tried for many years to implapt
in Russian youths a sense OF love
and respect for Germany and the
Kaiser. 1t appears that Profs. Won
Grated about 40 years ago system
bv which TO settle Germans in the
regions of Russian fortresses and
submitted their project 10 the Ger
man War Department. According 10
this plan, German officers and en-
gineers were to live there disguised
as laborers. They were to be sub
sidized by the German government.
They recommended that agricultural
implements be manufactured there
/ and that the works be supervised by
Noficers of the German general stan
who could speak Russian fiuently
and who became Russian subjects,
In addition 10 this. Germany settled
thousands OF reservists in Russia, or
ganizing various societies. most OF
them singing societies. There were
also athletic clubs, FIRE brigades and
a few military organizations. Thus,
for instance. in Lodz alone IS sing
ing societies numbered more than
10000 German members in 1912. There
were % other German organizations
in Lodz at the same time.
The fire brigades. athletic clubs and
singing societies were all made up
of well trained German reservists who
were ready to respond to the first
signal of the Prussian War Depart
ment and to carry out its orders in
Russia.
No army IN the world ever had
such a large number of spies in an
other country as the German army
had in Russian Poland. Lithuania
and Volhynia-before the outbreak OF
the present war. The German colo
nists and the reservists planted in
Russia for espionage purposes, fought
Russia from within.
Nemirovitch Danchenko, the Rus
sian war correspondent, published
interesting extracts from letters
found on German prisoners of war
lauding the German colonists in Rus
sia.