Cresco plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1913-1945, 1918-11-22
e in the field was res
It a drop in the bucket COM
tho woll-trained German

she cor e In the field was re
garde,' It drop in the bucket com.
pare, the well-trained German
h. that was ready to sweep across
the border. How could England's $4,000
men cope with Won Kluck's 100000 OF
the hastily modified French armies re
sist the thoroughly prepared, equipped
and well-disciplined German warriors
It is really not to be wondered at
that the Germans firmly believed that
they would bring the allies to their
knees within q comparatively Few
weeks and that the cOnquering Ger
man armies would celebrate Sedan
day, September 2, in Paris. What &C
tually happened is, of course, too well
known here to require recital, but !
know that the Germans were kept In
| absolute ignorance Of the marvellous
resistance the allies were able to put
up In those critical days Of August and
September, 1914, and to this day the
majority of Germans have not heard
of the battle of the Marine! Il IS
Just after the English passed their
| CONSUMPTION law I was called to see
the kaiser ut the great army headquar-
tiers, which at that time were at Pless.
| Although the war had then lasted two
or three times as long as the Germans
had expected, the kaiser masked the
depression he must have felt by put
ting on a bold front. !.
GLOW foolish for England to start
CONSUMPTION now" he declared. "She
thinks she can accomplish In few
months what it has taken Germany q
hundred years to attain. Armies aud
officers cannot be developed over night.
We have never stopped preparing since
the days Of Frederick the Great!"
Eyes, your majesty, but the North
ern states In our Civil war put IN CON
scription two years after the BEGIN
ming of the war;" suggested.
But just look how long your war
lasted" the kaiser replied quickly.
''This war won't last that long. The
allies will feel what the power OF Ger
many is long before English conscrip.
ton can avail them anything!"
"And while England Is slowly build
ing up her Insignificant army" the
kaiser went ON, "she will see Americas
navy and merchant marine constantly
growing and the dollar replacing the
pound as the unit of the worlds
finance. No, Davis, England will soon
be sick Of the war and will look With
fear upon Americas growing power !"
The French army, too, was generally
belittled. and the Russians were be-:
lieved to be absolutely negligible. The
French army was so poorly equipped,
it was pointed out, that the officers
had to 60 to the field in patent-leather
boots. and on the Russian front, only
the first-line men had guns, the others
being armed with clubs!
Eventually, officers and soldiers re-
| turning from the western front on fur
Tough or passing through the country
en- route from one front to the other
brought the report of the defeat before
Paris. Soldiers who participated in
that disastrous retreat wrote from the
new trenches to their friends and rel
atives telling Of the terrible expert:
ences they had undergone. when they
went for days with nothing to eat but
raw potatoes and turnips which they
| picked from the fields. %.
When these reports finally spread
through Germany the people began to
realize that their generals in the west
). .ie not meeting with the same success
| G.at Won Hindenburg had had in the
,>ct aud Won Hindenburg became the
idol OF the people Immediately. a fact
| that wus very distasteful to the high
| cUA.naul.
&c ..::,.,::-cccr's dislike Of Won linden.
burg WIS cn long standing. He had
never forgiven that general for the mis-
| lie he made during military maneuv-
27'& in peace time when by brilliant
stroke of strategy he had succeeded in
capturing the kaiser's forces, Including
IL i...scr and his whole staff!
: have referred in previous chapter
- the kaiser's unbounded confidence
after the italian collapse In 1917.
wow, we've got the allies!" he ex-
claimed, with an air of conclusiveness
which emphasized the optimism he
displayed.
After the capture Of ROumania, he
exhibited similar degree of exulta-
ton. He believed that in that achieve
ment he had successfully solved the
food problem-the one cloud which
constantly darkened the kaiser's hOri-
ION.
"Now the allies will never succeed in
starving u.s. he said to me in my Of
fee shortly after the Roumanian drive.
"With Roumania in our pockets and
Servia already ours, their wonderful
agricultural possibilities will supply
our food needs and foil our enemies
efforts to starve us. Indeed, they had
better look out for themselves. Don't
forget we have monopoly on the
potash mines Of the world. Without
proper fertilization, American crops
will go on decreasing and decreasing
and they won't get any potash until we
get ready to let them have it!'