The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1918-09-17
Copyright. 1918, by the Mcclure Newspa.
per Syndicate-)
CHAPTER VIII.

SnAF U En- WILL
The kaiser's Confidence Of Victory.
About twelve years ago I attended
the German military maneuvers at
Liegnitz, in Silesia, having been in
vited by some journalistic friends OF
mine to accompany them In the motor
allowed the press. The military repre-
sentatives of England, France, Amer
lea and other countries were there
with the kaiser's staff to witness the
display of Germany's military power.
Apparently they were very much i'm
pressed, for l heard afterwards that
one of the French officers who had
been present had written a book in
which he said: with such an army,
Germany could annex France in six
months 70
I happened to mention this fact to
the kaiser shortly afterwards and his
significant comment was:
six months / should hope SO. II
wouldn't take that longw
The confident belief that when der
Tag"-"the day''-fnally arrived, Ger
many would crush her enemies and &C
complish her object within q few
months at the outside was held, not
only by the kaiser but by the people
generally and their conduct when the
war broke out clearly disclosed 1t.
When Germany's man power was
modified, no one In Germany believed
it would be very long before they
would all be back and every effort was
made to make their few weeks of &C
tive service as little irksome as pos
sible. "Liebesgaben," gifts of love
consisting of clothing and food OF
every description, were forwarded to
them by their relatives and friends In
the most lavish manner, although, OF
course, at that time the German com
missary was able to satisfy all the sol
diers' requirements.
One of my patients told me that she
had sent seventeen hundred pounds OF
sausages to one regiment within 8
week, and when asked her why she
had been SO generous she replied that
her chauffeur was a member OF the
regiment!
The extent to which the country's
resources were sQuandered I'm those
early months is evidenced by the fac
that the soldiers had such an excess
Of ill-f1tting wooden wearing appare
that they used many of the knitted ar
t1cles as earpieces and covers for theil
horses. No one had the slightest ides
that the time might come when the
whole nation would be clothed In pa
perl
At this late day 1t can hardly be
necessary to establish how thoroughly
prepared the Germans were for the
war. but an incident which occurred In
the early days of the conflict may not
be out Of place to show the self-satis
fed and confident attitude which al
the Germans assumed.
Two officers sitting at a table in ar
out-of-door cafe shortly after the wal
began overheard one OF several ladies
who were passing remark: Look al
those officers sitting there drinking
Why are they not at the front fight
mgr One of the officers got up and
approaching the ladies, said: "OuI
work was completed months ago. We
worked from early morning till late al
night on plans which our armies are
now carrying out. 1t is our time t6
rest"
The resistance that France would be
able to put up was always very lightly
estimated, and If the Intervention OF
England was at all taken into cOnsid
Grafton, the comparatively small army
she could place in the field was re
garded as but drop in the bucket com
pared with the well-trained German
horde that was ready to sweep across
the border. How could England's $4,000
men cope with Won Kluck's 10000 Oh
the hastily modified French armies re
sist the thoroughly prepared, equipped
and well-disciplined German warriors
1t is really not to be wondered a,
that the Germans firmly believed that
they would bring the allies to theil
knees within a comparatively few
weeks and that the conquering Ger
man armies would celebrate Sedan
day, September 2, in Paris. What ac
tually happened is, of course, too vel
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 Marnei
Just after the English passed their
CONSUMPTION law ] was called to see
the kaiser at 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.
''How foolish for England to start
CONSUMPTION now" he declared. "She