Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1918-03-07

7 quoting the mo mercy portion OF
! the speech, added. "There are, alas
in Germany groups enough who have
regarded the atrocities told in the let
ters which have been published as the
dutiful response of soldiers 80 address.
ed and encouraged. The leader of
the Social Democrats, Herr Bebel, 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 En-
peror, he said:
off Germany wishes to be the bear
er of civilization to the world, we wall
follow without contradiction. But the
ways and means in which this world
policy has been carried on thus far,
in which il has been defined by the
Emperor = are not, in our opin-
ion, the way to preserve the world
position OIL Germany, to gain for Ger
many the respect OF the world. -
The consequences OF the Emperor S
speech Bebel aptly described;
"By it a signal was given CARRIED
in the highest authority of the Ger
man 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 ex-
petition of revenge so barbarous as
this has never occurred in the last
hundred years and not often in his
tory, either done by the Huns, by the
Vandals, by Genghis Khan, by Tanner
lane, or even by lilly when he sacked
Magdeburg.
These stories of atrocities in China
or ''Letters of the Huns continued
to be published in the Vorwarts for
several years and appeared intermit-
tently in the debates of the Reiehstag
as late as 1906. At that time the
socialist, Herr Kunert, reviewing the
procedure in a trial of which he had
been the victim in the previous sum-
mer, stated that he had offered to prove
" that German soldiers in China had en-
gagged in wanton and brutal ravaging;
that plumber, pillage, extortion, rob-
berry, as we'll as rape and sexual abuses
of the worst kind, had occurred ON a
very large scale and that German sold
iers had participated In them.' He
had not been given an opportunity to
prove his allegations, but had been
sentenced to prison for three months
for assailing the honor of the "whole
German Army The outrageousness
of this sentence was made clear by
the revelations, made in the Reichstag
shortly afterwards, of similar atroci-
ties committed by German officials and
soldiers in Africa in the campaign
against the Hereros.
The teachings of Treitschke and
Nietzsche and their evil influence up
on the present generation In Germany
are well known. The minds of the
responsible officials were filled with
ideas wholly different from those to
which Germany had agreed at The
Hague The cult of might, and of war
as its expression, found many disciples
who flooded the press with pamphlets
and panegyries on war and its place
in the natural and political develop
ment Oh a nation. Before the war the
average number of volumes concerning
war published each year in Germany
was 700 and the vast majority of those
written by the German Army officers
advocated the ruthless policy of Won
Clausewitz, Won Hartmann, and Won
Moltke.
These ideas, which have come to con- |
troll the minds of the military class, |
are best shown in the German War |
Book (Kriegsbrauch i'm Landkriegel, |
published in 1902. The tone of this |
authoritative book may be Judged from
the following extracts:
"But since the tendency of thought |
in the last century was dominated es- |
sentially by humanitarian considerat- |
lions which not infrequetly degenerat-
ed into sentimentahty and flabby emo |
ton (Sentimentalitat und weicblicher |
Gefuhlschwarmerei) there have not |
been wanting attempts to influence the |
development of the usages of war In 4
n wav which was in fundamental con-
tradiction with the nature of war and |
its object Attempts of this kind VIII /
more 80 as these agitations have found |
also not be wanting In the future, the
provisions of the Geneva Convention |
and the Brussels and Hagne Confer
ehces. !"
"By sleeping himself in military |
history an officer will be able to guard
HIMSELF against excessive humanitarian
notions; it will teach him that certain
seventies are Indispensable to war, nay
more, that the only true humanity very
often lies in a ruthless application OF
them. +"
For the guidance of the officers in
case the inhabitants of conquered ter
ritory should take up arms against the
German Army, the German War Book
quotes with approval the letter Napol- !
con sent to his brother, Joseph, when !
the inhabitants of Italy were attempt
ing to revolt against him:
"The security of your dominion de-
ponds on how you behave in the con-
ouered province Burn down a dozen
places which are not willing TO submit |
themselves. Of course, not until you
have first looted them; my soldiers
must not be allowed to go away with
their hands empty. Have three TO six
persons hanged IN every village which
has Joined the revolt; pay no respect
to the cassock" (that is to members
Of the clergy.
Some of the rules laid down in the
German War Book are illustrated and
NA4t- --A I