The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1918-08-29
(By Harvey O'Higgins. }

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the railroad station. No such pois-
oning occurred. Moreover, in order
to make any such poisoning impos
sible, none but Red Cross canteen
workers are allowed to give refresh
ments to soldiers at railroad sta
tions. In Philadelphia all refresh
ments for the soldiers are kept un-
der lock and key at the storeroom
and only Red Cross workers are al
lowed to touch the food.
Lewiston, n. Y. has gathered the
strangest crop OF anti-Cathollc
rumors that the kaiserites in Amer
ica have yet produced in their cam
paign to arouse religious prejudice
among us and to divide our nation
al unity into the factions of sec
tartan quarrel There is Catholic
convent between Lewiston and
Youngstown. Lewiston has been
hearing that "the kaiser's sister is an
inmate of the institution and that
the pupils of the school are COM
PEELED to remain standing, out of re-
spect for her, whenever she is in the
ROOM" that there is tunnel from
the building, under the Niagara
river, to the Canadian Shore" that
"the sisters themselves admit they
receive all their orders from Ger
many;" and that "coffins are taken
regularly to the institution, every
night, and stored there"
1t would seem unnecessary to con-
tradict stories so palpably absurd,
vet numbers of people in Lewiston
seem to have believed them without
asking themselves how a royal prin-
cess of Germany could be Catho-
lie nun, or of what value tunnel
to Canada would be, or what use
could be made of smuggled coftins.
In an attempt to discover if there
was any basis in fact that could
give color of probability to these
absurdities, the Department of JUS
tice Investigated them and found
them entirely baseless, pure and in
ventions, with no foundation in any
thing but the imaginations OF the in
Istigators OF them.
German propagandists in Ne
braska are telling foreigners in that
section that "the federal soldiers
during the Civil War, committed
atrocities similar to those which the
Germans have committed in Bel
GUM" The lie hardly needs con-
tradiction among Americans, but it
is interesting to compare the gen
eral order issued to the United
States armies in the Civil War with
the instructions given to the Ger
man armies in the present conflict.
AT President Lincolns request,
General Order No. 100 was drawn
up for the use of the federal armies
in the field. Section 10 provides :
Military necessity does not admit
of cruelty, that is the infliction or
wounding except in fight, nor OF
torture to extort confession. 1t does
not admit OF the use of poison in
any way nor of the wanton devasta-
tion OF a district. 1t admits of de-
ception, but disclaims acts of per-
fidy; and in general, military neces-
! sity does not include any act which
makes the return of peace unneces-
sarily difficult
Section No. q points out Priv
ate citizens are no longer murdered,
enslaved, or carried off to distant
parts, and the inoffensive individual
is as little disturbed in his private
relations as the commander OF the
hostile troops can afford to grant III
the overruling demands OF vigor-
Gus war.
Section No. IS orders: Classical
works of art, libraries, scientific
collections, or precious instruments,
such as astronomical telescopes, as
we'll as hospitals, must be secured
against all avodable injury, even
when they are contained i'll fortified
places whilst besieged and lombard
ed"
Compare with these instructions
the German theory and practice OF
war as given at length in the pamph-
let German War Practises," issued
bv the L. 5. Committee on Public
Information. For a generation, the
Germans have been taught: In
such dangerous things as war, the
errors which proceed from a spirit
of 'good-naturedness' are precisely
the worst" The enemy must not
be- spared the want and wretched-
ness OF war; these are particularly
useful in shattering its energy and
subduing it's will" Individual per-
sons NAV be harshly dealt with when
an example is made of them, intend
ed to serve as warning" when
ever a national war breaks out, ter
rorism becomes necessary mill
tary principle
Such teachings were summed up
in the official German War Book
published in 1902. 1t advised, for
instance: Since the tendency OF
thought in the last century was DOM
mated essentially by humanitarian
considerations. which not infrc-
quently degenerated into sentimen-
tality and flabby emotion. there
have not been wanting attempts to
influence the development of the us
ages of war in way which was in