Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-06-13
PRUSS|AN MANNERS
VIGOROUSLY BAD.
They Have Disregarded All Civil
lied Usages Toward People OF
Invaded Sections OF France.

Life in the invaded provinces of France
| during the wears 1914 and 1915, remained
under pail of mystery and silence; one
| would have said that that strip of our
territory had fallen into an abyss, sc
| vigorously did the Germans keep our
| compatriots in secret DURANGO II was not
| until after "A wear of this secluSlon that
some rcpatriated persons began To emerge
at first at rare intervals, then IN ire
| qIcnt patches, but in what "A state ct
pallid cxha,lstion' They all look
| cd us If they had escaped from Il torture
| chamber
| Indeed. as we shall see, the German
| tyranny does not consist simply IN an
cxorl liant application ot the dogma OF
might II has special Notifications,
| peculiar to the race. which make II even
| more painful If that IS possible II IL
not inspired solely by the systematic
| dcspotism and immortality cynlcally
| adopted by Germany. II Is not a pure,
| unauthorized application al any doctrine
II springs from Il genuine lack al moral
ItN, from a well-spring OF ylcIous am
| malism, which psychologists have 50
often detected in the German blood
Not that | am So foolish rs Ia hold
tn3t III ttttillafS arr ibN HlHiiHii''ilt
and brutal but II can be said without
hesitation that such IS generally speak
ing. their psvchlcal type. more or less
emphasized that such are their racial
characteristics. as appears from lnnu-
mcrahlc facts gathered from the bps Of
our rcpatrates OF every locality
CoMrULsoRY sALuTtuoNs
ono of tho most amazing mamfesta-
tions 0f the Gcrmamc spirit IN invaded
France. Is tho compulsory saluiaton
which the officers impose upon all males,
and. bv a refinement Of tyranny, upon
the women and girls Even IN aneicnt
Iatium NJ the CaudInc Forks, only
men were made 10 pass under the yoke,
and that but once But tho Ieuton
~ his n~cnsimlItN, 20 human dignity.
is never weary of trampling upon other
men souls and Of treating man like
beast Of the field
Tins enforced tragI-cOmic salute 10 the
invader, and intrldcrS naturally wound
"a to The qmck the high sense Of their
own dignity and of the truth character
Istlr If Ercnchmen Resistance ap
pcarcd an in sides Force was ncccs-
sarv 10 CRAFTY caprice that t,csslcr
might havc delighted IN At \ovon al
Ncrgnicr. IN hurfircds 81 places. those
who nfrnecd the regulation were
thrown INTO Jail Scxagcnarlan priests
who had neglected Il bare their heads
before Slh-llcutcnants were dragged away
u prison hcyond the Rhine Officers dId
not hlIsh to horScwhip paS~ersbN who
did not salute them or who did not bow
low enough At lstrcux = blind man WAS
struck bv colonel whom he could not
SCI
Above ;.il. the salute cxtortcd from
women displays to the full an inmate
vulgaritv peculiar to the German We
recall our own LOUIS NV always the
first ~ salute tho women in his service,
absolute master rs he was Our secular
French tradition Of courtesy and chivalrv
rises IN revolt But nothing is more
German than to lay the heavy hand q
oppression ON women
MUST SMILE wHILE ROWING
Why AT St. Quentin, IN 1915, an elderly
woman. m her terrified haste 20 salute
an officer and make way Tor him on the
Sidewalk fell and hrokc her leg Some
Times the female salute is elaborated
women arc compelled o smile when bow
ing. These anxious and grlei-strlcken
women. torn from their husbands and
children and brothers. these women who
are rohted and whose homes are constant
II searched and tossed and turned over
like the bedding OF cattle are commanded
10 smile upon the invaders!
If is not the salute alone which shows
rs the Germans engaged in actively per
scouting women In September 1914
the troops constantly pointed their guns
at Frcnchwomcn to force them 10 wait
upon them: the officers as constantly
had their rcvolvers in their hands In
the districts where game Is abundant
girls. whatever their station IN HE, act
as beaters when the officers hunt. and
those who refuse are imprisoned IN
cellar three DAYS for each such refusal
The period OF actual assaults has
passed. but there remains the pieasaI
pastime of frightening young girls by
discharging firearms at close range, and
firearms held in whose Eands-ln those
of the assasslns of Tamines and Oman.
OBLIGED TO WAIT on SOLDIERS.
Since Jan. /, 1917, the civil mobiliza-
ton has exhibited this female slavery
in all it's hideousneSs. Even before that
the women had been forced to wait upon
the officers at table and TO wash their
linen The German authorities had al
ready laid upon them all possible tasks
taking no account Of social position or Of
physical strength MiddIcclass women
Of Lille and la Fere were sent to dig
potatoes hundred kilometres from their
homes The widow Of 4 French Colonel
killed in action was IN turn chamberInaId
and farm laborcr IN Germany In the
region about Laon one could see women
working under the lash. Worse still
they are sent out 10 work IN close pro\-
unity to the firing line where the Germans
again, when aircraft are passing over the
women are forbidden 10 leave their work
while their keepers run to cover Mrs
Edith Wharton even saw elderly women
whose arms or legs hochc officers had
broken with sabrcs
The hdras~ng and insulting OF women
take also another turn Women and
girls Of good social position are com
PEELED to undres> on the pretcXt Of
search or medical examinations The
German has no respect for girls; he has
torn them from their families by thou
sands
What shall We say Of the requsltion
itself. and worse yet, of the enforced
labor Of other people upon German mum
tons In very truth, the enrolment Of
captive Frcnchmen in the enemy mum
ton factories has enlarged the confines
of human degradation French and
Belgans who refused to lay aside their
moral obligations have been deprived Of
food, or have been immersed for hours
at a time, in winter, in pools of ice-cold
water, or bound to trees and logged