The Morgan City daily review. (Morgan City, La.) 1916-1920, 1918-02-12

German soldier on the eastern front:
RUSSIAN Poland. December Is, "a.
'In the name of Christianity l send
you these words.
"Wounded Russians are killed with
the bayonct according to orders.
"And Russians who have surrender
ed are often shot down in masses &C.
cording to orders. in spite Of their
heart.rending prayers.
"In the hone that you. as the repre-
sentative of Christian state, will
protest against this, sign myself,
"a GERMAN SOLDIER AND CHRIS
TIAN."
The third letter. from the western
front, shows the same horror Of the
system Of which the writer was wit
ness.
"To the American Government,
Washington, U. S. A.
"Enslishmen who have surrendered
are shot down in small groups. With
the French one is more considerable. l
ask whether men let themselves be
taken prisoner in order to be dis
armed and shot down afterward! Is
that chivalry in battle? 1t is no longer
a secret among the people; one hears
everywhere that few prisoners are
taken; they are shot down in small
groups. They say naively: We don't
want any unnecessary mouths to feed.
Where there is no one to enter COM
plant, there is no judge Is there
then no power in the world which can
put an end to these murders and res
cue the victims? Where is Chris
tianity? Where is right? Might is
right.
"a SOLDIER AND A MAN WHO IS
NO BARBARIAN"
Socialists Oppose System
Many of the Germans, rs has been
already indicated, do not believe the
reports of the atrocities committed by
the Belgian civilians and refuse to &C
I cept the system of frightfulness. The
Vorwaerts, the leading socialist paper.
! which has a very wide circle Of read
ers, has opposed the policy Of fright
fulness. All honor to it's editors who
have so courageously opposed the pow
erful military authority! It's editorial,
entitled "Our Foes" published August
%, 1914, reads as follows:
"What should one say when even
such an organ as the Deutsches Off
zier-Blatt expresses its sympathy with
a demand that the beasts who are
taken as francs-tireurs should not be
killed. but only wounded so that they
may then be left to q fate which makes
any help impossibler Or what should
we say when the DeutscheS Omzier-
Blatt states that a punitive destruc-
ton even Of whole regions cannot at
ford full recompense for the bones Of .
single murdered Pomeranian grena'
dierr Those are the desires Of blood
thirsty fanatics and we are thoroughly
ashamed Of ourselves because 1t ID
possible that there are people among
us who uEge such things"
~eaFb<rssm," Declares vor~aertA
On the following day, August "a
1911, the vorwaerts returned to the
attack in an editorial against Bar
barim."
! zone might, in the first
place, possibly believe that such de
mand for a bloody vengeance (against
alleged Belgian outrages] emanates
from a single disease-racked brain
but It appears that whole groups
among certain classes who represen,
German kultur want to indulge in or
pies of barbarism and to devise
whole system for the purpose Of or
ganizing a war of revenge
"What of law and custom! Such
thoughts do not stir great nation.
Thus in a leading article Of the Der
liner Neueste Nachrichten, the de
mand is made that all the authorities
in Brussels-One. the second burgomas
ter, is generously excepted-should b<
Immediately seized and subjected tt
trial in order to expiate the wrongs
which, according to fragmentary ant
highly uncertain reports, were said tt
have been committed by the people
They demand that the captured cit!
should Immediately pay a fine Of 500,
100000 marks; that all stores Of tn
conquered territory be reQuisitionet
without paying the Inhabitants single
penny for them"
vorWaerts In Protest.
Three years later, August 20. 1917
the Vorwaerts quoted the following
passage from the Deutsche Tageszei
tuEg:
I'VE have q ring Of politicians VIII
hold that might makes right (Macht
; politiker), who despise the forces o
the inner life and believe that the
must eliminate all ethical points o
; view from foreign and Soda
politics. For them. Germany Of tn
present and Of the future Is the coun
. try Of the Krupps and Borsigs, Of tn
Zeppelins and the u-boatA Any ide'
Of Z connection between politics ant
morals 10 rejected and any referenc
to the right Of q moral method Of con
alteration IL ridiculed - deausaon an
. 0ontaS1,o0<A11tv ~