Payette enterprise. (Payette, Canyon Co., Idaho) 1909-1935, 1918-10-24
CHAPTER Viii.
The kaIser's Confidence Of Victory.

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 I heard afterwards that
one of the French officers who had
been present had written book In
/ which he said: with such an army,
Germany could annex France In six
| monthsl"
/ happened to mention this fact to
| the kaiser shortly afterwards and his
| significant comment was:
six monthsl / should hope so. 1t
wouldn't take that longw
The confident belief that when Der
! Tag''-'the day''-inally arrived, Ger
many would crush her enemies and ac-
| complish her object within a 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 it.
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
sibie. "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
dlers' requirements.
One of my patients told me that she
had sent seventeen hundred pounds of
sausages to one regiment within a
week, and when 1 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 in those
early months is evidenced by the fact |
that the soldiers had such an excess
of ill-ftting wooden wearing apparel !
that they used many of the knitted ar /
ticles as earpieces and covers for their /
horses. No one had the slightest idea /
that the time might come when the |
whole nation would be clothed in pa
per!
At this late day it 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 all
the Germans assumed.
Two officers sitting at table in an
out-of-door cafe shortly after the war
began overheard one of several ladies
who were passing remark: Look at
those officers sitting there drinking.
Why are they not at the front fight
ingT" One of the officers got up and,
approaching the ladies, said: ''Our
work was completed months ago. We
worked from early morning till late at
night on plans which our armies are
now carrying out. 1t is our time to
rest"
The resistance that France would be
able to put up was always very lightly
and If the Intervention of
was at all taken into consid-
Grafton, the comparatively small army
hn apTIli rN1o in tho fold
garded as but a 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 $4,000 or
the hastily mobilized French armies re-
sist the thoroughly prepared, equipped
and well-disciplined German warriors7 ,
1t is really not to be wondered at
hat the Germans firmly believed that I
they would bring the allies to their
knees within comparatively few I
weeks and that the conquering Ger !
nan armies would celebrate Sedan
lay, September 2, in Paris. What &C /
.ually happened is. of course, too well $
Known here to require recital. but I
know that the Germans were kept in (
absolute ignorance of the marvellous t
assistance the allies were able to put r
Up in those critical days of August and r
September, 1914, and to this day the I
majority of Germans have not heard C
# the battle of the Marnel
Just after the English passed their .
prescription law l was called to see T,
he kaiser at the great army headquar- n
ers, which at that time were at Pless. VI
although the war had then lasted two f,
r three times as long as the Germans q
ad expected, the kaiser masked the f,
oppression he must have felt by put
ing on a bold front. n
How foolish for England to start v,
now" he declared. ''She ir
links she can accomplish in a few w
lonths what 1t has taken Germany a n
undred years to attain. Armies and hi
Ulcers cannot be developed over night. m
re have never stopped preparing since 81
lie days of Frederick the Great !"