The Lamar register., 1918-10-09

absolute ignorance of the marvellous
resistance the allies were able to put
ny In those critical days of August ana
September 1914, and to this day the
majority of Germans have not heard
of the battle of the Marnel
Just after the English passed their
CONSUMPTION law l was called to see
the kaiser at the great army headquar-
tiers, which at that time were at Pless.
Although the war had then lasted two
or three times as long as the Germans
had expected, the kaiser masked the
depression he must have felt by put
ting on bold front.
"How foolish for England to start
CONSUMPTION now" he declared. "She
thinks she can accomplish In few
months what 1t has taken Germany
hundred years to attain. Armies and
officers cannot be developed over night.
We have never stopped preparing since
the days of Frederick the Greatl'
Yes, your majesty. but the North
ern states in our Civil war put In con-
scription two years after the begin
ming of the war" 1 suggested.
DAA just i'th now AOho fDHA 'AA
lasted" the kaiser replied quickly.
This war won't last that long. The
allies will feel what the power Of Ger
many is long before English conscrlp-
tlon can avail them anythingl"
"And while England is slowly build
ing up her Insignificant army" the
kaiser went on, 'she will see Americas
navy and merchant marine constantly
growing and the dollar replacing the
pound as the unit of the worlds
finance. No, Davis, England will soon
be sick Of the war and will look with
fear upon Americas growing power !"
The French army, too, was generally
belittled. and the Russians were be
lleved to be absolutely negligible. The
French army was so poorly equipped.
1t was pointed out, that the officers
had to go to the field r. patent-leather
boots. and on the Russian front, only
the iirst-line men had guns, the others
being armed with clubs
Eventually, officers and soldiers re-
turning from the western front on fur
Tough or passing through the country
en- route from one front to the other
brought the report OF the defeat before
Paris. Soldiers who participated in
that disastrous retreat wrote from the
new trenches 10 their friends and rel
atives telling of the terrible expert
ences they had undergone. when they
went for days with nothing to eat but
raw potatoes and turnips which they
picked from the fields.
When these reports finally spread
through Germany the people began to
realize that their generals in the west
were not meeting with the same success
that Won Hindenburg had had ia the
east and Won Hindenburg became the
idol OF the people Immediately. n fact
that was very dlstasteful to the high
command.
The kaiser's dislike of Won linden
burg was OF long standing. He had
never forgiven that general for the mis-
take he made during military maneuv-
ers ia peace time when by brilliant
stroke OF strategy he had succeeded In
capturing the kaiser's forces. Including
the kaiser and his whole staff
have referred In previous chapter
to the knlser's unbounded confidence
after the italian collapse In 1917.
Snow. we've got The nllles" he ex-
claimed. with an air Of conclusiveness
which emphasized the optimism he
displayed.
After the capture of Roumania. he
exhibited similar degree OF exulta-
tion. He believed that Ia that achieve
ment he had successfully solved the
food problem-the one cloud which
constantly dnrkened the kaiser's horl-
zon.
Now the nlles will never succeed In
starving us" he said TO me In my of
fee shortly after the Rouinanian drive.
"Wlth Roumania In our pockets and
Seryia already ours, their wonderful
agricultural possibilities Will supply
our food needs and foil our enemies
efforts to starve US. Indeed. they had
better look out for themselves. Don't
forget we have monopoly on the
potash mines of the world. Without
proper fertilization. American crops
Will 90 on decreasing and decreasing
and they won't get any potash until We
get ready to let them have itf'
The failure of the Zeppellns from q
military standpoint was undoubtedly u
great disappointment to the German
people at large. who hud counted so
much upon them to bring disaster to
England. hut IL cannot be said that the