The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1918-09-19
ca and who had already demonstrated
hat they were far more dangerous
han the japanese had ever been.
CHAPTER viii.

mo NuSUoT OF VJCS0tys
About twelve years ago I attended
he German military maneuvers at
Liegnitz In Silesia, having been in
vited by some journalistic friends Of
nine to accompany them in the motor
allowed the press. The military repre-
sentatives Of England, France, Amer
Ca 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 q book In
which he said: with such an army,
Germany could annex France in six
months r.
I happened to mention this fact to
the kaiser shortly afterwards and his
comment was:
"Six monthsi I should hope 30. Il
wouldn't take that longl"
The confident belief that when Der
Tag"-''the day"-fnally arrived, Ger
many would crush her enemies and ac-
complish her object within q few
months at the outside vas held not
only by the kaiser but by the people
generally and their conduct when the
war broke out clearly disclosed 1t.
When Germany's man power was
no one in Germany believed
1t would be very long before they
would all be back and every effort was
made to make their few weeks Of ac-
tive service as little irksome as pos
sible. "Liebesgaben," gifts Of love.
consisting Of clothing and food Of
every description, q 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
diers' requirements.
One Of my patients told me that she
had sent seventeen hundred pounds Of
sausages to n regiment within a
week, and when I asked her why she
had been 80 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 s~elf-satis-
fed and confident attitude which all
the Germans assumed.
Two officers sitting at a 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
ingY" One of the officers got up and,
approaching the ladies, said: sour
work was completed months ago. We
worked from early morning till late at
night on plans which u armies are
now carrying out. It Is u time to
rest"
The resistance that France would be
able to put up was always very lightly
estimated. and If the Intervention of
England was at all taken into consid-
Grafton, the comparatively small army
she could place in the field was re-
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 100000 or
the hastily modified French armies re-
sist the thoroughly prepared, equipped
and well-disciplined German warriors?
It is really not to be wondered at
that the Germans firmly believed that
they would bring the allies to their
knees within a comparatively few
weeks and that the c0nquering Ger
man armies would celebrate Sedan
day, September 2, In Paris. What ac-
tually happened is, Of course, too well
known here to require recital, but I
know that the Germans were kept in
absolute ignorance Oft the marvellous
resistance the allies were able to put
up In those critical days Of August and
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 ] 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 rs the Germans
had expected, the kaiser masked the
depression he must have felt by put
ting on q. bold 'front.'
"How foolish for England to start
Sconscription now" he declared. "She
thinks she al accomplish In q few
months what It has taken Germany q
hundred years to attain. Armies and
officers cannot be developed over night.
We have never stopped preparing since
A. S---- UN>~A>-~LAA n~~~A ~ .8