The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1918-12-05
viz

, About twelve years ago I attended
the German military maneuvers at
Liegnitz, In Sllesia. 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
leu and other countries were there
with the kaiser's staff to witness the
display Of Gernany's military power.
Apparently they were very much I'm
pressed, for l heard afterwards that
one Of the French officers who had
been present had written a hook in
which he said: "With ouch an army.
Germany could annex France In six
months"
I happened to mention this fact to
the kaiser shortly afterwards and his
significant comment was
"Six monthsi I should hope "a. 1t
wouldn't take that longl"
The confident belief that when der
Tag"-"the day"-inally arrives!, Ger
many would crush her enemies and nc
compllsh 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 1t.
When Germ uy's man power was
modified, 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-
Atxtn eArvton m ltt1a tplyonvnn nS Vro.
sible. "L~iebesgaben." 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, ut that time the German com
missary was able to satisfy oil the SOL
dicrs' requirements.
One of my patients told me that she
had sent seventeen hundred pounds of
sausages to one regiment within q
week, and when I asked her why she
had been SO generous she replied that
her chauffeur was q member Of the
regimentl
The extent to which the country's
were squandered in those
emily months is evidenced by the fact
that the soldiers had such an excess
Of iIl-itting wooden wearing apparel
that they used many Of the knitted ar
ticles as earpleces and overs for their
horses. No one had the slightest idea
that the time might come when the
whole nation would be clothed In pa
perl
At this late day 1t can hardly be
necessary to establish how thoroughly
prepared the Germans were for the
war, but an incident which occurred II
the early days Of the conflict may mo-
be out Of place to show the s~elf-satis
fled and confident attitude which al
the Germans assumed.
Two officers sitting at a table In ar
out-of-door cafe shortly after the wal
began overheard n Of several ladies
who were passing remark: Look a
those officers sitting there drinking
Why are they not ut the front fight
ing?" Gee Of the officers got up and
approaching the ladies, said: "Ou
work was completed months ago. W.
worked from early morning till late a
night on plans which our armies ar'
now carrying out. 1t Is our time t
rest"
The resistance that France would b
able to put up was always very light,
estimated, and II the intervention O
England was at all taken into consid
Grafton, the comparatively small arm
she could place In the field was re
garded as but a drop In the bucket CON
pared with the well-tralned Germai
horde that was ready to sweep acros
the border. How could England's 5000
men cope with Won Kluck's 10000 o
the hastily modified French armies r.
slst the thoroughly prepared. equippe
and well-disciplined German warriors
1t Is really not to be wondered O
that the Germans firmly believed tha
they would bring the allies tn thel
knees within q comparatively fe'
weeks and that the conquering Gel
man armies would celebrate Soda
day. September 2. In Paris. What n
tuslly happened Ia, Of course. too we
known here to require recital. but
know that the Germans were kept
absolute ignorance Of the marveloy
resistance the allies were able to p,
up In those critical days Of August an
: September. 1914. and to this day II
majority of Germans have not hear
of the battle Of the Marine!
Just after the English passed the
CONSUMPTION law l was called to q
the kaiser at the great army headuua
tiers. which at that time were at Pies
3 Although the wal had then lasted tv
or three times hs long as the German
had expected, the kaiser masked Il
depression he must have felt by pu
ting on a bold front.
"How foolish for England to sta
q CONSUMPTION now" he declared. "Sl
: thinks she can accomplish In o fe
: months what 1t has taken Germany
, hundred years to attain. Armies al
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