Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1919-09-02
GERMANY REVISITED

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ant coningsby Dawson, whose war letters have made him
famous, makes interesting reading for a number OF rea-
sons. It gives a graphic description Of the after-war con-
ditions in the Invaded portions OF France. in Belgium. and
in the German Rhine provinces. 1t enables those Of us
who have not had that experience to look at the situa-
ton in some measure through the eyes Of the soldier
who experienced in his own person the bloody horror of
the war. And It may act as q useful antidote to the prop
uganda which has had as It's object the securing Of easier
terms for Germany, and which has been based on the
alleged deplorable lot Of tho vaneuiahed German people
who. 1t has been deserted, are being ground beneath tho
heel Of ruthless opprrssors.
Lieutenant Dawson recroseed the channel carly this
summer after spending some time in English hospitals
and res. places recovering from wounds received in battle.
He tells Of the difficulty experienced in making the men
tai reimbursement OF passing from the conception Of the
German as the incarnation Of a brute force to be de-
stroyed to that Of the German as an individual human
being, to be met, If not on terms of amity, at least Of
peace. He described the trip through western France.
with its evidences Of military activity still extant because
Of the magnitude of tho work Of rehabilitation
He passes then to a description Of the sections Of
France once occupied by the enemy, and with a few vivid
touches brings before US the awful ruin and desolat1nn.
OF the landscape. But the landscape is not the most
desolate thing that he sees. 1t is the people who, ground
for four years beneath the tyranny Of the Hun. face life
with possessions gone and spirits crushed. detected and
hopeless.
Then comes Belgium. whose history during these
years has been a ve,itable epic of horror. There the pee-
pie stand amid the ruins Of their country. Great manu-
featuring cities are staenant hackwaters Of a disnayed
people, because. not only have buildings been DESTROYED,
but such of the machinery which they contained as was
portable has been carried OF into Germany and the rest
has been smashed In very wantonnees Of destruction.
Evidences abound on every hand that it was tho DELHI
crate purpose OF the Germans to destroy the Belgian peo-
pie forever.
Lieutenant Dawson continued his journey through
France and Belgium. with their earth pierced and torn,
and Uttered With. the ruin Of many bsttles, with their
atmosphere still reektng with the odor Of deccmposed
bodies, and with their people reduced to that apathetic
stage where they seem to be incapable Of feeling even
a proper resentment, into Germany-the Germany Of the
present Allies occupation. the Germany vhose pnifu1 con-
dttion has been SO feeltnsiy portrayed before the eyes Of
the world. There he found a countryside smiling and un-
SCARED. cities with their buildings intact. sleek cattle
grazing in the fields. and a people whose ears have
never heard the sound OF VIZ greeting the foreign troops
with unctuous suiabiity, servtle, but unA NAMED. utterly
.unrepentant. and convinced, quite generally. It appears,
that the war ended because their kaiser masnaninous,y
wt1ed It 20.
Dawson's sentences throb with a fiery. but futile IN
disnakaon. Il IT any wonder? He knows what tho war
meant 70 him, for he fought his way through all OF it.
S"~ ~ 49, 70 H0 UWH CA6a614a nome,
where almost every family had is men at the front. He
knows what 1t meant TO England. where. removed thouxh
az was;from tho experiences OF. the front. the whole coun-
try bears the aspect Of neglect and dlsuse because every
ounce q IT. emery. for moro than four yeas was poured
into The war. He knows what it meant to france and
Bsisfum.. whose condition he has SO thrMiinsly described,
ana he has seen with his own eyes the placid seIf-.at,s-
#f aSytion ana bovine content Of those who, after having
" been the criginators Of the war. whine It the bro,peet
81 bsins reauireA = suffer any Of the Inconvenience re-
suitins from II.
8ss@ @Doubtless there Is chuckling in Germany over the
m nAaa1ntr q whteh the Allies were duped Into closing the
sAsnsiatcs bsfoss GAsmaay su6sred actual Invasion. 80
S~ttssANnanded thst Germany b swept from end to end
@nxs forsien armies, and that full raalixation af what WI
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