El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1919-07-26

IT was i p. m by the great clock IN
l lie Matin. the Paris newspaper. Life
on the boulevards was much as It had
been at that hour every day for foul
long years. except that there were
many more Americans going by witt
the traffic.
Twenty minutes later two men came
out of lie Matin with e great sheet OF
white paper With agile brushes they
threw il upon the bulletin board and
then stepped aside so the multitude
"L'armistice est signel La guerre
est gagneei"
The armistice is signed The war
Is won. For q second the crowd
was mute Then there awoke a roar
which must have rocked old Eiffel
tower and disturbed the slumbers OF
Napoleon in his tomb beside the Seine.
An American soldier was standing
near me. As II turning instinctively
to him as the man who had won the
war the crowd hoisted him up on
eager shoulders Then up went a
Tommy. After him a Belgian. poilu
and a bersaghliere- The five allies
shook hands over the crowd All
around me men we're embracing eacn
other. Women were Historically cry
ing and kissing the soldiers. Paris
went mad with 10y.
On that intoxica ling morning last
November when the news was flashed
from Marshal Foch's special train that
the armistice had been signed my
first thought was that my wanderings
and adventures were at last at an
end I saw visions of myself on board
the first homeward bound troop trans
port, oil tanker or windjammer leaV-
ing Brest
But as I was swept along the bouie-
wards by that shouting, weeping
laughing, dancing. hugging, kissing,
delirfaus mass OF frenzied Parisians,
I could not help wondering What sorl
Of celebration they were having IN
Berlin, Hamburg and Munich.
With the cessation Of hostilities the
work which had taken me to all the
allied fronts in EuEope and Asia was
over. But November u, the day after
the signing Of the armistice, found
me, instead Of bound for America,
starting in exactly the opposite d.
rection with a rather vague, neDulous
notion in my mind that was on my
way 10 the capital Of the German en-
pire.
The following were some OF my
reasons for wanting TO get &c Berlln
First. I wanted to find out whether
the Germans were really beaten
Second. I wanted TO find out If they
knew why they were beaten. II they
were completely cowed. and II they
were ready 10 admit their transgres-
sions and pay the penalty.
I also was curious TO know whether
the revolution was a real one or mere
" staged for effect
/ wanted to know what the ordinary
Ravarfan. Hanoverian and Prussian
citizen thought about the kaiser, the
crown prince, the old regime, the rev
olution. the idea Of a league OF ma
tons. OF president Wilson. Of Ameri-
cans in general and OF Germany's war
Of frightfulness-
7 was curious to see for myself
whether Germany was starving
If the Germans ever were, or ever
honed to be frank and outspoken- the
few weeks or months directly after
the collapse and before talk OF peace
seemed to me TO be the ideal time to
attempt a firsfhand investigation OF
conditions in Germany and the natu-
raj processes Of the German mind
I had an idea that II could get into
the heart Of Prussia, Saxonys and
Wurtemburg, and talk 10 the street
svveepers. the shonkeeDerS. the plain
German seaman. the chaps VINO sur
vived Verdun. the Somme, the Marine
and the ArEonne, that II there really
were no longer any military restraints
that the plain everyday German who
had been merely q cog IN the ksisers
IT. chine. might have some interesting
things to say
At any rate II I could ever get into
Germany I would be on virgin soil,
among a people who perhaps would be
more inclined to talk from the heart