The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-09-20

similar position. They lived much in the same way as we did. have never counternanced excefses and if they have occurred. I disclaim all responsi- bility. So long as we have any social
 order at all, authority must exist and l there must be social distinctions. There
 must still be, as before, a corps of of ficers, in which the individual officer
 must keep himself distinct from the soldier while continuing to be his true 1 friend.
 Then came complaints that the off
 cers were living at the expense of tho men-a shameful calumny spread by l enemy and home propaganda. Many
 men of undoubted honesty and inteIIi. | gence came to sme bIeating out such general accusations, instead of vigor.
 ously assailins them. They had all
 ready lost all regard for the morality , of the corps of officers, so inc xtriba- bly had they fallen into the snare l spread by the circulatOrs of these re. ports.
 It was said that officers of the re- Eular army hid in their quarters. mi, was the reward of a grateful people
 to the regular officer for his sacrifice | and devotion! There were only . few of them left. The remainder had fa Her | or had been hopelessIy disabled. The corps of officers had lost from eighty
 to ninety per cent of it's full strength Could they not understand that to | fill certain posts of the staffs on which the fate of the trops depended ] officers of exceptional experience and initiative were required? It is obvious . that for such duties the regular officer was more fitted than an officer of the reserve, and that eventually it would be impossible to replace the former. I begged the Military Cabinet to in- vestigate these charges. This exposed their injustice all along the line. Notwithstanding this, I persistently issued reminders that officers fit for service should be sent from home and from the various staffs to the front, to be replaced by officers fit only for garrison duty. The staffs during the summer of 1918 were so composed that several divisional commanders com. plained to me that they had too few fit officers on their staffs to cope with all demands.
 was always opposed to the presence of father and son in the same staff When I had direct command as well as when I was Chief of Staff iff the east, I set my face against this. Now all l do was to draw the attention of the Military Cabinet to it.
 I heard unfavorable reports concern ing the working of canteens. Here, also
 
 the detriment of the men. I went into the matter. Everything was in order The canteen commissions, on which the soldiers were represented, controlled the working and the distribution of profits. The sale of goods in the can teens was strictly rationed for officers and men alike at so much per head Each man might buy only as much as was allowed on the earthly calculated distribution schedule.
 The higher staffs, having no canteens | of their own, drew on the central stores | at the same prices as the canteen did l As these supplied officers and men al I a fixed rate and a certain profit, the higher staffs-both officers and men | of course-bought their goods some l what cheaper than the regiments. This I also stopped.
 1 SCANDAL IN THE CANTEENS Then it was asserted that the can teen moneys were unfairly administer l ed This accusation was as false as | the others. It was only--the soldier who derived any benefit from the prof it's. mainly, of course, in kind. | But it was in the lines of communica- l tion that the officers were supposed tt l live in special luxury. There l have | seen an enormous amount of loya work, from which the army derived in calcuable benefit It was obvious | that iu these lines officers, as well as men, lived more quietly and comfort | ably than was the case with the troop: | who were only in the communication
 areas on their way to and from th' 1 line. Naturally, also, the men fel this, although everything possible wa done for them.
 l Was it such a crime for m office | to buy something in Belgium or any | where else to send it home to hi /, family, in order to brighten their If
 a little: Was 1t not the families O 1 officers, who are rarely men of n,eanA
 who suffered most severely from tA' increased cost of living at hOmes | When I was with the Commander-in Chief in the east in July, 1916, l ar
 ranged similar facilities for the men
 these facilities being. later. still furth.
 CT developed. From the west and from | Rumania parcels were sent home II large numbers by the men.
 l Any special case of irIkgularity on thu part of an officer which was brought I to my notice, even anonymously, was
 subjected to most searching investiga- | tion. The status and way of life oi the officers were frequeNly discussed
 by the higher staffs Under the pres I suIG of fhe continual complaints thu
 Field-MarphaI issued an appeal to al
 officers.
 HARSH WORDS FOR LOTTERIES
 The corps of officers has emerged l from this attack on its honor. The
 man who infringed the code was an ex' | ception, and was not one of us. Nc
 measures adopted against him could bt 1 too severe The officer who did moi
 emerge from this war with clean hands ! as m honorable man, who retained property which was not his, even fl ] only to save 1t from destruction, be.
 smirched the Fatherland. the Army. tht Corps of officers and himself. 1 The Corps of Officers, as a whole may be proud of itself, not least be- cause, despite all the work of agita. | tion on in it's rear, it held.the army together for four years led it so often to victory, and was still able, in CO operation with loyal non-commissioned officers and men, to lead it back over the Rhine-a stupendous achievement
 amongst the greatest deeds ofNthe war Enemy propaganda did not concern itself with the on-commissioned of- ficers. It was considered that their