Evening journal., 1919-01-22
BY HAROLD E. BEcHToL
n. E. A. STAFF Correspondent

N. u. A sian Correspondents
SPA, Belgium, Jan. PA beautiful
chateau surrounded by trees and a
ecrupulously tended lawn. In the mid
die Of the lawn a 1agst~1 with the
stars and Stripes flying. Carved stone
steps Tall, heavy doors, plush car
pets, deep upholstered chairs with
hand-carved legs, marble baseboards
and tile floors, ETC., etc.
That's the home Of the American
section Of the international Armistice
Commission.
II used to be Hlndenburg's chateau,
Sous Bois-from which he directed the
German armies.
The French are in the ex-ksiser's for
mer chateau, the British in Luden-
dorff's and the chauffeurs for the whole
bunch live IN what was Little Willie's
chateau. These ehauffeurs, incidental
~, are satisfied with life"
The Germans are still getting their
orders from Spa. Only it's Foch,
through the commission that delivers
them. And it's the commission. repre-
senting Foch. that sees that they're
carried out.
The commission IS the body that.
pending the German election, choosing
Of peace delegates and opening Of the
peace conference is in touch with the
Germans. German high officers are
there to take the orders. Reports on
delivery Of guns, airplanes, trucks and
so on constantly pour in TO the COM
mission.
Both practical and sentimental rea-
sons probably account for the selec-
tion Of Spa as commission headquarters.
There's a big wireless on the hill,
and plenty Of wires. In the rear Of
the hotel there's a piano-typewriter
affair which the Germans used 70 send
messages. Al the operator had 70 do
was to play his tune" on the right
letters.
And then-there's something busi-
nesslike about tearing down the Ger
man military machine from the spot
where the German masters a few weeks
ago were directing the forces Of mill
tarism.
One Of the curiositles Of the place
is the Hindenburg "dugout" under the
American chateau. It isn't a "dugout"
at all. It's a roOmy handsomely fur
nished underground suite, with phono-
graph, pool table, easy chairs, books,
magazines and whatnot.
The former kaiser's dugout was much
palmer. But then the Kaiser wasn't at
Spa as much as Hindenburg was.
The commission meets insthe Hotel
Britannique where the ex-kaiser, after
a quarrel with Hindenburg signed his
'fnst" dedication It's not an impos-
Ing place.
Almost any resident will tell you any
kind Of a story Won want to hear from
Hindenburg's drinking capacity to the
time the ex-kaiser stubbed his toe at
the Britannique curb. In fact, igs a
job 10 flnd anybody who doesn't try
10 make you listen. And there are
more souvenir sellers per square foot
in Spa than in any other place In the
world, though heaven knows who buys
them.
The commission officials say they
DON'T know how long they'll be there.
A lot Of material Is slow coming into
allied hands, though the Germans de-
clare they are trying TO meet the terms
as close to schedule as they can.
There are a lot Of Belgian and British
and American soldiers who can perhaps
throw light on one reason for the de-
lay. AL over Belgium have seen Big
Benz trucks, German tractors and lOr-
ries hung up along the roadside with
the allied soldiers In charge OF getting
them 10 collection depots cussing every
thing German. The German cars were
in poor condition and the Allied drivers