The Tucumcari news and Tucumcari times. [volume] (Tucumcari, N.M.) 1907-1921, 1919-03-27


"And while England Is slowly build.
Ing up her Insignificant army" the
kaiser went on. "she will see Americas
navy and merchant marine constantly
growing and the dollar replacing the
pound as the unit Of the worlds
finance. No. Davis. England will soon
be sick of the war and will look with
fear upon Americas growing power!"
The French army. too. was generally
belittled. and the Russians were be-
lleved to be absolutely negligible. The
French army was so poorly equipped,
It was pointed out, that the officers
had to so to the field In patent-leather
boots, and on the Russian front, only
the first-llne men had guns, the others
being armed with clubs!
Eventually, officers and soldiers re-
turning from the western front on fur
Tough or passing through the country
en- route from n front to the other
brought the report of the defeat before
Paris. Soldiers who participated In
that disastrous retreat wrote from the
new trenches TO their friends and rel
atives telling of the terrible expert.
ences they had undergone, when they
went for days with nothing to eat but
raw potatoes and turnlps which they
picked from the fields.
When these reports finally spread
through Germany the people began to
realize that their generals in the west
were not meeting with the same success
that Won Hindcnburg had had In the
east and Won Hindenburg became the
idol of the people Immediately, n fact
that was very dlstasteful to the high
command.
The kaiscr's dislike Of Won linden
burg was of long standing. He had
never forgiven that general for the mis-
take he made during military maneuv-
ers in peace time when by n brilliant
stroke of strategy he had succeeded In
capturing the kaiser's forces, including
the kaiser and his whole staff!
! have referred in n previous chapter
to the kaiser's %unbounded confidence
after the Italian collapse in 1917.
Now, we've got the allies" he eX-
claimed, with an air OF concluslveness
which emphasized the optimism he
displayed.
After the capture Of Roumania, he
exhibited u similar degree Of exulta.
ton. He believed that In thai achieve
ment he mad successfully solved the
food problem-the n cloud which
constantly darkened the kaiser's hori-
Zon.
"Now the allies will never succeed In
starving u.s." he said to me Ia my Of
fee shortly after the Roumanlan drive.
with ROumanla In our pockets and
Servia already ours, their wonderful
agricultural possibilities will supply
our food needs and foil our enemies
efforts to starve US. Indeed, they had
better look out for themselves. Don't
forget we have n monopoly on the
potash mines Of the world. Without
proper fertilization, American crops
will 90 on decreasing and decreasing
and they won't get any potash until we
get ready to let them have 1t"
The failure of the Zeppelins from a
military standpoint was undoubtedly Il
great disappointment to the German
people ut large, who had counted so
much upon them to bring disaster to
England, but II cannot be said that the
kaiser shared their chagrln. On the
contrary, ! have reason to believe that
he never expected very much from that
arm of his military force except as II
might be useful TO terrorlZc the civil
population.
a day or two after Zeppelln's death,
In 1917, Ii patient of mine, II lady, hap
| pcned to remark that II was too bad
that the count had not lived To see the
triumph of his invention, and when
saw the kaiser shortly afterwards
repeated her remark to see what he
would say.
II am convinced that the count lived
pellns were capable of accomplishing"
was his only comment. 1t recalled the
answer he had given me some years
before when both Zeppellns and mir
planes were In their infancy and ! had
asked him which held the greater
promise. 1--WE do not know. Time
alone will tell" was his reply.
The last time / conyersed with the
kaiser was on November 20, 1917. VI
TO that time we had sent over 10000
troops, according to the figures which
have since been revealed by Secretary
Baker. According to the kaiser's In
formation. however, we had only 30,
600 men In France at that time ant
he was OF the opinion that we would
eve have many more.
America is having a fine time try
Ing to raise an army" he declared
satlrically. II hear that 1000 mutiniet
the other day In New York and re
fused to get on n transport. and I
town In the Northwest composed prin
clpally Of citizens Of Swedish bloo'
refused to register at ALL We are get
ting excellent information about al
conditions In America"
Shortly before this had come the rev
elations from Washington Of the In
trigue of Count o Luxburg. the Ger
man minister TO Argentina. and knew
where the kaiser wal getting the In