davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune., 1919-01-12

tween the towns of Flensburg on the Baltic,
and Tondern, close to the North Sea, one
finds the population not only Danish-speak-
ing, but Danish to the core in it's sentiments
and national aspirations. The North Schles-
wigers have a definite pledge of Prussia to
point to-namely, the still unfulfilled prom
ise of 1866 of referendum on their future
destiny-and have shown, in an unmstak-
able manner, at the elections of 1867 to
1914, to the Reichstag that they are Danes,
and wish to remain So
ut is in South Schleswig that the present
problem is to be found. The greater part
of the population here has become Ger
manized, or has adopted German as it's
language. One finds three nationalites-
Danes, Germans and some Frisians--be-
tween the Elder, the ancient border river
between Denmark and Germany, and the
Flensburg- Tondcrn line, and four languages
spoken thereDanish, Frisian and High and
Low German. The question now is how to
find modus vivend satisfying the national
aspirations Of the Danes and their desire
to possess strategic frontier, the desires
of the South Schlcswigcrs' and the possible
requirements of the Allies, notably with
reference to the northern approaches of the
Kicl Canal.
"The Schlcswig island of Fehmarn lies
east Of Kiel Bay, and the canal from the
bay to Bcndsburg touches Schloswig soil
at number of places. Should neutral
New-York tribune., 1919-01-12
Lord Haldane Says They
Sa,u 1t Coming as
Early as 1906

between the two general stats of France
and Great Britain. The upshot was the
putting to the French authorities of q ques-
hon-l remember it because it fell to my
lot to formulate it-and it was this: Fer
what exact purpose will this military as
slstance be invoked" That is very i'm
portant question, and one which is gem
orally answered in slovenly way. But the
OBJECT was to see what the problem was
and to see whether it was capable of solu-
eloh' we already possessed great navy,
and our people were supposed to be indif-
1erent to the possibility of war 1t was
supposed that no preparations had been
made. do not think they understood You
do not talk about those things The policy
@as TO say nothing that could possibly pro-
yoke this appalling conflict.
New-York tribune., 1919-01-12

eyes had the vacant look of those who had
returned from burial and were unaware of
this world. The bare feet of some left
bloody trails on the road. Others clutched
their bodies, and the red drainage oozed be-
tween their fingers. One dropped dead at
my feet. With that memory l came home.
and the next sunrise, hearing unaccustomeo
sounds without, lifted the blind to a dawn
which was cold and ominous scarlet be-
hind skeleton trees, and beneath the trees
was company of my young neighbors,
already in khaki, getting used to the harsh
ness of sergeants, and to those impacabe
circumstances which would draw them to
Neuve Chapelle, to Gallipoli to Loos, to
the Somme; names then to which there was
no warning but the menace of that winter
dawn
New-York tribune., 1919-01-12
Soldiers SeIf=Made
In a Day

That serious company Of young English
men promptly making soldiers of themselves
in day with SO unproptious an opening
light did not look like national indifference
But one could not be sure So far as it
went, those nnocents getting used to rifles
were as affecting as that single line of
BODIES we saw across mile of stubble near
Complegne where rear guard of ours had
sacrlhced itself to its. comrades. ] went to
find one who could tell me whether England
was aware of what confronted it. I remem-
bered he was quiet observer, that he knew
what allowance to make in the witness of
that patriotic British press which then
already was holding up in runous caricature
its country and its countrymen for the world
to see and to scorn. He was scholar, he
was Socialist and a pacfist he had a
sense of humor to keep him balanced. But
he had gone. He had enlisted (and he is
dead).
III was common experience From the
day the Germans entered Belgium dumb
resolution settled on our Nobodies. Thew
did not demonstrate. They made long silent
queues at the recruiting Offices. 1t is true
those offices were not ready for them, and
turned them away; and when by sheer OBJ
stlnate persistence they got into the army
they were put into concentration camps
that were almost as deadly as battle. That
did not daunt them, nor turn them from
their purpose, whatever that was, for they
never said; and the newspapers, by ira
dition had no time to find out, being de-
voted to the words and activities of the
Highly Important. We, therefore, knew
nothing of the munition factories that were
sprlnging up magically, as in a night, all
over the country; and were barely aware
that for some strange reason, the hosts of
the enemy were stopped dead on the road
to Calais. Whose work was all this? But
how should we know? Who can chronicle
what Nobody does ?"
New-York tribune., 1919-01-12
ReinfOrcinq
The French

But we set to work to do what had to
oe oohe' III was not for home defence We
were perfectly defended at home by tho
fleet and the territorial forces.
lhe answer to the question put to the
french authorities was that the purpose of
any British army that could be nut into
the held must be to supplement the great
French army with force strong enough to
hold the Germans if they tried to break
through Belgium. The French thoupht At,
that time that if we could contribute 100. goo
men within fifteen days from the outbreak
OF war that would be enough to enable
them, with their great Notifications and
win our reorganized army on their left. to
holo the position. But when we came to-
LOOK INTO things we found that all we could
concentrate was $4,000 men, and then not
nnoer two months and half The French
SAID: we should be dead before Chat This
country, therefore, set itself out to cfect,
a revolution. That revolution was nodo
under Sir Douglas Haig and number 20
other officers who have since distircr;sbo,,
themselves in the war, and some others who
nave passed away, all of whom worked night
anu oay Tor the purpose of putting our
~'1 AOA eHc iISC Time IN Its history on a.
war footing in peace time so that it might
De moblized with the utmost rapiditv.
In the end we were able to increase the
French estimate by giving them not 1oo-
ooo men but 100000, not in fifteen DAYS
but twelve days. l do not think the nub-
nc knew when we modified our army, but
VIII tell you now: We mobilized at II
O'Clock on the morning of Monday. August
8, thlrty-six hours before we declared war
Mobilization is not declaration of war.
Il desired, you can mobilize in time op
peace IN order to be prepared for war.
Within a few hours after the declaration
OF war the expeditionary force. with tho
a'd OF the navy, was across the Channel be-
lore anybody know it. Indeed the first de-
tachment was over within nine davs in
stead of twelve. That was one of ~. -,
suits of putting definite question a, IN
what purpose the British army was needed
for and working out the answer
New-York tribune., 1919-01-12
The Story of One Briton Who Was Slave

And he dared to act in self defence.
That was his capital crime
Regarding the trial of John Bramble,
an English prisoner of war, interned at
Zossen, German newspapers printed the
following official report:
"On November 30 1914, John Bramble.
who does not understand German, did not
receive any food. Therefore, he waited
after breakfast had been distributed, and
showed his empty dinner pail to Corporal
Enskat. Enskat hit the prisoner first with
stick over the back and then with the butt
Of rifle, SO that Bramble stumbled over
a pail of water and fell, hurting himself
on the leg. At the same moment the report
of rifle shot was heard. Brambe heard
also the command, Haiti but continued to
run away because he did not understand the
command. Then he fell again and was
arrested"
Bramble was sentenced to twenty
years in state prison at hard labor. The
abusers of Lonsdale and Bramble were
in no wise punished, not even censured.
New-York tribune., 1919-01-12
Denmark Comes to Paris, Hat in Hand

~ ENMARK has seized upon the
prospective redistribution of
~ the territory of Europe as an
opportunity to regain the
province of Schleswig, seized from her
by Germany in 1864. This is what is
commonly known as the problem of
Schleswig- Holstein, but as a correspond
ent of "The London Times" explains,
there is no such problem, and Schleswig-
Holstein is only hyphenated fiction of
the Germans, who sought by it to bind
the Danish province of Schleswig more
firmly to the German Empire, or rather
to the Kingdom of Prussia, as it was
Prussia that committed the theft before
the German Empire was born. The
Times" correspondent continues:
"The different position each country occu-
pies is shown the moment the iniquitous
Peace of Vienna, 1864, is cancelled, as an
amende honorable due to Denmark Hol-
stein rcvcrts to her former status as Ger
man duchy, while Schleswig becomes part
OK Denmark. as guaranteed by the Western
powers in the treaty Of Fredericksburg, 1890.
ending the rule Of the Holstein- Gottorp
branch OF the Danish royal house over
South Schlcswig.
Taking tho northern parts OF Schleswig,
especially those just north of line be-
New-York tribune., 1919-01-12

PEACE has come suddenly rushing
toward US, and with countless and
lmmeasurable blessings it will
bring great new burdens. savs
"Everyman," of London, in an article on
The Basis of Industrial Peace" Labor
problems of every kind will throng upon
us, 1T continues, and offers as the best
means of solving the problems:
10 create some central authority, in
which labor and capital will be fairly rep
resented, and which will command the CON
fidence Of the workmen, is the first require
ment II we are to make any headway at all
The institution of so complex a BODY j,
naturally surrounded with difficulties: bu,,
'he opportunity is already available
through the prevailing good will of the besu
type of employers and the desire of ths
mass Of the workers to obtain real security
Inc National Alliance of Employers and
Employed, more or less free lance bodv.
is itself almost the nucleus of wider and
more authoritative organization; and GER
tainly there is every reason to support tina
urgent appeal which it is now making for
the convocation of a national conference. in
which capital and labor may decide tne;..
own future. Such conference, it urges
with great force, would be an unparalleled
event in our industrial history; in itself If
would mark perhaps the greatest step for
ward we have ever seen, and it is unthink-
able that the constructive ability of such
gathering would fail to lay the foundations
OF success as great as the experiment.
would be bold
Let that be the first step. We urge it
as the most hopeful proposal which has vet
originated from combination of employ
ers and employed and as an Indispensable
means OF arriving at great results. 1t is only
oy the 1uil cooperation of capital and labor,
IN place of the old hostility of the past and
the creation of genuine understanding
that their interests are essentially one ard
the same, and that those who on either
side would cause enmity by attempting to
exploit the strength of their position must
be considered and treated as outlaws-~onlv
on that basis cap we hope for lasting in
dustrial peace. Only on that basis can we
expect to build up a new world in which
the men who have been broken in the war
may feel that the blessings of peace wcr,s
worth the price. But the spirit of good
Will must find expression in action; and the
government must act at once. The task of
enlightened craftsmanship to-day is to guide
the healing forces of good will which are
active on all sides to the creation of new
order that shall be free from the eanker
of the old industrialism"
New-York tribune., 1919-01-12

w HO won the war? 1t was the
wv "Nobodies," according to a
writer in "The Nation" Of
London, who was one of the
thousands of civilians fleeing before the
German advance in August, 1914, and
had an opportunity to observe how the
unheroic workers went about their ac-
customed tasks in spite of the approach
ing chaos 1t was the French railroad
employees who first attracted the writer's
attention:
'The men moved about as though thew
were busy, but only with holiday traffic.
They were deliberate and quiet They had
eyes only for the job I could see thew
would hold that line till the last pull of
cotton waste and would run their trains
while they had a mile of track. Since those
days 1T has become evident that the in
vaders were bat1ed by the railway men and
others, such as obstinate old women in
slstent on cows, almost as much as they
were by the soldiers. country's readiness
for war may be meagre, yet the settled
habits Of the peaceful Nobodies, unreck-
oned by calculating Imperialists on the road
to conquest, are surprisingly tough and OBJ
structve. You could go TO girl at a
pigeonhole, ask for ticket to a place,
which by all signs was to fall behind the
German army, and she would hand it over
as though she had never heard of the war;
and the engine driver would go on toward
the sound of the guns till you wondered,
dismayed, by the increasing evidence out
side, whether he had gone mad and intended
to run the Germans down. The train would
stop; and then listening to the explosions,
the guard would advise us as to the mex,
best thing. Later that morning, a little
ahead of the Germans, a train came for US
and snatched us away; and later still / re-
member sombre orchard beyond the car
riage windows, which was like a stage scene
before the actors appear. The grass was
rank. My sight fell drowsily on an aban-
doned kept, and while wondering where was
the man who had once worn it saw a bright
eye slyly shut at me. wink in the grass!
bearded face was laughing up at us from
under the kept. rifle with fixed bayonet
moved forward. Then I saw the orchard
had secretive crop of eyes, which smiled
at US from the grass. We moved on, and
farewell kisses were blown to US.
New-York tribune., 1919-01-12

days work. That is incorrect. Thew
may have been paid that much, but thew
dld not receive more than six pfennig
(less than LIS cents) The rest was
claimed by the Ministry of War, to cover
the expenses of the prisoners upkeep.
although it had been borne by the
employer.
The food of the hired out prisoners
was the very poor fare of the intern
ment camps, on which no workingman
could subsist. To keep their prisoner
workers healthy and efficient many en-
ployers gave them better food or worked
them less than the regulation hours.
These employers were prosecuted and
fined or sent to prison. This was before
the German government took charge of
the food distribution, and everybody was
allowed the free use of all the food he
could obtain. In Prussia and some other
North German states the agricultural
workers and domestic servants might.
according to the Gesindeordnung claw
regulating farm and domestic labor)
even in times of peace, be castigated by
their employers for disobedience, slow
work, lack of respect, or any other rea-
son the employer or his representative
thought sufficient. The Gesindeordnung
was in effect up to the middle of Novem-
Der last. What hired out prisoners had
to expect in case they defended them
selves against maltreatment by over
New-York tribune., 1919-01-12

less The few instances mentioned above
are characteristic of the brutality to
which citizens of the allied countries
were subjected in the Kaiser's realm.
When some teachers tried to show
their pupils how inhuman and discredit-
ing such excesses and the hatred of citi-
zens of other countries are they were
censured by their superiors The presi-
dent of the government at Frankfort-on-
Oder, for instance, enjoined the school
inspectors not to work against the
propagation and deepening of national
hatred" nor to prepare the pupils for
future reconciliation of the civilized
peoples"
The Berlin "Lokalanzeiger," the onlv
newspaper read by the Kaiser, to whom
only occasional clippings from other pub
locations were submitted, suggested. with
the permission of the censor, that every
day 200, 800 or 500 French and English
prisoners of war be murdered. This
much discussed beastly plan has not been
executed because there were also Ger
man prisoners of war in France and
Great Britain.
The "Tageblatt," of Jauer. official
organ of the Prussian district admins
tration, published approvingly this let
ter from corporal of the 1st COMPANY
of the 154th Prussian Regiment of
Infantry:
we came to a trench full of dead and
wounded Frenchmen. The wounded were
Killed with the butt of the rife or with the
bayonet. There lies a dead Frenchman. bis
face to the earth. But he only simulated
death. A kick by a strong infantryman
tells him we were there He hardly had
turned his face, crying 'pardon!' when he
was stabbed to death and nailed to the
earth by soldier, who said: Son of a.
our weapons work this way Our enemies
have fought gamely. At the entrance of a
hut, covered with foliage, lay French
wounded, vainly begging for pardon. Our
brave lnfantrymen saved the Fatherand the
expensive care for so many enemies"
These monstrous murders were mani
testify regarded as heroic deeds, not only
by the author of the letter, but also bv
the editor of the paper, the public
authorities of the district of Jauer, and
of course by the Prussian War Depart
ment. The murderers have never been
indicted or tried. They acted in accord
ance with the official "Kriegshandbuch"
(the German War Code), which saws:
"a war conducted with energy cannot he
directed merely against the combatants of
the enemy state and the positions thew
occupy, but will and must, in like manner.
seek to destroy the total intellectual and
material resources of the latter. Humans
tartan claims, such the protection of men
and their goods, can only be taken into con-
sideration in so far as the nature and object
of the war permit"
And the spirit of Prussian militarism
never permitted anything but the utmost
brutality.
New-York tribune., 1919-01-12
"A m ANY articles on the maltreat-
ment of prisoners of war and
- ~ interned enemy aliens hV the

Il "a interned enemy aliens by the
Prussians have been published in this
country-they were based on neutral or
Allied statements or observations. Some
people have assumed that the Germans
have been unjustly held up to adverse
criticism by their adversaries. Such
doubts are certainly out of place in the
face of official German reports and Ger
man statements passed by the German
censor, such as are quoted or summa-
rized in this article, which pictures, to
some extent, the indignities and brutal
ties to which enemy aliens, civilians and
prisoners of war alike, were subjected
in the Fatherland
The deportation of Belgian civilians
to Germany, which was contrary to in
ternational law, where they were forced
to perform hard labor for no other rea-
son than their nationality, dates back to
the early days of the world conflict. A
number of Belgians, including some
priests, were interned at the drill
grounds of Ohrdruff, Thuringia. They
had to work in the fields. When they
were brought back to the internment
camp, one day in September, 1914,
priest was beaten to death by the mob,
and a sexton was kicked and otherwise
maltreated, and had to be placed in
hospital,' but did not die. After the
"Stammgast" of Libenstein, a small
paper, had published this story without
comment, the "Volksfreund" Of Some
berg, a Radical Social Democratic publ
cation, investigated the matter and
learned that similar brutalities had
occurred the day before the murder of
the priest and that the military escort
on that occasion, although armed, did not
even attempt to save its prisoners from
the violence Of the Hun mob The
"Volksfreund" was suppressed, because
it ventured to criticise the inaction of
the military. Outrages by an infuriated
mob may happen anywhere and the re-
sponsibility for the murder at Ohrdruff
could not be placed at the door of the
German government, if the "Volks-
freund" was not penalized for having
voiced the sentiments Of international
law and humanity, in protesting against
the failure of the military escort to pro-
tect the defencelcss Belgians.
The prisoners we're not even allowed
to defend themselves against absolutely
arbitrary attacks by their guards. Will
lam LoDsdalc, an English prisoner of
war, confined in the Doeberitz camp, was
sentenced to death. The sentence was
afterward commuted by the Kaiser to
imprisonment for life. He had been
mcrciiessly beaten by German land
wehr soldier because Of mistake" as
the official German report happily
phrased II, with the butt end Of rife.
New-York tribune., 1919-01-12

"UNTINUANCE of the "union
sacree" of parties, classes and
~ creeds, which proved such pow
erful factor in bringing victory
10 the arms of France, is being urged
by Gustave Herve in his paper LA
victoire." He, once one of the most
irreconcilable of French radicals, whom
the lessons of the war have transformed
into an ardent patriot, advocates, now
that peace is hand, that all Frenchmen
remain rallied at least for few years
to come, in great national coalition
around the banners of the victorious Re-
public.
First among the conditions to make
such ''bloc" of parties possible Herve
names the elimination of religious strug-
gle. He says:
Con both sides we have to make up
our minds not to resume that religious
and philosophical warfare on which we
had, prior to August, 1914, wasted most
of our time ever since the establishment
of the Third Republic But this war
fare has come to an end through meas
ures like the separation of Church and
State and the dissolution of the congre-
cations, measures which the Church,
rightly or wrongly, has considered as
attempts against its fundamental stat
utes, it's liberty and dignity"
Even the bitterest anti-clericals, how
ever, he goes on to say, must recognize
the wonderful spirit of patriotism with
which the same monks who, after the
dispersion of the congregations had left
the country, rushed, in August, 1914,
back to the defence of France, taking
up arms to protect the republic that only
the day before had expelled them.
catholics will ask: Are we now to expel
them again, these monks with their war
crosses, their military medals and their
crosses of the Legion of Honor won on
the field of battle?" Herve writes.
New-York tribune., 1919-01-12
A Pooling of
Strength

I'm the second place, the French pointed
out: You have great fleet and we have
great army; our fleet is small, yours is
large; our army is large, yours is small
They knew we could not have a large army
because we could not raise great COM
pulsory army in peace time unless you had
about thirty years to do it in.
at is very important to bear in mind
what followed upon those conversations,
which were on the French initiative and
which were quite informal and unbinding
New-York tribune., 1919-01-12
With the ExpeCfanf
Infantry

Field batteries were unlimbered in
shrubbery beyond. We crossed a bridge
winch carried US over lower road and
stream. A number of infantry were await
ing kor something there, and from their
attitudes seemed to expect it soon. By now
our FELLOW passengers were awake to these