The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1919-07-31
CHAPTER VIII
Tho KaI.er's Confidence Of Victory.

The kaiser's Confidence Of Victory.
About twelve years ago l attended
the German military maneuvers at
Liegnitx, In Silesia, having been in
vited by some journalistic friends Of
mine to accompany them In the motor
allowed the press. The military repre-
sentatives of England. France, Amer
lea and other countries were there
with the kaiser's staff to witness the
display Of Germany's military power.
Apparently they were very much Inn
one Of the French officers who had
been present had written book in
which he said: "With such an army,
Germany could annex France In ak
mOnths!"
happened to mention this fact to
the kaiser shortly afterwards and his
significant comment was:
"Six months / should hope 20. 1t
wouldn't take that longl"
The confident belief that when "Der
Tag'-''the day"-finally arrived, Ger
many would crush her enemies and ac-
coniplish her object within a few
months at the outside was held not
only by the kaiser but by the people
| generally and their conduct when the
war broke out clearly disclosed 1t.
When Germr ny's man power was
mObilized, no one In Germany believed
1t would be very long before they
| would all be back and every effort was
made to make their few weeks Of ac-
tive service as little irksome as pos
sible. "Liebesgaben," gifts of love.
consisting Of clothing and food Of
every description, were forwarded to
them by their relatives and friends In
the most lavish manner. although. Of
course, ut that time the German COM
mlssary was able to satisfy all the sol
dlers' requirements.
One of my patients told me that she
had sent seventeen hundred pounds OF
sausages to one regiment within a
week, and when asked her why she
had been so generous she replied that
her chauffeur was member Of the
regimentl
The extent to which the country's
resources were squandered in those
early months is evidenced by the fact
that the soldiers had such an excess
of ill-fitting w0olen wearing apparel
that they used many Of the knitted ar
ticles as earpieces and covers for thell
horses. No one had the slightest idea
that the time might come when the
whole nation would be clothed In pa
perl
At this late day 1t can hardly bs
necessary to establish how thoroughly
prepared the Germans were for the
war, but an Incident which occurred In
the early days of the conflict may moi
be out Of place to show the self-satis
fled and confident attitude which al
the Germans assumed.
Two officers sitting at a table in ar
out-of-door cafe shortly after the wal
began overheard one of several ladie!
who were passing remark: Look a
those officers sitting there drinking
. Why are they not at the front fight
ingT" C-e of the officers got up and
approaching the ladies', said: "Ou
work was completed months ago. W.
worked from early morning till late a
night on plans which our armies arr
now carrying out. 1t Is our time t
rest"
The resistance that France would b.
able to put up was always very light.
, estimated, and II the Intervention o
England was ut all taken into consid
Grafton. the comparatively small arm
she could Ila re In the field was re
garded as but drop In the bucket com
pared with the well-trained German
horde that was ready to sweep acros
the border How could Englands 5000
men cope with Won Kluck's 100000 O
: the hastily mobilized French armies n
: sist the thoroughly prepared. equlppe
. and well-disciplined German warriors
. 1t Is really not to be wondered O
: that the Germans firmly believed thu
they would bring the allies to thel
knees within q comparatively fe'
weeks and that the conQuering Gel
man armies would celebrate Seda
: day, September 2. In Paris. What a
tually happened ID. Of course. too we
known here to require recital. but
know that the Germans were kept
absolute ignorance Of the marvelor
resistance the allies were able to p,
up In those critical days Of August an
September, 1914, and to this day II
l. majority Of Germans have not hear
OF the battle Of the Marnel
Q Just after the English passed the
conscription law l was called to 81
X the kaiser ut the great army headqua
ters, which at that time We're at Pies
g Although the war had then lasted tv
It or three times as long as the German
q had expected. the kaiser masked Il
D. depression he must have felt by pu
e ting on a bold front.
y "How foolish for England to sta
d conscription now" he declared. "Sl
r thinks she can accomplish In a fe
lr months what 1t has taken Germany
e hundred years to attain. Armies al