The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1919-09-25

SOLDIERS
SUCCESSFULLY
C CT | ! OF
CT RlMANLAlyDS
Army Wins Confidence and Co
operation of People They
Went to Conquer
sHOPKEEPERS RESPECT
AMERICAN PATRONS
Offending Yanks Are Punished
for Drinking and Getting
Too Rough
sHOPKEEPERS RESPECT
AMERICAN PATRONS
Nv Edwin W. Hullinger.


UNITED Press Correspondent
With the American Army of o.
cupation, Coblenz. (By Ma1l)-
The American army of occupation In
Germany is probably the most sue
cessful army of occupation history
has produced.
It has done a thing none of It's
predecessors ever was able to do, IN
fact hitherto considered Impossible
for a conquering army to do.
In a few months, without any ira
ternizing, propaganda, or "play" for
good will on it's part, the American
army has won the confidence; and &C
tive cooperation of the people 1t
came to subdue.
nnua1zpor Peaceful.
Today the American doughboy
lives as peacefully and socially in
the land Of his former foe as he
could hope to, camped for training,
say in any solid German-American
community in his native country.
He walks down the streets of his
occupied" city or village without
thought of harm. He enters a shop
or ice-cream parlor and is served
with courtesy and good will. He is
respected generally and, what is
more, not disliked.
Yet he is conqueror, lodged upon
a beaten enemy, whose land he is
holding in mortgage for ransom.
The principal why Of this odd state
of affairs is that when the American
forces took over their share of Ger
many, they did so on a plan never
before employed by victorious
army.
Had Right Idea.
Neither officers nor men had
very clear idea what was expected
of an "occupier." but they did
know what it meant to do duty" in
the mining districts, or frontier re-
gions-parts of their own land that
needed "occupying'- they
did have pretty good idea how to
handle that kind of job.
The result was complete absence
OF that spirit Of arrogance and abus-
i've superiority which usually char
acterizes the conqueror toward the
conquered
The Americans were strict. Every
German travelling outside his legal
residence had to have full creden- |
tials and pass-just as in a mill |
tarily-occupied zone in the states. |
These passes were not extremely !
difficult to obtain, however. Abso-
lutte respect was demanded for the |
flag. The lid was tight on beer halls |
and gambling places. Everybody |
had to mind his own business rather !
severely.
But if he did that, he was free to |
live his life unmolested, free from
insult, injury or humiliation.
He was not continually made to |
feel his defeat. He was not called !
a Schweinhund. His goods were not |
taken without full compensation. His
women were not DETAINED
Offenders Punished.
In isolated instances where Ger
mans were handled roughly. by
drunken soldiers-drunk with wine
sold them at good profit by the Ger
mans themselves, the offenders were
punished as sternly as they would be
in the United States for similar
breaches
Thus after five years tn emselves in
Belgium, the Germans, by reverse of |
fate, learned from humane foe that
their methods of occupation were not
even defensible on grounds of exped-
iency.
The American control functioned
admirably. Before long, the Ger
mans natural first suspicious of the
"invaders' disappeared. Partly, of
course, from native habits of disci-
pine, with accompanying realization
of the price of disobedience the
German inhabitants adapted them
selves quietly to the new order of
things.
To illustrate how conscientiously
the Germans now carry out their
new masters egulations-and VOL
unfairly:
Drink Regulated.
One of the army's orders is that
all drinking must stop by 10 p. m.
drinking is only allowed a couple |
hours at noon and at night)
The German restaurant keepers
carry out this regulation as relig-
iously as they ever followed any die |
tate of Prussianism
Walters pass from table to table |
at five minutes before ten, urging |
guests, "Trinken Sizes aus, bite"
Whether there was soldier in sight I
or not made no difference. At 1Of
sharp every glass was collected, and !
drinking ceased
This would not be so if the Ameri-
cans did not have the moral support |
of their wards. I never saw any in !
c1inatiOn to dodge