The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1920-12-30
IN THE TRACKS OF AN
INTERNATIONAL CRISIS
Chaplain Breuninger, of the Army of
Occupation, Writes The Republican

Chaplain Breuninger, of the Army of
Occupation, Writes The Republican
Dated at Coblenz, Germany, Decem-
Der 6, Chaplain Joshua C. Breuninger,
of this county, now with the American
Army of Occupation in Germany,
writes The Republican as follows:
To the Editor of The Republican.
In those hours which followed in the
wake of the great world conflict many
were persuaded that a quick restora-
ton would follow. Turning from the
activities of the struggle, one would
naturally desire to ascertain the true
conditions of the continental countries
involved.
Bleeding and torn by war and dew
astation, France, the Queen of Europe,
shook herself, and made the fields that
were red with human blood in Octo-
Der, green with the harvest" in May.
The pouli laid aside his sky-blue uni
form and returned to peasant life and
" RECONSTRUCTION.
followed in the tracks of this crisis
from Ostend, Belgium, to Naples, It.
ally. Along the route through Belgium
and France, l noticed the rapid and
tireless reconstruction of those devas-
tated countries on every hand. Faith
ers, mothers, sisters, brothers, whole
families without discrimination, roll
ing barb wire, eliminating debris, fill
ing trenches, shell-holes, machine gun
pits and building new homes. Around
these dwellings, came up flowers of the
season as a token of Gods peace and
love-
Along the Rhine from Cologne to
Coblenz, the path over which the I'M
perial German Army necessarily trod
during the late war, is today sunken
in financial poverty and everywhere
are undernourished conditions. AS l
write these lines the American SOL
diers of the A. F. l. g., in the Coblenz
Bridgehead are giving thousands upon
thousands of Marks to feed these poor
undernourished children and thereby
make Christmas a little brighter for
them Up on the Rhine, even to Strass-
burg,are evident the subsidiary condi-
tions of the postwar period. Jour-
neying on from Strassburg through
Alsace-Lorraine, were viewed barb
wire entanglements and remains of
aviation fields on every hand in great
numbers.
Basel, Switzerland, in all her beauty
standing as ''the gateway to the Alps"
has also suffered. The economic con-
ditions in the pocket handkerchief
country are acute, as a result of her
isolation during the struggle.
Switzerland, without doubt, was the
pivot of the great international crisis.
Sunny Italy, with her musical Ian
guage, blue skies, dreamy bays and la
goons, her palaces and cathedrals, and
those wonderful monuments of the
days of the Caesars, has not revived
from the offset of the past emer-
gency. The Italian kingdom, with the
Alps as her northern barrier, has not
escaped the effects of this mammoth
warfare. Her currency has depreci-
ated in value, labor problems have
multiplied, transportation was molest-
ed and her people are restless.
But activity is everywhere, as a tes-
timony from the people to overcome
the embarrassment of depleted condi-
tons. The Allies in their wise and
discreet occupation of the Rhineland,
have done much in promoting interna-
ton reconstruction.
j. c. BREUNINGER, Chaplain,
A. P. O., 927, A. F. G.,
Coblenz, Germany.