AMERICA AND THE WAR

Evening Star, Issue 16990, 12 March 1919, Page 2

AMERICA AND THE WAR

YANK DESCRIBES KAISER,

[From Our Own Corbkspondbnt.]

SAN FRANCISCO, February 4. The irrepressible American war correspondent appears to be equal to any occasion—barring reporting the innermost secrets of the Peacs Conference in Paris. One of the genus lias just endeavoured to gain some notoriety by penetrating the veil which for many moons nas surrounded the Beast of Berlin, as Americans delight is designating the former Kaiser. This doughty scribe, stationed in Amerongen, Holland, has sent a particularly choice message to his newspaper in New York giving further light on the habitat of the dethroned emperor of Germany. Says this correspondent:—"The immediate cause of William Hohenzollern's repeated chills, is, according to authoritative information overheating while performing his favorite exercise of sawing and chopping wood. The former emperor was accustomed to this work before the war and when he was I informed that his walks in the neighboring j woods called for the services of too many guards in order to prevent his being pestered by various spectators and perhaps also molestation of a more serious nature, William decided to resume his old pastime within the castle precincts. Among the great piles of baggage brought across the frontier for his use was a case of tools weighing four hundredweight. This was unpacked, and the ex-emperor began work with his usual energy, occasionally increasing his labors in an effort to forget the terrible worry connected with his abdication and the complete change in his position. The ex-emperor is becoming increasingly irritable under unaccustomed restrict ions, and this feoling is augmented by the gradual departure of many of his old servants, who find life in Holland under the circumstances unbearable. Dutch domestics who are filling their places do not maintain the same perfection of obeisance as the Imperial servants, who for years were accustomed to foresee requirements of their sovereign. It is probable that before many weeks the entire German personnel will have disappeared and the former monarch, who never could do any simple thing for himself in the way of dressing will be cast on his own resources. His recent ailments have had a marked effect on his physical and mental condition, which is small wonder when such a man has had to surrender to an array of salves for the ear and nose, gargles for the throoat, pills and other medicine. At various hours of the day he is compelled to take something or other of this kind and his wife, who acts as his nurse, is always in attendance to see that he executes the physician's orders. Frnu Hohenzollern is now in fairly good health."

THE ARMY OF OCCUPATION. Whilst American and Canadian military observers are watching with most intense interest the developments in Great Britain relative to tho extent of the army of occupation in Rhineland, one Yankee paper has this incidentally to suy respecting the British soldier and his meagre pay : " Perhaps one of the greatest marvels of the war has been that the British Tommy on his 18d a day has been willing to carry on as he has done, although«»his Canadian and Australian comrades receive three or four times as much, while his old comrades in British munitions factories have been receiving a pound for Tommy's every shilling. If Tommy's pay is now made adequate, no serious difficulty is anticipated in maintaining the Rhine army with all the noted morale of British troops. The size of the post-war army must largely depend on the decisions at the peace conferences, but if increased pay is made permanent, no serious difficulty is foreseen in its maintenance on a voluntary basis."

Whilst on the subject of the army of occupation, it may be .of some interest to readers of the Dunedin 'Evening Star,' to learn of the impressions of the official correspondent of the Canadian Corps in Germany. The writer, cabling from Bonn to Ottawa, said :—" The people seem to be accepting our occupation with tolerably good grace, as far as outward appearances indicate. Many of them are honestly glad wo are here, for they fear Bolshevism as much as they would a deadly plague. They know that* wherever the British flag flies disorder or disregard for even the German Constitution, which affects tho safety of law-abiding and innocent folk, will *be stonily suppressed. The burgomaster of Bonne told me that ho had received no complaints from tho citizens about the behaviour of the Canadians; in fact, they arc all favorably impressed, he said. " The men seem to bo knitting themselves into the communal life, when off parade, without fraternising, except with children, who are the name all tho world over." BOOSEVELT'S LAST WHITING.

An article on the League of Nations, the last contribution that Colonel Roosevelt prepared for the 'Kansas City Star,' appeared in that newspaper a few days after the illustrious ex-president passed away. In part the article said : It is, of course, a serious misfortune that our people are not getting a clear idea of what is happening on the other side. The trouble with] Mr "Wilson's utterances so far as they are reported, and the utterances of acquiescence in them by European statesmen, is that they are still absolutely in the stage of rhetoric precisely like the four toon points. Some of the fourteen points will probably have to be construed as having a mischievous sentence, a smaller number might be construed as being harmless, and one or two even as beneficial; but nobody knows what Mr Wilson really means by them, and so all talk of adopting; them as a basis for a peace or leacruo is nonsense and, if the talker is intellij* gelifc, it is insincere nonsense to boot. Would, it not be as well to begin with the league which we actually have in existence—the league of the Allies who have fought through this great war ? Let us at the peace table see that real justice is done us among those Allies, and thai while the sternest reparation is demanded from our foes for such horrors as those committed in Belgium, Northern France, Armenia, and the sinking of the Lusitania, nothing should be done in the spirit of mere vengeance. With all his expansivenesa, the lato Colonel Boosovelt was less disposed to impose upon the United States as heavy a burden as the advocates of a League of Nations seek to impose on the country. In this last writing of the ex-President, Roosevelt put the situation pithily when ho said : " Let civilised Europe and Asia, introduce some kind of police in the weak and disorderly countries at their thresholds. But let the United States treat Mexico as our Balkan Peninsula and refuse to allow European or Asiatic Powers to interfere on this Continent in any way that implies permanent or semi-permanent possession." Commenting on this expression of Roosevelt, the San Francisco ' Chronicle ' of recent date says : " There is no possibility of misintrepretinp this language. It points out clearly that any bargain we (Americans) may make which has far its object the regulating the affairs of the whole world would be a .complete surrender of the extended meaning of the Monroe Doctrine. And, as Roosevelt truly observed, ' tho American people do not intend to give it up.' " AMERICANS ESCAPED EASILY. American- prisoners in German camps along the Rhino faced a strange situation when tho armistice was signed. The German guards, as soon as the Soviets came into control, ceased their former vigilance, and officers at least were allowed to go into neighboring cities without guards, according to an interesting .communication just penned in Strassburg, where the American army of occupation has' been doing military duty. Escaping became an easy matter for the men who had the strength to make the long walk from the camps to the Rhine over the frozen roads. Numbers did, and arrived exhausted at tho Rhine bridgehead, where they were cared for first by the French and then by American medical commissioners sent out to look after them. Conditions in the prison camps varied, according, to the officers who escaped. The officers were given fairly good treatment and the same food that the German soldier had. It was insufficient, but kept the men alive. The men

were subject to terrible conditions. Their work was of the worst sort, and for long hours. Their food, according to the officers who saw them, was not fit for animals, and was not enough to nourish a human being who did nothing. On this they were forced to do hard woTk, such as mining, until many died. LACKED MEDICAL SUPPLIES. Evidently the greatest neglect was in medical attention and sanitation. Wounded men were just allowed to exist. Gangrene cases grew worHe untouched. Lack of medical supplies was the German excuse. The medical shortage apparently was real, since the Germans used paper bandages on their own cases, and often could not treat them sufficiently. Releasing of prisoners was delayed for some time after the armistice 'was signed, though the officers were given considerable freedom. In Karlsruhe they were allowed about the streets, and went to music-halls until German officers rose one night and protested to the audience about the presence of the Americans. The latter left before trouble was caused. Delays in release were ascribed to shortage of trains to carry prisoners to Switzerland. Food supplies grew shorter, and the Germans finally allowed a Commission of one American, Eugene Scroggie, of Des Moines, one Englishman, and one Frenchman to go to Strassburg to arrange for freeing prisoners at tho Rhine. The plan was rejected by the Allies, who had arranged already to get prisoners via Switzerland, and thei three had to return to their prison camps I across the Rhino, after seeing th©..,trramphal French entry into Strassburg. MANY FED INTO BETTER CONDITION., A German Commission appointed by the export government investigated prison conditions immediately after the armistice, and was amazed to find Americans in exhausted and emaciated condition. Fearing the impression it would cause, the Americans were loaded into cars and taken to the interior of Germany to be fed into better condition before their release, according to a number of officers who had escaped. Under-feeding presumably was confined mostly to enlisted men, 'rather than officers. Once across tho Rhine, the escaped prisoners were in good hands, and could get care from the "Alsatians. The French were overtaxed at first to care for prisoners, but American and British Commissions soon arrived to care for exhausted fugitives and give them medical attention, clothing, and food. HUNS NOT EFFICIENT.

Mr Charles M. Schwab, he 'lend of the groat U.S. Steel Corporation, has been on a visit over the battlefields, and whilst in Coblenz with the American army of occupation declared that German efficiency is a myth. " What has made Germany so prosperous," he said, "has been the fact that it was a militaristic nation. It had. made strides in industry and commerce, but this was due to discipline and hard labor, not efficiency. I never feared the Germans in my industry, and never shall fear them. Germany is the second largest iron and steel producer in the world, but Germany never discovered a new process." WELCOME FOR WAR BRIDES. Canadian Government officials overseas are giving considerable attention to the many thousands of British women who will shortly be sailing for the Dominion with their Canadian husbands, who are now serving in the Army. As the great majority of these women are the brides of soldiers married in England since the outbreak of the war, and have never beon in Canada, it is felt that a special effort should bo given to acquaint them with the conditions they will meet when they reach their now home. Through their immigration and colonisation branch in London, and in conjunction with the Khaki University, the Government have assisted in organising a department of home economics, which will be of great advantage to those availing themselves of the opportunity it offers. * Courses have been arranged in Canadian citizenship, cooking, dairying, poultry-raising, gardening, first aid, homo nursing, infant care, and a numbex of other useful subjects. These will be open to any women intending to oome to Canada without cost, the full course consisting of 12 to 15 lessons. i Sir Edward Kemp, Minister of Overseas Militia, made a special appeal on behalf of the wives of Canadian soldiers, urging for them a considerate and sympathetic welcome. Ho went on to say : " Our woman power mobilised and well organised has played a part in keeping with the proudest traditions in Canada. As an additional war effort, I make an appeal to our patriotic women of Canada to form in each town and city and port of disembarkation a certain committee to receive and extend to the wives and children of Canadian soldiers now proceeding to Canada a welcomo that will leave no uncertainty in the minds of these English women of the position wo expect them to take in our Canadian life in the future. Many hundreds of these dependents are now on the way to Canada weekly, and, part and parcel as they are of the future career of their husbands in Canada, it would, I consider, be unfortunte if their welcomo proved less sincere and interested than that accorded our men now returning home from the war."