D 515 .C76 Copy 1 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 015 900 871 ft ^ 515 3py 1 The Plague of U-J^lziS Kaiserdom By WILLIAM V. COWAN State Chairman, " Four- Minute Men" Issued Under the Auspices of THE STATE COUNCIL OF DEFENSE Sacramento, California February 15, 1918 California State Printing Office Sacramento 19 18 OCT Of ^•' 6 1929 THE PLAGUE OF KAISERDOM. Not many years ago the world was congratu- lating itself on having emerged from the Dark Ages ; much was said about the abolition of war ; peace palaces were built, and every crowd gave its applause at the mention of a world-wide brotherhood. The Story of the Past had been written in the terms of human misery and, as it had been told and retold, we turned the pages indifferently. Hungry ligns devouring men and M^omen in the arena ; Nero playing his harp happily while Rome burned; the human sacrifices to Baal; the rack, the ordeals, witchcraft, the savagery of redskins ; all these were taught in school only as mere matters of history. There wei'o also tales of the ancient ferocity of the Germans. How they had drunk human blood from luunau skulls and how they had car- ried off captive women into the Black Forests. But that, too, was mere history. It did not concern us much. AVe boasted of our wondrous civilization ; how human nature had improved, and we said that if in the remote possibility of things there should be a war, it would be a humane war. Had not all nations signed a contract to this effect?^ Was there not honor among nations — particularly great civilized nations? And so we built our Peace Palaces, basked in the sun — most of us — and smoked our pipes of contentment. Particularly did we so in America. Yet, not- withstanding our own good feeling toward man- kind, the thunder cloud rolled across Belgium and into France, across Poland and into Russia, across Serbia and into Asia. But we heeded it not. We looked on in bewildered apathy as if gazing at an intense panorama in a moving pic- ture house. And so some of us continued to count our shekels and reach out for more; others looked on indifferently and said: It is not our affair. And then there came a day when the Lusitania and those other ships were sent deep into the sea. We looked up from our pipes for a moment, said a few naughty words, listened to weak apol- ogies, and then returned again to our pipes. The tinkle of coins, the ease of luxury, the complacent knowledge of latent power, the worryless contentment of peace at any price, lulled us into drowsy indifference. 'Regulations of The Hague. (4 ) Now and then, for a short afternoon, we would strut about with our swagger-stick, and believe that we had frightened the lawless ones. But a plague is a plague. A malignant dis- ease can not be driven away by rhetoric or Fourth of July speeches. For a decade and more Prussian writers and army men wrote of the unkind things that they would some day do to the rest of the world. With cynical frankness Bernhardi proclaimed the ultimate crushing of the British and the French ; proclaimed that might is right ; that war is justifiable and is smiled upon by Providence.^ Others brazenly spoke of the time when Germany Avould subdue and plunder America. But in the main such preachments fell on deaf ears. "The desire for peace has rendered most civ- ilized nations anemic, and marks a decay of spirit and political courage," said Bernhardi.^ "Woe and death unto those who oppose my will. Death to the infidel who denies my mis- sion. Let all the enemies of the Germnn nation perish. God demands their destruction," said Kaiser William II.* "Bismarck would have never made the mis- take of asking for his country a military equip- ment sul'liciently ]iowei'i'ul to fight England, 2"Germany ami llie Next W^ar," by F. von Bernhardi, 1912 3"'Germanv and the Next War," page 17. *"Out of Their Own Mouths," page 4. (5) France and the Slav masses, only to keep it unemployed during long years of peace," said Maximilian Harden in 1913. "Of late years we G-ermans have had cause for political irritation with the United States, due largely to commercial reasons" . . . "The question for us to consider is what plans must eventually be developed to put a stop to the overreachings by the United States which are detrimental to our interests. It is by armed action that we must ultimatel.v en- force our will upon that country," wrote Baron von Edelsheim in 1901.^ And then the Baron went on to tell how it should be accomplished. Among other things he would seize Atlantic seaports and levy upon them heavy war contributions. In fact, German military and naval men fre- quently and frankly boasted of plans to subdue England, France and America. "In our next war, 'World power or downfall!' will be our rallying cry," said Bernhardi.® At all this France looked on unbelievingly; England turned up her nose in contempt ; Amer- ica gave an extra (luartcr to the fiddler, heaped lu r l)anquet plates and danced merrily to the tiuH'. "I didn't rai.s(> my boy to be a soldier." ="Out of Their Own Mouths," page 80. "See, also, "Gems (?) of German Thought," by William Archer. (6) ]5ut it happened. It happened. It was a sunny day in a snnny month. The French were busy with their fashions. In Paris there was revelry and song. The Belgians toiled in their fields in innocent happiness and content. In Brussels they made their lace. The English fox-hunted in sportive chase. From Liverpool ships pursued the commerce of peace. I>om Manchester there was a ceaseless flow of the implements of peace. But it happened. Like a thief in the night, when his powder- house was filled, the Kaiser touched the match. In a Serbian village, a degenerate son of Haps- burg was assassinated. There is strong belief it was by German intrigue. But any excuse will do when an excuse is needed. Then came the iuterminable tramp of Prussian troops. All day long and all night long. Tramp, tramp, a ceaseless tramp. (7) And Ihen, out of the tuniiilt and noise of battle, be,yond the dugout and the screech of sliell, came the agonizing cry of noncombatants. There were stories of debauchery, of rape and of murder — stories of cities and towns being wiped from the earth — hellish stories of hellish scenes. France doubtfully investigated. England disbelieved. America laughed at the very idea. But the proofs came thick and fast. Affidavit upcn affidavit were filed in government archives. Judicial testimony was taken. Voluminous diaries of German soldiers were collected. Bryce and men of like chara(^ter were selected to make investigations. Neutral visitors wrote and talked." And too, there were those that escaped across the fields of liquid-fire — wounded men and maimed women, pri.soners and priests, nurses and nuns and children. And the stories were the same. "Tn (Hiristian countries murder is a grave crime ; amongst a people Avhere blood-ven- geance is a sacred duty it can be regarded as a moral act, and its neglect as a crime," Avrote Ik^rnhardi in 1912.8 "See "The Deportation of "^''omen and Girls from Lille," by the French Government. 8"Germany and the Next War," page 3. ( 8 ) ' ' The German people is always right, because it is the German people. Our fathers have left US much to do," wrote Von Tannenberg in 1911.^ "Be as terrible as the Huns under Attila," said the Kaiser to his soldiers a few years be- fore the war.^** And so churches were profaned, priests mur- dered, boys driven into exile, women-folk handed over to the lust of licentious soldiery, homes burned and destroyed, towTis and cities oblit- erated. History reveals no greater savagery. Not in darkest Africa or the pioneer forests of America. "As the German troops passed through the communes and towns of the arrondissements of Ypres, ITazebrouck, Bethime and Lille, they shot indiscriminately at the innocent spectators of their march; the peasant tilling his fields, the refugee tramping the roads, and the workman returning- to his home. * * * Old men and boys, and even women and young girls were shot like rabbits. "11 ""Out of Their Own Mouths," page 79. "*M. Proclamation. ""German Atrocities" by J H Morgan. See, also "The Ci'imes of Germany," issued by the London Field ; also, "Germany's Violations of the Laws of War," issued by the French Government. ( 9) People in liidinsf in the cellars of houses have heard the voices of women in the hands of Ger- man soldiers crying all night long until death or stupor ended their agonies.^- Liviug screens of priests, old men, and women with babes at the breast were thrust between German troops and the enemy. ^^ "Soft-hearted men put the French wounded out of their misery with bullets; the others hew and stab whenever they can * * * but whether they are slightl}'^ or mortally wounded, our brave musketeers save the Fatherland the costly care of numerous enemies. "^^ A hairdresser was murdered in his kitchen where he was sitting with a child on each knee.'^ Priests in particular were insulted by the sold- iers who cried incessantly, "Down with Cathol- icism ! Death to Priests! All priests should be shot!"^« Twenty-five priests were held as prisoners in one place and continually insulted by guards. '^"German Atrocities," page S9. ''"German Atrocities," page 43. (Reported by France and Britain. ) '^German officer in new.spaper article "Out of Their Own Mouthis," page 191. '"Bryce Report, page 15. '""The Germans in Belgium," by L. H. Grondys, page 24. ( 10 ) At another place two priests were made to pump water two hours for a company of soldiers; an- other was hnno- three times and left for dead.^'^ A young Jesuit priest of Belgium wrote in his note book : "When formerly I read that the Huns under Attila had devastated towns, and that the Arabs had burnt the Library of Alex- andria, I smiled. Now that I have seen with my own eyes the hordes of today, burning churches and the celebrated Library of Lou- vain, I smile no longer." In punishment therefor he was shot in the presence of thirty priest prisoners Avho were made to watch his death agony.^^ At Andenne, Belgium, after placing her hus- band close to a machine gun and shooting through him, soldiers ransacked the wife's home, piled up all eatables in a heap on the floor and relieved themselves upon it.^" At Malines one witness saw a German soldier cut a woman's breasts after he had murdered her, and saw many other dead bodies of women in the streets.^" ''"The Germans in Belgitmi," by K H. Grondys, page 27. ""Tlie Germans in Belgium, " hy Ia H, Grondys, page 69. '"Bryce Report, page 1 5. -'"Bryce Report, page 25. ( 11 ) "I am sending yon a bracelet made out of a piece of a shell," wrote a Bavarian soldier to his betrothed. "This will be a fine souvenir of a German warrior, who has gone through the Avhole campaign and has killed heaps of Frenchmen. I have also bayoneted a good number of women. During the battle of Budonwiller, I did away with four women and seven young girls in five minutes. The captain had told me to shoot these French sows, but I preferred to run my bayonet through them. "^^ At Boort Meerbeek, a German soldier was seen to fire three times at a little girl of five years old. Having failed to hit her. he subsequently bay- oneted her. but Avas himself killed with the butt- end of a rifle in the hands of a Belgian soldier who from a distance had seen him commit the deed.^- At llaccht a child of two or three years old was found nailed to the door of a farmhouse by its hands and feet.-'' Near Malines a German soldier thrust his bay- onet through a suckling child after having killed its father and mother, then put his rifle on his shoulder with the child on it. "Its little arms .stretched out once or twice, ' ' said a witness. ^^ ^'Letter of Bavarian soldier to his betrothed, "Out of Their Own Mouths," page 195. "Bryce Report, page 27. "^Bryce Report, page 28. ^^''Bryce Report, page 25. ( 12 ) The village of Lienclen was fired because one of the. inhabitants killed a German soldier. The latter, along with a companion, had violated a young girl after tjing her parents to chairs. The father freed himself from his bonds, seized a gun, and slew one of the aggressors. The German officers ordered fire set to the house, and the par- ents of the young girl, bound again to their chairs, perished in the flames.^^ A Sister of Mercy, wearing the sign of the Red Cross, was seized by the Germans and Austrians on the Russian front, beaten with swords and pricked with needles because she refused to give information regarding the Russians, and M'as later lodged with lustful German officers.-'^ "A private of my regiment and I in searching for doors for a roof for our dugout in a shell- ridden cottage in the vicinity of Ypres which was recently vacated by German soldiers, on entering the kitchen saw a woman dead in an upright posi- tion, her two hands, one on top of the ether, nailed to the wall. On a lamp hook hanging from the ceiling was a boy about three or three and a half years of age. The hook had been run through the back of his neck. The body was covered with blood which indicated he was hanged there during life. No other wound was =="The Germans in Belgium," by L. H. Grondys, page 24. =''"German Atrocities," page 88. (13 ) on tlic child or Avoinaii. Both had been dead ;ip[)arcnt]y some tiiiio. This occurred a1)oiit April 22, 1915."" "German military usage has methods also of dealing with children. They have little hands that are delightfully easy to cut off. Their feet are barely attached to their legs at all. M. Le Senateur Henry Lafontaine — Nobel prizeman and famed for moderation and pacifism — has tes- tified in public meeting that children's nostrils and children's ears have been burnt with the flaring stumps of lighted cigars."-^ "The scene is a country-house near Antwerp. A merchant of the city has chosen to remain in his home, with his two daughtei^, aged respec- tively twenty and seventeen years. Both are beautiful, with that placidly joyful beauty that has distinguished Flemish women from the time of Rubens onwards. After the fall of Antwerp, the Germans spread about the neighborhood and several of^cers quarter themselves on the mer- chant, who has had the rash courage to stay on in his country house. Being a man of means he receives them with all the hospitality possible. The most comfortable bedrooms are given up to them ; for the first evening an abundant dinner is prepared. Five German officers sit down to -'Sergt. Albert Goatls of British Army at San T'"'raiici.sco in letter to author. !^"Bflgium's Agony," page 32. ( 14 ) Ilii.s iijcjil, at wliicli there is every promise of plentiful wine as well as food. Unfortunately, however, drunkenness can not be pleaded in their defense. Before the feast begins at all, the Ger- man captain, the oldest and senior officer of the five, orders the owner of the house to be thrust into his own cellar, and the door guarded by two sentinels with loaded rifles and instructions to shoot, if necessary. This precaution having been taken, the two girls are connnanded by the revellers to undress. They protest, resist, implore. All in vain. As answer to their prayers the captain orders some of liis men to strip them naked and hold them during the meal before the leering eyes of the diners. At last, sated with eating and pleas- ingly drunk, the savages, before the amused eyes of the common soldiers, themselves reeling with drink, take the two poor children for their amusement. You will forgive me for not repro- ducing here the further details quoted by the I\Iinister of War. It is enough to say that when, the following morning, the merchant was set free from his prison, his daughters had been handed over to the tender mercies of the common sold- iery. One had gone raving mad ; the other has •sinrc- Icillod herself in shame and grief. "-^ This last, says Verhaeren, is the German pro- cedure fur wouKni who are not pledged to marr^^ ""Belgium's Agony," pages 30-31. ( 15 ) And so on in Belgium almost ad fiintem. And so on in Belgium ad nauseam. In that lovable land the Kaiser smeared the pastoral scenes with red in late summer — with burnt-umber in early autumn. There are vol- umes and volumes telling the horrid details. It makes one's blood pressure go up. No wonder the wounded boys in France fret to return to the battle front. And thereafter — thereafter ! — After these scenes of butchery and pillage and debauchery came ■ — Starvation ! Deportation ! Slavery ! — Perhaps the little babe on the bayonet's end was happier after all. In June, the Belgian peasant smilingly began to save his mite for the Christmas to come. In December on a cattle car he was carried off into Saxony. — Breathing the air of freedom in June — a .slave in December. But it is useless to try to describe it all. The pen falls helplessly. Vocabularies are inade- quate. History records nothing like this; hence there are no words to fit, no phrases that fully apply. (16) But this is only Belgium. Aud still there is Northern France ! And Poland and West Russia ! And Serbia! And Armenia! In Poland there was systematic starvation of a mighty people ; also, a coal famine scientifically produced with German precision. Coal famines make cold homes. Cold homes breed tuberculosis. —And Prussia has found tuberculosis a useful implement Math which to eliminate undesired in- habitants of conquered provinces. It saves powder, does not dull bayonets, and is more scientific. And so, it is said that in Poland there are no children under seven years. And then there are other stories— many- many 1 — Horrid, horrid tales of Pan-Germanism. In West Russia the peasants and all fled before the German advance. All day long ; all night long ; wearily, wearily they traveled eastward. On foot, by wagon, or horse. The procession moving no one knew whither. ( 17 ) "Into tiu' unknown," shvs Doroslievilcli, "Silently, above all. The over-wearied horses do not shy when motor cars pass them. They do not even prick up their ears. And the dogs don't bark. Tlie people in the carts do not talk. — They have said all they've got to say. They move like gray shadows, like the dead. The peasant women are silent. Even the children do not cry. At the relief points, where thousands of people are gathered together, you are im- pressed by the silence. What a silent country it is! You can go for tens and for hundreds of versts — and still meet an almost uninterrupted stream of grey carts. Like a series of spectres. And silent, silent, silent. Nothing but hopeless boredom and grief in their eyes. Weary and indifferent faces, as of convicts being marched along the road. And only by the new white wooden crosses along the side of the road can you see how much suffering has silently passed there. * * * Along this 'Way of the Cross' takes place — A selection. A terrible 'natural' selection. All the weak ones perish. Both of people and cattle. They are tried by sickness, hunger and cold. Fi'om Baranovitch to Bobruisk, from Bol)- ruisk by way of Dovsk to Roslavl. and in Roslavl, all the weak ones remain behind."-"* 'The Way of the Cross," by V. Doroshevitch. ( 18 ) Hut what is the use of iiiiiltii>lyin}^ tales of horror? Why ajrjzravate th(! bittrrness of feel- ing? AVhy rake over tlie ofl'al and human debris in the Prussian path? There is a reason. In America there is a special reason. Here we have hardly bej^in to realize it alJ. The horse-laugh of unbelief has barely died from our lips. For a time, when we were watchfully waiting, insidious propaganda raised a doubt. It is reason enough. But there is another why and wherefore. Public opinion! World-wide public opinion! We should be informed. Speakers, public servants — ^men, women and children should know. For the sake of Posterity, we should know. "It is a safeguard against a relapse to barbarism," says Mr. Bryce. "Spread the knowledge so that war will become even a greater curse in the minds of men." Our children and their children should know- — Should be taught to shrink from the pUgne. — ^And thus, perhaps, prevent a recurrence. And too, they who stay at home should know what manner of foe our boys go forth to fight. li / :.: . ily, if these .stories do not move yon — you Hi our right to work for a living wage instead of working as a Prussian slave? — For your right to have your home, to read your paper, to express your every thought? ■ — For your right even to enjoy your family and to keep your little ones playing unharmed about your feet? Where the Prussian blot has fallen, where the ITohenzollern has touched his reeking finger, all these little simple things of life have been denied the laboring folk, the farmer folk, and all. Therefore awalce ! Awake you farmers and laboring men, you housewives and all — Awake! This is your fight ! (25) Awake now! Must yon wait until the front page of the press be covered with red lists of dead and dying before you see the peril? — Before you discard the useless things ? — Before you strain every arm in the fight? Will you listen to words, or must you first see blood ? Will you heed the indisputable pictures drawn, or must you first look on the stark, stiff corpses of women and children, of innocent men run through, of soldier-prisoners crucified on dugout doors ? Must it first be proved to you logically, sta- tistically and in cold judicial reasoning? Where is the Red Blood of your ancestry? Has it stagnated in your scramble for greater ease and comfort? Until this danger, this red risk be passed — let us forget profit, ambition, partisanship — every little thing that does not help to win. The boys in the trenches endure the ceaseless swarms of lice and the sleek, hairless, vile- smelling rats; they dig in the mud through long winter mouths of homesickness and discomfort — ;ind still they smile as they go. Surely you and I — you and I— in our cushioned chairs and soft beds can deny ourselves a few pleasures in order that those boys shall not have died in vain. (26) For if we remain indifferent, if we hesitate to sacrifice — if we fail to rush into the fray, it may be too late. And then the millions of French and Belgians and the others, will have died in vain. The world will go back to the Dark Ages and human freedom will be lost. The Plague of Kaiserdom ! On the Ganges there have been times when folk died by the hundreds of thousands from the pestilence. But the Plague of Kaiserdom ! It is festering and festering in Europe. Calculating, precise and cold-blooded ; Subtle, stealthy, insidious and uncanny, Its cankered poison crept into the flesh of Italy ; and into the vitals of Russia. And America has not escaped. Insidious propaganda, spurious tales, sly phrases, cunning remarks, rumors, malicious and mendacious, whisperings secret and subtle, creep, knowingly and unknowingly, into the press and the pulpit, into the club, the lodge, and the liome. If a public servant be zealous in his patriotic work, if a public or private institution does noble service in the fight, then soon there are whispers about— (27) Riiiiioi-.s, wlii.spers and ruiiiors: — The irian is not what he should be, or — The institution is useless, or — What's the use, there will soon be peace. And so forth. The base chord of prejudice and the high chord of passion are played upon in every varia- tion. There are lies that spring from nowhere. There are stories that can not be traced. So do not be deceived, you mothers, every pro- Gorman statement is a direct shot at the life of your boy in France. Wilhelm has a great Secret Army in America. It digs in among the ultra bigots, the govern- ment-destroyer, the greed}', the pacifist, the over- ambitious, the thoughtless — everywhere. As villainous as the sleek rats that dig into shell-craters and fatten on the dead, these secret soldiers of his — not always his countrymen — fatten on the putrescence of dead patriotism. Therefore beware, America ! Beware the plague of Kaiserdom ! There is grim business ahead. (28) It is well that all America be aroused to anger — Not to sing bitter hymns of hate and rejoice in butchery — But with anger enough to go at this grim job with relentless determination. It is regrettable, but there is no other way. — For we can not toy with leprosy, nor can Ave compromise with murder. ( 29) mlmu,!^,!?.'^ °^ CONGRESS iilllllllllllillllllllllli 015 900 871 A IN regard to these essential rectifications of wrong and assertions of right we feel ourselves to be intimate partners of all the governments and peoples associated together against the imperialists. We can not be separated in interest or divided in purpose. We stand together until the end. For such arrangements and covenants we are willing to fight, and to continue to fight, until they are achieved. * * * The moral climax of this culminating and final war for human liberty has come, and they (our United States) are ready to put their own strength, their own highest purpose, their own integrity and devotion to the test. WOODROW WILSON, Message to Congress, January 8, 1918. ->c -K -k -K -k -K "I made the mistake of my career, when I had the opportunity, that I did not remove the Hohenzol- lerns from the throne of Prussia. As long as this house reigns and until the red cap of liberty is erected in Germany, there will be no peace in Europe." — Napoleon at St. Helena.