Image provided by: Santiam Historical Society; Stayton, OR
About The Stayton mail. (Stayton, Marion County, Or.) 1895-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 22, 1918)
MURDER OF NATION' MONSTROUS IDEA BY RUTHLESS HONS; IN GERMAN MINO K Grart Net o f Mercy drawn through an Ocean o f Unspeakable Pain" leAmericanRed Cross How the Poles Were Slain and Treachery, Murder, Barbarity, Anything, Praiseworthy if for Starved and Frozen During Prussia’s Gain. the German Drive. CRUELTY AND LUST WEAPONS OF HUNS Conquered Peoples Shamefully Treated for Advantage of the German State. i F . C. W alcott T a il« o f th# Seen«» o f i Horror He Witnessed Along ths Road From W arsaw to Pinsk — Million Persons Homeless. r This I have seen. I could not believe it unless I had seen it through and through. For sev eral weeks I lived with it; I went all about it and back o f it; inside and out o f it was shown to me— until finally I came to realize that the incredible was true. It le monstrous, it ia un thinkable, but it exists. It is the Prussian system.— F. C. Walcott. f W W I I W W t W t f t H ftl Abominable Systom That Muat Ba Overthrown If the W orld Is to Be Worth Living In, Regardless o f the Cost. Prussian Offlcara Callously Toll How Starvation and Abuso Aro Mado to ftorvo Thtllr Purpose— Cap tivo Women Mado Slave*. I I » l I I H +++++ | • This I have seen. I could not believo it unless I had seen it through and through. For sev eral weeks I lived with It; I went all about it and back o f it; inside and out o f it was shown to me— until Anally I came to realize that the incredible was true. It is monstrous, it is un thinkable, but it exists. It is the Prussian system.— F. C. Wal- \ > | ' | ' I 1 ! | i | I Ttoo follow ing is a statement by F. C. Walcott, who served as an assist ant to Mr. Hoover during the time Am erica w « * doing all that was pos sible to feed the starving millions o f Belgium and Poland and northern France. In this work he was brought In direct contact with German military officials, and saw the conditions which the German invasion had created among the civilian population: I went to Poland to learn the facts concerning the remnant o f a people that had been decimated by war. The country hnd heen twice devastated. First the Russian army swept through It and then the Germans. Along the roadside from Warsaw to Pinsk, the present firing line. 230 a'.iles, nearly half a million people had died o f hun ger and cold. The way was strewn with their hones picked clean by the crows. With their usual thrift, the Germans were collecting the larger bonas to be milled Into fertilizer, nut finger and »•«■ I »ones lay on the ground with the mud-covered and rain-soaked Clothing W icker baskets w ere scatter*'1 n’ ong the way— the basket in which the hah.v swings from the rafter in every p «is- nnt home. Every mile there were scores o f them, each one telling a death. I started to count, hut after a little I had to give It up, there were so many. Tii r is the desolation one «a w r v a t Ihe groat road from W arsaw - . \ mile after mile, more thnn tw o hun dred miles. They told me a million people were m'’ -*" hocidps« in six weeks o f the German drive in August and Sepremh.-r, 1MC. They tol l me four hundred thou-nnd iied on the way. The re«t, scarcely half alive, got through with the Russian army. Many o f these have been sent to Si beria: It is these people whom the l’ :i lerewzkl committee is trying to re- A t u conference o f field men o f the United States food udministrution held In Washington. F. C. Walcott pictured conditions as he hnd found them In the countries invaded by German anus. Mr. W alcott served with Mr. Hoover on the Belgium relief commis sion when this nation was attempt- Ing to feed the starving civilian pop u lation 'of Belgium. Poland and north- ern France. In his address he had pictured such conditions as he said he could not believe unless he had seen the situation through and through, and had lived with It fo r weeks. He showed these terrible conditions to he tile result o f deliberate plans on the part o f official Germany, and in sum ming up he said: “ Such Is the German mind as it was disclosed to me in several weeks' contact with officers o f the staff. Treaties are scraps o f paper. If they hinder German aims. Treachery is condoned and praised. I f It falls In with German interest. Men. lands, countries are German prizes. Popula tions nre to in* destroyed or enslaved so Germany may gain. Women nre Germany's prey, children are spoils o f war. Oral gave Germany the Hohen- zollem and together they are de tilted to rule Europe and, eventually, the world— thus reasons the kaiser. “ Coolly, deliberately, officers o f the German stuff, permeated by this mon strous philosophy, discuss the dena tionalization peoples, the destruc tion of nations, the undoing o f c ’ her civilizations, fo r Germany’s account. “ In all the world such n thing has never been. The human mind has never conceived the like. Even among hnrhnrtan.s, the thing would be Inered- ible. The mind can scarcely grasp the fact that these things are pro posed and done by a modem govern ment professedly a Christian govern ment In the fam ily o f civilized na tions. “This system has got to be rooted out. I f it takes everything in the world. If It takes everyone o f us. this nbomlnation roust he overthrown. It roust be ended or the world is not worth living In. No matter how long It takes, no m atter how much it costs, we must endure to the end with agon ized France, with imperiled Britain, with shattered Belgium, with shaken Russia. “ W e must hope that Germany will have a new birth aa Russia Is being re born. We must pray, as we fight against the evil that 1s in Germany, that the good which is. In Germany may somehow prevail. W e must trust that In the end a Germany really great with the strength o f a wonderful race may find Its place as one o f the broth erhood o f nations In the new world that is to be. “ The responsibility o f success or failure rests now upon our shoulders; the eyes o f the world are anxiously watching us. A re we going to be able to rise, to the emergency, throw off our inefficiency, and prove that democracy ia safe fo r the world?” This I have u rn. I could not believe It unle** I had *ren It through and through. r<> eov oral week* I lived with It; I went all about It and back of It; Inside and out of It was shown to mo— until finally I came to realise that the Incredl- bio was true. It la monatroua, It lo unthinkable, but It exlata. It I* th* Prueaian system.*—F. C. Walcott. ♦ ♦ ♦ + ♦ ♦ + ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ + + ♦ + ♦ + + ♦ ♦ »» ' ' , | «oe*«'»s« fciri D * t < * Contributed by Charles Dana Gibson. JOKE WAS ON SALOON m an W et Goode Dealer Found That Bundle He So Obligingly Kept for Cus tomer Had Its Uses. HE GAVE HIS SHIRT OFF HIS BACK How an Italian Officer Traveling on Train Helped a New Bom Baby. No morn graphic description o f thn ravage* o f the German soldiery upon Ilia civilian population o f Invaded countries has been given than la con tained In the brief and simple state- menta o f F. « ’. Walcott, now connected with the United States food adminis tration, who won a»d*tnnt to Mr. Iluover while America was feeding Belgium, Poland und northern France. In one o f these statements Mr. Wul- cott says: Even now I find It bard to describe In comprehensible terms the mind o f official Germany, which dominates und -drapes ull German thought and action. Yet It Is ns hard, ns dear cut. as real us any material thing. I saw It In Poland. I saw the same thing In Bel gium, I heard o f It In Serbia mid llou- mania. For weeks It was always be fore me, always the same. Officers talked freely, frankly, directly. All he staff officers have the same view. Let me try to tell It. as General von Krles told me, In Poluiid. In the midst o f a dying nation. Germany Is des tined to rule the world, or at least a great part o f It. T h * German |ieople are so tunrh human material for build ing the Certnun slate, oilier people do not cuuut. All la for the glory and might o f the Germnn stale. The lives o f human beings are to he conserved only If It nraki-a for the sis ’a ad vancement. their lives are to lie sacri ficed If It la to the state's advantage. The state la alt, the people ure noth- ! ing. t'oinjuered people Signify little la the German account. Life, liberty, happiness, human sentiment, fam ily ties, grace and generous Impulse, these have no place beside the one concern, the greatness o f the German state. Starvation muat excite no pity ; sym pathy must not be allowed. If It bum pers the main design ot promoting Germany's ends. "¿'a rva tlo n la here,” said General w>n Krles. “ Candidly, we wonld like to see It relieved ; we fear our soldiers muy he unfavorably affected by the things that they age. But since It La here, starvation ihuat serve our pur pose. Ho we set It to work for Gar- many. By starvation we can accom plish In two or threa years In Bast Poland more than we have In W rat Poland, which Is Raat Prussia. In tba last hundred years. With that In view, we propose to turn this force to our advantage. “ This country ta meant fo r G er many.” continued the keeper o f starv- Ing Poland. " It la a rich alluvial country which Germany has needed for some generations. W e propoee to remove the able-bodied working Poles from this country. It leaves It open for the inflow o f German working jtoo- ple as fust aa we ran spare them. They will occupy It and work It." Then with a cunning smile, “C a n t you see how It works out? By and by we shull give hack freedom to Poland. When thnt happens Poland will appear autotnatli’nlly aa a German province." In Belgium, Oeneral von Biasing fold me exactly the same thing. " I f the relief o f Belgium breaks down w e can force the Industrial population In to Germany through atarvatlon and colonize other Belgians In Mesopo tamia where we have planned large Irrigation works; Germans will then overrun Belgium. Then when the war 1« over and freedom la given back to Belgium, It will be a German Belgium Hint ia restored. Belgium will he a German province and we have Ant werp— which Is what we are after." Thnt la not all. Removing the men. thnt the land may be vacant for tier- man occupation, thnt German stock may replace -Belgians, Poles. Serbians, Armenians, audeiow Roumanians, Ger many doe* more. Women left captive are enslaved. Germany mukea all manner of lust Its Instrumentality. The other day a friend o f mine told me o f n man Ju«f returned from north ern France. “ I cannot tell you the de- tnlls," he said, "mnn to nran, I don’t want to repent what I heard." Some o f the things he did tell—shocking mutilation and moral murder. He told o f women, by the «core, In occupied territory o f northern France, prisoned In underground dungeons, tethered for Ihe Use o f their bodies hy officers and men. I f thin la not a piece o f the Prussian ays’ eni. It I* the logical product o f dis regard o f the rU)|U o f otjit-ca. Aren’t the master workmen o f the wet goods establishments easy marks? poor and disheartened One o f the ways to suy that ■ man wretftiedly That ia what the gentry who live hv Is good hearted Is to descend to ex mother bad been Jammed In with the their wits are asking each other. They pressive Ainertcanese slaug and say hundreds of other frightened Italians know that the proprietor o f u wet on the same train. Hungry, tired and “ he'd give you his shirt." goods establishment loses his mental A young Italian officer did exactly miserable and in a frightfully weak balance and is completely disarmed Ia the refugee camps. 300.000 sur when he Is Invited to have a drink. Re that—gave the shirt off his hark to a ened condition, she had scarcely suffi vivor o f the flight were gathered by baby Just horn. It was during a (light cient clothes for herself, not to speak cently two husky-looking individuals the Germans, members o f broken fam o f the Italian refugees Just ufter the o f properly caring for a newborn baba. entered a Forty-second street snds em ilie s They were lodged in Jerry-built Italian artny bad beeu tricked by the Tlie young officer stripped himself o f porium. One o f the party carried an burnu-ks, scarcely water-proof, un his shirt, and there amoug this fright Austrians. enormous bundle, which he placed on lighted. nnwarmed in the dend o f win ened. half starved, forlorn crowd the Here's the story: the top o f the mahogany. Th ey both ter. Their clothes, where the buttons An Italian officer, who hnd been a [x>nr Italian Infant was wrapped lu tta called for a drink. were lost, were sewed on. There were volunteer worker at the station when first body covering. “ W ell, it Is hopeful that my w ife no conveniences, they hnd not even I Mother and babe were afterwards the crush came through, walked into w ill stop her nagging about the cold heen able to wash fo r weeks. Filth the American Red Cross office at Ito nursed back to health, clothed and weather and being cold when I carry and In fection . from vermin wore logna. Italy, and told o f a poor young looked after by the American Ited this home," said the man who carried spreading. They were famished, their woman who had given birth to a baby Cross. And ihls Is only one small. Is the bundle. daily ration a cup o f soup and a piece on the train in which he was riding s olated Incident among thousands that At the end o f the bar stood the pro o f bread as big as my fist. few night's previously. They had been come under ths working o f the ited prietor o f the wet goods establishment. In Warsaw, which had not been de riding for over 10 hours, and the Cross. H e seemed cuflous, so the tw o men In stroyed, a city o f one million inhab vited him to have a drink, which was itants, one o f the most prosperous cit accepted. One o f them explained that ies o f Europe before the war, the he had the finest pair o f wool blankets streets were lined with people In the that was ever sheared from the hacks pangs o f starvation. Famished and o f sheep in the package. rain-soaked, they squatted there, with “ Feel fo r yourself,” he said, as he their elbows on their knees or lean unfastened one end o f the bundle. ing sgainFt the buildings, too feeh le The proprietor fe lt and acknowl to lift a hand fo r a hit o f money or a edged that they were the slmon pure morsel of bread If one offered it. per wool article. ishing o f hunger and cold. Charity "I'm taking them home to my wife,” did what it could. The rich gave all said the owner. “ She has been kicking that they had. the poor shared their about being cold.” last crust. Hundreds o f thousands Then they had another round o f li were perishing. Day and night the In the above statement Mr. W al quids. pictures is before ray eyes— a people “ W ell, I must be on my way,” said cott has described a condition that starring, a nation dying. the man, as he picked up the bundle. must be changed If America. I f the The shore statement by Mr. W al world, Is to remain a “ fit place to “ W hy don't you leave them here un til yon start fo r home?" Interposed his cott is a terrible arraignment o f the : live in.” And the only way by which Hun, hut no more terrible than he this change can he effected Is the de companion. “ Good Idea.” he said. And tam ing deserves. What has happened in feat o f German arms in this war. to the owner o f the cafe he asked If Poland, In Belgium, In northern Nothing good, nothing but evil, can he could leave the, bundle. France and every other country that come out o f Germany, so long as the “ Sure," said the proprietor, “ but you lias been blighted by the Hun’s pres German people nre controlled by a had better write your name on It to ence would happen in America should militnry autocracy, and the German the nilles, by any chance. fall to win people cannot he mode to realize this avoid any mlstnke." T w elve o’clock came around and the this war. It would mean the enslave until this autocracy is crushed. The ment. o f American men, the starving spirit o f militarism that has mnde of man hadn’t called for his bundle. “ I can see that fellow getting more h— I and death o f American women and chil the Germans a robber and n murder when he goes home tonight,” said the dren. Either the Hun or humanity nation must be utterly crushed If the must perish. world Is to remain free, and to accom proprietor as he turned the key in the These powerful American artillerymen, with h1:„'c crowbars, ure working door. plish this those o f us who cannot fight fast to get their heavy gnu Into position to burl '*« • *’ "11« at Mie r* treating The next day the owner o f the cafe fiuna. It Is a difficult Job, fo r the earth Is pitied wltn »hell craters. in France must lend our support to was Ihe first on the Job. H e took a our men who are fighting for us. survey o f the wet goods and then went egt?« will have 'lec.ime one o* the very American Soldier Hunting Sou to the rear o f the store, where the safe largest used and most Important o f our venir Picked Up Charged Dried Egg*. was. Here was a surprise for hitn. Headpiece. The high cost o f eggs In England foods. Guynemer** Friend and Pupil Has H e found the door o f his burglar-proof. has led to the birth o f quite a new big safe neatly reposing on the pair o f Rhnmnkin, Pa.— W riting from a dug- Sevsn Victories to His Rabbits a Real Pest. business in dried eggs and eggs In so out in No Man’s Land. France, Leo downy blankets, which had heen used Credit. lution. One large firm selling dried As n fair Illustration o f the rnhhlt Comer, n corporal In Ihe Twenty-third to muffle the sound o f the explosion.— eggs has undertaken an extensive ad pest In certnin portions o f New Zea Paris.— Rons-Lieutenant Bozon Ver New Turk Times. United States Infantry, forwarded to vertising campaign to push these eggs land. and especially In the drier sec duras, recently made a chevalier o f his sister here. Miss Cecelia Comer, a npon the attention o f retailers, who In tions o f the South Island, Ir Is stated the Legion o f Honor, follow ing his hunch o f st n.ngc flowers l.e hud gath their turn are being enabled by other that on an estate lately taken over by seven*!» officially recorded aerial v'c- ered while on pntrol duty. If yoo run your household on three advertising mnttpr to attract their cus the «;..•*• Ze-’ lnnd government, romprls- tory. wns the Intimate friend and pnnll poi’nd. of ’ "e a r a mm h p— - ■ • - t " C c—-r had promised n younger tom' r* to the goods. !• ■; 12.tlfl acres o f freehold and a pas- brother a German deel helmet as a o f Gnynetner. wh *n fail comes the g.-o»er won » have 'Hie dried egg« which they advertise < ■■■I run o f 10.2SO cere*, there were He nc-empanlcd Guynemer Reptem- to h ing up the s *n “ No 9 i tsr.” w ar ri'llr, but In writing Ir io iim c the are entirely soluble and take tip the "e d or raptured about 12b.00ti rnh- brother ‘ bat t»** was doomed to dis her ’l l . 1*'T7, when the latter m -t his .trater like n lu m p,of sugar and thus 1 •« it »i>.!er to c' ter 'in Me* property fate. Ill* ii.-e ibought -Ince. It Is ns- appoint ihi uk until the Ameriruns rench Th* <»conJ h*i, is gattlag to he r '" e the perfect creamy llnuld o f a It stji’ /tMe fo r the loca Jerlln. He had seen fl fellow soldier s./ted, haz been to avenge the great bail (<>■ in. L»41* u shall UgjpTefcU/ fur fustuet us» tion ot returned t«t.s .a 4 up ft ftral hatJftftt BO0 then CtO ace. One o f the new ch evaliers feats On mixing. Dried eggs tra no longer was to shoot down throe planea In four Germany has H ral ted the aftftwaf Id. There's let* of meaey to go round, that prisoner« may spend to |1S a week helmet had bees eleetftetQy honra. Ha was a cavalrym an astil hut bacon, beef and wheat can’t make to bn regarded as war food; they have com* to stay. This firm predicts that transferred to the a ir service. fo r officers and $12.50 for private*. > the circuit. Bave you* share. HEAVY WORK ON THE FIGHTING LINE KILLED BY GERMAN HELMET FLIER IS MADE CHEVALIER In the near future the properly dried