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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 23, 1917)
THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX, PORTLAM). SEPTEMBER 23. 1917. 8 TRAGEDY REVEALED BY GERMAN'S DIARY Story of Hans von Tuebinger Tel!s of Sinking Ship With "His Sweetheart Aboard. RECORD SAVED BY STEALTH Transfer From First Vessel Wel comed, as Members of. Crew Are Declared to Like Tlieir Dull ness of Butchery Too Well. . 7.) said. "You assume that the nations are ethically no further advanced than thy wen before modern Inventions and enlightenment pervaded every cor ner of the jrlobe." "So-ho:" drawled Kritz. "So you still imagine that the degree of one's in telligence has an influence upon his tnoral character? How often must I tell you. Hans, that a bad man remains bad despite the highest culture; - a brutal man brutal, thouerh he have ab sorbed all that our much-boasted Kul tur may boast of. I do not gainsay the fact that education gives a veneer which enables its possessor to curb and conceal his' evil side until the evil in him becomes too overpowering. When this happens the dictates of reason are swept aside: the mind, though trained in evry department of Kultur, serves merely to point the way to an easier outlet for ,the passions. A cultured scoundrel, in other words, is immeasur ably more dangerous to society than a boorish scoundrel. Mind, the ligrht bearer. can do no more than widen the horizon within which lie the objects which may serve as a motive to our will, which, as I have often explained. Is our true self the real radical of our ego. And what is true of man individu ally is true of men collectively. Na tions are but aceresates of Individuals find have a.11 the selfishness, baseness, meanness, brutality and fiendish ness which are inherent In the individuals. Io not deceive yourself; while there Is no doubt- that there are some disin terested, generous, spirited, noble char acters, the great bulk of mankind is Inoculated with the darker traits; Just as there are but comparatively few in tellectual giants and. geniuses who shine out like stars atntd the common herd of shallow, flat-headed dullards." Notwithstanding Fritz's -impassioned arraignment of humanity, neither Sven nor 1 could take the same dark view. For my part, I fel that the expense Involved and the frightful destructive ness of modern weapons make it ut terly impossible to conduct a long" war nowadays. Mathematicians have cal culated that it would cost Germany alone ten billion marks a year, not to mention the almost unthinkably great destruction of life and property. So. rest quiet, my heart. I surely will be back within a month to claim my Min-- x 1014 30 September. The second time at Kiel to take on fuel and supplies since I have been on I-13, and still no letter from Minna! Can it be that my letter -to - her has miscarried ? . But, even so. she knew that she could communicate with ine through Kiel. It cannot be that she has put me out of her heart so soon. She is too loyal, too noble-hearted and magnanimous to allow another to take my place in her affection merely be cause I am out of her sight. And yet who knows? Oh. God. how this doubt torments me! Wounds, physical suf fering and death are not the only ago nies of war. Worse than these to a soul that feels is the wrenching1 the heart receives through its enforced separation from the loved ones. It has embittered my life and filled me with disgust, even for thee, my diary, thou fifth in the series of little volumes since T first began to keep record of my doings! When has it happened before that I allowed so Ions a time to pass without recording a single act or t bought In thy patient, consolation -brlnging pages? Oh. that this hellish, murder business of war were ended I I still shudder whenever I recall the frozen horror on the faces of the poor wretches aboard t he vessels we have sunk. My heart eroes out to them, and every torpedo we fire seems to carry my own doom along. On August 21 we sank the British armed boarder Duke of Albany. Of lftO aboard. 22 were lost. By a freakish current of the sea a cabin-boy clinging to a spar was swept close to our craft and we took him aboard a brave little lad of scarcely 12 years. He told ine his father and three big brothers had gone with the British expeditionary army to France. 't was the only man left in the family." he said. The only "man! Poor child! I asked him whether he was not sorry to have left bis mother. He probably had not had time before to give any thought to the question, for now it was brought to his mind he burst into tears and sobbed out his desire to go back home. He told me he had run away without thinking that his mother and two sis ters would miss him much. "I wanted to be a. sailor." he said. "If I serd you home will you promise r ever to do anything- again to hurt your mother's feelings?" I asked. "'Yes. sir." he replied. "I promise to do anything except" The boy hesi tated. "Well, except what" 1 asked. "F.xcept except well, except that I vant to be allowed to fight those damned derma ns. A boy of 12. and yet intrepid and truthful enough to tell me to my face that his gratitude to me for restoring him to his mother must not bar his right to fight us "damned trermana!" I could not but laugh heartily, al though to tell the truth it hurt me to think that our good name and fame bad suffered so complete an eclipse that even children had come to hate and detest us. I suppose, however, that the little fellow had learned his lesson in hatred from the men of the Duke of Albany. I hailed a Norwegian freighter the same afternoon and transferred the youngster to her. obtaining the prom ise of the captain to land him in Hng land. The captain said he would be glad to do so. as he was bound for Lon don. The boy said his home was in Atterbury, near Banbury, the town which is famous in "Mother Goose" rhyme. I wonder whether he would spare at least one of "the damned Ger mans" If 1 ever fall Into bis hands. T have just received notice that T am to have command of a larger subma rine. Things are rather cramped aboard the 13. I shall have no regrets in mak ing the exchange. Nor can I say that my heart will be heavy for bidding pond-by to the crew of this boat. Tliese fellows seem to like their business of butchery too well. They go at it so t horoughly "con a mo re" that It sick ens fe to have them call me Herr Cap tain. 19141. October. The three days just elapsed have been among t he most memorable In my life. Not only is V-34 much ittrcer and more comfortable than the wretched tub 1 have left, but the crew appears to be less brutal, and, above all, I have with in, next to me in com mand, my dear Fritz Launig. Wonder ful what pranks fate plays with us! When I left Stockholm Frlta had not yet received his summons to the colors, j "If I receive a summons I will ignore it." he said.. He denounced the war as; "a revival of the savagery which' la I reaching out to plunder and destroy our toilfully-built-up Kultur. the one flower of civilization's scarce budding tree." Pacificism had no fctauncher ad vocate than he. AVhen I asked what had wrought the change in his mind he said, with char acteristic naivete: "My mind is not changed, I still believe the war rs all wrong.- But does a swallow make a Summer? Can one man shout his con victions loudly enough to be heard around the globe? I felt that 1 was but one of many million cogs in the vast machinery called fatherland. Jt Is a bad and worse than useless cog that refuses to do its "turn when the rest of the machinery is in motion. So here I am." - October 13 was a busy day. T was charged with conveying to Kngland a message of the utmost importance. It was a cipher, but, although I was not intrusted with its exact meaning, I know that it related to the question of a contemplated blockade of , Kngland. According to instructions I delivered the letter to the captain of a Kwedish steamship, . which, I was informed, would be 10 miles off Yarmouth. He no doubt bad his instructions. As the letter had to be in this cap tain's hands by o'clock on the even ing of October 13, and 1 had but five hours to accomplish the task, my new boat had to give a good account of her self for speed, and she did. The last five miles of the trip will remain forever impressed upon my memory. A British patrol boat fired upon us, aiming apparently at the con ning tower, but missing- by a scant 40 yards.- We submerged quickly and re plied with a torpedo. It struck home, tearing-through the- side of the enemy amldshlp. The explosion must have wrought frightful havoc within the boat, for she eank within a few sec onds. Only iralf a dozen. of the crew appeared to have survived. I believe we fired the patrol boat's ammunition magazine, for it is inconceivable that the charge itself could have torn apart the hulk so effectually. One of the lifeboats had broken loose from its davits and was riding conveniently near the men in the water. In the circum stances I did not deem it wise to delay, and so left them to their fate. On our return we saw the lifeboat making for the shore. One of-the men was lying huddled In the bottom of the. boat. I would gladly have stopped to alleviate hLs suffering, but Fritz advised me against it.. "There are times," he said, "when kindness may be. worse than cruelty. Tou might soothe the pain of that poor fellow, but in doing so you would afford the others in the boat a chance 'to see something about our ves sel which might beget In them an idea for a means of defeating our whole U-boat fleet." At breakfast yesterday Fritz renewed the subject of "mercy and cruelty He said:- "You know, Hans. I could not sleep well at all because : the face of that poor devil in the boat was before my eyes all through the night. Not that I reproached myself for advising you against helping him, for T at IV. be lieve it would have been foolhardy and perhaps even unpatriotic to have done so. But even a sense of duty well per formed cannot altogether stifle the more human element- within one. It was pity for the poor fellow that kept me awake. "Pity is not rightly understood, Hans. Some even among the best-known thinkers are misguided enough to re gard it as a weakness. In reality it is the. true mainspring and fountain head of every virtue. This may sound extravagant, but I can prove it to you." "Perhaps to me, Fritz," I replied, "be cause you know hoT partial . I am to you. But I'm afraid a more critical hearer might iook upon you o dreamer." ' " "Well, then, let us call Into our con clave Quartermaster Thiemann. He Is a moderately well-informed man ; not particularly a student; mediocre enough in natural gifts a true exemplar oi what your ordinary, every-day, ethic ally correct Philistine should be. If I can convince him, will you concede the victory to me?" "I certainly will." I laughed and sent for the quartermaster. Thiemann is a man or about Z8 years; sedate, precise in everything Jie says and does; as decorous a man "as ever went to church regularly on Sunday or condemned a charitable word uttered in behalf of a sinner a true Philistine, as Fritz had said. After a few complimentary remarks about his satisfactory work I bade Thiemann be seated and asked him how the men felt over our victory of the preceding day. "Elated." he said. "They were par ticularly glad that we did not do away with those six fellows in the lifeboat. Hans Kglau is the only one who thought dtfferently. He thinks it's a moral duty to kill every enemy." "I'm not at all proud that his cog nomen is the same as mine," I replied. "He is more akin to the brute than to man." "Not necessarily," said Fritz. ' "He can be as tender-heated as a convent girl, but spoiled by his training.- Do you suppose Abraham, of Biblical fame, was cruel and hated his son, Isaac, when he prepared to sacrifice him? Or Jephtha, the judge of Israel, when he slew his daughter? Their hearts were good, their training faulty. They had .been brought up in slavish fear of an idea. Now, when one becomes en slaved to an idea whether you call it money, revenge, love, Moloch, God one is willing to sacrifice to it every other thing in the world. Those men in all likelihood would gladly have immolated themselves rather than their chl Idren in carrying out what they regarded as God's behest. Hans Kglau probably is a patriot, and his patriotism is his idea; and to this he would sacrifice father, mother, children and himself to boot." Thiemann confirmed Fritz's surmise in regard to the patriotic side of Kg lau's character; and. after a few mo ments of reflection, said that it was really, true that, in all matters which had nothing to do with the queiton of Buy Diamonds as an Investment T housands of men and . women in Portland are now earning: good salaries in of fices, 'mills, industrial plants, or in other worthy lines of endeavor. - - Thousands of dollars should be saved each month. There is no safer way than to invest in a fine diamond. A diamond . always tis worth what it cost. Buy a diamond- here and: pay for it ua you earn the money. .. A small , payment down will procure a stone, " nnd there will be no extra charge for deferred pay ments. Come in and see my stock of these wonderful gems. 3tV SO A1VD ion DIAMOND RINKS HAVE NO KUXAL. Lmrffwt ' Diamond Dealer la 334 WASHINGTON STREET, Opposite Owl Drug Co. patriotism, the man was rather good natured and kind. "I've seen him feed a hungry dog," said Thiemann, "and pet and fondle a tired little boy who had. lost his way in the street and carry him nearly, half a mile to' a station house." : : Kritz' face 'brightened up and he shot a glance. of triumph at mo. "Can- anything be more luculently clear, from the seeming inconsistencies in Eglau's conduct.' than that his heart dictates one thing and his bead an other? "I never tire of trying to make it clear that we are compounded of win and in tellect, and that the will is that which gives us character and makes us respon sible beings; while the intellect merely enacts the role of spectator within us: shows the objects to the will, and al lows the latter to make its own choice either for good or ill. Without having ever consciously, expressed lti the law Itself infallibly makes this distinction; for. are not punishments meted out to those whose will is at fault? Who has ever heard of any one beinir sent to prison for having a bad' head 7 "Well, what I- am driving at is this: The will, which is the seat of love and hatred, hope and fear, Joy and grief, and whatever other passions and emotions there are, is that which is the common heritage of all of us: of all and this means brute animals and whatever else there may be that has feeling. It is the universal bond, the link which 'makes all mankind kin.' Like the elec tric current, which is the same in. one or a billion, miles of wire, so, the will, whether It animates - a good man or a bad one. is the identifying principle in us all. "Like likes like' is the homeopathic axiom; hence the feeling of sympathy which all feel for anyone who is suffer ing. Our sympathy or pity (which Is but another word for It) is enlisted for sufferers because we. the will, which is common to all. is being 'cruci fied' in those who suffer. "Who would gladly Injure one whom he pities? Hence from the feeling of pity springs the desire to be just, and from the feeling of justice, in turn, spring all those acts of goodness which constitute the code of morality. "Opposed to sympathy are selfishness and malignity. The latter two are the fountain head of all immorality. The selfish person is bad because he wants to engross to himself everything. Including what belongs to others; the malignant person may be unselfish, but is fiendishly pleased with the In fliction of suffering upon others. ."What's the point?" I asked. "It explains why I advised you not to aid that poor devil in the lifeboat yesterday and then felt such sorrow for him. that it would not allow me to sleep. My training has taught me to love the soil--1 happened to be born on. while my heart would fondly stray and take in all humanity irrespective of the place of birth and training carries away the palm and leaves the heart defeated. I'm no better than Kglau. The only difference between us is that I know what ails' me; he doesn't." (To be continued next Sunday.) John Kanopa. of Chicago, was in strumental In enlisting 187 young Poles who marched in a body to the Army recruiting office in that city the other day. 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