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
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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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