Evening public ledger. (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, April 22, 1918, Postscript, Page 12, Image 12

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EVENING PUBLIC LEDGER-PHILADELPHIA, MONDAY, APRIL 22, 1918
ISitenms public 2fc&Sft
, PUBLIC LEDGER COMPANY
i crnus u. ic curtis, rttr.iT
CfarIe H. Ludlnaton. Vice rrenlele-nti John C.
nin.DKrarr ana Treaaurari rnitipn.vouin".
nn h. wiiiiami. jonn J. pu
Spurceon, Directors
EDITOntATi HOARD:
Ciiici II. K. Ccrru. Chairman
DAVTDK. SMILET..... Edltot
JOHN CJl7nTIN.... Central lleulne-as Manager
rvibllihicTdall- at rente I.tiwni Ilulldlnc.
Independence Square, Philadelphia.
Iran rmL.....Ilroacl ami Chtnut Street"
ATl-jemo Cur Prue-lnlon llulldln
Sw Vow , , ,,..200 Metropolitan Tower
Droiorr, ,..,,,..... mi Ford llulldlnir
Hr. Louis .... loos Kullerton inilMlna
Cillcioo.. ........... .....1803 Tribute Uulldtne
NEWS nUKEAUSi
.. N K. Cor rennsylran Ave and 14th i St
JS'Bif Yomc IImeait.. The, Sun HuUdlnj
liBXDQi llCBtlc: London rime,
sunsciurnoN ti'.iims
Tha Etcniso 1'rM.to I,rinEn l aerveel to aub
crliwra In Philadelphia and aurroundlng town"
a tha rate of twelve U-'l cents per week, paiable
to tha carrier. . , ,, . , , . ,.
By mall to point outlde of riilladlt;hla. In
tha tTnltrri Htt. f.n.li nr United States ri
eratlnnn, pontage free, fifty (VII rents per month
six Ifd) dollars per ear. pajaoic in a, int c.
To all tnrtltrn r-nnntrlrn ona (Si) dollar Per
mnnth. . ...
Noxirr - Subscribes wishing- art,l-e cleansed
rnust glo old as well as new address.
BFLL, J00O WALMJT KE STONE. MAIN 1000
C ilrfdrrs, all roMinunfralfoii to Fveulna Puttie
htdarr. lodepndrner Snunre. I'Mladrlphia.
(rrrnco at tut rim tMiniiA rosT orrics as
SKCONQ CIABS MAIt MATIlCn
PhilidtlpMi, Mond.j, April it. Wl
A MAILEU DOVE IN KUSSIA
OVEtt multitudes of graves, through end
less devastation, over troubled lands
Where great hopes aspired and fell. Gen
eral Count on Mlrbach hurries at this
moment from Berlin as the new ambassa
dor to Russia.
Count von Jilt bach used to be minister
to Greece. Obviously ho Is tho man for
the new Job In Russia, since the confusion
and the successive polltlcnl disasters In
Greece were adequate to all the purposes
of the German Torelgn Office
In tho new Russia Uermnn will require
an, astute rrmn, a restless propagandist, a
py of the first order, a sower of discord,
a creator of hatreds, an Insplrer of sus
picion, a teller of lies. Tho dispatch of
General Count on Mlrbach upon this mis
Ion Indicates that Bernstorft is surel III.
Otherwise he would fit Ideally In the new
pot.
Tho haste with which German has set
about to establish new diplomatic rela
tions hf Russia pioves tho Mom of tho
American policy which has Insisted fiom
the first upon friendly relations with what
ever government Uses visibly from the
chaos at Petrograd Germany Is an cltl
dent hate-maker. There Is no leason for
the Allied nations to assist her at the
task In Russia.
If ho Is a dummj, who pulls the strings:
Mil. HUMES SCORES
ELOWRY HUMUS, the Federal District
Attorney In Pittsburgh, has proved
that he Is something more than a capable
prosecuting officer. He told the Commer
cial Club of his city the other day that
Artiat is needed to puilfy the 1tate and
'city governments Is a corrupt practices
.act that cannot be circumvented. Tho
present law he charactei Ized as mere
camouflage, for under It "unprincipled
politicians accomplish Just what the act
Is supposed to make Impossible."
TTo do not suppose Mr. Humes Is Igno
rant of the fact that the law was made
with loopholes for this express purpose.
he rest of us are not at any rate. And
jet the politicians are trjlng to make us
Relieve that prohibition is tho only issue
worth considering In the election next No-
,vember, which is moro camouflage foi
concealing plans to keep up the old game.
Off agin on agin, gone ngln not rin
aegtn, but Robinson seems to be the history
of a recent episode
THE BIG GUN
Nc
fO LESS a person than Irof. Arthur
Gordon Webster, of Clark University,
, arose at the last session of the American
Philosophical Society In this city to tell
ua what every one should know If common
t sense were a little commoner that the
gun used by the Germans in the long-distance
bombardment of Paris Is little better
than a crazy toy Scientific analysis and
ordinary reasoning make It plain that the
Kaiser's biggest gun is an implement de
vised merelv as an adjunct to the dominant
school of German domestic politics. Im
mutable laws make It Ineffective as a
weapon of offense. But It helps to sustain
the German pride at home.
Even In short-range rifle Are the clement
of windage is an important one. Atmos
pheric conditions affect the behavior of
long and short distance projectiles. When
a shell is sent twenty-four miles into the
air, to travel a distance of seventy miles
under' varying conditions of wind and
weather and air pressure, each shot Is
nothing better than a gamble. It isn't
J surprising, therefore, that most of the
long-distance shells miss Paris altogether.
When a shell actually falls in the city it
hit its big target by accident. Sure aim
Under the circumstances Is out of the ques
tlqn. Jt took Mr. Schwab ten minutes to se
lect a building to house his assistants He
eras to think tbfft the way to do anything
ts to do it.
SECRET SERVICE FACTS
WHOEVER thinks that the United States
Secret Service is ignorant of German
plots is lacking in knowledge. The Secret
Service has been on the Job from the be
ginning. During the last two jearn of
BcnutorfTs period of service In Wash-
(JBKtort a Government detective was his
eefldenttal valet. What the German am
kevaeador did was reported to headquarters.
Other German agents and sympathizers
j acr)., uuuci uiiqiqiiv nui ciiiaiji.D, tro nuuw
, i what they are doing and when, the time
i rlpo they will be arrested. It is sotne-
' ymes wiser to let them play their game
tvnd to frustrate it In order to discover how
'' many persons are implicated with them,
Tho story of what has actually been
,, 4one Is more fascinating than any fiction
that has been produced or can be produced
by the writers of detective stories, William
f J. Xlynn, who until recent months was the
'JtlsM of the Secret Service, nas obtained
to tell some of the things that
HU rt article, dealing with
if the LuIUn!,
THE REMEDY IS IN THE
POWER OF REMOVAL
U7E ARE in this war to fight Gcrmnn
'" militarism and not to set up German
military methods in this country in tlcnl
inp; with sedition or treason or any other
ofienso.
The demand that all aliens suspected
of giving aid and comfort to the enemy,
mado by Senator Chamberlain, be tried
by couit-ninrtinl is nt bottom n demand
that wo adopt Prussian methods. How
thoso methods arc now being npplicd in
Germany is described by a special corre
spondent of this newspaper in Switzer
land, tho first of whose nrticles setting it
foith appears on this page today. Ger
many is under military rule. Stiikeis
ato tried by court-martial. Persons who
protest against the brutality of the mili
tary forces in suppressing disorder arc
arraigned in sccict before a court of
army officers, tried and convicted and
the sentence is executed within twenty
four hours. The proceedings nre sum
mary. And when u man is ncquitted he
is still detained under arrest, for the
mere fact that a man has been suspected
is regarded as justification for depriving
him of his libctty.
This is militansm carried to its logical
conclusion. It supersedes and overrides
the civil courts. It exercises tyrannical
authority. It treats the whole nation as
though it weie an army compelled to
obey the ordcis of the officers on penalty
of military punishment.
The institution of such methods in the
United States ought not to be tolerated.
This does not mean that all who aie
doing their best to help Germany and to
inteifere with our work should not be
punished. It does mean that we should
contmus to use our civil courts for the
trial of accused persons not in the army
:.nd net found within the jurisdiction of
the military authorities. The fact that
many of the Federal District Attorneys
aie incompetent does not affect the situa
tion. They are incompetent in too many
instances. In other cases they arc politi
cally timid and afraid to alienate the
pio-Geiman vote.
The remedy lies not in depriving the
couits of jurisdiction, but in the appoint
ment of District Attorneys of undoubted
ability and iion neivo who will clean up
fieir districts. Summary power for the
removal of the incoi ipetcnts is in the
hands of the Ptesident. He can exercise
it if he chooses. If he would cxeicise it
in a few cases wheie tlieie has been a
flagrant exhibition of inefficiency he
wou'd jack up the whole Department of
Justice and put an end to the demand
that the civil power become subseivient
and subordinate to the military.
It is giatifying that there aie some
Senators who have not lost their heads
in this crisis. Senator Horah, for ex
ample, has said that the Chambcriain
bill is in conflict with the fundamental
principles of the Constitution and beyond
the power of Congress to pass. He is
probably right, for the bill would make
it possible for the militaiy authorities
to seize any man in civil life without
wanant and without knowledge of the
charges against him and to try him and
order him imprisoned or shot. This is
just what they aie doing in Geimany.
We cannot consent to it heie and theie is
no need to consent.
If we keep our poise, as Senator Borah
has well said, and if we letain our faith
-n our democratic institutions and then
vigoiously exeicise tho powers alieady
provided in the courts, there will be no
necessity for tho proposed law. The
courts are open. Lawyeis capable of
convicting the guilty are ready and will
ing to seive as Federal Distuct Attorneys
where the incumbents have failed, and
juries can be found among the patriotic
and aroused voters ready to give a just
verdict with all possible speed.
We can, if wo will, set the world nn ex
ample of democracy in action, and we
can prove that it is adequate to meet the
issues of war thiough co-operation of
the civil power in its field with military
power in its lealm. The military power
will thus remain in the national life sub
ordinate to the civil power.
It is not a time for hysteria, but for
calm and determined leasoning, based on
belief in the efficacy of the civil power
to deal with offenses outside of the army.
Clean-up week is to begin May C, ac
cording to the Governors proclamation, but
It seems to have started hero ahead of time
Or hasn't It"
TRUTH COMING TO LIGHT
THE general bense of Prl ice. I.lchnow
bkv's chaigos against tho German Gov
ernment had been made known In cable
dispatches from abroad, but now that his
memoir Is printed In full for tho flist time,
rt constitutes in every paragraph an unan
swerable revelation of Berlin's responsi
bility for tho world calamity. It Is rein
forced by the words of Doctor Muehlon
which rave also just come to light.
It is Instructive to note the source of
these confessions. Are they from Irre
sponsible enemies of Germany, actuated by
passion or prejudice? No, they come from
the former German Ambassador in Lon
don and from an ex-director of the Krupp
corporation. If wo had been asked to
choose what kind of testimony we would
like to see, to confute Prusslanlsm out of
Its own belly, we could not have hoped for
more shining fortune Truly, when a Krupp
director sickens of the military clique who
rule Germany, there Is hope for the future.
"In the end, truth beareth away thp vic
tory." One lias nothing but admiration and re
spect for Prince Llchnowsky. The world
will closely noto and long remember what
he says. lie Is an experienced student of
political affairs, particularly In matters
concerning the sinister and tragic role
Austria has always played in European
history. Before his appointment as Am
basador in London lie had been in quiet
retirement at his country estate since
serving in the Vienna embassy thirteen
years before. His memorandum, written
for his private archives, tells the story of
his twenty-one months as Ambassador In
London. It was natural enough for a
high-spirited man to wish to clear himself
from his odious position as scapegoat of
the heavy-handed diplomacy of Berlin.
The
e tonoof Llchnowsky's remarkable
la liberal, humane and frank. He
M a inm Oermop patriot, one vho
iibfew tMffifSaMtor to th
ivtttMs-wa , srtp 9fr
dltlon of tho Austrian crown To him
Central Europe, llerlln-llagdad, nnd nil the
rest of It. was a nlghtmaio of tho old
Holy Roman Empire. He Insisted that
Germany's only piopcr course was to cul
tivate friendship with England nnd develop
her seaborne commerce.
Step by Btep Llchnowsky goes through
tho repeated efforts of Earl Grey to pre
seivtf tho peace in July, 1014. It would
have been easy, ho says, to avut war,
even after tho dispatch of tho Austilnn
ultimatum to Serbia. Grey went thiough
tho Serbian leply with him personally and
pointed out tho conclllatoiy nttltude of
Belgrade. Grey uiged a committee to dis
cuss tho two points at Issue; but Berlin
would not hear of It. Little by little Llch
nowskv himself realized tho truth tho
Wllhchnstrnsso was dctci mined to foico
war. On July 29 Grey wild to Llchnowsky.
"If war breaks out It will bo the greatest
catastrophe the world has ever seen" On
August 2, when Llchnowsky saw Asqulth
for tho last time, the prime minister "was
completely broken, tears ran down his
face."
i '
Llchnow sky's memoir Is assured nn lion
oiable place In tho saddest tablets of this
planet. He closes (writing In August. 1016)
with a very lemirkable piophecy. "It Is
not sui prising." ho snjs. "tint the wholo
ilvlllzed woild nutMdc Geimany attributes
to us the solo guilt for tho world war."
Then he adds
The principal war aim of our enemies
tho democratization of tlermany. will bo
achieved Wo cannot hopo foi an uncon
ditional vlclor ovtr lluslans, English.
1'iencli. Italians, Rumanians anil Ameri
can The world will belong to the Aliplo
Saxon, the Rus-lan nnd tho Japanese, nrt
the Herman will icuiain alone with Autri i
and Hungarj Tho German appeared too
lata nnd the world-war lias rtestroed tho
lat pos'llillltj of founding a colonial em
pire The pre pram of the great Rhodes, who
naw the salvation of mankind In HrltMi
expansion ami Hrltlh Imperialism, will bo
realized
And It Is utteily significant that Llch
nowsky tnds bj quoting tho famous Vtr
glll.in lines-
And thou, o Roman, remember to rulo
the peoples with thv power These shall
ho tliv arts to teach the arts of pence, to bo
mtrt'lful to subject peoples, and to (.rush
the haughty.
Those wot Id old words of Virgil-"debcl-laic
superbos" never had nobler applica
tion than when leveled against J'lUssla.
The broadside of the former Krupp
director Doctor Mtiehlnn which appeared
recently In tho Berliner Tngeblatt, is also
mine damaging to tho Prussian cause than
any number of howltzeis. In the fit st
place, the ex-dlrcetor tells (by quoting no
less a person than Heir Kiupp von llohlcnl
that the Kalsei was determined to have
war. Tho Etnpeior was auxlous that no
one might accuse him of vacillation on
this point "Tho Knlser's leptatcd insist
ence that this tlmo nobody would he able
to accuse him of indecision had, ho Krupp
said, been alriost comic In Its efftet "
But, far more Important. Doctor Muehlon
.Insists that there is no hope for Gcrmanv
wlillo she is under the spins of her piesent
masters Ho sas.
I havo abandoned nil hope as regards
the present directors of Germ uij Tho
(ierniHn people will nut bo able to repilr
tlie grievous crimes committed against its
own present and future, and against that
of Europe and the whole human race, until
It Is leprescntnl by different men with
a different mentallt) To tfll tin- truth.
It Is mere Justin1 that Its reputation
throughout the whole world Is as had as
It Is 'I ho triumph of Its methods would
constitute a defeat fur the ideas and the
supreme hopes of mankind.
And what answer havo AVllllain tho
Damned and his accomplices to all this?
They sav (flist) that Llchnow skv 13 a sim
pleton who was duped by Grey und the
hypocritical English, and (second) that tho
former Kiupp dltector Is suffering fiom
acute nervous breakdown'
Doctor Muehlon now lives In Switzerland,
whither Truth has emigrated from Ger
man, and Prlnco Llchnowsky Is said to
bo anxious to take up a resideneo there,
also.
The mills of the gods grind slow, but
they grind exceeding small The Mills of
the Police Department, wlillo following the
precedent hi other respects. Is expected to
tpeed things iqi
THE UEAUTirUL ADVENTURE
Dl
KATII has ever been a solemn specula
tion In the human heart, and man's
thoughts on this subject havo ranged the
whole gamut of emotion Charles Eroh
man, on the sinking Lusltanla, said: "Why
fear death? It Is tho most beautiful ad
venture In life."
Death has lost much of Its terror these
red da s. When so many gallant men
have "gone west," none of us, for vcr
self-respect. Can feel that our own going,
come when It may, will mean much to the
world. Wo must all go some day, and Is It
not happier, perhaps, to slip oft the mystic
lobo of living In tho Hush and hcday of
a man's lustlhood than to linger on to
riper jeais and a tissue of wistful mem
ories? Life, tho warm vesture of faulty human
clay, the sweet and many-mooded moments
of earth, are unspeakably dear. And jet
no man or woman can live many years
without realizing that thero are countless
things more rich, moro desirable, than life
Itself. It is not life for ourselves that wo
so passionately covet. It Is life for those
we hold dear, life for those weaker, finer
or more precious than ourselves. To have
died that others may have honor and truth
nnd happiness, and have It more abun
dantly, is to havo attained tho tallest
stature allotted to man. "Dead on the
field of honor" is no mean epitaph.
The decks of the Emergency Fleet Cor
poration are to be Schwabbed
Ex-oulcers of the old Russian army are
now said to be getting ready to Join the
Kaiser's forces. This Is not surprising. They
did what they could for him while wearing
the Russian uniform.
Five Mobile men drive
They Are 1S60 rivets U nine
VV ell Named hours," n headline tells
'us Mobile Is an ad
jective as well as the name of a very de
lightful city
One of the papers read
Hunter to the American Philo
sophical Society on
Saturday was on "The Physiological Effects
of Prolonged Reduced Diet" We could have
answered that question In one word.
The Philadelphia BusU
The Nineteenth neas Show ended In a
MA olf match between
ploki'kZMcltfey ex-
a ?mn5t
HOOPS OF YESTERYEAR
By Waller Prichard Eaton
THE other day I was walking along tho
rond thinking solemn thoughts nbout the
war and tho labor problem nnd the cost of
lima bean seeds, when suddenly my sad ees
fell upon nn old buggvwheel In the bushes
beside tho wa Tho spokes were falling out
and the Iron tire was half off t picked this
wheel up, removed the tire, took a spoke for
a hoop stick and setting the tire upright
upon the road hit It a resounding whack.
Do ou rememhei that peculiar sensation
of hitting a hoop with a stick that spring
ing, saggy feeling? I did, the moment the
blow was struck As the hoop sprang down
the road I Instinctively sprang after It The
memory released all the other memories
necessar for successful hoop-rolling, nnd I
found in self racing along, guiding the rusty
old the with tho most delicate and skillful
manipulations nnd propelling It with the
fewest needed taps at Just the right Instant.
A man never forgets how to swim, nor how
to roll a hoop I wonder If t could spin a
top Xo' I must trv.
As I rolled m lump along, to tho evident
nstonlslimeiit of certain neighbors who
ran to the front windows of their farmhouses
to observe the phenomenon. It occurred to
mo that 1 hadn't seen a child rolling a hoop
In lo, these mans jears The whack of the
hoopstlck Is never heard In the land. One
of the pleasant and precious customs of
childhood has, apparentl, passed from the
world
WHO can sa whv this Is' Not I There
seems lo bo no reason for It whatever.
And what has taken the place of hoop
rooting? As I wnteh the children at play
I can detect nothing I have been thinking
back over my hovhond and there seems to
be many other childhood things which have
disappeared Kor instance, clappers I be
Ilnvp n some sutlons they were called
bones, and sonitlmes they were actually
made of bones Hut for the most part they
wero made of hard wood, ebony preferred.
The were about an Inch or nn Inch and a
epnrter wide, sK Inches long and slightly
rurv d You Inserted one between our first
anil second lingers, one- between our second
nnd third flngrr and then b tho proper
manipulation of nrm and wrist nu rattled
off 11 drumllke tattoo There were nlf-o flat
clappers, with 110 convcclt hut with bits of
lead fastened to the outer side on the end
of a flexible' steel band Even 1 could ap
proximate a drum call with these. Hut the
real clnppci expert scorned such aid He
took the orthodox Instruments, Miinetimes n
pair In each hand, anil up the stieet lo
school he came heard afar off, a whole drum
.corps In himself It has been nnnv, many
ears since I have seen or heard n pair cf
clappers.
ALSO, what Ins become of the Jewshaip?
.Ever boy used to attempt, nt some tlmo
In tils rareer, to 111. ester this Instrument.
Posslhl a few succeeded At least, the
made noises Personally I could never even
make n noise , but I tried I also tried to
play the ha mould I could make ns much
nnlsej nn that .as the next fellow, but the
tiiiu eluded me I used to pi.actlce till the
corners of my mouth were calloused but In
vnln Xot so Pallv I'lummer. She was a
pretty, self-possessed person of eleven, who
stood on the platform cverv day beside the
teiu her. and setting her harmonica between
her tosebud lips blew tho in irtlal strains to
which we marched out of school for the da
She was supposul, I be-lleve, to have a great
musical en reel ahead of bet , but at thirteen
she left town, anil what blighted hci am
bitions in the hud I cannot sny T on
know 1 have not encountered her name on
the concert programs
A
though rather lnfrenuentl. The games
which used to start ns soon as the frost was
out of the sidewalks, and sooner than the
arbutus In tho fields, are rare now ; but they
do occur It lias been ears, however, slnco
I have seen smill bos spinning tops or
heard the challenging cry, 'Gimme a peg at
vours"" I have carefully examined the backs
of the doors in houses where sm ill bovs
live to see If they bore the telltale marks.
Hut the don't Suiel ou remember how
ou pulled that wooden pog out of the top
of tho top" ou plated It In the crack niatlc
when tho door was opined a bit and then
shut the door Of course, the rounded head
of tho peg sank Into tho wood of the door
and the Jamb and ou could then grasp the
top, give It a twist and pull It free. But It
was wise not to bo caught doing this. Tops
were an early autumn pastime,
I WAS never n little girl nnd I never
plaed with J.ackstones. But all the little
girls I knew did h the hour The little
girl whose house had the largest and widest
stone steps was usually the best for the
Jackstonc parties The game was a ms
tei to me, but appeared to have an endless
and subtle fascination for its devotees.
What has become of It? I never see Utile
girls now sciuatted In a group and tossing
up the curious Iron "stones " Wh should
this game have vanished?
But today as I walked over to the village
I came on a stripy dry gravel walk, and
on It was scratched with a stick a series
of connecting stiuares. much trodden and
skuffed, and nearby lay a small flat stone
or two.
Hop-scotch '" I cried aloud. "Thank
goodness something Is left of tho good old
elas'"
I THE CHAFFING DISH I
SHE
PEAKING of the mottoes that persons
eep in theh desks, the Rev. Charles S.
Lons sends us his favorite, which runs
like this:
He says It means "The work of a day
in its da," and is appropriate for persons
and Journalists.
The Great Mjstery
A MA
1YGAKIXE writer who went to Inter-
lew n statesman In Washington says
ho found him enveloped In an atmosphere
of considerable mystery.
The only mstery about him, poor man,
was that he was tiying to do some work.
Any man who Is working has to surround
himself with an air of mystery. Because
It Is a universal human passion, when one
sees a man hard at work, to go and hang
around him and breathe on his neck.
People collect nrounil him like holes In a
sotk; they like to ask how he does It, and
get him to tell them all about It. Every
bory who has nothing to do hates like
thunder to see anybody else working.
So Just remember, every time you see
a man working go and bust up that en
velope of mystery. Tell every one else to
go up there and have a look at him. If
you leavo him alone he might get some
thing done.
A great many persons find work a mys
ter a mjstery so appalling that they
never attempt to solve it.
Fred Myers" sent us a thrift card with
a perfectly good thrift stamp stuck on It.
He did the ame to four other persons,
and. each beneficiary was to repeat the
stunt to five of his friends, thus starting
an endless chain of thrift cards.
Our first thought was to soak off the
stamp and put it on one of our own cards,
but Fred had stuck It on sp tlgljt tliat we
determined to be a good sport and follow
out hi Instructions.
That ! U Kred'a is a o4 , ,JKat
it smcmc yw fftends. apCHATM.
'A-
-rtTTT t .: . .
T-C-i. :1T"ALrWffl' -
- -T, - ' ' I M r ..
I ---. .. kl,jt.- . V---' ---' ire.
1 G3?-r i"Piz t h- "--'
'' CiTtf - "r-i
--:: Set--.5r-
LUDENDORFF'S REIGN OF TERROR
Merciless Military Courts Are Trying Civilian Germans in
Secret and Imposing Heavy Sentences for "Treason'
By B. I KOSI'OTH
.Special Corc5)outfricc y.'tcnliti; Public Lrdorr
llrrnr, March 30
Ml
ANT German exiles heie In Switzerland
believe the day la not far distant when
tho Kaiser will bo forced by the Prussian
Junkers to appoint General I.udendorff, Illn
denbuig's chief of staff. Chancellor of the
German empire William 11 villi not do this
willingly, for he is Jealous of the mllltar
renown of his generals. Hut slnco Prussian
militarism sucuessfullv cowed tho Russian
Socialists Into signing the most ignominious
peace treaty In history the general staff and
the Pan-Germans are omnipotent In Ger
many. Vastly elated b this triumph of the Ir
brutal" methods of dlplomacv. the plan to
appl them also In western Europe.
Vlrtuall, Ludendorff already rules Ger
many, so the change will be scareel notice
able. He has completely eclipsed his chief,
Hindenburg, who long ago eclipsed the Kai
ser, lie Is. like Von Tlrpltz, a politician
although It was fonnerl a Germ 111 boast
that politics plaed no pait In the arm
Even less known than Hindenburg In Gei
many before the war. ho Is a tplcal repre
sentative of the Prussian mllltar Junker'
caste1 poor, proud and ambitious Ills mili
tary talents are undoubted. Polltlcall hu Is
of course, an advocate of extreme military
autocrac).
LUDENDORIT and tho Prussian militaiy
party owe the almost unlimited power
they enjoy In Germany today not onl to
Russia's downfall and Rumania s misfor
tunes, but albo In a great measure to the
recent strikes. Although the failed miser
able these strikes havo filled the Kaisers
guilty soul with the fear of levolutlon Tho
military party, working on tho Imperial ap
prehensions, has easily convinced the Kaiser
that ruthless oppression nnd despotic rule
alone can save him from sharing tho Czar's
fate. Ludendorff has undertaken to keep tho
German people In a proper state of submis
sion, while Hertllng Is tolerated as Chan
cellor so long as thero still seems a chance
of luring America and the Allies Into 11
"peace of conciliation," which the German
rulers regard In the light of a welcome truce,
allowing Germany to recuperate, to assimi
late her eastern conquests nnd to repeat her
aggression against the western Powers later.
In five or ten years, as the case may be. All
through the war Germany has presented a
double face to the world But this Incurable
duplicity of the Teutonic methods was never
more apparent than now, when Count Hert
llng and Von Paer, both risen from tho
ranks of the Reichstag, ure masquerading
as parliamentary statesmen nnd trjlng to
create the Impression that Germany ts de
veloping democratically, while in reality
German ejemocracy lies moro prostrate be
neath the spurred heel of Prussian militarism
than ever before
WHEN the strikes were at their height
martial law was proclaimed In all the
larger German towns The strikes, however,
were suppressed more effectively than by
force of arms by calling all strikers of mili
tary age to the colors, by depriving the rest
old men, boys and women of their weekly
food rations, and, above all, by the efforts
of the leaders of the Socialist majority In the
Reichstag, and of the labor syndicates, whose
flagrant b-trajal of the workers' cause was
perhaps the chief reason why the movement
failed. Nevertheless, military courts of Jus
tice are still busy dally sentencing uufoitu
nate victims of Prussian autocracy to the
severest penalties for tho most trifling of
fences committed during the das of the
strike, The militaiy rulers of German have
resolved to strike terror to the hearts of the
people, and they are succeeding.
People In America ought to know what
these courU-martial are doing, for there Is
still a tendency In all civilized countries to
underestimate the pitiless .brutality of the
military maniacs who govern Germany, Lu
dendorffs reign of terror ought to destroy
the last Illusions of those who still bellave
the present Prussian system of government
capable of reform.
Most of the trials by court-martial are
I taklor puQe In camera and ma Herman
I nijyiiprn my only yaWMHto eflMal r.
614,? the q$jt.tjbtt
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these reports, which are, of course, catefully
eloctoretl, reveal caseti surpassing In bar
barous Inju'stlco nil that used to be nirrated
about the Czat's regime in Russia The mili
tary courts am composed of five Judges, who
are olllccrs not under the tank of captain,
appointed b the conim iiielcrs-ln-ehlef of tho
various mllltarv ellstricls into whicli f,ei
many Is divided since the war Tho Stato
atlorne Is also replaced b an olllcer. Theie
exists no possibility of appeal against tic
sentences passed, mid the are carried out
within twentv-four bonis Death sentences
only must first be confirmed b the genei.il
commanding tho district
In the last few weeks ,111 Incessant stream
of strikers men, women and oung bos
arrested lu the stteets nnd factories has been
passing before, the mllltar Judges Every
day ou lead In the German papers three 01
four laconic p.arngiaphs like this
Karl Mcer, mechanic, fotty cais old,
accused of having elamegcil a trolley car
during the strikes bv unscrewing the
hi, ike nnel resisting an est by 11 policeman,
was found guilt of high tteason and
sentenced by com t-niarllal in Berlin to
time cars and six months penal servi
tude Nearl all the scntetues passed b the
military courts consist In terms of hard labor
lu a penitential' (Xuchthaus) and not In
ordinary Imprisonment l'or having stopped
a trolley car by placing himself before It
and refusing to leavo tho track a oung
workman, seventeen e.irs old, was lately
sentenced In Berlin to 0110 ear and six
months' hard labor' These sevcie sentences
nre legall possible, because the Indictment
gainst tho prisoners in all such cases Is
h U treason During tho strikes In Bcilln
a u.niopstratioii took plaea lu the Humboldt
Haln. a large popular park Mounted police
charged the crowd, trampling men, women
and children nuclei their horses' hoofs A
workman in tho crowd called out, pointing
to a mounted policeman, Pull that fellow
from his horse 1" lie liiado no attempt to
suit tho action to tho word, but merely
uttered this seditious cry. l'or this ho was
sentenced to two cnts and six months' penal
servitude
SOON after the strikes broko out all tho
munition factories In Germany were placed
under military management, and the work
ers, tho women as well as the men, subjected
to military discipline and ordered by the
ollleeis put in command of them to usumo
work at once. Somo of the woikers lefused
and stubbornly persisted In striking Num
bers of these mutineers are being sentenced
dally by military courts to terms of Imprison
ment varying from three months to two ears
Two women workers who had encouraged
other women In a munition plant at Tempel
hof, near Berlin, to persevcro in tho strike
wore each sent to Jail for two 5 ears. This
military control over the workers In the mu
nition factories, which reduces them without
distinction even of sex to iccrults subject to
military discipline and military penalties in
case of ' insubordination," seems likely to
become a permanent Institution In German,
for It has not yet been abolished, although
the strikes have been over for a long time.
The strike leaders unfortunate enough to
fall Into the clutches of the military authori
ties are naturally being dealt with Btul more
severely than the ordinary strikers In Mu
nich a Journalist, a joung university student,
and a Red Cross nurse, who were accused
of having helped to organtzo the strikes In
the Bavarian capital, wero sentenced to
terms of penal servitude from three to five
ears. The wife of one of the Elblng city
councilors will have to spend three jcars
In a Prussian penitentiary because she led
a body of rioters In a street demonstration
In this well-known manufacturing town on
the Brltlc, where most of the Oerman tor
pedoboats and many submarines are built,
The military court In Stettin sentenced the
local Socialist leader, August Horn, to five
years and three months' penal servitude).
However, the military courts In the Prussian
province of Posen undoubtedly hold the rec
ord for pitiless severity! A Polish Socialist
by the name of Jarmulowlcz was sentenced
by court-martial In Csenstochau to ten years
"Zuchthaus" because he had made a .speech
inciting tho miners In this greatvjiilnltic fJU-
wi h ii 111 n wiwy last MM f (fai
mtnr eatkorttks.
uv avaanm u '
THE READER'S VIEWPOINT?
7"e the 1'iHt ir of the Vvcnlno Public Ledger;
Sir Will ou kindly advise me as to what
department at Washington I should apply
for Information regarding the refund of my
mono paid In on the $100 bond of the second
Liberty Loan subscribed to by me while at
me while at ,
1 I have paid i
for phjklcal I
J S X J
camp. To elate or my discharge
In J50. I have been discharged
reasons.
Philadelphia, April 19
The Liberty Loan committee adUses
J S N to continue painents on his bond
until the total amount of $100 has been
subscribed Discharge fiom the army (on
phslcal grounds) should make him better
nblo to pay Installments they point out,
'I hero Is no department In Washington to
which he can appeal for return of the 1581
lie lias already paid In If there Is an vauil
leason why he cannot continue paments hs .
should take the matter up with the agency
through which tho bond was purchased Tha
leasons foi asking return of his money
should bo stated In full and action will l
taken b tho bank, trust companv or other
agent to whom ho makes pa meats Editor
of tho Evnx'ixo Pl'di.ic Li Dacn J
Rent Profiteering
To the lltllt r of the Evening I'ublic Ledger
Mr A few das ago my wife and I, afUr -caieful
consideration, decided that we could
afford to buy Just one $30 Liberty Dond on
the$l-a-weck plan Vio thought that as I
nm too old to go to the front or be of us
elsewhere that It was our duty to aid In tha
grand work for human llbert and that uch
duty could be best performed by purchasing ,
a bond, however small
This morning I lecelved a curt note from
m landlord Increasing the rent $5 a month, j
As I see no way out of It I must accept his
terms, but to do so I must give up all Idea f
of bulng that Bond.
Now I ask ou is not that man deliberately t
blocking the good and patriotic work of
prosecuting this war to tho bitter end? Thexj
rent I now pay Is, if an thing, entirely too j
much, so that the proposed increase Is j
profiteering tif the most objectionable brand,
if not downright robbery j
A WORKING MAN
Philadelphia. April 10 j
TODAY'S USELESS QUESTION
When jou buy a pair of shoes why
does tho salesman put In the laces in
such a perverted and Bolshevik way
that ovcry time ou wear thoso shoes
one end of the laco gets longer than
tho other, and after a week of futile
effort you have to take them out and
rethread them?
What Do You Know
QUIZ
1 IJ.nllfv Ml )tllnii
S. Which Amerlrnn river l culled "the "
or uuifr .
a sw. it.. ....!. . Iirhanaianill."
4. Mhnt U meant by the "theory of '" "..,
8, Mhlrli U the chief port einel i-oiunierclal " j
of the (irrmiin Kmplrr? ,
0. VVImt la n atanelarel fruit free?
7. What U a lirldirlimd?
a ill .. ,1.. ent,l. .f llalrlna?
0. M ho l tha new Ilrltlkh (secretary ' lw 1
for Nurr
10,
Who la Count Wrkrrle?
Answers to Saturday's Quiz
I. Miirjlcnil wiia founded by Oeorte Cal"e
" Liberty Itland, formerly Bedloa'a !""
I,. J ..... illllLaaia.
3. Iwiitr" Is eeirrretly. iiaert I" ! "'.,,. I
:!!LM..:, . :;.'"'''?":' vjgafiS8
i,,.-irrfrii7 mw p,,-v v.
4. "The Snr." one of the early novel ,'" 7J
hrnnlmore Cooper, American author. .
5. The rloln date for payment ef mean
la June io.
d. MlaUlppl la railed "the Itorou Stat.
7, Mr.lnes llldael un Important .f'"'..
8. The C'riiaailrral n''!'"' , ""V"'.'".!!! ??
aouiht Jo retake J"U.Im from tljaw'jfj
ems. Amour the mpt note were ",.
of llouillein. Hlcharet iVur Utu, in 1 ,
tsi j i win in 1 nt iirmriiMvn . . 1
or Kndanci, anu oaini -.
0. ? Karl ef n.rbjrjhs. htt Ja
dor Kjtraorulnarr of Ureal in
Kramte,
re. reiinciuunint nie ip"
rmr
rierrria
Oravtaetot
rlerrrurr ef lW far W a.
lkerU'wil rWS2'J
.
I MtMUWfr1
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