Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 January 1919 — Page 3

LILLE KISSING ORGY PICTURED BY YANK

Pretty Maidens Lead in Osculation as Correspondents Enter City. PEOPLE ARE MAD WITH JOY —A— i - Delirious Women Surround Ntwtpfr per Mon, Among Flrot to Enter Freed City, end Smother Them With Kisses—Meant as an ’ Outburst of Gratitude to British. By GEORGE T. BYE. American Headquarters, British Front.—ln the early morning we set out over the south route into Lille by way ot Mervllle, Estalrs and La Basse®. There was a heavy mist that Would have prevented any distant view, but luckily we pressed on. We came across some balloon observers who had descended because they could see nothing. Artillery was moving forward, an encouraging sign. Racing on over the fine cobblestone La Bassee road we •lowed up through a little village and saw a brigade headquarters in the methodic military act of moving. “We’re going on to Loos,” a major said. He had heard nothing of Lille beyond a report that British patrols had established themselves beyond the city. Willing to Take Any Chance. Our map showed Loos to be a suburb immed I H telycon nee tedwl and we hurried on in great expectation. A military order forbidding entry by troops would not apply to correspondents. We were roused enough to declare we wopld swim canals apd walk miles for the chance to penetrate France’s fifth Metropolis even if we had to dodge enemy outposts. The British engineers already had a pontoon bridge across the canal at Hauhuordin, and at indiscreet speed we clattered over it. There were some shouting, crying people of Haubourdin who wanted to clamber aboard the car, but we wouldn't stop. By following street car tracks we reached Loos in a few. minutes and had the first taste of what was to follow. We slowed down to inquire directions, and a mob seemed to rise magically in the street. People fought to reach us and then climbed over the back and sides of the car to embrace, and kiss us, crying continually, “Hurrah for the English !” to which we could only respond in French, “Good day! Good day!” Boys Lead Kissing Squad. Some little boys managed to squirm into the back of the car, and, standing on our typewriters, gas masks and uneaten lunCh, tried for a monopoly of the kissing for a minute until we pushed them' out. Our hands were seized and kissed. The Tommy driving us was half pulled, from his seat by a hysterical old' lady who cuddled him as If he were a baby and cried: “My dear English boy!” He had to wipe her tears from his face when she released him. And the car was kissed. “Please, please. We must hurry into Lille. Which way, please?” One tragically happy girl, whom I had to seize by the shoulders to keep her away from me, finally pointed up the road and said: “Straight away. There are no boches in Lille. They have gone.” She was still talking when the driver frantically twistcjd his klaxon and we began to plow through the jam, which had collected far ahead of us. 1 We finally backed onto a circuito.us road which led up to the Port des Postes, . the southern gate to Lille. Here we were to leave the.’ 1 British captain, also the driver .and car, and exercise our civilian privilege of entering the city. .. Lille had had no notice of German

DEDICATED TO THE BRAVE POILUS

This statue of a French soldier returning to his home has just been -erected in Paris near the Grand Palais and dedicated to the brave Polios pf sm-M'' iR»f iwmm >' *■ l ,M M l '- 11 “ > ’ . -- - __

evacuation beyond the terrific explosions «t six o’clock that, morning when, the bridges were blown up. Many soldiers had been moved from their billets in Lille homes. However, It had been the experience of four years to have the city alternately filled with Germans then suddenly emptied. When the explosions had brought the people Into the streets they were impressed by the complete disappearance of the enemy. About nine o’clock a brave soul went into the headquar ters of the kompiandantur in the large building of the prefecture <rf poijce and found it vacated. British Flyers Over City. British airplanes began to fly low over the city, but not a British Tommy was in sight . . After tense minutes of anxious waiting three things happened. Charles Delasolle, Jr., a French aviator and, son of the mayor of Lille, flew over from Dunkirk and lighted on the Champs de Mars. Two correspondents of the Petit Parisien and Le Matin of Paris trudged, after a long walk, through the Armentleres gate into Lille. Mellett and I entered the Port de Postes. Who was first probably will never be settled, nor Is it at all important that it should be settled, except to the entrants. If we were beaten by a few minuter which we dispute, we know wp had the only parade, a procession that went through the heart of the city, covered a mile, lasted an hour and included many thousands of dancing and singing celebrants. If we had not been rescued in the Place de la Republlque and hurried inside the gates of the prefecture the parade might have ended only when Mellett and I had reached the swooning point. Hundreds Encircle Car. When we reached the Port des Postes, with its several traffic aisles, hundreds of people came running out of the gate, a never-ending stream that tightly encircled our car. “Les Anglaises sent id! Vive les Anglaise!” was what they shouted as they tumbled toward us, and we even heard it being taken up in alarming crescendo on the other side of the city wait As soon as the kissing started Mellett surrendered his face and handsr but, with his mind still on business, managed to slide out of the car. I unwisely established a precedent for lifting up babies, kissing them in the French fashion on either cheek, giving thenSMi* little spank and tossing them back to the first woman in sight. This was unwise in a way because it attracted hundreds of mothers who wanted their offspring kissed and spanked by the bogus great Englishman, and undoubtedly resulted in many delirious mothers extricating themselves from the mob only to find themselves in possession, of a strange infant, for in the excitement of the moment I could take no responsibility for making correct returns. Kissed by Swarm of Maids. Yet it showed that I had a family heart, and, while I was paralyzed by the sea of babies surging up to me—many of them back for a second go, no doubt —still there the satisfaction of seeing that among the babies were the flowers of Lille, the prettiest mademoiselles. Mellett, in the meantime, was struggling with a swarm of buxom housemaids, who were bussing him four and five at a time. In fact he had all the La Bassee mud kissed off one ehr. I remember his tussles with the stout girls quite distinctly, and the recollection always flashes upon me when he happens to mention my graciousness to the bearded gentlemen. f “For God’s sake, climb out, or we are lost!” shouted Mellett, so I permitted several of my lissome beauties to assist me dismount, collected a few warm osculations, and, with three of the loveliest oh either arm, surged 'forward. ■ The crowd gave way with a shout.

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, IMS.

Camp Wheeler Soldiers Plan Immense Farm

Camp Wheeler, Macon, Ga.— j Arrangements are being made to provide a 40-acre farm for Cajnp The tilling | of a 100-acre farm last summer i was pronounced a success. When the soldiers first' went to the i farm they had the regulation 1 army tents. Today they have a I large fining hall . .with beamed 1 ceiling, rough hewn chaijs and tables in ctose imitation of an ' early colonial home.,

and tumbled back through the gnte ahead of us as the heralds of our procession. Seeing that it was unwise for Mellett and me to be too distantly separated, I unhooked - two of the girl' and Mellett took the arm of the one between us, Mlle. Eerthe Dubauts, by thejvay. Frapce never made ’em piyt tier than Mlle. Berthe. Everybody Wanted Two Kisses. The enormity of what was ahead of us was not realized until we were through- the gate. Our heralds were shouting “The English are coming !” Wave upon wave of men, women and children bore down upon us and at times there were collisions that must have hurt. Everybody wanted at least two kisses and a handshake. The dear old ladies of Lille had the highest average, going at the rate of 70 in a possible 100. The younger women (and I am not referring to Mellett’s contingent) wanted to do the thing tenderly and gently and as a result often got only a little bump against iny nose dr ear, the second kiss missing fire or ricocheting to one of my winsome escort. only trouble with the escort was that they could not tell us where we wanted to go. We just staggered on, pushed and pulled at from all directions, sometimes almost carried down by the weight of some wildly joyous person who would spring at us, throw both arms around our necks and kiss us rapturously. As we were entering Rue des Postes we heard a booming voice call out: “Can I help? Just a minute while I get through these blinking girls.” He was M. Auguste Vonherzeele, a Belgian tailor, formerly of London. Because he was sixty-four years old the Germans had not forced him to work. He had kept his son hidden Tor four years, but, he said, “the little fool insisted finally on getting out and had been seized and taken away by the Germans when they deported all the able manhood, even youths in midteens, shortly before the evacuation. M. Vonherzeele introduced us to M. Fernand Hanciaus, Lille representative of the General Electric company of Schenectady, N. Y. “Will you —smack —take us through —smack —the main streets —smack— to the mayor—smack —and back — smack —to our ear —smack?” we begged, between kisses. The two turned about and talked .very fast to the mob. A way opened for us and we started. All went well for two minutes, then a fresh battalion of kisses went over the top and cut M. Hanciaus off from all communication with us. We never saw him again. K

Ribbons, Badges, Rosettes. We now began to be entwined with red, white and blue ribbons, and many badges and rosettes were pinned to us. We also got bunches of red, white and blue paper flowers. There was nothing amorous about the kisses. They were given by old and young to the “good English.” One trim mademoiselle in my retinue kissed me once -for the allies, once for England, once for myself and once for my wlfq,. (Note —I am not adding this to square myself at home. This true and accurate history of the great occasion must be complete in all details.) What happened to the kissers after theyjiad battered their way into our parade and finally got within kissing reach? They formed in lines fifteen abreast and danced or stamped ahead or behind us, singing the Marseillaise. When we got back to our car we found it indistinguishable in the mob. The British captain had twt> babies on either knee, and he sat so they were between him and the kissers. The < driver had given up fighting a long time ago and quite miserably hung f over his seat in a liipp position within , reach of short or tall. F*or him it was ! more cheerful to give than to receive. The brave British deliverers of Lille later did get a tremendous ovation from the city. We saw a few sentries when we returned then* having their guns held by girls and being bedecked with garlands and fed with cakes. We sd'wofher Tommies having their guns and packs carried by Lille girls. 11 Is a pity that the flrst spontaneous outburst of gratitude to the British should have been centered on two Yank correspondents.

HOLDS THEIFT STAMP RECORD

r / Kansas Girl Obi-sins $6,500, Which Makes Her the Champion of the State. ' ♦ < v '? , . Hutchinson, Kan. —Miss Marjorie E. Stauffer ofthis eltyholds the state, ifwnot, the national, record for Thrift Stamp sales. When a stranger approaches her hews stand In the Blsonte hotel, here, she asks him if he does not wish to take part of his change In Thrift stamps. Prior to October 1 she had sold, $5,000 worth, and In November she added $1,500 more te her record. -'

Why Polish State Must Rise

Future of Europe Is Dependent on Reconstruction of Ancient Nation / / w F Germany had a • .-natural I eastern frontier —as She has I natural boundaries to west I and south—the establishA ment of permanent peace might not require sqch extraordinary safeguards. But, Germany lying where she does and her people being what they are ' the future of Europe depends on one thing l —the reconstruction of Poland.” The speaker was no less a person than Roman Dmowski, for twenty years a leader of the submerged western Slavs in their aspiration toward a renewed national life, long the representative of the city of Warsaw in the Russian duma; today, by virtue of bis position as president of the Polish national committee, recognized by the governments of Great Br’taiu, France, Italy and the United States as the official representative and spokesman of thirty-five millions of people. ——- “To take up the German-ness of Germans first,” he went on in the course of an interview with Rowland Thomrs appearing in the New York World, “they are a people capable of talking about their drang nach osten —their expansiveness toward the east—as if ft were something scientifically inevitable and sacred, like the law of gravitation or the budding of trees In springtime. No such peculiar and specific force, of course, now exists. Nature no more drove the Germans to the expansive eastward than up or down tn any other direction. What did drive them was an allurlnc opportunity. Whereupon they invented a mystical force* which was supposed to be above even their own ideas and emotions— just as they later invented a special and sacred kultur when they felt the need of justifying overweening ambition in their own eyes nnd the sight of the world, and srill later conjured up an ancient German Gott to make expediency and morality mutually self-supporting. “Such worship of mental straw irien —such confusing of formulas with forces, the sound of worfls with verities, exculpations with .justifications— Is the natural refuge of sentimentalists who shrink from looking their own impulses in the face.' “By a special drang nach osten, then, Germans have sanctified for themselves their cupidity of territory and trade in certain directions. Many such canonized phrases will confront and trouble the peace builders In their coming work, for an orthodox formula may be a deadly thing. Witness what was justified in revolutionary France by the cry of liberty, equality and fra* teroity —what Is happening under the same watchword now in bolshevistic Russia. To guard the future against the force of the ancient and heloed dogma of a drang nach osten is therefore vitally necessary. _ Would Safeguard Future. “And,” interpojated Mr. Dmowski, a faint smile hovering about his flnn-set lips, “if a certain step is taken the future will be effectually guarded. Germans hereafter will have to take their drang nach osten out in plain drang-ing. They will find themselves butting their heads against a wall, to be colloquial. And that wall will be Poland—the strong P-oland which can and must be constructed, not easily, perhaps, but surely and firmly, if sufficiently intelligent and foreseeing statesmanship is used at this time. “That brings us to the second standing menace to permanent peace in Europe—the fact that Germany for gen* erations has had no natural eastern boundaries, that a tantalizingly easy way to aggression-and conquest has lain always open before now that Russia is chaos, is easier than ever before. “If this w’ere not the case, if Germany faced to the east some welldefined physical obstacle, as she faces the Rhine gorge, the"Alps* .the Bohemian and Carpathian highlands to the west and south, the potentialities might not be so .grave. But as it is. Asia, through Russia, lies open, unguarded and dangerously inviting to Germany’s thwarted ambitions. —— “Let us hot in this exhilarating moment of victory permit ourselves *o become, unduly optimistic;, ar too cred ffious. psychologies flo not

British Monarch's Position.

Great Britain has no document which may be regarded as a constitution. Instead of a paper constitution there exists a mass of precedents and conventions which serve, similar needs with, greater flexibility. No matter upon what the thing may be based, the royal power of the monarch is not absolute. As executive he is the nominal-, administrator of the, .decrees of parliament, the representative body of the lords spiritual, the lords temporal omtnnans. —i

Poland and Its Historical Territories, From Which, Mr. Dmowski Says, the New Democratic Polish State Must Be Reconstructed.

change very quickly. In the throes of her defeat Germany may seem —-will undoubtedly deem herself —disenchant-’ ed with the fruits of her national ambition. But what man experienced • ,t, _ ___ _ _i, ;_ ~~ K.nmcill 11liIttl 111 111 v WO i 111 -S ilitj uiiii iu u iiiiii'* would venture to risk the possibilities of another war like this one on the chance that Germany’s disenchantwill be permanent, that the final outcome of the defeat, in German minds, will not be discontent, humiliation. angry or sullen, and persistent determination to recover at least part of what has been lost; or, failing that, to seek recoupment and expansion and domination in fresh directions? No ,inan of probity and experience will risk so fateful a gamble. It must be made impossible for Germany to be unsafe to the democracies of the world. To do that It is vitally necessary To have a strong, trustworthy non-German state on Germany’s eastern marches. And the one region capable of becoming such a state is Poland. “For it. is idle, worse than idle, to dream of constructing such a new state in Europe for these specific purposes unless the work is done along surely effective lines. The requirements are extremely definite. A small state will not do. Who would set a pygmy watchman to guard a fullgrown desperado? A state incapable of full economic development will not do. The chance of entanglements are too great. It must be self-contained as regards natural resources. A state artificial racially will not do. It must be one, as far as possible, racially cohesive. A state wherein irresponsible visionaries play the demagogue over an unleavened lump of peasantrv will not do. It must be a state capable of having a real citizenry, as the United States has —composed of a people of established and developed civilization, racial culture and traditions, practical abilities, proved liberalism. Poles Best Fitted. “I believe you will find nowh.re in central and eastern Europe a race more fitted than the Polish people to be the citizenry of such a state. And I can state without fearing contradiction that nowhere else in that region will you find another race with «o unclouded a moral and historical title to the territory which will be needed. “Just what is Poland, aside from being the region from which many immigrants came to the United States? Where is it? “To see real Poland you will have to make a map of Europe in your mind. On that map note how Germany lies th a great alluvial drainage basin, with the central mountain masses of the continent walling it to the south and with five rivers running down from them to the North sea and the Baltic. Westernmost ,is the Rhine. Next comes the Weser, with its port at Bremen, and the Elbe, with Hamburg. Fourth is the Oder, with Frankfort and Stettin. Last and easternmost the Vistula, which rises tn the Carpathian ridges, flows down by Warsaw and empties into the No-th sea at Dantzig in West Prussia. “In toe Vistula valley and its drainage areas live the thirty-five million people of the submerged Polish nation. That region is Poland. Part of it is still marked ‘Poland’ On the maps, but most of it needs identification since the ‘partitions,’ when the autocrats who then ruled-Germany, Russia and Austria each took: his helping. “Germany’s slice you will find on rhe west, extending all the way from the njountains to the Baltic. Silesia

Cautioning the “Cub."

The editor was handing it to the cub reporter. “This blaze Occurred at a ball.” “I know-” “Remember, it was a full-dress affair,, and don’t — don’t —” “I won’t.” “Don’t say the guests rushed into the street scantily clad.”—Kansas City Journal.'/

. “Germany is no longer toasting the day.”- . “As agents have turned out, it was mme of .n roaat for. hferZ’ L

The Change.

farthest south, then Posen, then West Prussia with its Baltic port of Dantzig—all are Prussian provinces now. They once were Poland. The population still Is Polish. To the south of -map Poland—is an ■ Austrian - province. Its chief city Is Cracow, the ancient capital of Poland. Other cities are Lemberg and Przemysl. The population of the province is predominantly Polish. To the east, in Russia, lies Volhynia. That, too, was part of Poland once, and today, although, the peasant population of the region Is Ruthenian, its civilization and almost all its middle-class population—its professional men and merchants, the intelligent, educated citizenry who are the necessary pillars of a true* democratic state- I—are 1 —are P.olish. The same thing is true to the north, in Lithuania, which also was once part of* Poland. Three Reasons for Action. “There are three reasons,” Mr. Dmowski continued, “why the reconstruction of national Poland is so vital an issue. “The first, already touched on. Is the necessity of setting an Impassable boundary to Germany on the east. Poland Is the only country so situated, geographically,’ as to be able to provide this service, the oifly natural obstacle between German scheming and Russian disorganization. “The second reason is the Baltic. Even before Russia collapsed that body of water was becoming a German lake. Now that Russia Is gone Germany is the only nation of large population having Baltic ports. Give reconstructed Poland again her ancient outlet’ to the seas through her old port of Dantzig and the company of democratic nations will have its own entryway. to the trade of all northeastern Europe. _ “The third reason is the breaking up of Austria, which is as serious a menace to permanent peace, unless provided against with intelligent foresight, as even the German-Russian boundary situation. Leave central Europe a group of small, weak, halfdeveloped nationalities, and the Balkan question, which has all along been largely a question of Teutonic pressure toward domination of the Black sea, Asia Minor and the Persian gulf, will remain acute. What solid antl-German barriers will stand there? Bohemia the new Czecho Slovak state? But that will have only twelve million people. Restored and reconstituted Roumanla? She will have at least fourteen million citizens and around her will stand Huhgary. Bulgaria. Russia. What could Bohemia. Roumanla or both of them avail against Germany, with her compact, sixty-five million population? ’ Effective Barrier Seen. “But add a national Poland and the situation changes. You have then t® the east and southeast of Germany, cutting her off from Hungafry, Bulgaria and Turkey, three thoroughly non-German states with a population of sixty-one million liberal democrats —a mass and spirit with which aspiring autocrats and bolspevist visionaries alike must reckon. “For tiJafift^Ujßs^purposes —to save Russia and Asia froi® encroachments; to preserve the freedom of the Baltic; to end forever the Balkan question and'the possibility of a fresh Ham-burg-l’ersian Gulf obsession in those worshipers of mentals straw men and ancient tribal gods, reconstituted, Poland is the one natural and trustworthy peace structure. It is vital."

World Politics.

“What did you do while politics was adjourned?” • ’“According to my wayof looking at it.” replied Senator Sorghum. “politics never adjourns. When politics gets so fierce’ as to get into a fight, the argument necessarily ceases. But pld politics is always Somewhere around.” -

/"'The Portuguese government has pur- S chased the Trans-African railway in the province of Angola, Portuguese West Africa. ■