Jasper County Democrat, Volume 23, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 September 1920 — GERMANS ARE TIRED OF WAR [ARTICLE]

GERMANS ARE TIRED OF WAR

British Officer in Cologne Finds Only Professional Soldiers Anxious for It. CHANGES IN CITY ON RHINE People Submit Calmly to British Rule Street Car Officials Are Now Almost Servile—Business Picks Up. Cologne.—The British army appears to have acquired a strong grip on this section of occupied Germany, and the soldiers get along very well with the people. They mingle freely with them in the streets, restaurants and cases, and pick up colloquial phrases very readily. There has been very little friction between the Tommies and the inhabitants. All disputes between the army of occupation and the people of Cologne have been brought before a court of arbitration, and the Germans so far have not complained of any of ’the awards. There is more business in Cologne in commercial and trade circles than in the other large German cities, which is owing to the business transacted with England aud Holland. The Dutch merchants are sending all the.foodstuffs they can lay hands upon Into Germany, which keeps the prices very high in their own country and Is causing strong protests to be made by the working classes In Rotterdam, Amsterdam and other cities. The goods ate brought from Holland to Dusseldorf and Cologne by freight steamboats. There is considerable activity in the factories in Aachen, Dusseldorf and Cologne. The people in these centers are paying attention to their business and- are more optimistic in regard to the outlook than the Germans in Berlin, Hamburg and Frankfort. Fight All Gone. The British officers of senior rank with whom I have conversed here say that they do not believe there is any probability of the nation wanting to fight for many years to come. The Germans, apart from the officers and underofilcers of the old army, who have been trained to arms as a calling, will not go to war in a hurry because they have realized very clearly that it does not pay, and they do not wish their sons to be trained as soldiers as soon as they leave school and subjected to the tyranny of the drill sergeants. An English officer of high rank, who speaks German fluently and has traveled all over the country in the last year, said, in speaking on this subject: “At the present time Germany could put a well-equipped army of 600,000 officers and men into the field if they could be organized to fight together. The major part of this force is the army of the Baltic and the smaller bodies of troops who have not yet been disbanded. The ordinary German workman, so far as my knowledge goes, is fed up with war, and desires to live with his family and pursue his trade peacefully. “The French military authorities do not agree with this view in regard to the Germans and believe that they are secretly organizing to avenge their defeat. The officers, especially the Prussians of the old regime, would- no doubt like to do this, as fighting is their trade, but the rank and file would refuse to follow them into the field. “The Germans have plenty of airplanes, arms and ammunition. Out of 28,000 field guns they possessed when the armistice was signed they have destroyed only 2,000 so far. It is very difficult to get the German government to carry out the conditions of the peace treaty, which demand that these guns should be destroyed, and that the forts and strategic railways constructed in the course of the war should be demolished. The claim is put forth that all this work would occupy a long time and would be unproductive and expensive to the government, which has no funds to meet it. Personally, judging from the slow manner In which things have been done so far, I think it will be years before these conditions are fulfilled, if ever. “There Is one thing certain to any sane person who knows the conditions existing here at the present time: that is, if Germany is to pay the indemnity, or any portion of it, in the near future she must be supplied with raw materials to start the factories to work and with foodstuffs for the people. Officials Are Civil. “There is a good deal of talk among the better class in favor of a constitutional monarchy on similar lines to that of Great Britain, but that would be impossible so far as any of the German princes are concerned. They do not know the meaning of such a form of government and would immediately become (autocratic dictators directly any one of them ascended the throne. It took England nearly a hundred years to persuade the Hanoverian sovereigns that they were to be. seen and not heard, so far as the govefnment of the country was concerned, and it was not until Queen Victoria had commenced her long reign that this was accomplished finally by Lord Melbourne, who was prime minister.” I It was a strange sight to visitors in Cologne on Saturday, June 5, to see . the British troops with massed bands I parading the cathedral square in honor of King George’s birthday. The people

filled all the side streets and crowded the windows of the shops and houses which overlooked the scene. They behaved in an orderly manner, and the mounted German policemen who were on duty had no difficulty in keeping the big crowd back. Before the war Cologne was very prosperous and had a large garrison. There Is a great change in the bearing of the railway and street car officials toward the ordinary people. Theli smart uniforms and autocratic manners of fdrmer days have disappeared. They now’ slouch about in old armj uniforms minus the facing, and art civil to the public almost to the point of servility. There Is a little more meat in Co logne than in Berlin, which is due tc the supplies coming up the Rhine from Rotterdam for the British anny, and the bread is of a better quality. The Tommy gets his rations and his white bread dally and purchases his extra supplies from the canteen. With the low rate of exchange he has been living in clover onNils array pay, and the majority hope that the occupation will last for years. The greater number of these soldiers did not take part in the great war, but are older men who enlisted for three years’ service in the occupied territory after the armistice was signed.