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CHARLES H. GRASTY 
 
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 CHARLES H. GRASTY 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 THE CENTURY CO. 
 
 1918 
 
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Copyright, 1918, by 
 The Centuby Co. 
 
 Copyright. 1918, by 
 Thi New Tom Times CoMyiiit 
 
 Published, May, 1918 
 
 MAY 24 1918 
 ©CI.A4S9115 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 VAQt 
 
 Message from General Pershing ..... ix 
 Introduction xi 
 
 CHAPTEB 
 
 I Exit Asquith: Enter Lloyd George . . 3 
 
 II President Wilson's Proposals: Europe's 
 
 Reception of Peace Without Victory . 10 
 
 III A Lincoln-Day Message to America from 
 
 the Rt. Hon. David Lloyd George . . 27 
 
 IV Glimpses at the Front 31 
 
 V The Flight from Berlin Home with Ge- 
 rard 51 
 
 VI American Men of the War .... 63 
 
 VII French Men of the War 77 
 
 VTII The British Men of the War .... 105 
 
 IX To Europe with Pershing 143 
 
 X Our Army in France 153 
 
 XI The Agony of France 168 
 
 XII In Switzerland 179 
 
 XIII A Corner of Alsace Reconquered . . . 222 
 
 XIV To the Rescue of Italy 241 
 
 XV Great Britain at Bay 255 
 
 XVI The Nivelle Offensive 283 
 
 XVII In Conclusion 297 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Charles H. Grastj Frontispiece 
 
 PACING PAGE 
 
 Crossing the Channel 48 
 
 British Troops Disembarking at a French Port . 49 
 Arrival of General Pershing at Boulogne-Sur-Mer . 49 
 
 The Fo'c'sle of a British Battleship 128 
 
 A British Battleship Taking in Oil Fuel at Sea . .129 
 
 The Town Hall at Peronne 160 
 
 At Bapaume 161 
 
 Inconnu , 192 
 
 A Soldier's Cemetery 193 
 
 British Tanks 224 
 
 With the British Troops in France — A Night Picket 225 
 
 Shipbuilding on the Clyde 260 
 
 A Shipyard on the Clyde 261 
 
 A British Battleship at Night 292 
 
 Captain Guynemer 293 
 
 The illustrations to this book are lent to The Century Co., by the British 
 Government. 
 
MESSAGE FROM 
 GENERAL PERSHING 
 
 This great war is teaching new things every day. 
 War on such a scale affords unprecedented oppor- 
 tunity for originaHty. While methods change, 
 human character remains, and other things being 
 equal, character will decide the last battle. 
 
 This war found us as a nation nakedly unpre- 
 pared, but our people had the stamina, the moral 
 sense, the instinct for the light and the right. It is 
 a fine thing to us soldiers in the service to look 
 toward home and see a mighty people responding 
 to the call of idealism, turning nobly toward duty 
 in the splendid spirit expressed in the phrase the 
 "utmost for the highest." We may make mistakes 
 here and there in this detail or in that, but we have 
 the practical mind, and with each new experience 
 we shall move to a higher level of excellence. 
 
 Of the human material that America is sending 
 to this war I can speak with exactness. It is the 
 best, and with enough of such material there can 
 be no doubt of America's showing. I have always 
 had only one opinion of American soldiers, and that 
 opinion has been more than confirmed in France. 
 Given the opportunity, the American Army in 
 
X MESSAGE FROM GEN. PERSHING 
 
 France will fulfill the best that has been expected 
 of it. 
 
 The history of this war cannot be written without 
 the perspective that time alone can give. In the 
 meanwhile such chronicles as the author has 
 presented supply the public with current infor- 
 mation and preserve a useful record for the his- 
 torian. The exceptional opportunities of observa- 
 tion enjoyed by the author will make this volume 
 one of the best among contemporary publications 
 on the war. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 [I asked my friend Mr. Colvin, who is a master craftsman 
 in editorial, or "leader,' writing, and whose pen, as all who 
 read the "Morning Post" know, is incapable of dullness, to 
 make an introduction for despatches that through the generous 
 courtesy of the "New York Times" and the venturesome en- 
 terprise of the Century Company are here published in book 
 form. I hardly hoped for an essay in his best vein presenting 
 his favorite doctrines for the serious consideration of America. 
 But he has evidently seized the occasion to challenge a school 
 of politico-economic thought in America the ideas of which 
 were very largely drawn from the British policy upon which 
 Mr. Colvin makes so spirited an attack. To that school of 
 tariff reform — a term that means in America precisely the 
 opposite of what it does in England — I myself belong. While 
 I disagree with much that Mr. Colvin says on this head, I am 
 glad to afford him a medium through which he may present a 
 group of contentions constituting a protest that is likely to 
 shake, if not to cl^nge, the existing economic order at the close 
 of the war. The standpoint which Mr. Colvin has chosen ap- 
 peals almost irresistibly to the conservative temperament, as 
 
xii INTRODUCTION 
 
 we have seen in America, where the protective system has long 
 stood against attack. My good friend will find himself in 
 higlily respectable company in the United States. — C. H. G.] 
 
 Two years or so before you Americans entered 
 this great war, my good friend Mr. Grasty used 
 to drop into my office. It was at a time when 
 American life seemed pretty cheap, and I 'm afraid 
 we used to chaff Mr. Grasty about the dollar value 
 of American citizenship. "What are American 
 lives worth to-day?" we would say, and we re- 
 marked that American honor was like American 
 oil: it was no doubt clear and bright, but with a 
 high flash-point. Mr. Grasty took it all in very 
 good part. Although American citizens were hav- 
 ing rather a rough time in Europe in those days 
 he was always cheerful, always smiling, and always 
 confident. "That 's all right," he would say; "my 
 countrj'- is all right. We will come in in our own 
 time. Let them pile it up." A phrase that he 
 used stuck in my memorjT "The President is try- 
 ing to get into the war with a united country behind 
 him. He will break with Germany when he can 
 do no otherwise." 
 
 Well, Mr. Grasty turned out to be a good prophet 
 on his own country. He never wavered in his faith 
 that his countiy would vindicate the honor of its 
 sovereignty. He believed in the Allied cause and 
 he believed that his fellow-citizens believed in it. 
 
INTRODUCTION xiii 
 
 He knew that his President understood the interest 
 and honor of America and the issues at stake in 
 the war. And the fact that in all these things he 
 turned out to be right is to me at least, a sufficient 
 recommendation for this book. 
 
 Now that he has asked me to write an intro- 
 duction to his little volume of Day-by-Day De- 
 spatches, I think it only right to do my best to 
 "put you wise," as Mr. Grasty would say, on the 
 war as we see it over here. There has been a good 
 deal too much flattery and a good deal too much 
 rhetoric, too many resounding phrases, too many 
 plausible catchwords in the declarations and mani- 
 festos of the Allies. I am not one of those who 
 believe that the war is merely a vindication of the 
 rights of small nations or that its object is to make 
 the world safe for democracy, or that it is going 
 to end war, or that it is going to lead to a league of 
 nations in which the Prussian wolf will lie down 
 contented and happy on equal terms with the Bel- 
 gian lamb. All these phrases may have their value 
 for what you in America, I believe, call "spell- 
 binding," but they are confusing and irritating to 
 a plain man. Much better get right down to the 
 bed-rock of facts! 
 
 And the bed-rock, as we now see it over here, 
 is that the Allied nations are fighting for their 
 existence. In the nineteenth century Germany 
 had made herself so strong by war and by industrial 
 
xiv INTRODUCTION 
 
 and economic organization that it seemed possible 
 to her to conquer and possess the whole world. 
 It was not a new idea with the German people; 
 on the contrary, it was an idea so old that almost 
 everybody except the Germans had forgotten all 
 about it. But let us remember that the Germans 
 are great students of history, and that the Ger- 
 man idea of history is that Germany succeeded to 
 the Holy Roman Empire. The Germans sacked 
 Rome and set the imperial crown on the German 
 brow. The Germans maintained that crown for 
 many centuries. All through the Middle Ages the 
 German princes struggled for the honor of being 
 elected not kings of Germany, but kings of Rome. 
 When they were elected kings of Rome by their 
 own people they made their triumphal march over 
 the Alps and were crowned emperors by the pope. 
 If the pope ever quarreled with this arrangement, 
 they carried fire and sword into the plains of 
 Lombardy and threatened Rome itself. The pope 
 was sometimes a prisoner of the emperor, and the 
 papal policy was often dictated by the imperial 
 diet. 
 
 It is interesting, also, to remember that this 
 political supremacy of what we might call "Ger- 
 mandom," had its economic side. Does the Ameri- 
 can public, which, I am told, reads history a good 
 deal, realize that all through the Middle Ages the 
 German merchants governed the commerce of 
 
INTRODUCTION xv 
 
 Europe? The Hanseatic League is now only a 
 vague name ; yet at one time it exercised a real and 
 absolute sway from Iceland to Venice, from 
 Novgorod to London. And what was the Han- 
 seatic League? It called itself "The Society of 
 German Merchants of the Holy Roman Empire." 
 The imperial eagle was quartered on its coat of 
 arms: it was represented in the imperial diet, and 
 its motto was a motto of world power: "Mein 
 Feld ist die Welt," my field is the world. 
 
 It was an organization of some seventy German 
 cities ; Liibeck the chief, and after Liibeck, Dantzic, 
 Hamburg, Cologne, which founded its power on the 
 monopoly of the shipping materials of the Baltic, 
 and the Russian trade. No ships could be built in 
 northern Europe without the maritime stores which 
 came from ports and territories controlled by the 
 Hanseatic League. If the King of England 
 wanted a fleet, he had to buy it from Liibeck, and 
 English policy was dictated by those who ruled the 
 sea. There was a time when the Hanseatic League 
 virtually governed England. The extent of its 
 power is shown by the privileges it possessed. The 
 Germans had in theii keeping one of the gates of 
 London. They had fortified wharves on the 
 Thames, and fortified warehouses known to medi- 
 eval England as the Steelyard. They had the right 
 to import and export goods on a special tariff not 
 only lower than the tariff paid by all other foreign- 
 
xvi INTRODUCTION 
 
 ers, but lower than the tariff paid by Englishmen 
 themselves. They were free from internal tax- 
 ation, and they were superior to English law. 
 They had their own courts to try causes between 
 them and the natives of England. As they con- 
 trolled all the metals, including silver, then the cur- 
 rency of Europe, the kings of England were usu- 
 ally in their debt, and we know that the borrower 
 is the servant of the lender. They used this su- 
 premacj^ to dictate the policy of England, and when 
 their demands became too extortionate, they block- 
 aded English ports and stopped English commerce. 
 England at that time was a poor country exporting 
 only wool and a rough, undressed cloth to Flanders. 
 This foreign commerce was almost entirely in the 
 hands of German merchants. There is in existence 
 a letter from a representative of the Hanseatic 
 League in London "to the Worshipful Senate of 
 Liibeck," in which he speaks quite truly of the realm 
 of England as "under the thumb of the Hanseatic 
 towns." 
 
 How England freed herself from this German 
 domination would be a long story, and it would 
 take me beyond the scope of this introduction. I 
 should have to tell how English merchants organ- 
 ized themselves on national lines, and how they 
 established relations with Russia by way of Arch- 
 angel, and how they sent out their little ships to 
 
INTRODUCTION xvii 
 
 explore Newfoundland and Virginia for timber and 
 turpentine and other naval stores. 
 
 You may read part of the story in Hakluyt's 
 "Voyages." Thus, for example. Captain Christo- 
 pher Carlile in his "briefs and summary discourse 
 upon the intended voyage to the hithermost parts 
 of America," which he wrote in April, 1583, gives 
 as one of his reasons why the voyage should be 
 made: 
 
 The badde dealings of the Easterlings [that is, Hanseatics] 
 are sufficiently known to be such towards our merchants of 
 that trade [the trade with Russia and the Baltic] as they 
 do not only offer them many injuries over long to bee written; 
 but doe seek all the meanes they can, to deprive them wholly 
 of their occupying that way: and to the same purpose have 
 of late cleane debarred them their accustomed and ancient 
 privileges in all their great townes.^ 
 
 I should also have to tell how the Hanseatic 
 League provided the Spanish Armada with ship's 
 tackling and munitions of war in order to defeat 
 the national policy of Queen Elizabeth, and reduce 
 England to her old position of economic servitude 
 to the German Empire ; and how our English mer- 
 chants helped Queen Elizabeth and our English 
 Navy to defeat that great conspiracy. German 
 sea power had grown great by a monopoly of the 
 Baltic; English sea power grew great by adventur- 
 
 iHakluyfs "Voyages" (1904 edition). Vol. VIII, p. 135. 
 
xviii INTRODUCTION 
 
 ing to Newfoundland and Virginia; and in the end 
 the Atlantic defeated the North Sea, or as it used 
 to be called, the German Ocean. 
 
 Thus the birth of America is directly connected 
 with this old and forgotten struggle between Ger- 
 man and English commerce. The power and 
 wealth drawn from the West broke the Hanseatic 
 domination, and Germany went down in the revolu- 
 tion and ruin of the Thirty Years' War. For two 
 centuries Germany hardly counted as a great power. 
 "Germany," said Bismarck in the middle of the 
 nineteenth century, "is only now recovering from 
 the Thirty Years' War." And Friedrich List, 
 whose writings are well known in America, wrote 
 about 1840 of Germany as a country completely 
 under the commercial domination of England. 
 But Germany had not forgotten her history. She 
 had not forgotten her old motto "Mein Feld ist die 
 Welt." She had not forgotten that she had once 
 ruled England, and that England had broken her 
 ancient power. And she had not forgotten that 
 the strength of the Anglo-Saxon race lay as much 
 in America as in England. It would be too long 
 a business to trace step by step the rebirth and 
 growth of the German Empire, After all, it is 
 a story well enough known. Wars with Denmark, 
 with Austria, and with France reestablished the 
 power of the German sword. The Zollverein and 
 the organization of great metal and electrical indus- 
 
INTRODUCTION xix 
 
 tries created a new Hanseatie League far more 
 powerful than the old. He who is master of steel 
 is master of the world if he knows how to use it; 
 and Germany, who knew how to use it, before the 
 war produced more steel than England, France, 
 and Russia put together. It was not, taking their 
 history and position into account, so unreasonable 
 for the German to suppose that they might again 
 live up to the old Hanseatie motto, "Mein Feld ist 
 die Weltr 
 
 It was not to be done at a stroke. France must 
 first be knocked out as a military power. Russia 
 must be either defeated or squared. Germany 
 must command more ports on the North Sea. 
 When she had established her supremacy in Europe, 
 then was the time to deal with England and after 
 England, America. 
 
 In the years before the war we might trace the 
 development of this policy. Russia was pushed 
 into a war with Japan in order to divert Russian 
 mihtary power from the German border to the 
 Pacific coast, and when Russia was in difficulties, 
 Germany took the opportunity of fixing upon her 
 a commercial treaty that gave Germany the whole 
 of the Russian market. In the meantime a vast 
 network of railways was being got ready for the 
 attack upon France, and as a preliminary, Belgium 
 was penetrated in every direction by German 
 agents. While Germany was building her fleet, 
 
XX INTRODUCTION 
 
 England was being beguiled and seduced by atten- 
 tions and flatteries. Everything was done that 
 could be done, sometimes by flatteries and some- 
 times by threats, to separate England from France 
 and to secure at least English neutrality if not 
 English friendship. Let me give one example out 
 of many: 
 
 At the end of October, 1912, there was a well 
 organized peace conference of Germans, Anglo- 
 Germans, and English friends of Germanj^ held 
 at the Guildhall in London. One of the principal 
 speakers was Herr Hermann Hecht of Berlin, who 
 delivered a lecture to prove that it was to the in- 
 terest of England to throw in her lot with Germany 
 against America. England and Germany, he said, 
 should stand together to meet the danger that comes 
 from the United States, whose rapidly developing 
 industries had become a menace to both countries. 
 
 I need not disguise from you that at that time 
 there was a party in England, as there was a party 
 in France, which preached submission to Germany 
 as the best and safest policy. Mr. J. A. Spender, 
 the editor of the "Westminster Gazette," wrote a. 
 series of articles to prove that England could secure 
 peace with Germany on certain conditions. Among 
 these conditions were these, that England should 
 never have a large army and that she should guar- 
 antee Germany perpetual free trade in English 
 markets. 
 
INTRODUCTION xxi 
 
 These conditions bring us face to face with 
 the economic question. And the economic question 
 is the key to the whole war. When Mr. Spender 
 proposed that Germany should have perpetual free 
 trade in England as a condition of peace, he pro- 
 posed nothing less than the abdication of British 
 sovereignty. He proposed that England should 
 become an annex of Germany's industrial system, 
 and that the British Empire itself, as far as its 
 economic policy could be controlled by the Central 
 Government, should also be part of the German 
 economic power. If this design had been carried 
 out, and it was in the way of being carried out, 
 Germany would have based her military power on 
 the whole wealth and resources of a British Empire 
 enslaved to her interests, and would have become 
 as an industrial power, the equal, if not the superior, 
 of the United States. The Germans had already 
 gone some way upon this road. Almost every 
 British industry was penetrated by German influ- 
 ence. It was a curious swing of the pendulum. 
 In the early part of the nineteenth century the 
 British trade interests were supreme in almost every 
 German city. Hamburg was a depot of the 
 English clotli trade, and there was a quarter in 
 Berlin called "Petty Manchester." In 1914, upon 
 the eve of this great war, there was a quarter in 
 Manchester which might have been called "Petty 
 Berlin." Bradford, the center of the English 
 
xxii INTRODUCTION 
 
 woolen trade, was full of Germans. London was 
 so much under the thumb of German finance that 
 when the war^^ibroke out one German magnate had 
 to be naturalized in order to save British credit. 
 The Deutsche Bank had an office in which it em- 
 ployed no less than four hundred clerks, its princi- 
 pal business being to secure German savings to fin- 
 ance German industries. Other German banks 
 were almost as strongly represented. The metal 
 exchange had become almost a German monopoly, 
 Germany controlled the spelter and the copper 
 which was mined in the British Empire. Germany 
 was strong in the English coal trade, and had al- 
 ready begun to buy up Welsh coal-mines. German 
 shipping had forced its way into the British con- 
 ferences. Australia supplied Germany with her 
 metals. South Africa with her wool, India with her 
 hides and jute. No difference was made whether 
 they went to Germany or England, although the 
 Germans were almost openly using this wealth to 
 forge a hammer with which to break the British 
 Empire in pieces. In every British city there was 
 an influential party, small perhaps in numbers, but 
 strong in wealth, that was bound to German in- 
 terests by something stronger than sentiment — 
 "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be 
 also." 
 
 Besides the Germans themselves, naturalized and 
 unnaturalized, who formed centers of German 
 
INTRODUCTION xxiii 
 
 propaganda, those Englishmen who lived by the 
 German trade were blind to the German danger. 
 They were not only blind ; they considered it a ben- 
 efit. An enemy who put money into their pockets 
 was no enemy to them. They grew fat on the 
 danger that threatened then' countrymen. And 
 they were more than reconciled, they rejoiced in 
 the approaching supremacy of the German indus- 
 trial system. 
 
 You in America do not quite understand this 
 danger, because you are protected by a high tariff 
 wall in which your industries grow up strong and 
 secure. Generally speaking, the German who goes 
 to America must become an American. He must 
 throw in his lot with you. He cannot be merely 
 an advance agent for a German industry. Your 
 tariff prevents it. When he comes to you he must 
 bring with him the sum of his energies and his cap- 
 ital, and he must plant his industry on American 
 soil. In England it is different owing to our lack 
 of protection. The German in England is the for- 
 warding agent of Germany. He remains a Ger- 
 man, not only a German in blood, but a German in 
 interest. That is a difference between protection 
 and free trade which economists have not observed. 
 It is a vital difference nevertheless. 
 
 This German party in England had its reflection 
 in British politics. I may say without exaggera- 
 tion that it controlled the British Government in 
 
xxiv INTRODUCTION 
 
 the nine years before the war. Joseph Cham- 
 berlain in his tariff-reform movement had what was 
 in essence a nati^mal movement to protect England 
 against this German danger. It was never so de- 
 scribed. Indeed, those who took part in it did not 
 realize the object of their own crusade. Cham- 
 berlain always placed his movement on the lower 
 ground of increasing British wealth. It might 
 have been better if he had placed it on the higher 
 ground of protecting British nationality^ But 
 Chamberlain had the limitations of his class and 
 upbringing, and he was disarmed at the very be- 
 ginning, or so I am told, by a telegram which he 
 received from the German Emperor, who congrat- 
 ulated him on his policy and wished him success. It 
 was a move which showed that the Germans well 
 understood Chamberlain's friendly and unsuspicious 
 character, and nothing could have been better cal- 
 culated to take the sting and fire out of the national 
 uprising. 
 
 But in Chamberlain's time the German danger 
 was neither so great nor so obvious as it afterwards 
 became. It advanced in giant strides when the 
 Liberal party took up the German cause. I have 
 said enough to show that the German cause in 
 England is the cause of free trade, that is to say, 
 a cause which is willing to acquiesce in the free entry 
 of German manufactures while Germany main- 
 tains her tariff on British manufactures. 
 
INTRODtrCTlON xxv 
 
 Why did the Liberal party take up the German 
 cause? I am not prepared to swear. It is a mat- 
 ter of guess-work and suspicion. But the fact re- 
 mains that they fought in the cause of Germany 
 with an ardor and a skill which, if it had been used 
 against Germany, would have given us the victory 
 long ago. The common explanation is the party- 
 fund system. Democracy is to the party system, 
 what religion is to the average man — he worships 
 it on Sunday and follows his own interests all the 
 rest of the week. The chief interest of a political 
 party is to get into power, and in England that 
 interest cannot be served without a plentiful supply 
 of money. It is calculated that a general election 
 costs one million pounds sterling, a capital value 
 which is represented in interest by the salaries of 
 ministers and offices given to friends and a pohcy 
 calculated to benefit supporters. It is obvious that 
 a milhon pounds sterling does not come out of the 
 air, and it is certain that the great German indus- 
 tries represented in England either by German or 
 English men, supplied a certain proportion of this 
 party fund. They were fairly safe in so doing, 
 because in this country a party fund is a secret fund. 
 It is in the hands of one man. It is never publicty 
 audited, I believe it is not even secretly audited. 
 There are no books kept, or at least no books open 
 to the public. Even the political chief of the party 
 does not know how the money comes or how it is 
 
xxvi INTRODUCTION 
 
 administered. It is considered safer and more re- 
 spectable not to inquire. Thus it comes about that 
 an Enghsh prime minister may be expansively- 
 ignorant that he is betraying his own country, and 
 that the price of betrayal is either in his own pocket 
 or in the pockets of his friends. 
 
 Besides the German interests in the Liberal 
 Party, there were other British interests which sup- 
 ported the free trade system. The great cotton 
 industry of Manchester considered itself fully pro- 
 tected by the moisture of its climate and the skill 
 and low wages of its operators. It existed upon 
 fine calculations, and considered that if the loaf 
 went up a halfpenny, it might not be able to sur- 
 vive. Then there was the great coal industry. 
 The English coal owner was naturally protected. 
 No one wanted to dmnp coal on this country, and 
 his whole interest lay in exporting a valuable raw 
 material to Germany. It did not matter to him 
 that his raw material was used by Germany as the 
 basis of a thousand manufactures that all added to 
 German power and helped to enslave British in- 
 dustry. In particular, the key industry of Ger- 
 many, aniline dyes, was based largely on British 
 coal and was an important factor in the dependence 
 of even the British manufacturer upon the German 
 industrial sj^stem. And there was the shipping 
 industry, well content to make profits by carrying 
 German manufactures. Then there was a vast vot- 
 
INTRODUCTION xxvii 
 
 ing population known vaguely to the economist 
 as the consumers, the clerks and people with small 
 fixed incomes who were easily persuaded that their 
 chief interest in life lay in cheapness. These in- 
 terests and this mass of population were all taught 
 to believe that nothing mattered except our daily 
 bread. As long as it came into their mouths there 
 was no need to worry about the dangers of war 
 and the menace of German domination. Indeed 
 the politicians persuaded them that the Germans 
 were innocent and kind people who never dreamed 
 of killing a fly, much less of designing an injury to 
 a friendly neighbor. As long as we did not stand 
 in the way of Germany, as long as we gave her a 
 free hand in Turkey and the near East and in 
 central Africa, and as long, above all, as we main- 
 tained free trade, we might be quite sure that the 
 German Emperor would do us no harm. 
 
 Such was the theory of the Liberal party in Eng- 
 land. But in practice there were obstacles. There 
 was, first of all, the awkward fact that Germany 
 was building a very large fleet, and that her su- 
 premacy in the steel trade gave her the power to 
 build at an ever-increasing ratio. Then, there was 
 the awkward fact that Germany was pushing us 
 out in many old spheres of interest, in South Amer- 
 ica, in Turkey, and in Africa. Above all, there 
 was the awkward fact that our manufacturers who 
 would not be soothed by any sleeping mixture, were 
 
xxviii INTRODUCTION 
 
 constantly agitating for protection. All these irri- 
 tants kept England but half awake. Englishmen 
 slumbered uneasity, despite Admiral Fisher's assur- 
 ance that they might sleep safely in their beds. 
 The little alarm-clock made in Germany was always 
 going off. There was something wrong with the 
 works that made it ring at all sorts of inconvenient 
 hours. The night before the dawn of the war was 
 a restless night for England. Even Lord Haldane 
 confessed afterwards that his visits to Germany left 
 him very uneasy in his mind. 
 
 While British economic policy was founded on 
 trade, German economic policy was founded on pro- 
 duction. There was a close alliance between the 
 German Government and the gi'eat German man- 
 ufacturers, and German foreign policy was merely 
 the application of German economic policy to the 
 outside world. It was inspired by two great mo- 
 tives, — to secure markets for German manufactures 
 and raw materials for German industries. With 
 this object Germany worked in South America, in 
 Africa, in Asia Minor, in the Pacific. She ex- 
 tracted from Turkey and England the great con- 
 cession of the Bagdad Railway. She worked for 
 the control of a great belt of tropical territory 
 across Africa, and inspired a campaign to secure 
 the Belgian Congo, in which Sir Roger Casement 
 and Mr. E. D. Horel were either consciously or un- 
 consciously the agents. For this purpose also she 
 
INTRODUCTION xxix 
 
 pushed Russia into a Japanese war and, when 
 Russia was in difficulties, extracted from her a fa- 
 vorable commercial treaty. 
 
 And this policy inspired also her great offensive 
 in Europe. The object of the offensive in Europe 
 was to square Russia, destroy France, and prepare 
 for a second offensive against the British Empire. 
 It may be asked why Germany should bother about 
 attacking an empire in wliich she enjoyed such 
 privileges as have been described. The answer 
 is that Germany never considered these privileges 
 secure. Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and 
 South Africa had all with one accord protected their 
 industries and given preference to British manu- 
 factures, despite the dissuasions and blandishments 
 of the British free trade party. That was an evil 
 omen. Then there was the constant threat of 
 Chamberlain's campaign. What if it should be 
 successful? The prospect that British industries 
 should be placed on the same level as German in- 
 dustries was a thought intolerable to the German 
 statesman. It must be placed beyond doubt, for 
 the British Empire was vital to the German indus- 
 trial system. 
 
 While there was this great economic temptation, 
 there was also a military temptation equally great. 
 Germany knew her own strength. She knew that 
 steel is the master of gold and that she produced 
 twice as much steel as any other country in Europe. 
 
XXX INTRODUCTION 
 
 She had prepared a vast system of railways and 
 her mobihzation arrangements were so complete 
 that she could calculate upon a start of several vital 
 days over her enemies. She had thus in her hands, 
 the power of surprise, the tremendous weapon of 
 initial offensive. Her arms and munition factories 
 were the largest in the world. Her equipment of 
 heavy guns and machine-guns was a tactical sur- 
 prise prepared for her victims. She had such a 
 network of commercial, industrial, and official spies 
 and agents in Russia that she thought, and rightly 
 thought, that she could disorganize the Russian mil- 
 itary machine. She could put sand in every cog 
 and a spoke in every wheel. She had spared no 
 pains to make her interests supreme in Belgium, in 
 Holland, and in Scandinavia, and she knew French 
 politics well enough to count upon a good deal of 
 slackness and inefficiency in the French defensive 
 at least in the beginning of the struggle. She 
 thought she had sufficient interest in England to 
 secure neutrality of the British Empire until it 
 was too late for England to come to the assistance 
 of France. 
 
 Such were the German calculations, and looking 
 back upon them, we are bound to admit that they 
 were not very far out. If they failed, it was only 
 by a hair's breadth. None but an Englishman will 
 ever understand the agonized suspense of the end 
 of July, 1914, when the English Government sat 
 
INTRODUCTION xxxi 
 
 like a child blowing at the puff-ball of a dandelion 
 and saying alternately, "I will fight, I will not 
 fight." It was a toss-up ; or if it was not a toss-up, 
 if it was never uncertain, the underlying causes of 
 certainty that England would enter the war were 
 hidden from mortal eyes. It was deep in the heart 
 and mind of the British nation, too deep for poli- 
 ticians and diplomats to understand. 
 
 It will not be thought that I am descrying my 
 own countr)^ if I exercise the privilege of every 
 Englishman to criticize his own Government. The 
 vices of the politician bring into higher relief the 
 soundness of the British people. Now as always 
 the valor of British soldiers and British sailors re- 
 deems the good name of the British nation. 
 
 A nation, when we consider it, is nothing but 
 nature's largest animal. It acts as England did 
 in the summer of 1914, upon instinct. The country 
 went into the war not because the statesmen willed 
 it, but because the nation willed it. And the nation 
 willed it as a man puts up his fist to guard his face 
 from a blow. It was an instinctive and involuntary 
 movement. 
 
 Of course I shall be told that England went 
 into the war for the neutrality of Belgium, for a 
 punctilio of honor. Honor is to a nation w^hat 
 good-will and credit are to a merchant, but behind 
 the question of honor there was nothing less than 
 the existence of England and the British Empire. 
 
xxxii INTRODUCTION 
 
 The independence of the Netherlands and Flanders 
 has always been the first condition of British se- 
 curity. Englishmen in every generation fought 
 that Flanders might be free, not because the free- 
 dom of Flanders was an end in itself, but because 
 on the freedom of Flanders depended the freedom 
 of England. 
 
 But if we entered the war instinctively, our Gov- 
 ernment remained wedded to its theories and to 
 its friends. It could not quite forget the old tender 
 relations. It did not want to fight Germany and 
 it did not want to knock Germany out. Prince 
 Lichnowsky probably told the truth in his report 
 of his parting conversation with Sir Edward Grey. 
 England was always to be ready with her good 
 offices to help Germany out of the war. We were 
 sincerely sorry for Germany. She had made a 
 sad miscalculation. She was going to receive a 
 terrible defeat. We must not hit her too hard. 
 She was a good friend who had suddenly gone mad. 
 She must be kept off with the point of an umbrella 
 until we got her into a strait-waistcoat. Then we 
 would lock her up for six months in a pleasant 
 private asylum, and when she had completely re- 
 covered her senses and her temper, she would return 
 with an affectionate welcome to the bosom of the 
 European family. 
 
 But fortunately or unfortunately for us, the Ger- 
 man did not look at it in that way. He had taken 
 
INTRODUCTION xxxiii 
 
 on more than he had meant to take on at one time, 
 but he still thought he had a good fighting chance, 
 and he proceeded to hit as hard and as frequently 
 as ever he could, using not only his fists in the ap- 
 proved British fashion, but his head, his teeth, and 
 his hobnailed boots. 
 
 The full meaning of these tactics was not at first 
 realized by the British Government. We wakened 
 up to them gradually. At first, for example, the 
 motto of England was "Business as usual." And 
 this motto was so assiduously followed that we 
 neglected even to blockade Germany, and even per- 
 mitted a passenger traffic in German reservists in 
 neutral ships. There have been many explanations 
 of the fact that at least a year after the war began 
 there was not even a show of a blockade. The apol- 
 ogists of the Asquith administration are good 
 enough to say that you Americans prevented it, 
 that you insisted on driving your usual trade with 
 Germany thi'ough neutral countries. I have never 
 believed that explanation. If it were true, it would 
 mean that Americans had forgotten their own his- 
 tory, that they had forgotten, above all, the teach- 
 ings of their greatest naval authority. Captain 
 Mahan. It would mean also that American for- 
 eign policy was so frivolous that in the first part 
 of the war America could support one side and in 
 the second part, the other side. I have not so mean 
 an opinion of American statesmen. If they are in 
 
xxxiv INTRODUCTION 
 
 the war now, they are in the war because they per- 
 ceived from the beginning that Germany was a 
 menace to the United States. But if they per- 
 ceived that, from the beginning they could not have 
 been so fooHsh as to prevent England from using 
 the chief weapon in her armory. A nation would 
 be indeed wanting in common sense if she prevented 
 us from knocking out her enemy in order to be at 
 the trouble and expense of knocking out the en- 
 emy herself. 
 
 And there is another flaw in this apology. In 
 those fii'st years of no blockade it was not only 
 American goods that was going into Germany, but 
 British goods. British cottons, British tea, British 
 oil seeds and copra, British wool, were all flowing 
 into Holland, Denmark, and Finland in such enor- 
 mous quantities that every one who had any interest 
 in the matter must have known that these goods 
 were going not to neutral countries, but to Ger- 
 many. If we were engaged in that traffic, with 
 what face could we ask America to stop it? No; 
 the explanation is that we were not at first thor- 
 oughly in earnest. 
 
 It is the most dangerous thing in the world to 
 go into a fight without being in earnest especially 
 if the other man is in earnest. It paralyzes every 
 effort; it weakens every blow. If you are not in 
 earnest about war, in God's name remain at peace. 
 
INTRODUCTION xxxv, 
 
 That is a motto which should be written over every 
 foreign office. 
 
 I say all this frankly and openly because we are 
 in earnest now and because it is highly desirable 
 that our new ally should understand the importance 
 of being in earnest. If you are in earnest, for- 
 give me. I only warn you because I wish you to 
 avoid our mistakes and our misfortunes. We had 
 the means to defeat Germany in the first two years 
 of the war. We neglected those means, and the 
 evil consequences of that neglect dog our footsteps 
 to this da)'^. We are now using every effort and 
 calling up every man; if you hear reports to the 
 contrary, you are not to believe them. The old 
 country is stripped bare of men, and in every house 
 there is mourning; every family has made its su- 
 preme sacrifice. The sacrifice is greater because 
 it is late. In war, humanity to an enemy is cruelty 
 to yourself. The only way of waging war is to 
 hit as hard as ever you can so as to get the horrid 
 business over as quickly as possible. There is an- 
 other fallacy which has done us a lot of harm, that 
 we can arrange somehow or other a draw with Ger- 
 many. There are some fights in which compro- 
 mise is impossible, and this is one of them. If 
 Germany thinks she can govern the world, we must 
 knock that idea out of her head, and it is plain 
 that we cannot knock that idea out of her head 
 
xxxvi INTRODUCTION 
 
 until she is beaten. If we cannot beat Germany, 
 she retains that idea, and will act on it in the future, 
 as she has acted upon it in the past. We came to 
 a stalemate peace with Napoleon and had to fight 
 him all over again. If we cannot defeat Germany, 
 Germany will in the end defeat us. We must 
 keep that proposition firmly in front of us. The 
 truth is the best food for fighting on, and if people 
 say we cannot defeat Germany, they show them- 
 selves the sort of people who mean to be defeated. 
 We could have defeated Germany before now if 
 that sort of sentiment had not prevailed in the Al- 
 lied councils. We began by going all round the 
 ring giving Germany little taps. Flanders was 
 open to us, a place for a knock-out blow ; the North 
 Sea was under our command, a place for another 
 knock-out blow. Instead of concentrating there, 
 we squandered our energies on Saloniki, on Syria, 
 on the Dardanelles, on Mesopotamia. Victory 
 without tears was our motto ; we thought we could 
 run round a circle before Germany could run across 
 it. The ablest politicians weakened the army in 
 Flanders in order to strengthen the army at Salon- 
 iki. Then they blamed our generals for not push- 
 ing through. They thought it easier to skip across 
 the Julian Alps by way of Libau to Venice than 
 to break a German line over flat country near our 
 base of supplies. Yet if we had concentrated all 
 pur resources that we have squandered in the 
 
INTRODUCTION xxxvii 
 
 eastern adventures upon Passchendaele and Cam- 
 brai, is there any reasonable doubt that we should 
 have beaten Germany by now? Soldiers, at least, 
 say that there is none. If we had shut off from 
 iGermany every ton of rubber, every bale of wool 
 and cotton, every chest of tea, every pound of 
 tobacco, if we had prevented Denmark and Holland 
 importing feeding stuffs to be turned into animal 
 fats in order to feed Germany, is there any reason- 
 able doubt that we could have defeated Germany by 
 a blockade? Sailors, at least, will tell you that 
 there is none. Therefore do not let us make war 
 on the assumption that we cannot beat our enemy. 
 It is the sort of assumption that comes true if we 
 believe it and does not come true if we do not be- 
 lieve it. If we believe it, we should make peace 
 at once. For if there is one thing certain about 
 war, it is that the side that believes it cannot win 
 is going to lose. There is still another fallacy that 
 may do a deal of mischief. It is the fallacy that 
 this war is going to end war and that mankind will 
 be turned into lambs by fighting like tigers. It 
 is a fallacy that has deluded every generation since 
 the Israelites dreamed of turning swords into plow- 
 shares. This war may end war or it may not, but 
 seeing that war has happened in every generation 
 since the beginning of the world, it would be folly 
 to calculate upon it as a certainty. As far as we 
 may judge from history and experience, the only 
 
xxxviii INTRODUCTION 
 
 security of a nation has been in its ability to defend 
 itself. The means of defense are two, one your 
 own power and the other the power of your friends. 
 Now we have seen that the basis of military power 
 is economic power and that a nation can hardly be 
 said to be strong or even independent unless it has 
 a healthy industrial system. If England had 
 possessed a healthy industrial system, there would 
 be no war now. It was the dependence of England 
 upon German industry that encouraged German 
 statesmen to believe that England could not go to 
 war. This dependence was the result of a policy 
 that left English markets open to the German man- 
 ufacturer, while German markets were closed to 
 the British manufacturer. The British Samson 
 had his hair cut while he lay asleep in the lap of 
 free-trade Delilah, and he will be lucky if he 
 escapes the punishment of such neglect, which is 
 to grind corn, blind and in chains, for the bread 
 of the Philistines. But unless British industries 
 regain their native wealth and strength, the future 
 of England will resemble her remote past, and she 
 will again be the hewer of wood and the drawer 
 of water, the annex and dependent of the German 
 industrial and political system. The idea of a 
 league of nations is nothing more than the old 
 aspiration of the first German Empire, and a league 
 of nations in which England was commercially and 
 industrially a slave of Germany would mean the 
 
INTRODUCTION xxxix 
 
 supremacy of Germany in Europe. The United 
 States would have to face alone a world in which 
 Germany was the controlling influence. England 
 is to America what Belgium was to England. It 
 is a buffer-state. If England is destroyed, there 
 is nothing left between America and Germany's 
 power. The counterscarp is in the hands of the 
 enemy, and it only remains to cross the moat. It 
 is obviously in the American interest that the buf- 
 fer-state should be strong. 
 
 If the buffer-state is weak, as Belgium was weak, 
 it is a poorish sort of defense. If England sinks 
 into a dependency to the German industrial system, 
 her value as a buffer-state disappears. I see here 
 and there signs of a tendency in America to fall 
 in with the German idea and work for a free-trade 
 England. A free-trade England may give Amer- 
 ica a little more wealth, but it will not give America 
 security. England may remain a market, but will 
 cease to be an ally. 
 
 Adam Smith said long ago that security is more 
 important than opulence, and that all nations should 
 act upon that maxim. If you Americans accept 
 it, you will hope and work not for a weak, but for 
 a strong, England. For unless there is a strong 
 England, there is no buffer-state between you and 
 Germanj^ and there is no balance of power in 
 Europe. It would be the worst of all possible 
 blunders if you fell into the German trap and 
 
xl INTRODUCTION 
 
 helped Germany to keep open British markets for 
 German goods after the war. The end of it would 
 be that we should have a new war like the War of 
 the Spanish Succession, and Americans and Ger- 
 mans would fight over the prostrate body of the 
 British Empire. The best hope for the world is 
 that a strong British Empire should ally itself with 
 a strong America to maintain peace and the Anglo- 
 Saxon idea of liberty. 
 
 Ian D. Colvin. 
 
FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
FLASHES FROM THE 
 FRONT 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 EXIT ASQUITH: enter LLOYD GEORGE 
 
 December, 1916. The cabinet crisis has brought 
 into the foreground a figure always interesting in 
 America, the king. 
 
 The present king is much underrated outside of 
 England. Physique has much to do with person- 
 ality, and King George is small and delicate, as 
 his father was robust and large. George is shy; 
 Edward was a man of the world. But those who 
 know the former describe him as a man of great 
 vigor and an expert in diplomacy. He possesses 
 a minute knowledge of international relations. 
 For example, I am told that he knows all about 
 and takes a keen interest in the relations between 
 the United States and Mexico. 
 
 A democratic country entertains an unfailing 
 curiosity about a monarch. What influence has the 
 English king in the present situation, and what is 
 he permitted to do? Is he a factor to be reckoned 
 
 3 
 
4 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 with ? Would King Edward VII, if alive to-day, 
 have been a real factor in the situation? 
 
 I have taken some pains to try to learn from 
 people who ought to know what the facts are, but 
 the simple truth is that nobody, not even King 
 George himself, possesses accurate information. 
 The King of England is in a twilight zone between 
 old law and custom and new. For example, he 
 possesses certain legal or constitutional powers of 
 veto, but no English king has used these for four 
 hundred years. 
 
 The king received Mr. Asquith's resignation and 
 sent for Mr. Bonar Law to form a new ministry. 
 When Mr. Law declined, the king sent for Mr. 
 Lloyd George, who accepted, succeeded in the task, 
 and, going back to the king, "kissed hands," which 
 put the stamp of conclusion on the job. 
 
 All these proceedings were treated with the ut- 
 most seriousness by press and public, as if the king 
 were an autocratic sovereign. The fiction of king- 
 ship is dear to the heart of this ultra-democratic 
 country. 
 
 It is difficult to determine the precise share that 
 the king had in forming the new Govermiient. The 
 authorities gave him to understand in some language 
 intelligible to English parliaments and kings that 
 the right thing to do was to accept Mr. Asquith's 
 resignation and then, after calling on Mr. Bonar 
 Law, who would probably decline, to call on Mr. 
 
ENTER LLOYD GEORGE 5 
 
 Lloyd George, who would probably accept. All 
 this was done with an outward show of authority, 
 as if the words "my kingdom" always used in the 
 speech from the throne was an accurate designation. 
 
 As a matter of fact, the king does not dismiss 
 or set up ministries, but all the same he has great 
 power rooted in use and tradition and upheld by 
 the respect and reverence of the people. 
 
 Public opinion in a great democracy is moving in 
 mysterious ways its wonders to perform. It makes 
 itself vocal raucously. 3Ir. Britling's simile is not 
 unfitting — "A shipload of monkeys on a dark night 
 in a rough sea." Westminster shouts, printing- 
 presses shriek, confusion reigns, but all this may 
 be only the barrage behind which a great democracy 
 advances nobly to its ordeal. 
 
 The two figures that stand out to the American 
 point of view are Asquith and Lloyd George. 
 They are names inter-twined in a Liberal period 
 of more than eight years. Lloyd George supplied 
 the vision and initiative, Asquith the judgment and 
 conciliation. The complementary qualities of these 
 two made possible the success of a Liberal govern- 
 ment that survived all these years without a Liberal 
 majority behind it. Asquith's political skill and 
 Lloyd George's constructive genius have held to- 
 gether a motley array of factions in Parliament rep- 
 resenting different and at times antagonistic prin- 
 ciples. 
 
6 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 But it was a combination better for peace than 
 war. The very quahties that enabled Asquith to 
 put parties together in a beautiful pattern of mosaic 
 during peace have paralyzed him in war. He is 
 essentially a prince of pacificators. He makes 
 things comfortable ; he reassures anxieties, puts the 
 best face on difficulties as they arise, harmonizes 
 differences, makes a fair distribution of the loaves 
 and fishes, deals tactfull}' with his colleagues, meets 
 equably every situation that arises, speaks elo- 
 quently on every subject. Even in peace such abil- 
 ities would not alone bring success to the adminis- 
 tration. That is where Lloyd George came in. 
 He furnished what the prime minister lacked, and 
 in normal times the two were a wonderful team. 
 
 But Asquith as a war premier never commanded 
 entire public confidence. His formation of the 
 coalition cabinet was a wonderful piece of political 
 carpentry, but it was no sooner done than it became 
 plain that it was an unworkable mechanism. When 
 you think of Hindenburg, you think of strength, 
 brutality, and victory, but one does not associate 
 victory with Asquith. It has been said that tem- 
 perament to an individual person is like climate to 
 a race. It is fate. And Asquith does not possess 
 war temperament. He cannot be rough or un- 
 couth. He is considerate in all circmnstances. 
 Hindenburg smashed every existing plan in Ger- 
 many in three weeks and brutally substituted his 
 
ENTER LLOYD GEORGE 7 
 
 own rough-hewn strategy. Asquith has taken 
 longer than that to choose a food controller. 
 
 But the prime mmister is a consummate master 
 of practical politics, and he has been a hard man 
 to unhorse. While he is no generator of original 
 force, he knows how to guide the conflicting cur- 
 rents to his own mill-wheel. The advocates of a 
 new regime have had him almost beaten time and 
 again. A diplomat told me that he had gone to 
 the House three times to see Asquith fall, but each 
 time Asquith had fallen on his feet. 
 
 If the war had not gone ill in these last weeks, 
 he might have stayed through. With Rumania 
 "paying through the nose" because of somebody's 
 failure to organize the Allied defense, Greece re- 
 warding Allied forbearance with treachery, and the 
 thi'eatening development of the submarine cam- 
 paign against the food supply of Britain, press op- 
 position was able to focus an attack that Asquith 
 with all his skill at fence could not ward off. The 
 public lost all patience with what was pictured as 
 ministerial procrastination and incapacity. In the 
 pictorial language of the "Morning Post" "Asquith 
 folds his hands; Grey wi'ings his hands, and the 
 rest of the twenty-three rub their hands." The im- 
 pression that is here so aptly conveyed had at last 
 been driven home to the public by a campaign in 
 which the major portion of the press joined. 
 
 Even so, it was necessary that Lloyd George 
 
8 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 should lead the revolt against his chief, and at the 
 very last, when the card of the war minister's resig- 
 nation was played, Asquith had a trump that almost 
 took the trick. For every political and journalistic 
 spokesman of the Government came this solemn 
 assurance, "Labor will not support a minority 
 headed by Lloyd George or any other man except 
 Asquith." Without the Labor vote no Govern- 
 ment can command a majority in the House. 
 Without a majority there must be a general elec- 
 tion in the very crisis of war, with all that the delay 
 and anarchy of such an event may mean. 
 
 All the same Lloyd George stuck to his decision, 
 and the die was cast. Lloyd George has lost the 
 labor following because he has refused to serve any 
 particular interest in time of war. As to his pa- 
 triotism and unselfishness and sincerity, he has the 
 confidence of the country. There exists a measure 
 of doubt, but that is inevitable about almost any 
 man not hitherto tried out in absolute leadership. 
 In the best informed circles he is not regarded as 
 an executive man in the usual sense of the term. 
 He is almost the opposite of Asquith. His nature 
 is emotional and imaginative. His processes are 
 not always outwardly logical, but he has that in- 
 sight that so often characterizes genius. His vision 
 and enthusiasm generate warmth and inspiration. 
 It is by his power of stimulation rather than by 
 skill in organizing that he gets results. 
 
ENTER LLOYD GEORGE 9 
 
 Lord Kitchener was accounted the greatest mas- 
 ter of detail in EngHsh pubHc life. After he had 
 failed to set munition-making in motion on the 
 titanic scale required by the war, this David of 
 Wales accomplished the task and saved England. 
 So the instinct of the people is pointing a way to 
 the path of salvation for England. A great democ- 
 racy reaches out its hands to a great democrat in 
 its hour of doubt and peril. Come how it may, 
 through coahtion, through one man or another's 
 nominal headship, or what not, it is in the air that 
 the need has at last called out the man and that 
 in the inspired zeal of that man for the cause of 
 liberty and free institutions, his love of his country, 
 and his unalterable will to win, lies the hope of 
 democracy everywhere. Whether now or a little 
 later, Lloyd George will rule England and finish 
 the war. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 PRESIDENT Wilson's proposals: 
 Europe's reception of, peace without victory 
 
 December, 1916. Democracy in England had 
 at last shaken off its lethargy and stood organized 
 and efficient for war. The old slack policies were 
 cast aside, the self-sacrifice of the levee en masse and 
 short rations were faced smilingly. With some- 
 thnig veiy like the spirit of festival the British pub- 
 lic from costermonger to peer were lining up behind 
 the new Government. 
 
 Then came President Wilson into their midst. 
 To say that it produced the effect of an apparition 
 is to state the fact mildly. It was like a death's- 
 head at a feast. 
 
 There was surprise, shock, consternation. To- 
 morrow may bring explanations, a better under- 
 standing, a truer perspective. To-day Britain al- 
 most reels as from a staggering blow. 
 
 British opinion unanimously rejects the assump- 
 tion of equality of motive and aspiration among the 
 belligerents. That is the implication that goes to 
 the quick of British sensibihties. 
 
 Whether the President's suggestion will evoke 
 
 10 
 
THE PRESIDENT'S PROPOSALS 11 
 
 a response among the always less promptly vocal 
 working classes will require a few days to ascertain. 
 The classes who usually speak for British public 
 opinion have been swift to register protest and re- 
 jection. 
 
 Without the belief in the rightness of the Allies' 
 cause by most of the hundred million English- 
 speaking people on the other side of the Atlantic, 
 England could not have gone on. The President's 
 note now constitutes in some degree a withdrawal 
 of American sympathy and moral support. That 
 one view is uppermost to-day when the whole sky 
 is darkened by the cloud from the West. 
 
 In this atmosphere the motive of the German pro- 
 posal is judged insincere and cowardly or a trap 
 for the unwary. Those capable of discussing the 
 pending questions philosophically in these tense 
 hours admit that Lloyd George did not bang and 
 bolt the door, that the subject of peace, having been 
 introduced by one belligerent, must be considered 
 sooner or later by all, and that the appeal to reason, 
 once invoked, cannot be dismissed and will ulti- 
 mately prevail. 
 
 The question is whether President Wilson is the 
 right instrumentality, whether he can come un- 
 invited into the field of mediation, and whether he 
 presents himself at the right time and in the right 
 way. 
 
 To-day's signs may be only those that lie on 
 
12 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 the surface. From stricken Europe there may 
 come a different answer, in which case President 
 Wilson's "mistake" might take its place in the list 
 of historical decisions that cut through to the heart 
 of things. 
 
 Perhaps peace can be secured by compelling the 
 nations to reduce their grievances and aims to the 
 concrete and submit them to the test of publicity. 
 
 January 5, 1917. London winced to-night at 
 reports from Washington that President Wilson 
 had received peace terms from Germany and was 
 meditating the sending of another note. The hope 
 is expressed here that action will be suspended until 
 the Entente answer to the President is presented 
 and digested. 
 
 In Paris the last touches are being put to the 
 reply to Wilson, to which a high degree of op- 
 timism attaches both in France and England. 
 There is far greater interest in this note than there 
 was in the reply to Germany. It is recognized 
 that the impression made by it may change the 
 whole war outlook. The world is at attention, and 
 every word will be read and weighed. 
 
 The kaiser created the situation ; President Wil- 
 son heightened the dramatic interest; the occasion 
 was made to order for Lloyd George. He will im- 
 prove it unless he has been smothered under the 
 
THE PRESIDENT'S PROPOSALS 13 
 
 multiplicity and confusion of counsel. The effect 
 of committee work on such a document is desic- 
 cating. 
 
 There are two big objectives. Particularly 
 aimed at first is American opinion. Nobody be- 
 lieved that America had reached the point where she 
 must fight on one side or the other and that she 
 is so indifferent which it is that it is almost a matter 
 of flipping a penny, but President Wilson has ap- 
 parently been willing to put the belligerents vir- 
 tually on a parity. 
 
 The answer to him will address directly the peo- 
 ple of America at a time when they are all listening. 
 It will be an appeal not to identify the Allies with 
 the Teutons, either as participants in an insane and 
 murderous and purposeless conflict or as humanity- 
 loving and God-fearing defenders of weak states 
 and helpless peoples. 
 
 The Allies hope to make America feel that they 
 are pouring out their blood and treasure in order 
 that American democracy may live; but that if 
 their sacrifices should be in vain and Germany 
 should win, democracy everywhere would lose, and 
 the United States, being the biggest democracy, 
 would be the heaviest loser. 
 
 There is no idea in this appeal of obtaining new 
 practical results in America. The Allies want the 
 same good feeling they have always had there, and 
 
14 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 the same fair treatment. Above all, they want to 
 be let alone to push their case against Germany for 
 *'a verdict with costs." 
 
 The second big objective is German opinion. 
 Reasonable human beings here do not believe the 
 German people are wicked, but that they are under 
 an obsession, and that if a gleam of sanity and 
 justice can be shot through the armor of Kaiserism 
 straight to the German people, it might tend to 
 bring them to their senses. There are not many 
 who believe that Germany can be crushed by mil- 
 itary force. Disillusion is the best hope of ending 
 the war. If doubts can once be sown throughout 
 Germany, they will spring up like mustard seed. 
 
 Germany's power has rested on the morbid faith 
 and hysterical loyalty that the Prussian autocracy 
 has commanded from the whole German people. 
 They have been working in harness until they bless 
 the yoke that galls their necks. 
 
 Whether or no the Allied reply to President 
 Wilson can be kept from the German people or 
 will influence their minds if it is laid before them, 
 it is at least plain that a process of disillusionment 
 has begun in Austria-Hungary, and the back-fire 
 will reach Germany sooner or later. The new Em- 
 peror Charles and his advisers are evidently be- 
 ginning to suspect that it is a case of "heads I win, 
 tails you lose." 
 
 Discussion of the dismemberment of the dual 
 
THE PRESIDENT'S PROPOSALS 15 
 
 monarchy in the event of a German victory is heard 
 in every capital. There may be separate kings of 
 Austria, Hungary, and Bohemia, but they will all 
 be Kaiser Wilhelm's sons. 
 
 If Germany loses, matters will be still worse for 
 Austria. The war is stabbing at her vitals. She 
 feels all the pinch of it, but has none of the day- 
 dreams. There are no Bagdad railways for Aus- 
 tria, no Eastern empires, no castles in the air. 
 Hers is a drab prospect, and there is no doubt that 
 Vienna curses that day at the end of July, 1914, 
 when a scheming German ambassador cut off the 
 diplomatic conversation which had already begun 
 with St. Petersburg by sweeping all the papers into 
 his despatch-box, putting his box under his arm, 
 and taking the train for Berlin. 
 
 Impending events in Washington will be watched 
 carefully by the British press and public. There 
 are two sources of possible friction. The first, that 
 the President may be drawn into a treaty with those 
 elements in Congress which view the world as hav- 
 ing been made yesterday and having nostrums for 
 the instant cure for all human ills. The other dan- 
 ger arises from the red-tape artists in the British 
 Government departments who might at any mo- 
 ment supply Washington with the necessary ex- 
 plosive. 
 
 January 14, 1917. The Allies' answer to the 
 
16 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 President's note still figures first as a bull argu- 
 ment. The volte- face of opinion is now complete. 
 It is seen that the Allies had the trump cards all 
 the time and didn't know their value. The Pres- 
 ident stood where he could see both hands before 
 they were put on the table. With all their wincing 
 at first, it is now recognized that the Allies have 
 done what was best for them and what should have 
 been done voluntarily. Even the imputing of iden- 
 tical motives to both belligerents is now accepted 
 in good part. The President is thereby given a 
 latch-string to the German door which he is free to 
 use if the Germans should hereafter have a new 
 conception in accord with realities. 
 
 Whether Mr. Wilson acted with calculation or 
 whether this was one act of emotion in the course of 
 his Presidency, the fact stands out boldly that he 
 has scored handsomely. He took what seemed a 
 big chance. Three weeks ago he was anathema 
 throughout Allied Europe; to-day he is stronger 
 and America is stronger in England and France, 
 and they have more prestige and there is less enmity 
 than perhaps at any time since the sinking of the 
 LiUsitania. America for the first time has a sub- 
 stantial stock of good-will in Europe, and if the 
 advantage is followed up with well-advised inter- 
 national statesmanship, the United States may play 
 a part that will write President Wilson's name 
 large on the page of history. 
 
THE PRESIDENT'S PROPOSALS 17 
 
 January 24, 1917. London liked neither Pres- 
 ident Wilson's note nor his speech to the United 
 States Senate, but the disapproval manifested itself 
 quite differently in the two cases. The note sur- 
 prised and startled England; the speech to the Sen- 
 ate may give deeper offense and its effects may 
 last longer, but it has caused far less consternation 
 judging from personal comment and newspaper 
 editorials. There is a much larger minority of 
 opinion publicly favorable to the speech than there 
 was to the note. 
 
 The speech seems to be regarded as a more or 
 less internal American affair. It was not osten- 
 sibly an address to Europe, but increased impor- 
 tance attaches to it as a representative expression 
 of majorit^^ opinion in America. At least, such is 
 the belief here. 
 
 The note both wounded and offended English 
 sensibilities. Certain passages in it were seized 
 upon and misconstrued, and when a more just view 
 prevailed, there was reaction. The feeling to-day 
 seemed more that of resignation. In the comment 
 there was a note of regretful readjustment of public 
 opinion to the American attitude, a sort of revalu- 
 ation of American friendship toward the Allies on 
 a sliding scale downwards. 
 
 As quotations from the press will show, the of- 
 fending lance was tipped with a phrase "peace with- 
 out victory." In "peace without victory" the Pres- 
 
18 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 ident has coined a new expression that may share 
 honors with "too proud to fight" during the rest 
 of the war discussion on this side of the Atlantic. 
 
 Apart from the phrases to which unwarranted 
 importance may be given, there is a deeper offense 
 to the Enghsh in the imphcation that the belHg- 
 erents all stand on the same footing. The vice of 
 the whole discussion by the President from the 
 English point of view lies in what is regarded as 
 a complete misunderstanding of the moral objects 
 for which the Allies are fighting. The British mind 
 declines to entertain any consideration of the war 
 based upon the moral equity of the Entente and 
 the Teutons. The suggestion that the head of a 
 great neutral country may wish to keep himself in 
 a position to maintain friendly relations with both 
 sides if he is to play a useful part was not favorably 
 received when offered to-day as the possible ex- 
 planation. 
 
 February 18, 1917. Within the next few days 
 the question of whether the breach of diplomatic 
 relations between the United States and Germany 
 is to be followed by war will probably be brought 
 to an issue. 
 
 Personally, I believe that great forces have been 
 set in motion which cannot be stopped, and that 
 these forces are certain to smash through to final- 
 
THE PRESIDENT'S PROPOSALS 19 
 
 ities. On the one hand, Germany must use the 
 power of the submarine to the utmost limit. There 
 must be neither let nor hindrance. The submarine 
 is half-blind, and must fight so, without being re- 
 quired to discriminate. 
 
 The German submarine sailor is ruthless or noth- 
 ing. To fasten mercy upon him, to ask him to 
 spare women and children, is to put him in a strait- 
 jacket. The submarine, blind, cruel, and reck- 
 lessly destructive, expresses the present mood of 
 Prussianized Germany. 
 
 Neither fear of America nor regard for world 
 conscience is likely to cheat the Prussian of this 
 last throw in the desperate game that he has been 
 playing since August, 1914. 
 
 The other great force is the resistance of 
 America. What Germany must do, or else aban- 
 don her submarine stroke in the perfection of its 
 efficiency, America must forbid or else abandon 
 her position as a spirited and self-respecting nation. 
 
 Many will say at once that that has happened 
 akeady. It is a controversial point not to be 
 argued here. The abandonment that I have in 
 mind is one that goes far beyond any surrender 
 hitherto made, and one that in my opinion is even 
 less probable than that Germany should renounce 
 her submarine campaign. If President Wilson 
 were the veriest weakling, the American people 
 
20 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 themselves would rise up in indignant protest if 
 the sacrifice of national honor were brought home 
 to them. 
 
 No President, however pacific, could stand up 
 against the feeling that would be aroused at this 
 time in the United States by an overt act of the 
 barbarous character of the sinking of the Lusitania 
 or the Sussex. Such sinkings are inevitable unless 
 Germany abandons her program. 
 
 But the present chief magistrate of the Ameri- 
 can nation is no weakling. He is an intellectual; 
 he eschews emotion; he prefers a method of calcu- 
 lation ; but he knows neither hesitation nor fear. 
 
 At the time of the sinking of the Lusitania a 
 large, perhaps it might be said the best, section of 
 the American public would have liked to see im- 
 mediate action. An emotional man like Theodore 
 Roosevelt would have given us action. The white 
 heat generated in the countrj", which Roosevelt 
 would have used against Germany, Wilson per- 
 mitted to cool. Again and again the process was 
 repeated, and many of us felt that President 
 Wilson was condemning the country to a per- 
 manent decline in spirit. Rut we saw the other 
 day, when he broke off relations with Germany, 
 that the American people rose as one man to his 
 support. 
 
 It must be clear that unless the President had 
 set a goal toward which he was moving, he would 
 
THE PRESIDENT'S PROPOSALS 21 
 
 never have broken off relations. Dealing with a 
 man who never acts on impulse has its advantages. 
 
 With his historian's perspective, President 
 Wilson probably realized from the begimiing that 
 the United States was sure to be drawn into the 
 war. His responsibility was tremendous. He had 
 to act for a hundi-ed million people made up of 
 many different races, ten per cent, of them of Ger- 
 man stock. He had to use the tools in his own 
 workshop. He was not Roosevelt, with Roose- 
 velt's emotions and driving power: he was an 
 analytical, patient, methodical man, with a genius 
 for understanding the thought and feeling of the 
 people over which he presided. He therefore 
 adopted a policy for which he was fitted b}^ tempera- 
 ment and intellectual ability, and he was careful 
 not to strike against his own limitations. It was 
 a triumph for that policy, that after all the serious 
 criticism a single act, rupture with Germany, 
 changed the tune of comment all over the world 
 from faultfinding to approval. A single decision 
 justified the entire course of his action; a single 
 stroke brought all the jarring atoms into harmony. 
 
 Now at last the President finds himself master 
 of the situation. The pause between the rupture 
 and the overt act brings a recrudescence of pacifism, 
 but it is of a mild form and v/ill prove innocuous. 
 Mr. Wilson's method insures the support of the 
 country at par, provided always that he waits for 
 
22 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 the overt act. He must not fight for a negro 
 stoker: there are at least thirteen States in the 
 South which would go in coldly on such provoca- 
 tion. Such a finale, too, would not be in key with 
 what has gone before. It would not be wise for 
 Mr. Wilson to break the flow of his policy from the 
 Lusitania onward. He and the country behind him 
 are in perfect concord. There is no room for reac- 
 tion. 
 
 When the moment of decision arrives, America 
 will enter the war with one hundred per cent, of 
 solidarity, with every ounce of her matchless re- 
 sources, loyally following a leader who has put her 
 into the war because he could "do no otherwise." 
 
 The American people want to be forced into this 
 war if they must go in, and they have got a Presi- 
 dent who is going to give them their way. But 
 both he and they, once in, will fight for all they are 
 worth. 
 
 It is doubtful if England, so long baffled by what 
 seemed at this distance and from an intensely in- 
 terested standpoint inexplicable delay, has yet 
 grasped the importance of American participation. 
 The addition of resources of a hundred million 
 live people, possessing the greatest wealth of any 
 nation in the world, added to the superiority of the 
 Allies, which is already overwhelming, will abso- 
 lutely destroy the last chance of German success. 
 
 Scarcely less important will be the influence of 
 
THE PRESIDENT'S PROPOSALS 23 
 
 the greatest democracy when the time of settlement 
 arrives. The entry of America into the war will 
 make for a somider peace and will make sure a 
 better world. 
 
 England, August, 1917. Since coming to 
 England on the same boat with General Pershing 
 and his staff, I have been asked a good many ques- 
 tions about America. These questions probably 
 represent the points of doubt in the Canadian and 
 British mind, and I will try to answer them in the 
 interest of good understanding. I beheve that I 
 can assume that such inquiries in no sense imply 
 distrust of America's motives or methods, but 
 rather that those making them wish to be provided 
 with information that shall more fully establish 
 their faith in, and gratitude to, America. 
 
 Why did America wait nearly three years to 
 come in: and more particularly why did not the 
 President act in the Lusitania case? 
 
 It was a matter of judgment depending upon 
 two things : ( 1 ) The inherent justice of the matter, 
 and (2) the attitude of the American people and 
 the President's own feeling as well as his capacity 
 for action in the circumstances. The President 
 possesses certain gifts and limitations of tempera- 
 ment and intellect. He is unemotional and 
 analytical, and it may be assumed that from the 
 beginning he took careful stock of all the assets and 
 
24, FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 liabilities from a war point of view, including his 
 own capacity for leadership. A different type of 
 man — let us say Colonel Roosevelt — might have 
 been successful in making the sinking of the 
 LiUsitania the occasion of going to war. 
 
 The big element in the consideration of whether 
 and when to go to war was the country itself. 
 First, there was the geographical extent of the 
 States stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific 
 and from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. 
 Naturally, it was difficult to acquaint the in- 
 habitants of this great area with the truth about the 
 war, to bring it home to them as a matter of actual 
 and personal concern. A people springing from 
 diverse racial sources, occupying forty-eight 
 separate States and enjoying a prosperous peace, 
 educated from time immemorial to the idea of keep- 
 ing aloof and remote from Em'opean affairs, were 
 not easily interested and made sympathetic. 
 
 Was the German propaganda in any *way re- 
 sponsible for the delay; and did Count von Bern- 
 storff have any influence at the White House? 
 
 No man could have been less amenable to outside 
 influence than President Wilson. His conclusions 
 were reached by a process of cold reasoning. 
 Bernstorff was less than nothing, a minus quantity. 
 Indeed, the whole elaborate German mechanism for 
 propaganda in the United States was worse than 
 a failure. The clumsy effort to falsify facts and 
 
THE PRESIDENT'S PROPOSALS 25 
 
 influence judgment had the effect of destroying the 
 original German position at the bar of American 
 opinion. There was never any need of Enghsh 
 propaganda. Bernstorff and Co. did the work for 
 England. At every stage American opinion was 
 ninety per cent., or more, pro-Ally, and this in the 
 face of the large percentage of German stock and 
 the immemorial prejudice against the British aris- 
 ing out of war grievances and Irish prejudice. 
 
 Are the American people deeply and sincerely 
 for the War? 
 
 Not all of them fully realize what war means. 
 They have taken the resolution without working 
 out in their own minds its ultimate meaning; but 
 they know enough of the situation and their part 
 in it to make them realize the fullness and finality 
 of their committal. Events will bring home to 
 them the duties, sacrifices, and misery of war. 
 
 When will the American Army of one million 
 men — the number reckoned by the military authori- 
 ties as constituting an effective factor — be in the 
 field? 
 
 Such an army can be recruited in only a few 
 weeks. The soldiers will require, say, three months 
 and a half's training, most of which should prefer- 
 ably be in Europe. The only element of doubt is 
 the question of transportation for the men and sup- 
 plies. It all comes back to the big matter in this 
 war, the submarine. An American Army of one 
 
26 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 million men might have been put into the trenches 
 by January in time for the Spring fighting in 1918 
 if ships could have been found and protection from 
 the submarine provided. The prime minister 
 speaks confidently about the submarine, but other 
 authorities seem to be far less sure. 
 
 Is America doing all that site can? 
 
 Nobody ever is, but in my opinion America's 
 effort must be rated as satisfactory, humanly speak- 
 ing. In two particulars her effort has been 
 monumental, in adopting compulsory military serv- 
 ice and in voting money. The latter has already 
 prevented a condition rapidly nearing collapse in 
 European finance. It was specially timely in sav- 
 ing England, whose back was fairly breaking under 
 the load. America is now working out many big 
 problems for the Allies, which include: enlisting 
 and training an army of a million that will be in- 
 creased to two million sometime in 1918 ; cooperat- 
 ing against the submarine by furnishing fighting 
 ships and constructing new shipping; building aero- 
 planes in tremendous number; cooperating in in- 
 dustrial and economic measures to increase Allied 
 resources for fighting the enemy. Our taking our 
 stand beside the Allies at a time of collapse in 
 Russia makes hopeful a situation that would other- 
 wise be desperate. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 A LINCOLN-DAY MESSAGE TO AMERICA 
 FROM THE RT. HON. DAVID LLOYD GEORGE 
 
 The following message was given by Mr. Lloyd George to 
 Mr. Charles H. Grasty in answer to a request for a tribute 
 to Abraham Lincoln for publication in the United States on 
 Lincoln Day (February 12, 1917), the anniversary of his 
 birth. 
 
 I am very glad to respond to your request for a 
 message for publication on Lincoln day. I am glad 
 because to my mind Abraham Lincoln was one of 
 the very first of the world's statesmen, because I 
 believe that the battle which we have been fighting 
 is at bottom the same battle which your country- 
 men fought under Lincoln's leadership more than 
 fifty years ago, and most of all, perhaps, because 
 I desire to say how much I welcome the proof which 
 the last few days have afforded that the American 
 people are coming to realize this too. 
 
 Lincoln's life was devoted to the cause of human 
 freedom. From the day when he first recognized 
 what slavery meant he bent all his energies to its 
 eradication from American soil. Yet after years 
 of patient effort he was driven to realize that it was 
 
28 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 not a mere question of abolishing slavery in the 
 Southern States, but that bound up with it was a 
 larger issue, that unless the Union abolished 
 slavery, slavery would break up the Union. Faced 
 by this alternative, he did not shrink, after every 
 other method had failed, from vindicating both the 
 Union and freedom by the terrible instrument of 
 war. Nor after the die for war had been cast did 
 he hesitate to call upon his countrymen to make 
 sacrifice upon sacrifice, to submit to limitation upon 
 limitation of their personal freedom, until, in his 
 own words, there was a new birth of freedom in 
 your land. 
 
 The American people under Lincoln fought not 
 a war of conquest, but a war of liberation. We to- 
 day are fighting not a war of conquest, but a war 
 of liberation, a liberation not of ourselves alone, but 
 of all the world, from that body of barbarous 
 doctrine and inhuman practice which has estranged 
 nations, has held back the unity and progress of the 
 world, and has stood revealed in all its deadly 
 iniquity in the course of this war. In such wars 
 for liberty there can be no compromise. They are 
 either won or lost. In your case it was freedom 
 and unity or slavery and separation. In our case 
 military power tyrannously used will have suc- 
 ceeded in tearing up treaties and trampling on the 
 rights of others, or liberty and public right will have 
 prevailed. Therefore, we believe that the war must 
 
MESSAGE TO AMERICA 29 
 
 be fought out to a finish, for on such an issue there 
 can be no such thing as a drawn war. 
 
 In holding this conviction we have been inspired 
 and strengthened beyond measure by the example 
 and the words of your great President. Once the 
 conflict had been joined, he did not shrink from 
 bloodshed. I have often been struck by the growth 
 of both tenderness and stern determination in the 
 face of Lincoln as shown in his photographs as the 
 war went on. Despite his abhorrence of all that 
 war entailed, he persisted in it because he knew that 
 he was sparing life by losing it, that, if he agreed 
 to compromise, the blood that had been shed on a 
 hundred fields would have been shed in vain, that 
 the task of creating a united nation of free men 
 would only have to be undertaken again at even 
 greater cost at some later day. 
 
 It would, indeed, be impossible to state our faith 
 more clearly than Lincoln stated it himself at the 
 end of 1864. 
 
 On careful consideration of all the evidence, it seems to me 
 that no attempt at any negotiation with the insurgent leader 
 could result in any good. He would accept nothing short of 
 severance of the Union — precisely what we will not and can- 
 not give. His declarations to this effect are explicit and oft 
 repeated. He does not deceive us. He affords us no excuse 
 to deceive ourselves. . . . Between him and us the issue is dis- 
 tinct, simple, and inflexible. It is an issue which can only be 
 tried by war and decided by victory. 
 
30 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 That was the judgment of the greatest states- 
 man of the nineteenth century during the last great 
 war for human hberty. It is the judgment of this 
 nation and of its fellow-nations overseas to-day. 
 "Our armies," said Lincoln, *'are ministers of good, 
 not of evil." So do we believe. And through all 
 the carnage and suffering and conflicting motives 
 of the Civil War, Lincoln held steadfastly to the 
 belief that it was the freedom of the people to 
 govern themselves which was the fundamental issue 
 at stake. 
 
 So do we hold to-day. For when the people of 
 central Europe accept the peace which is offered 
 them by the Allies not only will the Allied peoples 
 be free as they have never been free before, but the 
 German people, too, will find that in losing their 
 dream of an empire over others they have found 
 self-government for themselves. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 GLIMPSES AT THE FRONT 
 
 March 6, 1917. When I joined the Berlin con- 
 tingent at Madrid, I brought the optimism of a 
 recent visit to the British front with me. I felt 
 sure that with the advance of the season the nibbling 
 would develop until a battle should rage along the 
 whole line from the channel to Switzerland. I 
 found among the Berlin crowd men who had been 
 on the German front a few yards to the eastward 
 of where I had been on the British lines, not for 
 a few days, but for weeks. They spoke with 
 knowledge and authority, and they said that the 
 optimism of the English was the optimism of the 
 amateur. The Germans were dug in and con- 
 creted; their subterranean fastnesses were chan- 
 neled and connected; they had communcation and 
 transport and every facility for beating off an at- 
 tack. I confess that I was, and am, somewhat 
 staggered by what comes to me with such authority. 
 
 But the news wirelessed to the Infanta Isabel 
 these past few days indicates that the British confi- 
 dence may not be misplaced. Eleven miles by two 
 deep with three lines of trenches looks like business. 
 
 31 
 
32 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 "Let us wait and hear the cost," say the men who 
 know Germany's strength. "In the thirty kilo- 
 meters between the present Enghsh line and Cam- 
 brai there are seventeen lines of defense, with three 
 trenches to each, or fifty-one trenches, all with dug- 
 outs, subways, and transportation. If the English 
 take this area, the cost will make it a losing opera- 
 tion. They will be making with the Germans a 
 ruinous swap of irreplaceable life for valueless 
 land." We shall see. 
 
 When all the careful preliminaries have been at- 
 tended to and when the coveted white pass has ar- 
 rived from general headquarters in France, which 
 alone has authority to select those who are to visit 
 the front, the person so favored is told what train 
 to catch at Charing Cross, what boat to take at 
 Folkestone, and what officer to be on the lookout 
 for at Boulogne. 
 
 My train was the 11 :15 a. m. Three minutes 
 before train time a guard yanked my hand luggage 
 out of the compartment, which a prudent punctual- 
 ity had preempted, informing me that as the train 
 had been canceled, there would be no channel cross- 
 ing, owing to the fog. A different train was leav- 
 ing on another track, and being an American and 
 alive to possibilities I boarded that and went to 
 Folkestone, anyway. It was a tight squeeze to get 
 in at the hotel; at the office they strongly advised 
 my returning to London ; there had been no channel 
 
GLIMPSES AT THE FRONT 33 
 
 crossing for four days. Meanwhile the Germans, 
 according to the gossip, had undoubtedly sown the 
 channel thick with mines, and there would be no 
 crossing for several days after the fog lifted, to give 
 the mine sweepers a chance to clear the lane. As 
 a fact, three days' extra leave had been given to 
 soldiers waiting at Boulogne, which tended to bear 
 out the foregoing. 
 
 All the same, I stayed. The next morning, when 
 I came down at 9:15, as a chance shot I asked the 
 lift boy if there would be a boat that day, and the 
 reply came back, "Yes, sir, at a quarter to ten." 
 I didn't stop for breakfast, but packed up, and 
 made a rush for the boat. 
 
 The Onward, which I recognized as an old friend 
 of peace time, was packed with soldiers, who came 
 marching aboard to the popular airs played by their 
 bands. The first thing every one did was to put 
 on a life-preserver. In twenty-odd Atlantic cross- 
 ings I had never before made the acquaintance of 
 one. I got a jolly good breakfast of cold meats 
 and coffee in the Onward' s restaurant, and sharp at 
 ten we steamed out. 
 
 The sweepers had been at work two abreast. 
 We had aU kinds of craft as escort. Every one 
 knew that danger lurked about. It was a thrilhng 
 passage. I didn't sit down once; I couldn't, for 
 there was no place to sit, but it never occurred 
 to me to be tired, there was so much to see. I 
 
34 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 moved about among the men, talking with them 
 and getting their point of view as far as I could. 
 But the most interesting thing of all was the con- 
 voy. The destroyers threshed about, zigzagging 
 like di'unken men on a sidewalk. All the boats 
 moved swiftly, the destroyers each leaving a boil- 
 ing wake and carrying a "bone in their teeth." 
 Two other boats, packed to the gunwales, followed 
 the Orvward, taking advantage of the same escort. 
 
 We backed in to the familiar dock at Boulogne, 
 and there an army captain met me in a limousine, 
 and drove me to general headquarters. 
 
 It is difficult to know precisely what to tell of a 
 visit of this kind, without violating hospitality. 
 Besides, there is nothing that I could describe that 
 has not already been better described by the 
 splendid fellows who from day to day, at great 
 sacrifice and often with much danger to them- 
 selves, are wi'iting the story of this war. My story, 
 in so far as it is a story, is that of a new pair of 
 eyes barely glimpsing scenes long since made 
 familiar to newspaper readers all over the world. 
 
 I wanted to pick out something that was of 
 particular interest on our side of the water and that 
 had not been done to death ; so I asked to be taken 
 to that part of the front occupied by the Fourth 
 Canadian Division. I knew something of the gen- 
 eral in command of this division. In the first place, 
 he was a newspaper proprietor. His paper is 
 
GLIMPSES AT THE FRONT 35 
 
 "The Quebec Daily Clu*onicle." At the outbreak 
 of the war, Lieutenant-Colonel D. Watson, he was 
 taking quite an interest, mainly civic, in what in 
 Canada corresponds to oin* militia. With his 
 battalion, he sailed immediately for England, arriv- 
 ing there in September, 1914. 
 
 These men had been playing at soldiering, but 
 they knew virtually nothing about it expertly. 
 After six months' training they went to France. 
 In April, 1915, they were blooded on Hill 60 near 
 Ypres, when they relieved the French, who, brave 
 as they were, turned away from the fii'st experience 
 of poisoned gas and stumbled to the rear. The 
 epic of the Canadian stand at Hill 60 was written 
 by Max Aitken, who the other day became Lord 
 Beaverbrook in the English peerage. That stand 
 will live in history with the charge of the six 
 hundred. It required quite as much courage and a 
 good deal more presence of mind. Watson got a 
 brigade after Ypres. A year later he became a 
 major-general. When I arrived at his head- 
 quarters I was interested to notice that at the en- 
 trance to the typical, small French villa there hung 
 an instrument labeled "gas alarm." Thi'ce miles 
 back of the first-line trenches it is necessary to have 
 this protection against surprise. Colonel Ironside, 
 a Highlander from the very top of Rosshire, showed 
 me up to the general, from whom I got a genuine 
 American welcome. I found later that the general 
 
36 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 maintains his Americanism to the extent that he 
 has not learned to join in the tea-drinking. I knew 
 then that he was sincere in what he told me, as we 
 sat out this function, about his fellow-feeling for 
 Americans. 
 
 After we had talked a while, General Watson 
 and one of his aides drove me out to the front, 
 and under his personal escort I made a visit to the 
 trenches. It was Hke a visit to America, for the 
 general had easy, personal relations with all his 
 men, and American was the language of those 
 trenches. There was none of the stiffness which 
 belongs to the European system. We passed the 
 cemetery of Carency, where many French lie 
 buried. That was the bill for the French captm-e 
 of the sector landmarked by the Lorette ridge and 
 the Souchez sugar refinery, near which our walk 
 through the trenches took us. 
 
 It was a dull day. There was a desultory firing 
 back and forth, and shells were whistling over and 
 bursting around us. The "whizz-bangs" impressed 
 me most, although it was difficult to believe that 
 there were possibilities of personal damage in any 
 of them. Now and then a section of trench had 
 been obliterated by shell fire, and you had to crawl 
 through a sea of fresh-made mire, which sucked the 
 top-boots off your feet. The trenches were waist- 
 deep in watery mud. The general raced along, 
 sure-footed as a cat on the back fence, while I 
 
GLIMPSES AT THE FRONT 37 
 
 slipped and slid on the lattice-work which formed 
 the foot-path, a misstep from which meant a bath 
 in the trench soup. 
 
 A walk back through a mile or two of communi- 
 cation trench rejoicing in the name of Cabaret, 
 brought us out on a road at a point which seemed 
 to me well back on the lines. I was frankly re- 
 lieved in body and spirit to reach tlie open ground 
 again and said to the general that this was probably 
 safe country. "Oh, yes," he replied cheerfully, 
 "but when I came out here yesterday at this very 
 point, there lay a soldier freshly dead. A shell had 
 caught him as he walked along this road. 
 
 "What you have seen will doubtless make you 
 think that the life of a soldier, specially during the 
 spring thaw, is an intolerable one, but men ac- 
 custom themselves to it," said General Watson, who 
 is a philosopher as well as a soldier. "Human be- 
 ings in youth put off and on habits of body and 
 mind as readily as they do a suit of clothes. In 
 the conditions you have been seemg there is a re- 
 turn to the elemental. Men do not think of danger 
 or death, or even for a moment of home and loved 
 ones. Food and rest become the subjects upon 
 w^iich the thoughts dwell." 
 
 As General Watson made these observations he 
 maintained a kind of dog-trot a few paces ahead 
 of me. I could only keep up by breaking into a 
 run now and then, specially as my steel helmet. 
 
38 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 worn as a protection from shells, gave me some 
 trouble, and it was necessary to slow up now and 
 then to readjust the chinstrap. The general's gait 
 reminded me of the wolf's as I had seen it on the 
 Texas prairies. He did n't seem to be going fast, 
 and it added to my difficulties that the walk had 
 rather winded me. He proposed an extension of 
 our promenade to another part of the front; but 
 I did n't want to overtax his hospitality. 
 
 ''Well," said he, "I '11 tell you what I '11 do. 
 We 've got a raid on for to-night, and I '11 let you 
 go out in the rear of it, as it will give you a chance 
 to see something real." I thanked him, but replied 
 that Times Square "looked pretty good" to me, and 
 that, as a matter of fact, I was n't so j^oung as I 
 looked. 
 
 Well, when we got back to the car, I climbed 
 in a bit stiff; to sit down had never before seemed 
 such a luxury. After a few restful moments I re- 
 gained the courage of my curiosity. I asked the 
 general about his soldiers. 
 
 "When we got here," said he, "maybe we were n't 
 much good, but we were as good as anybody else. 
 War was a new game; even the trained men had 
 to begin again and learn their A. B. C.'s. There 
 was the equality and fraternity of ignorance." 
 
 "Who are the best of the soldiers now?" I 
 asked. 
 
 There was a lurking smile in his quiet, gray eyes. 
 
GLIMPSES AT THE FRONT 39 
 
 and I imagined that he was thinking of the kilted 
 men of his motherland or of his own brave 
 Canadians, but this is what he said : 
 
 "The bravest soldier in the world is the English 
 officer. I salute him. There is none other like 
 him. He does n't need to lash himself into a pas- 
 sion to get out one hundred per cent, of his courage. 
 He will walk right up to death twirhng his cane. 
 
 "The fact is," continued the general, again 
 dropping into the philosophical vein, "that men of 
 our race, whether in England, Canada, or the 
 United States, while equal to any other in patriot- 
 ism, are dominated by the spirit of adventure. It 
 is what is sometimes called sporting instinct that 
 brings us across the seas to the scene of danger." 
 
 When in the evening I told the English officers 
 of the Canadian's tribute to them, they almost 
 violated the rule of a lifetime, that every show of 
 feeling must be sternly repressed. 
 
 General Watson was strong on two things ; that 
 Fritz had lost his morale, and that the British forces 
 had just begun to develop their full fighting spirit. 
 He was serenely sure of his Canadians, and his eyes 
 danced as they surveyed on the map the two 
 thousand yards of front that had been turned over 
 to three Canadian divisions on the firing line, the 
 very hottest corner that could be picked out and, 
 therefore, just to their liking. 
 
 I honestly believe that those sports of England 
 
40 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 and Canada would be tremendously disappointed 
 if the Germans on their own should pick up and 
 move back thirty miles without a struggle. They 
 want to dig Fritz out of his hole. They want to 
 have a go at the chemical attack. They have a 
 theory that the much vaunted dug-out where Fritz 
 has hid himself and planted his guns is precisely 
 the trap in which the English hunter can run his 
 quarry to earth. They are bursting with the spirit 
 of novelty in regard to their new five-inch and 
 seventeen-inch guns. They want to try out Fritz 
 a bit more at the point of the bayonet. 
 
 We went back to headquarters, where the others 
 drank tea while General Watson and I talked war 
 and journalism. He asked me about newspaper 
 conditions and for the first time learned the price 
 of print paper in America. He had literally not 
 had time or heart to acquaint himself with matters 
 of such vital personal importance. I hated to leave 
 this gallant gentleman of my own craft. His 
 fellowship and sympathy brought home to me more 
 than ever before that on these bloody fields our own 
 battle for liberty, our habits of thought and speech, 
 our kind of honor and manhood, was being fought 
 for.^ Watson cheerily assured me as we drove 
 away to G. H. Q. that he would see me in Times 
 Square within a year or so. 
 
 1 Something like this actually happened only a few days later. 
 
GLIMPSES AT THE FRONT 41 
 
 Tliat same evening I went with Captain Fowler 
 to the chateau in the neighborhood, where the in- 
 telligence department is established under the 
 capable superintendence of Colonel Wilson. Here 
 live the seven newspaper men who tell the world 
 about the war. After a merry dinner I had a 
 chance of making the further acquaintance of these 
 war correspondents. Two of them, Small of the 
 Associated Press, and Sims of the United Press, 
 are from Atlanta. I was much interested, of 
 course, in Philip Gibbs, the briUiant correspondent 
 with whose descriptions the "Times" readers are 
 familiar. His genius is recognized by all his 
 colleagues. Another interesting fellow is Mon- 
 tague of the "Manchester Guardian," who overcame 
 the age disqualification for service by painting his 
 white hair raven black. He has j ust been promoted 
 to a captaincy. Russell is the Renter man, while 
 Filson Young looks after the Northcliffe interests, 
 and Tomlinson represents "The London Daily 
 News." Cars are furnished to these men by the 
 Government, but they pay for the upkeep. The 
 correspondents are constantly on the front, and the 
 press is most fortunate to have such capable rep- 
 resentation. 
 
 I thought I had already seen mountains of muni- 
 tions, miles of lorries, countless marching soldiers, 
 but it was only when I went to the Somme front 
 proper that I saw the real thing. From Albert 
 
42 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 to Pozieres and thence to Contralmaison, Mon- 
 tauban, Mametz, and Trone Wood, the scenes wit- 
 nessed on February 24 would have challenged de- 
 scription by Sir Walter Scott. The day was not 
 one for either air-planes or guns, and the trenches 
 were comparatively quiet. It was just as ioggy as 
 it could be to be so rainy, and raining as hard as 
 it could be to be so foggy. On the tops of the 
 hills the roads were knee-deep in mud and water, 
 but the macadam was hard underneath it all, and 
 through the muck there swarmed such a press of 
 men and machinery as perhaps had never been seen 
 before in all the history of the world. 
 
 Through the mire, rain, and fog, in as desolate 
 a picture as lust of power ever drew, the fresh men 
 marched blithely to their stations in the trenches. 
 The contrast between the soldier who came out and 
 the one going in was vivid. You could get a smile, 
 by giving him one, from every man marching to 
 certain distress and suffering and possible death; 
 but the men coming back thought only of rest and 
 very little of that, for they were dead on their feet. 
 
 The impression that I got from these scenes was 
 that the late general, who remarked that "war was 
 hell" was just talking through his hat. He did n't 
 know anything about it. Onlj'" around Bapamne 
 and places like it, in this nineteen hundred and 
 seventeenth year of the Christian era, has the devil 
 staged his real show on this planet, and if I may 
 
GLIMPSES AT THE FRONT 43 
 
 enlarge the metaphor, it is not alone the kaisers 
 who have heeii the advance agents and managers. 
 They would have been powerless without the 
 unconscious cooperation of the spuriously pious, 
 like the Haldanes and Ramsay MacDonalds of 
 England. The same breed are working over- 
 time to help open the doors of America to the hell 
 of war by weakening our manhood and thus render- 
 ing us helpless. 
 
 July 17, 1917. Not far from IBtaples are located 
 several American hospitals that have rendered ex- 
 ceptional service to the British forces. The group 
 includes the Northwestern University unit, with 
 two thousand beds; Harvard, with two thousand, 
 four hundred and Base Unit No. 5, with eighteen 
 hundred. The latter is the one with which Dr. 
 Harvey Gushing of Harvard, among others, is 
 identified. There are ten thousand beds altogether 
 in these hospitals. Major Clark Collins of the 
 United States Army is in general charge. Con- 
 sidering the conditions, the hospitals are run 
 splendidly. Though they have no sewer system, 
 they are kept fresh as paint and thoroughly sani- 
 tary. Each hospital is receiving a daily average 
 of about one hundred new patients. Trench fever 
 comes next to wounds in supplying cases. Trench 
 foot, which used to be so troublesome, has been over- 
 come by preventive treatment, 
 
44 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 We had a peep into a machine-gun school, 
 where the advantages of the various guns were 
 explained. The Lewis gun is in high favor owing 
 to its light weight, about twenty-five pounds. It 
 fires forty-eight bullets and is most effective at five 
 hundred yards, though it will carry one thousand. 
 The Vickers is much heavier, but does its work at 
 a range of twenty-eight hundred yards and fires 
 two hundred and fifty cartridges. Machine-guns 
 now furnish part of the barrage-fire. 
 
 A tank school was one of the show things, and 
 one of the much described monsters was in action, 
 greatly to the wonder and anuisement of the 
 visitors. A fine body of troops marched past ; they 
 were tank men. Our captain said that theirs was 
 the most heroic service, as death by burning was 
 their almost inevitable fate. When I mentioned 
 this to an infantry lieutenant he smiled in a superior 
 way. 
 
 VICTORY SPIRIT ON BRITISH FRONT 
 
 Saturday, September 29, 1917. Never before 
 have I found conditions so favorable on the British 
 front as they appeared this week. A fortnight ago 
 London began to show restlessness at the suspended 
 movement east of Ypres, and a portion of the press 
 was demanding an explanation from Field-Marshal 
 Haig. He gave it in the action that began on the 
 Menin Road on the twentieth. 
 
GLIMPSES AT THE FRONT 45 
 
 The effect of that and other favorable develop- 
 ments turned London optimistic, but on the battle- 
 front there is a quiet solid confidence that will not 
 be changed by the ups and downs of the British 
 offensive. There is no under-estimation of the 
 German Army, but among officers and men alike 
 exists the calm assurance that the enemy calls 
 arrogance. Tliey feel that they have Fritz's 
 measure at last, that they have learned all his tricks 
 and adapted the best of them to their own use. Be- 
 fore they go into action nowadays every detail is 
 rehearsed over and over again. Not only every 
 squad, but every man knows exactly what to do. 
 The barrage is timed to the minute, and they make 
 the fullest use of its protection with minimum 
 danger to themselves. 
 
 I saw a division headquarters field war vaudeville 
 including the following features: 
 
 Almost immediately overhead captive balloons 
 were observing the Boche lines, about four miles 
 distant. The German guns were firing at the bal- 
 loons, and black splotches left by the bursting shells 
 were always visible, while the sound of shrapnel 
 falling to the earth was plainly audible. A Ger- 
 man air-plane suddenly came out of the northeast 
 and attacked one balloon with a machine-gun, bring- 
 ing it down, the pilot di'opping in a parachute and 
 escaping unhurt. The British anti-aircraft-guns 
 opened fire promptly, but the German got away. 
 
46 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 It was Satui'day afternoon and sports, includ- 
 ing polo and base-ball were in full swing; they were 
 not interrupted. To-day a short distance behind 
 the hottest portions of the line thousands of men 
 who may take part in to-morrow's attack at dawn, 
 and who know it, enjoy the Saturday sports as light- 
 heartedly as if this were an old-time London week- 
 end. And, indeed, the war has settled down into 
 an immense business. The novelties and surprises 
 have all been exploited or exploded ; the inequahties 
 of military expertness have been evened up, and 
 the war changes are now measured by weights. By 
 the inexorable test of numbers and machinery the 
 German Army faces defeat in Flanders, and 
 British confidence in the sure result gives a peculiar 
 zest to to-day's sports on the divisional fields. 
 
 PILL-BOX SMASHING, JOY TO CANADIANS 
 
 I am just back from the British front. I did n't 
 see a single long face there. Even among the 
 Tommies, who on previous visits seemed to show 
 traces of trench fatigue and hardship, I saw only 
 contentment and expectancy. It may have been 
 partly the weather, which was fine, or because I 
 was thrown mostly with the cheery Canadians. In 
 the main, however, I think the gi'eatly improved 
 tone was due to the solid improvement in the posi- 
 tion at the front. A great confidence has spread 
 among all troops since the solving of the riddle of 
 
GLIMPSES AT THE FRONT 47 
 
 the pill-boxes. Everybody believes now that even 
 if the cunning Boche should put out something new, 
 there would be again a solution. 
 
 After three or four visits to the Lens neighbor- 
 hood I am beginning to feel very much at home 
 there. One of the most historic areas of the whole 
 war is that through which flows the small stream 
 dignified by the name of Souchez River. For the 
 comparatively small territory drained by this spring 
 branch, as we would call it in the South, the Allies 
 have paid a price of hundreds of thousands of lives. 
 As I stood near the ruins of the Souchez sugar re- 
 finery I had a broadside view of the ridge of Notre 
 Dame de Lorette, taken by the French from the 
 Germans — who had it thoroughly intrenched and 
 gunned — with only the rifle and bayonet. It was 
 costly, but it had to be done. Turning to the east, 
 one sees within a mile the slope of the famous Vimy 
 Ridge, where the best blood of Canada was spilled 
 to drive the Germans out of a key position. A mile 
 or two beyond the summit are the Labyrinth, Neu- 
 ville St. Vaast, and to the northeast is Vimy 
 village. The environs of Lens are also visible. 
 The famous Souchez Wood, which consists only of 
 dead trees and stumps, was filled with soldiers 
 cutting and sawing wood for winter use. They 
 told me that the tree-trunks and limbs were so full 
 of shrapnel that it often broke the saw teeth. 
 
 This part is teeming with Canadian soldiery. 
 
48 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 Day and night it is raucous with the sounds of 
 war. Enemy shells are shrieking through the air 
 and bursting at uncomfortable distances, and the 
 Allied cannon reply with sharper reports. Nobody 
 pays any attention. War is a settled business, 
 and every one is too much absorbed in the routine 
 of it to think about personal danger. 
 
 I spent a good bit of an afternoon walking about 
 on the top of Vimy Ridge. Taking it from the 
 Germans was a wonderful — on the face of it, an 
 impossible — feat. The general who had me in 
 tow said: "I never could understand why the 
 Boche let us push him off this ridge. It never 
 seemed to me that he had to." 
 
 The hill ends in an abrupt slope to the north- 
 east, affording perhaps the best observation point 
 between Arras and Kimmel Hill, at Messines. 
 We stood and watched the show — a very little one 
 from the military standpoint, but indescribably 
 wonderful measured by what we used to think in 
 peace days — for almost an hour. The whole Lens 
 landscape lay before us, the enemy front-line 
 trenches within two miles of us. The electric sta- 
 tion and the slag heaps, which have been fought 
 over so fiercely, were well within view. The 
 enemy was keeping up an energetic fire on the 
 Canadian trenches in front of us and the observa- 
 tion balloons behind us. We counted a hundred 
 shellbursts in and about Vimy, about a mile from 
 
BRITISH TROOPS DISEMBARKING AT A FRENCH PORT 
 
 ARRIVAL OF GENERAL PERSHING AT BOULOGNE-SUR-MER 
 
GLIMPSES AT THE FRONT 49 
 
 us, at the foot of the ridge. There must have been 
 thirty shots at the observation balloons, whose task 
 of watching him seemed to infuriate Fritz. A 
 squadron of English planes of Gotha type flew over 
 us at an altitude of about twelve thousand feet 
 and looking like white pigeons. 
 
 One balloon was the object of concentrated at- 
 tack, and the observer was compelled to take to 
 his parachute, as the Germans seemed to have the 
 range, and shrapnel was bursting all around. We 
 were at least two miles nearer the German guns 
 than were the balloons, and we could hear the 
 shrapnel falling all around, with an occasional 
 shell-burst in the vicinity to make us understand 
 that we were technically "under fire." 
 
 They told me in Northern France that a census 
 of horses and mules in the British Army would 
 show at least half a million head. Three inferences 
 seemed to me to be clear. The first was that the 
 motor has n't driven out horseflesh by any means ; 
 the second was that cavalry is coming back to some 
 extent — which was confirmed by streams of it seen 
 on the roads, — and the third was as to the size of 
 the British Army in France. If any one knows 
 the figures he declines to tell; so a guess from the 
 number of horses — a very rough process, one must 
 confess — is about as good as any other. 
 
 The increasing number of women employed back 
 of the front is worthy of remark. One sees scores 
 
50 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 of women in uniform driving ambulances, and they 
 seem to be doing it cleverly. They certainly look 
 smart as they flash by. I spoke of that to the 
 Tommy who was driving me. He snarled back 
 that every one of these female drivers had to be 
 helped by a male mechanician. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE FLIGHT FROM BERLIN HOME WITH GERARD 
 
 To reach home in comparative safety James W. 
 Gerard, the former United States Ambassador to 
 Germany, was compelled, in sailorman phrase, to 
 fetch a wide compass. When he landed at Havana 
 to-day he had traveled fifty-seven hundred miles 
 from Berlin, and before New York is reached his 
 jom-ney will have been longer than the voyage 
 from Shanghai to San Francisco. 
 
 Germany has been a beleagured citj'' under the 
 strictest martial law, and only since the Americans' 
 departure from Berlin has the world been informed 
 correctly of inside conditions. 
 
 Mr. Gerard has preserved all his public records 
 and documents. His general knowledge of Ger- 
 many is drawn from the best sources. He has a 
 retentive memory, a special talent for narrative, 
 and a nice sense of humor. His purpose is to bring 
 his book out promptly while the matters treated are 
 fresh and public interest is keen. 
 
 Mr. Gerard is very matter-of-fact and would be 
 the last man to parade a pious purpose, but I think 
 that his chief motive is to enlighten America on the 
 
 51 
 
52 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 European situation and help to make the United 
 States a nation instead of a mumbo- jumbo of sec- 
 tions, States, and races without national conscious- 
 ness or purpose. 
 
 It has been stated in an American magazine that 
 the sea currents attract most of the loose mines 
 from the west of England, the channel, and the 
 French coast, and assemble them just off the north- 
 west tip of Spain. It was precisely over this spot 
 that the Spanish liner, the Infanta Isabel, plowed 
 her way around Cape Finisterre to the Atlantic 
 Ocean on the night of February 27. 
 
 Mr. Gerard has been tln-ough an ordeal in Berlin 
 almost unexampled in diplomatic history. Friends 
 in Berlin, who were in a position to have real infor- 
 mation, had given him a Lusitania-like warning 
 against sailing from Spain. There were known to 
 be spies at his heels in Madrid, and on board the 
 ship were special suspects, but as he sat with me 
 after dinner that evening off Cape Finisterre Mr. 
 Gerard, with the quiet smile that his friends all 
 know, talked of the floating mine-field as if it were 
 miles away. 
 
 All the same, the former ambassador was near the 
 end of his rope when he disembarked at Corunna. 
 There is a limit to human endurance, and he had 
 reached it. Mrs. Gerard was very anxious to have 
 him get complete rest on the voyage, and under 
 her skilful management each day had shown an 
 
THE FLIGHT FROM BERLIN 53 
 
 improvement in the envoy's mental and physical 
 state. Mrs. Gerard herself has stood the strain in 
 a way that only women can, but she will be glad 
 to get back to the rest and relaxation of home. 
 
 Mr. Gerard is a natural diplomat, with manner 
 considerate and habits democratic. Each day en 
 voyage he gathered the correspondents and trans- 
 lated the Marconi messages received by the ship. 
 He is a good linguist. When he went to Berlin 
 he realized that he must learn German and French 
 and diligently took up the study of these languages, 
 acquiring sufficient facility in both to hold conver- 
 sations and read newspapers, a very un-American 
 thing to do, but most useful in enabling the am- 
 bassador to hold real intercourse with his fellows 
 and keep himself posted on German conditions 
 through the newspapers. On shipboard he has 
 carried about a Spanish grammar and dictionary, 
 putting in his spare moments in polishing up his 
 Spanish partly learned years ago in Mexico. 
 
 Mr. Gerard neither drinks nor smokes, and 
 spends any idle time in picking up information on 
 any subject coming within his orbit, a practice that 
 in the long run accumulates a big stock of general 
 information. At fifty years he has a boy's interest 
 in everything that passes. His mental methods 
 are very precise, and he never wanders from his 
 point. Such a man ought to go far. 
 
 The ambassador returns home without any per- 
 
.54 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 manent plans. Either law or his Mexican interests 
 might receive his attention, but he will have no 
 heart for private matters until his duties as an 
 American citizen have been fully discharged. He 
 has no solemnity and does not take himself over- 
 seriously, but if I judge him rightly, the facts stored 
 up in his mind are going to be made fully available 
 for the guidance of the United States before Mr. 
 Gerard will consider himself free for private activ- 
 ities. There will be no grand-stand methods, but 
 when he finishes, I predict that many of the present 
 uncertainties will vanish. 
 
 Much as Mr. Gerard was honored in Switzerland, 
 France, and Spain, his real ovation would have been 
 in England, but his decision not to visit London at 
 this time did credit to his judgment and taste. 
 
 Barring the subconscious sense of risk and ad- 
 venture, the voj^age from Corunna to Havana was 
 without incident. The Infanta Isabel is a steam- 
 ship of ten thousand tons. She is owned in Cadiz, 
 and is usually in the South American trade, but she 
 is now engaged chiefly in bringing immigrants from 
 Galicia in northwest Spain to Cuba, wliich explains 
 the call at Corunna. These immigrants are called 
 "Swallows" here, because they return home in the 
 autumn after enjoying remunerative employment. 
 
 The Infanta Isabel seemed the best and safest 
 ship available when Mr. Gerard got ready to leave. 
 The Spanish may be slow in some things, but thig 
 
THE FLIGHT FROM BERLIN 55 
 
 company saw a profit-making opportunity in trans- 
 porting the Gerard party, and went to it like a fire 
 department to a general alarm. The fares av- 
 eraged about three hundi'ed dollars a berth. Six- 
 teen hundred and sixty immigrants pay sixty-six 
 dollars a head. They belong to Galicia, the only 
 Spanish province where willingness to work is gen- 
 eral among the population. 
 
 When we boarded the Infanta Isabel we found 
 that she carried seventeen life-boats rated by the 
 Company as capable of carrying fifty each, or a 
 total of eight hundred and fifty. As the total num- 
 ber of persons aboard was two thousand, at the 
 very best over eleven hundred persons would have 
 had to be abandoned in case of accident. 
 
 Optimism and geniality prevailed in the saloon, 
 but there was some anxiety at the back of every- 
 body's head. Fritz is a crazy fellow on the sea, 
 and there was no knowing what might happen if 
 war were declared on the voyage. 
 
 One day a rumor spread that the course of the 
 ship had been suddenly altered to avoid a raider, 
 the new Bloewe, reported near by a passing steamer. 
 Discussion brought out the fact that several Amer- 
 icans on board the ship knev\^ the commander of 
 the Moewe, Count Dohna, personally. They had 
 a high regard for him, and believed that he would 
 behave gallantly if we fell in with him. 
 
 One vexation of the voyage was the unsatis- 
 
56 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 factory wireless news. We were left absolutely in 
 the dark as to the extent of the loss of life on the 
 Laconia and whether the sinking constituted a casus 
 belli. 
 
 The adjournment of Congress was reported, but 
 there was nothing definite about any delegation of 
 power to the President. 
 
 The German scheming to entangle INIexico, which 
 was apparently tantamount to a declaration of war 
 against America by Germany, got us excited. 
 
 After discussing the situation in Germany for 
 eleven days, my conclusion is that the shortage of 
 food is more serious than has been believed outside. 
 The present condition is not one of actual starva- 
 tion, but there is much suffering in spots, and Ger- 
 many faces a crisis between now and harvest. Un- 
 less the submarine war prospers, Germany can 
 hardly escape an upheaval. 
 
 One doctor on board the ship tells me that even 
 with his unusual facilities he was much reduced by 
 the lack of fats, and when he reached Zurich he was 
 so ravenous that he made himself ill by devouring 
 everything greasy. Lack of fats caused an in- 
 cessant gnawing, and nothing would "stick to his 
 ribs." His stomach had no food reserve, and in- 
 testinal digestion was suspended. 
 
 The misery resulting from the food conditions 
 is observable in every face. The Government took 
 all possible precautions, but while sixty per cent. 
 
THE FLIGHT FROM BERLIN 57 
 
 turnips could make bulk, it could n't make nutri- 
 ment. A thick soup of cabbage and turnips, a bit 
 of meat, and a trace of gi'ease could be bought at 
 the community kitchens in the cities for six cents 
 (thirty pfennigs) and bread at one cent a slice, but 
 thirty minutes after eating one was hungry again. 
 
 The diet gave no power of resistance to the cold. 
 The Americans who serve as prison inspectors say 
 that even with huge furs they almost froze this 
 winter. 
 
 Mothers and babies are without milk, and the 
 suffering is great. While the effect of the food 
 conditions on the public morale is temporarily off- 
 set by hysterical loyalty, in the end physical causes 
 must prevail over psychological. 
 
 The present semistarvation contrasts with what 
 the Americans would consider gluttony before the 
 war, when it was not unusual for a prosperous Ger- 
 man to eat seven meals a day. The full stomach 
 was regarded as the sovereign remedy for all ills. 
 The early stages of reduced diet benefited some 
 people, but that point has long been passed. 
 
 Throughout these trying times the German 
 women have been showing splendid nerve. They 
 are taking men's places at manual labor. Many 
 assure me that if the women are called, they will 
 respond in tremendous numbers, game to perform 
 many trench tasks if they do not actually do full 
 military duty. 
 
58 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 The moral and social conditions are entirely un- 
 like old Germany. In high society spying and in- 
 trigue prevail. Nobody trusts anybody, and con- 
 versation is all insincerity and deception. While 
 the unwritten law still holds among the nobility, 
 the laws regulating divorce are a dead letter. 
 
 Soldiers at the front and wives at home are freed 
 from marital restraints. Illegitimate births now 
 reach twenty -five per cent, in Berhn, and even more 
 in Bavaria, and the percentage is increasing. 
 
 Popular taste on the stage calls for a mui'der in 
 every act, and the big theatrical successes reek with 
 morbid details. 
 
 The tendencies in Germany to rule womankind 
 with a rod of iron have been emphasized by the 
 war. Men use women roughly and punish them 
 physically for trifling faults. Women are treated 
 as recognized inferiors, and they don't resent it. 
 
 Such are some of the effects of baffled militarism 
 upon the Germans. They went into this war ex- 
 pecting a three months' picnic. The resistance, fol- 
 lowed by a threatened defeat, has produced a per- 
 versitjT^ that breaks out as described. 
 
 This is not to say that Germany is all bad. I 
 have heard stories of some splendid self-sacrifice 
 in all circles. Some of the aristocracy voluntarily 
 adopt short commons, and potato rations are passed 
 to guests in palatial houses by liveried servants. 
 
 German heroism in the army and navy is just as 
 
THE FLIGHT FROM BERLIN 59 
 
 fine as in any countries, but the curse of centuries 
 of militarism is heavy upon the people. Napoleon 
 said that "Prussia was hatched from a cannon ball," 
 and she is paying the price for what she has inflicted 
 upon Europe not only by punishment in battle, but 
 in the recoil upon herself of her own savage force. 
 
 One point absolutely free from contradiction 
 among the American refugees is Germany's entire 
 faith in the submarine. Differences on the subject 
 have disappeared, and the people all want the cam- 
 paign pressed home regardless of consequences. 
 There is not the slightest doubt in Germany that 
 within three or four months England will be starved 
 into submission. 
 
 The situation in regard to America is very simple. 
 The result of the submarine war will be so con- 
 clusive, it is argued, that America will not matter. 
 Germany does not believe in America's fighting 
 inclination or ability. The rupture with the United 
 States came as a complete surprise. She has al- 
 ways thought that President Wilson was bluffing, 
 and that America was afflicted with some sort of 
 disability on the fighting side. Never since Mr. 
 Bryan assured Ambassador Dumba that the mil- 
 itant tone in the early notes was for effect in Amer- 
 ica has Berlin believed that President Wilson fully 
 meant what he said or would in any circumstances 
 go to war. 
 
 Our conduct towards Mexico has tended to con- 
 
60 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 firm the German theory. The way we handled mil- 
 itary activities allayed any Geiinan fear of America 
 as a military opponent. As one correspondent put 
 it, "When America waited a week for Pullmans 
 to send the militia to Mexico, Germany stopped 
 fighting one whole day to have a loud laugh." Ger- 
 many is glad to get freight-cars with straw in the 
 bottom for transporting soldiers. 
 
 The particular American thing that Wilhelm- 
 strasse worries about is money. She can get along 
 without it by swapping jack-knives with herself, but 
 a few billions mean much to England and France 
 just at this time. 
 
 Then there are those ten million persons of Ger- 
 man stock whom Germany is just beginning to rate 
 accurately as Americans instead of Germans. 
 When the hysterics over submarines permit the 
 thought, Germany cannot help recalling that the 
 United States is terribly big with its one hundred 
 and ten million population; that it has a useful 
 navy; that in ingenuity and industry it leads the 
 world ; and that, finally, its action will have a potent 
 influence on Entente morale. 
 
 For all this Germany had a clever little scheme 
 if only a cog had n't slipped. It was to give Amer- 
 ica something to think about on the Pacific. The 
 Berlin contingent had previous knowledge of this 
 Mexico-Japanese conspiracy, and were keen for de- 
 tails when the wireless brought the bare announce- 
 
THE FLIGHT FROM BERLIN 61 
 
 merit. As one journalist put it at the time, instead 
 of really meaning peace when proposing it, "Beth- 
 mann's design was a rainbow painted on a drop 
 scene which was meant to rise again on a very ugly 
 tableau." 
 
 There is an agreement of opinion on this steam- 
 ship that if war breaks out, America should make 
 war from the word "Go." Germany rehes upon 
 American indecision, procrastination, and general 
 amateurishness, and will herself cover her prepara- 
 tions for the most cruel blow by an outward show 
 of reluctance. It is felt that "Hit quick and hard" 
 should be the motto. War with Spain and ^Mexico 
 furnishes no basis of comparison for action against 
 a power that knows the war game backwards. 
 
 Everybody who has seen Germany is praying for 
 President Wilson to throw personal and political 
 considerations to the winds, open a new book of 
 war policy, and, irrespective of partj^ write in it 
 the names of the best men in America to help the 
 President to use America's vast resources against 
 the enemy. To fight Germany with Algers and 
 Shafters because such men are friends of the admin- 
 istration or because their dismissal would give pain 
 is looked upon by Americans returning from the 
 European theater as unthinkable. 
 
 England has just dismissed Asquith for waiting, 
 and France has relieved glorious old Papa Joffre 
 because he was willing to give gi'ound at Verdun 
 
62 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 if necessary to save precious French lives. Let 
 America, say returning citizens, begin at the point 
 reached by these countries, instead of incurring huge 
 costs in time, money, and men by learning by actual 
 experience. At such a time party lines mean no 
 more "than boundary lines in Noah's flood." 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 AMERICAN MEN OF THE WAR 
 GENERAL PERSHING 
 
 August 14, 1917. It is doubtful if any other 
 man has been more in the public eye of Europe 
 these last few weeks than General John J. Pershing. 
 The English and French public have watched Gen- 
 eral Pershing with the interest that centers in the 
 head of one of the greatest movements the world 
 has ever seen. 
 
 General John Pershing has been a leader all his 
 life. He took charge of his father's farm in Mis- 
 souri at fourteen years of age, and taught country 
 school for three years. He wanted to be a lawyer, 
 and refused an appointment to the naval academy 
 at Annapolis. At seventeen, while attending the 
 State normal school, he determined to enter for 
 the examination for West Point. He won against 
 sixteen other contestants. He was cadet captain 
 and was, and is still, captain of his class. This com- 
 bination is still a unique distinction. 
 
 Pershing has constructive abilities of a high order 
 as was shown by his work in the Philippines. He is 
 
 63 
 
64 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 a field soldier, a fighting man with an acknowledged 
 superiority for training soldiers. 
 
 Pershing is deeply optimistic. Neither middle 
 age nor trial has narrowed or embittered him. He 
 has the rare combination of optimism and dignity 
 and restraint. One feels his warmth and sympathy 
 at the first contact, and the effect is enhanced by 
 a certain shyness of manner. He impresses you as 
 much by what he refrains from saying as by what 
 he says. You feel that he is a man who will not 
 "spare his stroke" in action, but will never offend 
 good taste. He has that nice balance that is some- 
 times more than mental, a combination of good sense 
 and right feeling. 
 
 He is a very sincere man. Every officer asso- 
 ciated with him swears by his sterling quality. He 
 has what is commonly called magnetism. One will 
 not often meet a man with more of it than belongs 
 to the commander of the American expeditionary 
 force. 
 
 Pershing is a name to conjure with in Paris just 
 now. To mention the fact of having come over in 
 the same ship with him is enough to attract a crowd. 
 In a fruit-store where I was buying some cherries 
 the proprietress, detecting that I was an American, 
 said triumphantly, "Oh, I have seen your gen- 
 eral I" I told her I had sailed across the ocean with 
 him. Her face expanded into a smile, and she 
 emitted a long " A-h-h-h-h !" Then she tried to per- 
 
AMERICAN MEN OF THE WAR 65 
 
 suade me to accept the cherries as a token of her 
 regard for General Pershing in particular and 
 America in general. 
 
 General Pershing has a pretty good Imowledge 
 of French, enough to read the French papers 
 without difficulty. He is naturally a bit timid 
 about trying to speak in French, but I suspect 
 that he is taking lessons and will soon get back 
 what he has forgotten and add some more. He 
 has enough French to enable him to take advantage 
 of diplomatic opportunities as they present them- 
 selves. For example at the Opera Comique last 
 night, when in the intermission a toast was offered 
 "A VAmerique'' he promptly came back with "A 
 notre 'France.^' It was an instantaneous hit to 
 "make a marriage," as the French say, between the 
 two countries. 
 
 His diplomacy is remarkable. It rests largely 
 on a sincere heart and a fine presence. He feels 
 just what he acts, and he acts with a natural sense 
 of the fitness of things. Another factor in the won- 
 derful impression made here is a certain gift of 
 soldier-like speech possessed by Pershing. The 
 other night at M. Painleve's dinner after the host 
 had spoken the diners all looked toward the guest 
 of honor. The general turned to Ambassador 
 Sharp and said, "Am I expected to say something?" 
 M. Painleve heard the question and answered it 
 with "Oui, oui." General Pershing rose and spoke 
 
66 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 a few sentences. They were entirely extempora- 
 neous; he never prepares anything. His words 
 have been quoted everywhere in private conversa- 
 tion and have had a fine effect on the French public. 
 
 As a diplomat, I doubt if he is surpassed in the 
 service of any country. He begins with the advan- 
 tage of looks, though he has none of the drawbacks 
 of masculine pulchritude. If a sculptor were com- 
 missioned to make a heroic statue to represent West 
 Point, he could n't do better than take General Per- 
 shing as his model. Nor is he merely a military 
 figure. His personality is equally typical of the 
 best American strength and manhood. 
 
 These personal attractions and graces are used 
 with a naturalness that won Paris instantly. I 
 doubt if there is another man of any race who at 
 this moment could bring to bear a greater influence 
 on a Paris crowd if occasion should demand it. It 
 may be set down as a certainty that in all dealings 
 with the French public and in his relations with the 
 statesmen and generals the American commander 
 will "do his country proud." 
 
 No less promising are what may be called his 
 business methods. He is devoted to his work. He 
 never tires of the routine and he never worries. He 
 is a perfectly healthy, noniial man. There is not 
 an iota of morbidity in his composition. 
 
 During the period of misunderstanding and mis- 
 carriage in the censorship I had frequent occasion 
 
AMERICAN MEN OF THE WAR 67 
 
 to talk to him and must have expressed my sense 
 of grievance with considerable emphasis. He en- 
 couraged me to do so. One day I said to him : 
 
 "General, you have enough responsibilities; I am 
 not going to worry you with faultfinding about the 
 censorship." 
 
 "Well, if you are letting that idea trouble you, 
 dismiss it," he replied with a smile. "I don't let 
 anything worry me. I try to do a good day's work, 
 and when it is finished, I go to bed. And what is 
 more, I go to sleep." 
 
 A wonderful doctrine if a man can only live up 
 to it! And General Pershing does absolutely. 
 Perhaps it is largely a matter of sound health. 
 This is his one sensitive point; he would rather be 
 accused of dereliction than be thought ill. 
 
 Perhaps that is a survival of the farmer boy's 
 pride of strength. The farmer boy is always 
 bobbing up in Pershing. Linn County, Missouri, 
 would be proud to see the evidences of her early 
 imprint on the man whose farming now consists in 
 an occasional look from the window or porch at 
 the most beautiful garden in all Paris, for such is 
 the garden of the great house that Ogden Mills has 
 lent the general. This is a garden, Linn County 
 must know, not for vegetables, but for flowers, 
 trees, and green grass. It is behind the rue de 
 Varenne, in the very middle of Paris. 
 
 General Pershing's don't worry policy is part of 
 
68 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 a philosophy that he has worked out and that he 
 practises in his daily life. He believes in difficulty 
 as the very staff of opportunity. A man that could 
 chase Villa wliile enduring Carranza and still keep 
 his temper and serenity has a right to be consid- 
 ered a seasoned optimist. Even war-worn Europe 
 seems pretty good after Mexico, of which it has 
 been sung: 
 
 More rivers and less water. 
 More cows and less milk, 
 Further to look and less to see, 
 
 than any other country in the world. 
 
 General Pershing has a right to his view of the 
 relation between difficulty and opportunity. If he 
 should become a gi'cat general, a co-deliverer of 
 civilization from the onset of Hun barbarism, his- 
 tory would put him alongside Lincoln and Grant 
 in respect to early hardships and their influence on 
 his development. 
 
 When the President's address of April 2 reached 
 Mexico and was read by General Pershing at his 
 headquarters, he could n't restrain his enthusiasm. 
 There was no self-seeking in his feeling. He 
 hadn't then the faintest idea of commanding the 
 European forces. He was deeply stirred by the 
 great address when he read its pregnant and elo- 
 quent sentences, and jumping to his feet, gave 
 his feelings full vent in the presence of the soldiers 
 
AMERICAN MEN OF THE WAR 69 
 
 and newspaper correspondents who happened to be 
 in his headquarters. 
 
 "I 'd rather hve to-day and have some part in 
 these great things," he said, "than to have lived and 
 occupied the highest station at any previous time in 
 history. We are going to estabhsh democratic in- 
 stitutions in the world for all time, and every man 
 who can have a share, however small, in the work 
 may be proud." 
 
 Such is the type of man. Whether he possesses 
 the diversified abilities, whether he can be the many 
 different kinds of man necessary for carrying on to 
 the end, remains to be seen. But he has the gifts 
 of diplomacy and organization. 
 
 General Pershing is cautious and considerate. 
 He has a good heart and an abundant sense of 
 humor. Marshal Joffre said to me: "General Per- 
 shing will never do anything rash. He will con- 
 sider first and act afterward." You can put this 
 over against what an English statesman with Amer- 
 ican associations said to me the other day about a 
 great executive position, "We want a man for that 
 job who is willing to take a chance of spilling the 
 beans." 
 
 COLONEL HOUSE 
 
 Colonel House is the son of an Englishman who 
 settled in Texas about the middle of the last cen- 
 tury. Contrary to the general idea. House is not 
 cold and reserved, but unusually emotional. The 
 
70 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 secret of his success is his self -discipline. He con- 
 trols his temper, knows how to wait for things to 
 come about of themselves, and brings to the carrying 
 out of all his schemes a persistency as amiable as 
 it is tenacious. The colonel has learned in business 
 and politics that it pays to let the other fellow live. 
 Instead of stamping all over him and taking his 
 self-respect away, he ministers delicately to his 
 vanity. In fact, the colonel is a shrewd student of 
 human nature, and it is largely through the use of 
 that knowledge that he wins his successes. 
 
 As is well-known. Colonel House is slight of 
 stature and very unpretending. Those seeing him 
 for the first time are not very deeply impressed. 
 He is fond of telling stories illustrating his own un- 
 impressiveness. And, by the way, a more frank, 
 genial companion, it would be hard to find. 
 
 I rather imagine that he sees the humorous side 
 of his own importance and immense activities and 
 mentally harks back to the good old days in little 
 old Austin. His rule of life would not permit him 
 to experience the slightest sense of self-importance 
 as the result of the unique role that he is playing. 
 That would spoil the game as he desires to play it. 
 He practises such rigid simplicity that it almost 
 amounts to affectation. What other men com- 
 monly do to push themselves to the front he studi- 
 ously avoids. If he can dodge an ambassadorial 
 dinner, he counts it a point won in his little game. 
 
AMERICAN MEN OF THE WAR 71 
 
 "Mrs. House comes along to attend the lunches and 
 dinners that I am obhged to miss," he said the other 
 day. The colonel would much prefer dining alone 
 with an old friend and talking about amusing ex- 
 periences and old times in Texas. 
 
 The other night, referring to a cablegram that we 
 were discussing, he asked me if I expected to send 
 it. I replied in the southern lingo that we both 
 know: "I done sent it." At that a broad smile lit 
 up his gentle face, and he told the story of an en- 
 counter between old Bill McDonald and Bat Mas- 
 terson. 
 
 "There were some preliminary proceedings of a 
 hostile character between the two famous desper- 
 ados, and Bat said to Bill, 'Are you trying to pick 
 a row with me?' 'I done picked it,' replied Bill, 
 his pistol leveled at Bat about three paces away." 
 The colonel might himself have been one of those 
 mild men who so often were the quickest with their 
 guns in the palmy days of the Texas ranger. 
 
 Colonel House has always been rather ostenta- 
 tious in his avoidance of orator}^ In fact, if he 
 should get on his feet without a manuscript in his 
 hand, his tongue would probably cleave to the roof 
 of his mouth. He dodged the spectacular meeting 
 in the cabinet room at No. 10 Downing Street prob- 
 ably because he thought it would be incumbent upon 
 him, if present, to act as Lloyd George's oratorical 
 "opposite." 
 
72 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 In Paris, however, the time came when a speech 
 was required of him by the proprieties. The oc- 
 casion was the final meeting of the conference. He 
 had the speech type-written in his pocket, and he 
 must have dehvered it with some effort at declama- 
 tion, for when he walked into the Hotel de Crillon 
 with his son-in-law and secretary, Gordon Auchin- 
 closs, the latter remarked, "The colonel has at last 
 broken into the oratory class," whereat the colonel 
 blushed. 
 
 Colonel House occupied the rooms in the Crillon 
 known as the Thomas F. Ryan suite. It is in these 
 rooms that the well-known New Yorker always 
 lives in Paris. Adjoining is a smaller suite that 
 was assigned to Lloyd George. From the prime 
 minister's privacy every one was rigidly excluded, 
 even his private secretary sitting in the outside hall. 
 Contrariwise, Colonel House's reception-rooms 
 w^ere overrun with visitors of all kinds including 
 representatives of the press. These latter got very 
 little except courtesy. The colonel received his 
 company in an inner reception-room well guarded 
 by secretaries. Mr. Auchincloss was the head of 
 the secretarial staff. To use a "darkey" expression 
 conveying much, this young man has got "a heap 
 of sense." The colonel leans on him and Auchin- 
 closs is an ever-present help. Like his distin- 
 guished father-in-law, he does not take himself too 
 seriously, and sees the humor in everything. 
 
AMERICAN MEN OF THE WAR 73 
 
 Mrs. House goes along with the expedition 
 quietly and helpfully. She is never in the way, al- 
 though Colonel House takes her everywhere with 
 him. On the journey to the American camp not 
 only Mrs. House, but Mrs. and ^liss Sharp, as 
 well as the colonel's secretary. Miss Denman, were 
 of the party. While at American G.H.Q. an 
 officer came up with a spiked hehnet left by a Ger- 
 man officer on the battle-field of the Marne, and 
 presented it to Mrs. House. It must have been a 
 souvenir that she had wanted very much, for she 
 thanked the officer again and again. While in- 
 specting the training-camp, Colonel House was 
 given a rifle, and fired several shots hke an expert. 
 
 At the Crillon, as at other hotels, they give em- 
 ployment to wounded soldiers. One, whose bus- 
 iness is to stand in front and open carriage-doors, 
 has a very pleasing personality. He wears on his 
 breast several military medals won in the trenches. 
 One day when Mrs. House came out she noticed the 
 decorations on this gallant fellow now serving in a 
 humble capacity, and immediately stopped and 
 came to a salute in front of him. He immediately 
 returned the salute and the two stood facing each 
 other for a few seconds before Mrs. House entered 
 her car. It was a pretty incident, specially as Mrs. 
 House thought there were no witnesses. 
 
 December 1, 1917. Lord Northcliffe to-day re- 
 
74 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 ferred in glowing terms to the American mission 
 to the Allied conference and its worth, repeating 
 what he said a few days ago about Colonel House's 
 wisdom. Concerning the junior members he re- 
 marked : 
 
 "The American mission is suffering from the 
 right kind of disease, youth. I dare say that there 
 are those who would like to see their places filled 
 by lean and slippered pantaloons, with long beards, 
 but I like youngsters best for results. I have been 
 in daily contact with them at the conference, and 
 those I deal with are live wires, fully charged. 
 
 "Colonel House has reduced the vast assemblage 
 of Allied nations to a series of small business com- 
 mittees, and thus hot air was entirely eliminated 
 from the start. I cannot reveal the conference se- 
 crets, but when I looked at the gilded chamber 
 where it first met, and realized that every man was 
 loaded with a speech, my heart went out in grat- 
 itude to the wise colonel who had dammed the flood. 
 As it was, Clemenceau in his opening remarks took 
 less than two minutes, and soon our meeting broke 
 up, and everybody settled to work." 
 
 NEWTON D. BAKER 
 
 Secretary Newton T>. Baker has created a gen- 
 erally good impression among army people, and in 
 all circles abroad the talk about him is favorable. 
 
AMERICAN MEN OF THE WAR 75 
 
 His association with Tom Jolinson in Cleveland, 
 his supposed pacifism, and an mifortunate slip in a 
 campaign speech combined to start a kind of hue 
 and cry against him. Parenthetically, that is a 
 kind of American specialty. We laud a public 
 man to the skies or sending him hurthng in the other 
 direction largely as our mood moves us. Over here 
 I find much optimism about Baker. He is re- 
 garded as a "comer." His background of radical- 
 ism, his imagination, his intellectual quality, and his 
 open-mindedness line liim up with men who are 
 doing things on this side like Lloyd George and 
 Painleve. Incidentally, I have heard from more 
 than one source that whatever Secretary Baker's 
 bent of mind may have been with regard to the war 
 back in Cleveland, in Washington and in new con- 
 ditions he is a war man to the hilt. 
 
 From the political point of view his natural bias 
 towards liberalism puts him in tune with the pre- 
 vailing spirit of the time, and he may cut a good 
 deal of figure in public affairs before the war and 
 its various consequences pass away. The Bolshe- 
 vist storm now raging over Russia will take its 
 course, like all other world movements, westward. 
 Such men as Mr. Baker, whose convictions are 
 rooted in temperament, and who are, therefore, 
 deeply sincere and unchangeable and, while sym- 
 pathetic with the masses, have intellectual training 
 
76 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 and social stability, will be fit interpreters of pop- 
 ular instincts and aspirations if the movement re- 
 ferred to should sweep to America. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 FRENCH MEN OF THE WAR 
 MARSHAL JOFFRE 
 
 May, 1917. I doubt if I would have gone to 
 the city hall but for one thing. I wanted to see 
 what manner of man Marshal Joffre was. His 
 photographs and the accompanying descriptions 
 have caused most of us to visualize a jovial, ro- 
 tund man. I saw a man very different from that, 
 and yet I would not be able to point out the dif- 
 ference point by point. I think it is mostly a 
 matter of eyes. A photograph cannot convey 
 subtleties of expression, specially those of the eye, 
 and yet they make all the difference. 
 
 A tremendous and spontaneous outburst signaled 
 the arrival of the distinguished visitors. I was near 
 the rostrum and had a good view. Joffre seemed 
 to me to walk with a side-wheel motion, but his step 
 was firm and brisk. All the delegation took their 
 places standing at the back of the platform, the 
 marshal at the left, or north end, of the line. I 
 thought I could see him breathing a bit hard from 
 the exertion in mounting the outside steps, but if 
 
 he should deny it, I should n't press the point. He 
 
 77 
 
78 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 saluted in acknowledgment of the applause, and 
 at once began to survey the crowd with keen an- 
 alytical eyes. He held his red cap with gold em- 
 broidery in a gloved left hand. I noted at once 
 that he looked somewhat younger than I had fan- 
 cied him. He appeared to take careful stock of the 
 audience up-stairs and down. When his glance en- 
 countered General Leonard Wood, his face softened 
 into a smile, but I saw no salutation. 
 
 He has a head that suggests squareness in shape, 
 large but hardly massive. I should say that he 
 wore a seven-and-one-half hat. He had on the 
 usual blue jacket and red trousers, with tan leggings 
 and tan shoes — Bluchers, if I may be allowed the 
 word. His hands and feet were appropriate to his 
 size and weight. I should guess him at two hun- 
 dred and twenty pounds, and five feet eleven 
 inches in height. He stands up straight and keeps 
 his body still. I didn't see him move his feet or 
 legs in the course of the whole hour or more, 
 but his eyes were restless, and he often wet his lips. 
 He showed no embarrassment: he was as uncon- 
 cerned as if he had been under fii*e on a battle-field, 
 and his smile was not as much in evidence as I ex- 
 pected. The waves of cheering made him rather 
 shut his lips tighter. When IMayor Mitchel enum- 
 erated the list of prominent people who had assem- 
 bled, the marshal knitted his brows as if slightly 
 puzzled. 
 
FRENCH MEN OF THE WAR 79 
 
 He has the poise of a great soldier. He stood f or 
 minutes together with his cap held behind him in 
 his left hand and his right hanging at his side. His 
 face is less heavy than it has been pictured. He 
 has still enough hair to save him from baldness. 
 He has rather deep-set gray eyes, and seems to 
 have a slight defect in one of them. It is a droop 
 of the lids. Instead of detracting, it adds to his 
 impressiveness. I was reminded of Henry Watter- 
 son, who, to my way of thinking, is the noblest 
 figure that has appeared on the platform in Amer- 
 ica in my time. There is a noticeable resemblance 
 between the two men. Both have the leonine qual- 
 ity. Joffre's complexion suggests the wine of the 
 country in moderation. 
 
 He will go down in history as "Papa" Joffre, 
 but I should say that gravity and authority are 
 stronger than tenderness in the paternal character 
 for which he is famous. 
 
 Next to me stood a famous business man who 
 has been prominently connected with certain phases 
 of the war. I asked him for the reason of Joffre's 
 popularity in America. "Foreigner that he is, he 
 is almost the idol of the American people," he re- 
 plied. "The people of the country appreciate the 
 fact that at the Mame Joffre saved civilization." 
 My neighbor has stated the simple fact. I began 
 to study the figure in front of me with a fresh in- 
 terest. He is precisely a man that should have been 
 
80 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 the hero of the Marne, the greatest battle in its re- 
 lation to man's permanent interests that the world 
 has ever seen. 
 
 At the moment of greatest peril to the greatest 
 number in the history of this planet it was a man 
 of Latin race — a man probably without a drop of 
 any but Latin blood in him, and yet the very embod- 
 iment of sturdiness and poise — who stood forth as 
 the leader. For the emergencj'' the man had been 
 raised up. The army and the nation rallied to him, 
 and a new France was born. 
 
 He did his work, and when the time came to give 
 way to those who had not spent themselves, he 
 answered the call quietly, as he had done that other 
 call in August, 1914. 
 
 And now in obedience to the will of the country 
 that he has served so well he comes on this far 
 mission. No other man in the world would be 
 quite so welcome as he in this country. 
 
 He could scarcely have aroused greater interest 
 and emotion if he had still been in active command 
 of the French armies. To the American mind the 
 prefix "ex" usually conveys disillusion, but Joffre 
 has sunk deep into the American consciousness, and 
 vicissitudes of rank do not affect the glamor that 
 surrounds his name. 
 
 Such a man as Joffre must be appraised by his- 
 tory and posterity. His merit on the technical side 
 only soldiers can determine. It is in point of 
 
FRENCH MEN OF THE WAR 81 
 
 character and citizenship that he seems to me to 
 merit the greatest measure of esteem and gratitude. 
 I was in Europe when the war broke out, and knew 
 of the poignant anxiety that came home to Alhed 
 countries after the battle of Mons. All who were 
 informed as to the facts realized that the Germans 
 possessed the only military machine in existence. 
 After the sudden fall of Namur it realized that 
 nothing short of a miracle could save Paris and the 
 channel ports. The English could and did put 
 into the field eight divisions of good, seasoned 
 troops. The French had a serviceable army in 
 point of numbers, and there were generals who knew 
 strategy and tactics. The great question was 
 whether there was a Man with a capital M among 
 them. 
 
 The French are wonderfully responsive to lead- 
 ership, and the inquiry in everybody's mind during 
 those days of August and September was whether 
 the emergency would produce the leader. Out of 
 the doubt, the darkness, and the terror of that period 
 came Joffre, and the thing about Joffre that stood 
 out from the very first was not his generalship 
 about which a layman could know little or nothing, 
 but his character. He was so different from what 
 we had conceived to be the French temperament. 
 
 When we thought of the French we thought of 
 grace, power of expression, art, volatility, yes, 
 grandiloquence. We believed that glory, or its de- 
 
82 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 lusion, was more to them than truth. We expected 
 to hear from Paris a story of the defeat of Charleroi 
 in poesy and martial music, and after the IMarne 
 we feared a sudden tumble following the usual self- 
 glorification. 
 
 Suddenly in front of France there stood this man 
 whom we have been seeing in America. To see 
 him, in my opinion, is almost the greatest privilege 
 and distinction we have enjoyed since Lincoln's 
 day. With beetling brow and keen eye he sur- 
 veyed the scene, saw the realities, arranged an or- 
 dered plan, put an end to mental confusion, ex- 
 orcised the devil of hysteria, and got down to a 
 basis of common honesty and common sense as far 
 as the army was concerned. 
 
 I remember that after Charleroi or Mons Joffre 
 was asked why he suffered defeat there, and by a 
 second question he was encouraged to say that the 
 Enghsh failed. "The English to blame?" he re- 
 plied in effect. "Not at all. They did splendidly, 
 giving us much more help on the short notice than 
 we had any right to expect." 
 
 "What was the trouble then?" 
 
 "]My own generals. They were inexperienced, 
 inefficient. We could n't stand against the superior 
 expertness of the enemy." 
 
 "What are you going to do about it?" 
 
 "I have already acted. I 've put those officers 
 out and put new ones in." 
 
FRENCH MEN OF THE WAR 83 
 
 And he had. 
 
 That candor and honesty and utter freedom from 
 buncombe in a French general were like a rainbow 
 of hope and promise. 
 
 From the beginning to the end of Joffre's com- 
 mand there was not, so far as I could observe, a 
 single word or act that did not contribute to stabil- 
 izing France on the new plane. Though he is ail 
 a Frenchman, his traditions and methods are more 
 like those we have immemorially associated with the 
 British. Not a single exaggerated statement has 
 ever come from him. His record has been a con- 
 stant and stern reproof to political levity in Paris, 
 and an example to those who would be honest and 
 faithful. 
 
 It may almost be said that there is no such thing 
 as a fact in this war. Censorships have thrown a 
 curtain over it all, and it is doubtful if history 
 will rescue the whole truth about the war from the 
 caves of mystification and contradiction. The most 
 prevalent story about Joffre's retirement is that he 
 wanted to give gi'ound at Verdun in order to save 
 French man power, which had reached exhaustion 
 point. Thej'^ thought that the suggestion sounded 
 as if he might be getting old and so promoted him 
 to Paris. As a matter of fact they but followed his 
 own policy. Men are like electric batteries; use 
 pulls the **juice" out of them. 
 
 Not one additional fact about the war is needed 
 
84 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 to assure to Marshal Joffre first place. He not 
 only saved civilization, but he remade a nation. 
 Joffre is the Father of France in that he instituted 
 and established the habit of mind and force of char- 
 acter which have raised that country to sublime 
 heights of consecration and sacrifice. 
 
 MABSHAL JOFFRE IN PARIS 
 
 July 3, 1917. Marshal Joffre did me the honor 
 to receive me to-day at his office in the Ecole 
 Superieure de Guerre. The interview was a per- 
 sonal one, granted me largely on the score of my 
 being an American. 
 
 When I suggested making some extracts from 
 the conversation for publication in "The Times," 
 the Marshal consented reluctantly and only on my 
 plea that their publication might tend toward 
 strengthening the ties between our countries. 
 
 Marshal Joffre is an interesting study here as he 
 was in America. In his own setting he is an even 
 nobler figure than as I saw him at the City Hall 
 reception in New York. Yet somehow he seems 
 to be apart from the French type as we conceive 
 that type. I talked with him through Lieutenant 
 de Tessan, who kindly acted as interpreter, and 
 I had a chance to observe him closely for nearly 
 an hour, sitting vis-a-vis to him at his flat -topped 
 desk. 
 
 I wish I could give my impressions without either 
 
FRENCH MEN OF THE WAR 85 
 
 adjectives or superlatives, to which his moderate 
 and thoughtfid personaHty administers silent re- 
 proof. He scarcely made a gestm'e. There was 
 none of the changes in tone used with such effect 
 by the French to give emphasis and significance 
 to the spoken word. There was always the same 
 restrained use of a very gentle voice. Every one 
 in iimerica noted that the marshal often half -closed 
 his eyes. That must have been an effort to focus as 
 against a defect of far sight. I saw the half-closed 
 eyes only once to-day, and that was at the suggestion 
 of using the talk as an interview. 
 
 Our appointment was at eleven o'clock, and the 
 marshal did not keep me waiting a single minute, 
 a promptness unusual in European officialdom. 
 He met me with quiet cordiality. When I began 
 to ask questions through Lieutenant de Tessan, the 
 Marshal was somewhat alarmed and said that we 
 could have a much more interesting conversation 
 if it was understood that there was to be no inter- 
 view. Above all, he would shrink from being put 
 in an attitude of telling America what to do or of 
 speaking a single word that might be mistaken for 
 criticism. 
 
 Knowing that he and General Pershing had 
 foiTned a friendship, I introduced our commander's 
 name. Marshal Joffre replied: 
 
 "I met General Pershing in America and was at 
 once struck by his poise. My acquaintance with 
 
86 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 him here has confirmed my early impression. 
 Forethought and steadiness seem characteristic of 
 him. I do not think he would act hastily or rashly. 
 He weighs his actions carefulty. Of course he is 
 a fine soldier with admirable training. In my judg- 
 ment America could not have placed command of 
 an expeditionary force in better hands. As Amer- 
 ica has put so much of her resources into this enter- 
 prise and as she is going to be all-powerful in fin- 
 ishing this war, she is particularly fortunate in se- 
 curing a leader who thinks before he acts. We have 
 talked much together, and I like his ideas on mil- 
 itary matters as much as I admire his fine person- 
 ality. 
 
 "The arrival of General Pershing and his staff 
 made an impression in France of the seriousness and 
 strength of America. Now that the troops have 
 landed, the impression is renewed and strengthened. 
 It shows that you are setting to work in good ear- 
 nest. 
 
 "It is a fine beginning. I can only say, keep 
 it up, increase the speed, and never stop until you 
 have accomplished what you set out to accom- 
 plish. The arrival of American troops on time and 
 without a mishap reflects credit on your Govern- 
 ment, and encourages the belief that the submarine 
 does not present a barrier to the transport of troops 
 across the ocean which cannot be overcome by the 
 organization and utilization of your resources. 
 
FRENCH MEN OF THE WAR 87 
 
 "All that has happened confirms my judgment 
 of America as formed before and during mj'^ visit. 
 I was very much impressed by the rapidity with 
 which Americans make up their minds and still more 
 by their quickness of action afterward. What I 
 want to see, what I expect to see, is continuity of 
 action on a rising scale, no let up for a single mo- 
 ment. The way to win the war quickly is to bring 
 to bear every ounce on and behind the fighting line. 
 Peace will come tlirough the hardest possible fight- 
 ing at the earliest possible moment. With her re- 
 sources of men and finance America will strike the 
 finishing blow that will bring an end of hostilities. 
 
 "I came back from America convinced of what 
 that country was doing and could do. What I saw 
 there I repeat now. Bring men here; bring them 
 as fast as possible. Train them in trench and other 
 European methods here within the influence of 
 actual war. That is the one school for a soldier. 
 We want men, men, men not only for actual fight- 
 ing, but for work of all kinds. It is natural tliat 
 the ranks of labor should have suffered depletion 
 in these three years. We need men to work on 
 roads, men to build and repair railroads, men for 
 the telegraph and telephone, men for lumbering, 
 men for every sort of labor — not all of it necessarily 
 military or militarized, but all contributing as truly 
 and honorably to winning the war as the fighting 
 itself." 
 
88 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 The marshal made these points with quiet earnest- 
 ness. When he had finished, I asked him what had 
 struck him most forcibly in his travels through 
 America. He considered a moment and then re- 
 plied: 
 
 "The deepest impression, perhaps, was that of 
 the combination of the two contrasting qualities 
 in the American character. Although the people 
 are gi'eat in their material interests and achieve- 
 ments, they have lofty and noble ideals. I mention 
 two proofs. America comes into this war without 
 a shadow of direct material interest, purely to se- 
 cure and establish the independence of nations. 
 The second proof is the veneration in which those 
 who have striven for high ideals are held by the 
 people. The names of Lincoln, Washington, 
 Grant, and Lafayette are universally revered." 
 
 The marshal showed deep feeling in referring to 
 this characteristic of ours that we ourselves take 
 much as a matter of course. 
 
 "How do the crowds of New York compare with 
 those of Paris, the welcome to you there and that 
 to Pershing here?" I asked. 
 
 "They are difficult to compare, they are so dif- 
 ferent," said the marshal. "The New York crowd 
 can make a greater volume of sound because it is 
 bigger. We have been cut down by war. But I 
 do not concede that any crowd could feel a deeper 
 
FRENCH MEN OF THE WAR 89 
 
 enthusiasm than ours on June 13 felt for General 
 Pershing." 
 
 I assured the marshal that America would look 
 forward to another visit from him. 
 
 "Yes; I want very much to go back after the war 
 and take Mme. Joifre with me," he rephed. 
 
 At the end the marshal tried out his English vo- 
 cabulary on me. 
 
 *'Good-by," he said, with a hearty handshake. 
 
 I went out through two spacious anterooms, the 
 first tenanted by Colonel Fabry, "the blue-devil of 
 France," who gave me a cordial, American-like 
 greeting. In the second I stopped at a window 
 that commands a close view of the Ferris Wheel 
 and the Eiffel Tower, and tried to fix in my mind 
 a firm impression of Marshal Joffre's personality 
 while it was fresh and in some terms familiar. 
 
 The rule that no painting can take its place 
 among the immortals of the Louvre until the artist 
 is dead applies also to men. History will give 
 Marshal Joffre his rating. He seems to me a great 
 historic figure, less perhaps for his technical mil- 
 itary genius than for his moral and temperamental 
 leadership. 
 
 His example and influence set France on quiet 
 ways that led to her successful resistance of Ger- 
 many's onset. This quietness, bigness, and stead- 
 iness are his outstanding characteristics. He has 
 
90 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 not an iota of self -consciousness or personal vanity. 
 The great moral quality in him is enhanced by 
 a certain effect of sadness that seems to hover about 
 his personality. 
 
 PETAIN 
 
 August, 1917. On the tablelands constituting 
 the divide between the waters that flow to Havre 
 by the Marne and the Seine on the west and those 
 that seek the sea by the Meuse, past Verdun and 
 Liege, great leaders have trained their armies for 
 thousands of years. It was here that Caesar's le- 
 gions were encamped. There is a long hill, with a 
 broad flat back, commanding a wide view in every 
 direction, that appeals to both the utilitarian and 
 artistic sense of the French, and it was here that 
 Petain came, bringing Pershing with him, to review 
 the famous Alpine Chasseurs Division. 
 
 After the European fashion of weather it was 
 a glorious morning. A few fleecy clouds tempered 
 the heat of the summer sun and staged the stunts 
 of an aviator who brought a brand-new car of a chic 
 pattern to put the very last touch of modernity on 
 the scene. 
 
 I had not come for the beautiful work of the crack 
 division, the perfect marching of the infantry, the 
 fine horsemanship of the cavalry, the smooth 
 handling of the artillery, the inspiring music of the 
 regimental bands, or even the presentation of hon- 
 
FRENCH MEN OF THE WAR 91 
 
 ors to the heroes, who had earned their laurel wreath 
 over and over again. I was interested in General 
 Petain and in the comparison between him and the 
 other great leaders of the war who had come under 
 my observation: Woodrow Wilson, Lloyd George, 
 and Joffre. For it must be remembered that Pe- 
 tain is not only a soldier. There may be men upon 
 whom are conferred reserve powers greater than 
 his. President Wilson, David Lloj^d George, per- 
 haps. But in actual power daily and hourly called 
 upon, possibly Petain does lead all others, for he 
 is the commander-in-chief of the armj'' in the coun- 
 try where the war is being fought. 
 
 He was distributing medals when I first saw him. 
 A line of men about twelve in number was advanced 
 in front of the division formation. A space sep- 
 arated them into two groups. An officer read out 
 an account of the service to be rewarded in a loud 
 voice. General Petain advanced briskly, pinned 
 on the medal of the Legion of Honor, or Croix de 
 Guerre, touched with alternate cheek the lips of 
 the candidate, receiving two hearty kisses audible 
 fifty feet away. 
 
 There was a pretty incident in the general's se- 
 lection, in pursuance of a right accorded him, of 
 one of the candidates for the Legion of Honor. It 
 was an extemporaneous judgment based on the 
 record read aloud in detail. The recipient was a 
 wiry, handsome young sergeant, and the incident 
 
92 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 spread a wave of pleasure over the whole division. 
 
 My first impression of General Petain was tinged 
 with a little shade of disappointment. Men, how- 
 ever great, are not gods, once you scrutinize them 
 narrowly. Petain might be a business man, a law- 
 yer, or a village doctor. I remember having had 
 much the same impression of the late E. H. Har- 
 riman. I could name half a dozen men who would 
 make up acceptably for the part of General Petain, 
 and have points of resemblance with him — Frank 
 P. Glass, for example, if he were a few inches taller, 
 or Frank A. Munsey if he were forty pounds 
 heavier. 
 
 General Petain in some ways suggests General 
 Leonard Wood. He has ceaseless energy, but is 
 neither hurried nor strenuous. He has n't a par- 
 ticle of military consciousness. He is one size 
 smaller than General Pershing, a shade less erect, 
 and immensely less suggestive of military starch. 
 Pershing stands like a statue, but Petain is just an 
 ordinary, erect, middle-aged man. He has no 
 studied or fixed pose, but he is a soldier from the 
 ground up. 
 
 He wore the plainest kind of gray uniform, 
 riding-breeches, and tan puttees, with three tiny 
 stars on each sleeve near the wristband, and a large 
 silver medal pinned on his tunic below the left 
 handkerchief pocket. 
 
 He has a good, wholesome face. Yet I think 
 
FRENCH MEN OF THE WAR 93 
 
 it must have been there that I met with the dis- 
 appointment referred to. I had pictured him as 
 thin-visaged and frowning, with a downward look. 
 His face is much plumper than his pictures indicate. 
 The prominent nose seems not unlike General 
 Pershing's, though there the facial resemblance 
 stops. General Petain's chin gives no line to his 
 character, as chins are often supposed to do, and his 
 head is of average size and shape. His cheeks have 
 color, and his brownish eyes are kindly. He means 
 well to you, but you must take no liberties. You 
 tell that at a glance. He wore brown chamois 
 gloves. His hands were frequently in action, but 
 there is no extravagance or affectation of gesture. 
 
 I speculated that here was a man that had reached 
 middle life without disclosing any kind of greatness. 
 He was a colonel, and a lecturer at the war college, 
 a good one, no more. The war came and smote 
 deep into his nature. It started the springs of 
 greatness, which flowed outward in the channels 
 that opportunity opened. But all his habits had 
 been formed by patterns of mediocrity. There 
 were no characteristics struck out by that indul- 
 gence of the ego, that self-development which 
 genius is privileged to practise from boyhood. 
 
 It therefore happens that Petain is actually as 
 plain as an old shoe. He does n't play to the gal- 
 leries. You are sure that he is not thinking of him- 
 self, not even glimmeringly. His mind is on his 
 
94 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 number, and it is n't number one. In fact, the im- 
 pression he gives is always that of sincerity in what 
 he is doing. He does n't do one thing and think of 
 another. He is on the job, so to say, every minute. 
 If he is pinning on a medal, he is looking at it and 
 thinking about that particular medal ; and so when 
 he is kissing. I observed that he was careful to 
 take the kiss on the cheek. Remember, by the way, 
 that this is a French ceremonial kiss and does n't 
 mean the same as a kiss does with us. 
 
 Now the military business is over, or at least 
 there is an interval between the first and second 
 parts, the latter the review proper. What does the 
 general do? Go off and take a rest or talk to the 
 American generals? Not at all. There are a lot 
 of French spectators, some who have suffered re- 
 cent losses, and others just villagers, or farmers, 
 and their families from the country-side. General 
 Petain makes the round of them. And let me say 
 right here that I never saw anybody meet people 
 better, not even the late President McKirdey, 
 whose genuine love for his fellow-man made him 
 sincere in his human contact and therefore a good 
 **mixer." General Petain must like it or he 
 couldn't do it so well as he does. You must 
 alwaj^s, here in France, remember that there is more 
 of a certain kind of democratic feeling than with 
 us. There was no sense in this crowd that they 
 were enjoying condescension from a great military 
 
FRENCH MEN OF THE WAR 95 
 
 grandee, as equally, of course, there was not a 
 shadow of thought of its bestowal. Petain kissed 
 the babies and shook hands with the grown-ups as 
 if he had been brought up to this business instead 
 of to soldiering. 
 
 I happened to be among the crowd as the general 
 came along. He stopped, shook hands with me, 
 and passed the time of day, displaying a lively in- 
 terest when I mentioned the name of my paper. 
 And I may tell you that he securely fixed my vote 
 for any office for which he ever stands when, hours 
 later at another place, he remembered me, stepped 
 out of the military circle, gave me a real handshake, 
 and an "Au revoir." 
 
 General Petain is without a certain mystery and 
 magnetism that characterize Joff re ; nor has he the 
 avoirdupois. No one else can speak in that soft 
 monotone of Joffre's, a tone in which one might 
 read a psalm. Petain has fixed his place as a 
 soldier. He took over the command in most ex- 
 traordinary circumstances of difficulty and splen- 
 didly has he made good. 
 
 Such was the commander-in-chief of the French 
 as he went about his appointed tasks on the day 
 before the latest Verdun attack. Perhaps his re- 
 view was in connection with that big offensive. If 
 it was, General Petain had gone through all the 
 great planning without the effort's having left any 
 mark of strain. There was no sign of excitement. 
 
96 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 Here is a man who will attend to all that has 
 got to be done, big and little, and then have time 
 and energy left over for the unexpected. My guess 
 would be that his work is never in arrears. There 
 is no feverish haste and, therefore, no lost motion, 
 but he is hard at it all the time. At the need of 
 France came Joffre, and then Petain. 
 
 PAINLEVE 
 
 June, 1917. Before going to see the minister of 
 war I had formed the impression that M. Painleve 
 was that rarity in the ranks of science, a great 
 mathematician whose genius was not an excres- 
 cence, but an integral part, of an all-round, great 
 man. When I met him in his office I found him 
 unexpectedly young not only in appearance, but 
 also in his un jaded outlook on life and war. One 
 could not imagine him as the war minister under 
 Napoleon, but he fits into the picture of a period 
 that, though entirely lacking in supermen, can lay 
 claim to supermankind. 
 
 In the anteroom of M. Painleve, the minister of 
 war, there is a billiard-table and a rack of cues. I 
 did n't learn whether M. Painleve is himself a 
 player or whether the outfit belonged to one of his 
 predecessors. To see the billiard-table all read}^ 
 for play in that anteroom gave a human touch to 
 the picture. But I could n't help thinking what 
 would happen in our Puritanical America if a 
 
FRENCH MEN OF THE WAR 97 
 
 Secretary Daniels or Secretary Baker should instal 
 cow-boy pool in his anteroom. And yet, if they 
 took the time for a little "cow-boy pool" or some 
 other game every day, might they not do better 
 work on their big problems? 
 
 When I saw M. Painleve, he wore a black cut- 
 away coat, a gray cravat with a jeweled pin, gray- 
 ish trousers with gray gaiters made into his shoes, 
 and purple socks. An impression of plain utili- 
 tarian tastes was conveyed by the detachable cuffs, 
 which suggested to me that when at work in the 
 closet of science he removes them and his coat, and 
 hangs them on a convenient peg. 
 
 The minister is delightfully agreeable and frank. 
 He is of medium size; his eyes are blue; and his 
 hair is brown without suspicion of gray. His nose 
 is retrousse, like Yvette Guilbert's, and his com- 
 plexion, fresh. He is strikingly boyish for a man 
 who has led such a strenuous life in two depart- 
 ments, politics and science. 
 
 Painleve is himself a Socialist. He has been re- 
 garded for some time as a coming man in French 
 politics. In a general way he belongs to President 
 Wilson's school, that of the scholar in politics. As 
 is well-known, he is a great mathematician. His 
 scientific point of view gives him detachment, for 
 he looks at the world in a state of war with the 
 philosophic calm of one who knows that this planet 
 is almost the smallest of its kind in one of the 
 
98 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 hundreds of millions of solar systems. On the 
 other side, he knows that, turning from the tele- 
 scope that makes these bodies visible and taking 
 up the modern microscope, he can look at the 
 smooth surface of his cuff button and see trees 
 growing thereon, yea, even worms gnawing at the 
 roots of those trees. So why get excited? 
 
 Painleve runs as coolly as a fine high-speed 
 engine. He accomplishes much, but does n't seem 
 in a hurry. "When I interviewed him there was 
 none of the affectation of haste with which an of- 
 ficial usually attempts to overawe the representa- 
 tive of the press. "How much time can you give 
 me, Mr. Minister?" I inquired at the outset. "All 
 that you want," was the amiable reply. His is a de- 
 lightful personahty. 
 
 While waiting for M. Painleve to return from 
 an unexpected conference, I had had a chance to 
 look about under the guidance of Sub-Chief Major 
 Herscher, and to learn something about the spirit 
 and methods of the war office. Under the new war 
 administration, as reorganized by M. Painleve and 
 M. Ribot, military economics and financial and 
 political powers necessaiy for the conduct of the 
 war are reserved to the Government itself. The 
 powers relating exclusively to the army are put in 
 the form of military orders by the general chief 
 of staff, who is the medium of communication be- 
 tween the minister of war and the conmiander-in- 
 
FRENCH MEN OF THE WAR 99 
 
 chief and the minister's coadjutor in the execution 
 of military matters. Thus militarized, they pass 
 into two separate channels, one to General Petain 
 for the western front, and the other to General 
 San*ail for the eastern front, these two being en- 
 tirely separate. 
 
 M. Painleve, who has already made a deep im- 
 pression in America as he has throughout Europe, 
 is a Socialist Republican. He is not, and never 
 has been, an International, that is a socialist who 
 puts socialism above his country. He had always 
 foreseen a long war and has been a convinced 
 jusqu a-hout-ist. He is an idealist who realizes 
 his ideals. This has been shown by his quick ac- 
 tion in Greece, — and notably, later, in his action in 
 sending French troops to Italy — where with Ribot 
 and Lloyd George he grasped the nettle of intrigue 
 and treachery. 
 
 The first word the war minister spoke to me was 
 of President Wilson. He said that the head of 
 the American Republic had the enduring esteem, 
 affection, and confidence of the French people. 
 No one else had put the case for humanity so 
 strongly, and action had followed words, though 
 there had been a patience and restraint that in 
 retrospect of what had passed emphasized Wilson's 
 sincerity. 
 
 "Out of all this terrible slaughter there may 
 come at least a pacified humanity sated with the 
 
100 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 war spirit," said M. Painleve, dwelling on the note 
 so often struck in the President's messages. 
 
 "One of the most popular questions in France," 
 he continued, "is the restitution of Alsace and 
 Lorraine. They had always heen properly French 
 territory, an integral part of France, one with us 
 geographically and in feeling, but one hundred and 
 thirty years ago these provinces gave themselves 
 formally and irrevocably to France. They are 
 ours, and they must come back to us. These 
 provinces stand morally on a level with northern 
 France and Belgium, where Germany's acts were 
 not those of war. Germany stole from factories 
 property that belonged to private citizens. Such 
 theft does not come in the categories of things for 
 which one asks indemnity. It is a matter of re- 
 storing stolen property, and on that we shall insist. 
 
 "There can be no compromise on the outrages 
 committed at Lille, Roubaix, and Tourcoing. 
 And the deportations are crimes that can never be 
 expiated." 
 
 Then we took up the subject that lies at the 
 bottom of every discussion of American coopera- 
 tion, the manufacture of air-planes and the furnish- 
 ing of aviators. M. Painleve thought this subject 
 one of overshadowing importance, although he, in 
 common with every one else, shows the liveliest 
 enthusiasm when the talk is of American soldiers 
 for the French trenches. 
 
FRENCH MEN OF THE WAR 101 
 
 Two phases upon which we dwelt were standard- 
 isation and the coordination of American with 
 French activities. Parts of air-planes, he said, 
 should be manufactured and shipped to central 
 plants in France just as Ford makes parts in 
 Detroit and ships them to Long Island City and 
 Boston to be erected into cars. In addition, he 
 thought there should be factories for making parts 
 in France. The minister believed that the prac- 
 tical men associated with the government commis- 
 sions in Washington would see right through this 
 enormous problem and bring it to a prompt solu- 
 tion. His interest in the matter is intense, but it 
 is on the battle front rather than in coping with 
 submarines that M. Painleve sees the surest utility 
 for aviation. 
 
 "It enables you," he said epigrammatically, "to 
 have eyes yourself, to put out your enemy's eyes, 
 and to deal destruction at points not otherwise 
 reachable. Time is the essence of this matter. 
 England, America, and France must work together 
 here and not lose a moment." 
 
 M. Painleve is a pioneer in the field of aviation, 
 and he looks forward after the war to an enormous 
 development of air transport that will include 
 passenger traffic and light freight, such as mail, 
 which he expects to be air-borne from Europe to 
 America, and from France to all her colonies. 
 
 He was one of the fii'st passengers in an air- 
 
102 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 plane, having gone up with Wilbur Wright at 
 Auxerre in 1908, and momentarily held both time 
 and distance records. He lectured at Commander 
 Roch's school on the mechanics of aviation, and in 
 the Chamber of Deputies obtained the first credit 
 for that service. In 1910 he recommended to the 
 minister of war the creation of a flotilla of a 
 thousand air-planes in five years, which was thought 
 then to be chimerical. He is convinced that 
 America can accomplish wonders in this field, but 
 deprecates figures that could only be made good 
 by a miracle. 
 
 *'We do not expect impossibilities even from 
 America," said the minister. 
 
 When asked why Paris enjoyed immunity from 
 air raids, a question asked frequently in America, 
 M. Painleve suggested the obvious fact that over 
 the battle lines the French and English air-craft 
 form an almost impassable barrier. German 
 cities, for the most part, were similarly protected, 
 and reprisal on Germany for raiding England was 
 thereby rendered very difficult. I was reminded 
 of what M. Reinbach told me, that England's re- 
 prisals were "bosh in two senses." 
 
 When I asked for a pronouncement on the Rus- 
 sian situation, M. Painleve said: 
 
 "The news now coming from Russia through M. 
 Albert Thomas and Mr. Root may be regarded 
 
FRENCH MEN OF THE WAR 103 
 
 as favorable, and encourages the optimism I have 
 felt on the subject." 
 
 M. Painleve having answered all my questions, 
 I asked if there was not some message peculiarly 
 his own that he could give me for America. 
 
 *'Yes," he promptly rephed. "At the beginning 
 something was said here that touches the sensitive- 
 ness of Americans. The remark was that when 
 you came in we could send back the old classes 
 from the trenches. It touched the American spirit, 
 and from some quarters there was a response, 
 'What! are we just to fill up the gap made by the 
 withdrawal of old men?' 
 
 "Let me say that if in the course of five or six 
 months you gave us one hundred thousand, two 
 hundi-ed thousand, what number you will, of 
 splendid American soldiers, we would withdraw 
 from military service such men as could be spared 
 and would cost us the least sacrifice of strength 
 there, and restore them to the economic life of 
 France wherein age does not carry with it a cor- 
 responding degree of deterioration. We should 
 thus derive the greatest possible net gain from the 
 generous aid of our American ally: and a gain for 
 one is a gain for all. 
 
 "Another matter I will touch on is the value of 
 your aid in reconstructing our railroads. This help 
 is in no sense less valuable than that in the trenches, 
 
104 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 and those who work on our transportation lines 
 serve France and the Allied cause. We hope for 
 American speed and efficiency in this reconstruc- 
 tion, and if it would appeal to your pride of 
 superiority in railroad building, we would be glad 
 to set aside a particular railroad for American 
 engineers and workers. 
 
 "One word more," said M. Painleve, his face 
 growing grave. "In the name of France I want 
 to thank the American nation for those who came 
 to us in advance of any declaration — doctors, 
 nurses, aviators, soldiers, and ambulance men, many 
 of whom have given their lives." 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 BRITISH MEN OF THE WAE 
 THE RT. HON. DAVID LLOYD GEORGE 
 
 January, 1917. I say at the start that this is 
 neither a character sketch of the prime minister 
 nor a report of the big meeting held at the beautiful 
 and historic Guildhall. 
 
 Mr. Lloyd George took his welcome very quietly, 
 showing but a trace of response as he stood at the 
 rail of the platform. The crowd sang "For he 's 
 a jolly good fellow," but the song limped, and the 
 performance was more spiritless than the same 
 thing would have been in New York. Then Mr. 
 Lloyd George sat down next to his little daughter, 
 a pink-cheeked girl, who had come with Mrs. Lloyd 
 George a few minutes before. The wife of the 
 prime minister wore a black hat, with a plume and 
 a gold buckle, and a velvet wrap trimmed with fur, 
 and a collar of muskrat. She had on a dark silk 
 frock and white gloves with black stripes. She is 
 a large, wholesome-looking motherly woman. 
 
 When the prime minister took his seat he sur- 
 veyed the crowd and twirled his watch-chain, after 
 first putting his right ankle on his left knee, where 
 it stayed during about twenty minutes of Mr. 
 
 105 
 
106 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 Bonar Law's speech. From time to time he took 
 his gold pince-nez into the hand that was not busy 
 with his watch-chain. After looking straight out 
 into his audience for a while, his eyes sought the 
 vaulted ceiling of the Guildhall. I could observe 
 that he was not studying Gothic architecture, but 
 was further preparing himself for the speech he was 
 to make later. 
 
 Some men have hands larger than their feet, and 
 some have it the other way round. Mr. Lloyd 
 George's feet are small, and he seemed to have taken 
 considerable pains over his boots. His hands are 
 large and strong. He wore a standing collar with 
 wings upon which his double chin rested comfort- 
 ably. He is much cleaner-cut than his pictures 
 represent him. He would seem to have a greater 
 degree of health and less spiritual quality than I 
 had supposed. 
 
 His eyes looked brown or black, but the man 
 next to me said that they were in fact dark blue. 
 One expects large eyes in such a man, but the prime 
 minister's seemed smallish. He has a very merry 
 twinkle in them, and that is one of his most marked 
 characteristics. You feel that here is a reformer, 
 but one who does not take himself too seriously. 
 He is not so terribly in earnest as to fall over his 
 own feet. I should say that he had taken to him- 
 self the wisdom of Plato's counsel: "The best is 
 frequently the enemy of the good." 
 
BRITISH MEN OF THE WAR 107 
 
 Mr. Lloyd George whispered something to his 
 daughter and smiled, and it gave me a chance to 
 note that his face is built along curved lines. If 
 I may speak so of so great a statesman, his mouth 
 has a cupid bow effect. He has a small nose and 
 delicate nostrils. While his color only comes when 
 he exerts himself in speaking, he is not pallid, and 
 there is not the slightest suspicion of weariness 
 about him. 
 
 The lord mayor introduced the prime minister, 
 and I noticed with interest that he dropped the 
 "g" as in reading, which made me feel quite at 
 home. When Lloyd George arose I got a new im- 
 pression of him. He was quite free from self- 
 consciousness when the great audience gave him its 
 ovation. As he stood up with his hands on the rail, 
 I noticed the depth of his chest, and how flat and 
 straight his back was. He was dressed in a cut- 
 away coat, quite in the prevailing style of exag- 
 gerated tail. He wore a black four-in-hand, with 
 a very small diamond pin in it. But for his hair 
 of black and white in the proportion of fifty-five, 
 and worn long and brushed back, Lloyd George 
 would be quite the conventional type of profes- 
 sional man. 
 
 There is just a suggestion of Bob IngersoU and 
 W. J. Bryan in his appearance. In a general way 
 he belongs to the breed of statesmen who react 
 sensitively to the aspirations, needs, and wrongs of 
 
108 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 the masses: but he is a very high type, and what- 
 ever visionary quaHties he may have started with 
 have been pretty well knocked out of him by his 
 experience in the stand-up and knock-down fight- 
 ing of parliamentary government. A man cannot 
 get very gay with the hard facts if he is subject 
 to the hazing that is the principal sport in the 
 House of Commons. Lloyd George is very care- 
 ful not to get on a high key, but he possesses a 
 dramatic quality that he sometimes calls into use. 
 
 Except at these rare moments the coming and 
 going of reporters and stenographers, who made a 
 confusion between the speaker and his audience, 
 had no psychological effect upon the impression he 
 was producing. He was not seeking for rapt at- 
 tention. A phrase that occurred now and again 
 throughout his remarks was, "You may depend 
 upon it." If he had it in mind to convey a strong 
 impression of dependability he succeeded admira- 
 bly. 
 
 When cameras were fired at him early in his 
 speech and clouds of smoke floated over him, he 
 was not in the least disconcerted; nor did it spoil 
 the effect of his opening. When he touched a high 
 point — for example, after his allusion to rebuilding 
 on the rock of vindicated justice — he seemed to 
 make a point of putting on his glasses and consult- 
 ing his notes, as if to keep himself from any flow 
 of eloquence. He got home splendidly with the 
 
BRITISH MEN OF THE WAR 109 
 
 impression of dependability when he said that he 
 had just returned from a meeting where there had 
 been no delusion about the magnitude of the Allies' 
 task and no doubt about the result, that they had 
 met like a lot of business men, looked facts in the 
 face, and made arrangements to deal with them. 
 
 In this passage, as in others, there was no flight 
 of oratory to fall from, and only enough spirit to 
 prevent any impression of deadness. Like so many 
 English speakers, he makes you feel the power of 
 his reserve. He looks very strong physically, but 
 he has n't a big voice, and after a few minutes to- 
 day it broke just a little into hoarseness. 
 
 One is struck with a sense of the harmony of the 
 whole Lloyd George, head, body, and intellectual 
 personality. There is n't the slightest suspicion of 
 age or waning powers. He is evidently a careful 
 liver and keeps himself well in hand. 
 
 He made his points very telling with what we in 
 America would regard as a minimum of effort. 
 His allusions to the Russians who have stood with 
 bared breasts against the Germans, his assurance 
 that no matter how great the debt the added wealth 
 would be much greater, his picture of England 
 struggling before the war under a running mort- 
 gage of menace from Germany, and his statement 
 that the nations would band together after the war 
 to punish the first peace-breaker, were among the 
 high points touched by him, with his feet firmly 
 
110 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 on the ground. While he used accent and intona- 
 tion much more freely than did Bonar Law, he had 
 a measured mamier of speech that was the opposite 
 of spellbinding. 
 
 Only at the very end did he put dramatic quality 
 into it. He threw his notes down on the table with 
 a gesture of having finished that chapter; then he 
 put his hand on the red, cloth-covered rail, and 
 spoke his last four or five sentences as Forbes- 
 Robertson might have done with an appearance of 
 restrained passion. 
 
 After the voting of the usual resolution those on 
 the platform and in the audience rose and sang 
 "God save the King." Lloyd George stood up 
 very straight, and sang with a will. The crowd 
 then filed out. 
 
 I fell in with Lord Claud Hamilton, and we 
 walked over the wet glistening street to Cheap- 
 side. Lord Claud has been a Conservative member 
 of the House of Commons nearly the whole time 
 for fifty-one years. He and his family and his class 
 have stood for different things than those repre- 
 sented by Lloyd George. I was very much in- 
 terested in what Lord Claud thought about the 
 meeting. 
 
 "I have attended a great many meetings in the 
 Guildhall," he said, "but this was the largest I have 
 ever seen. Lloyd George and Bonar Law 
 
BRITISH MEN OF THE WAR 111 
 
 presented the matter most forcibly, and the loan 
 will be a success." 
 
 September, 1917. A few short weeks ago many 
 had begun to wonder if the prime minister of 
 England had not exhausted his inner resources, 
 and his enemies were somewhat gleefully re- 
 examining old leadership material. Meanwhile 
 Mr. Lloyd George, it now appears, was getting 
 measured for a new suit of political clothes several 
 sizes larger. They have been finished; he has dis- 
 carded the old suit and put on the new. The fit 
 seems to be an excellent one. 
 
 The men who grow are the men who become 
 great in public life. Mr. Lloyd George may be 
 said to have reached the pinnacle of his power and 
 renown, but he is still a statesman in the making. 
 No matter how big he may have been, the emer- 
 gency is bigger, and to be equal to it, he must grow, 
 grow, grow. His growth is a series of adventures. 
 With each fresh one he acquires more sureness; 
 with each increase in sureness he goes with a 
 steadier step to a new success. And so the 
 metaphor-maker, the half-baked thinker, the im- 
 mature-minded visionary of a decade ago, grasps 
 with an ever-strengthening hand the helm of world 
 destiny. 
 
 It seems only yesterday, as I look back, that I 
 
112 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 saw him coming and going at the golf-club, and 
 the Conservative breed with whom I foregathered 
 over the whiskey and soda on the veranda scorned 
 to turn a head toward the man who even then had 
 put an impudent spoon into the parliamentary 
 dish. He was to them a mountebank and a 
 hypocrite. I recall one mighty argument that 
 turned on the sincerity of a man who, while wax- 
 ing eloquent on the grievances and sufferings of the 
 poor, was willing always to have the best of every- 
 thing for himself. 
 
 Even as late as last December, when he became 
 premier, the average high-life opinion was skeptical 
 of his ability to carry on. He was able to form 
 a Government through the unexpected acceptance 
 of the labor party of the promises he made them. 
 Their exactions were great, but his promises 
 jumped with them. He never was modest as a 
 promiser. But, as in other things, Lloyd George 
 had prescience as to what labor was prepared to 
 do to help on the war and the new concessions 
 that public opinion would admit in return there- 
 for. His premiership had the distinct weakness 
 of owing its existence and maintenance to an 
 unsympathetic and unfriendly element in the 
 House of Commons. 
 
 At this stage of Mr. Lloyd George's progress 
 from demagogy to statesmanship, thanks partly to 
 his shrewd tact and partly to the good record that 
 
BRITISH MEN OF THE WAR 113 
 
 he had made in war conditions, first, as chancellor 
 of the exchequer and, second, as minister of muni- 
 tions, there rallied to his support a majority of the 
 Tory party. People of that ilk may be lacking in 
 imagination, their patriotism may be tinctured by 
 self-interest or self-importance, but they are a good 
 crowd to have behind you. They generate a com- 
 fortable warmth ; their manners are good, and they 
 stick. Their support put backbone into the Lloyd 
 George movement. For his Government was then 
 hardly to be regarded as a consummation; it was 
 rather an experiment. 
 
 Lloyd George made them a handsome return in 
 kind for their confidence. Earl Curzon, leader of 
 the Lords, Bonar Law, leader of the Commons, 
 Mr. Balfour, Sir Edward Carson, and Lord 
 Derby are five of the more prominent Conservatives 
 who share the responsibilities of the Government. 
 Thus it was that the Tories on one side and labor 
 on the other joined hands and made a saddle upon 
 which Lloyd George was carried to the heights of 
 secure power. 
 
 The Liberals were always looking about, but the 
 more they looked the less they saw. There was no 
 place for them to go. When Asquith fell, they 
 were sure that the country was lost unless he came 
 back soon to power. Out of power and not charged 
 with the responsibility for action and results, he 
 was a tremendous asset to the Liberal party. He 
 
114 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 has the gifts, without the defects, of pointed and 
 eloquent speech. No man, not even the premier, 
 can present the heart of the matter with greater 
 clarity or happiness. But he was out, while his 
 rival was in. And the premier was making hay 
 while the sun shone. Every day, eveiy hour, he 
 was going over the heads of parties and their leaders 
 to the sovereign people of Britain. Little by little 
 he established the direct relation fii-mly, until at 
 last his unfailing sense of public thought and feel- 
 ing told him that when the proper moment came 
 he could strike from his hands the shackles of party 
 control and make them his slaves who had been his 
 masters, the leaders of the several parties in Parlia- 
 ment. 
 
 I hazard the guess, and not without some little 
 foundation for it, that during this formatory period 
 Mr. George has taken Abraham Lincoln as his 
 model. There is a parallel in a large way between 
 the two experiences and the two wars. I know 
 that Mr. George has always ranked Lincoln almost 
 first among English-speaking statesmen of all 
 time. And I know that the life-long reading and 
 study of Lincoln by the premier have within a few 
 months been resumed with fresh assiduity. In the 
 course of his eight-months' administration there has 
 cropped out a constant analogy of policy. For 
 example, Mr. George's ignoring of previous per- 
 sonal associations, his obliteration of every line of 
 
BRITISH MEN OF THE WAR 115 
 
 social caste and political party, and his insistent 
 search everywhere for ability and fitness recall the 
 noble sacrifices of self made by the martyi'ed 
 President in his yearning to gain the best sei'vice 
 for his imperiled country. 
 
 The English premier has not been called upon 
 to endure alone and in silence the misunderstand- 
 ings that were Lincoln's reward for his self-sacri- 
 fice, but he has had a terrible load to carry, and he 
 has carried it cheerfully and bravely. There has 
 never been a trace of melancholy in the prime 
 minister's life. He is not sensitive. He has had 
 more of the rough and tumble of politics than Mr. 
 Lincoln. He has less of the meditative side. He 
 is a "scrapper" and a practical politician. He used 
 to fight for everything he got. In the last year 
 or two he has been learning to rely more for his 
 results on the play of great forces. But it was 
 good for him that he got his training by lifting 
 dead weights. His early experiences and hard 
 knocks gave him toughness and made him danger- 
 ous in scrimmage, but they also prevented his ac- 
 quiring for his armory that serene confidence with- 
 out which absolute mastery in action can be only in 
 the nature of a fluke. 
 
 And that is the premier's new weapon. He has 
 won confidence in himself in full measure and has 
 been using it like a master these last few weeks. 
 At fii'st his every act was introduced by a gesture 
 
116 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 of deference in this or that direction. It seemed 
 to me that I could point to the precise week-end 
 when fear ceased to exist as an element in the 
 premier's policy. 
 
 It was on the occasion a few weeks ago of the 
 marshaling of all the hostile forces of the press and 
 the House of Commons, and a formidable array it 
 was. The premier must have had private intima- 
 tion in advance of others that he had the enemy 
 beaten. He made a speech at Queen's Hall on a 
 Saturday, and went off to Paris on a Sunday, leav- 
 ing many of his friends dubious about the result 
 of a vote in the House of Commons on the Mon- 
 day, which, if adverse, would have sent the Govern- 
 ment to the country in a general election. It was 
 an opportunity for all those who Avere disaffected 
 on various gi-ounds, such as Winston Churchill's 
 appointment, the Mesopotamia exposure, and Lord 
 Hardinge's retention, the choice of Mr. Montagu 
 for a cabinet position, — recalling unpleasant mat- 
 ters of the past, — the air raids, the Irish question, 
 Lord Northcliffe, to move on Lloyd George be- 
 hind a masked battery. This latter was the labor 
 fight to increase the minimum pay for laborers in 
 the Agricultural bill from twenty-five to thirty 
 shillings a week. 
 
 What happened is history. The great vote of 
 confidence that this fight resulted in undoubtedly 
 emboldened the premier to strike for complete 
 
BRITISH MEN OF THE WAR 117 
 
 emancipation from labor dictation when Mr. 
 Henderson made the opportunity a few weeks later. 
 Mr. George showed in that affair the quickness of 
 action and thorough preparedness that go with 
 deliberate planning. He won, and he is for the 
 moment free. He is in the saddle, and on a horse 
 bridle-wise to him and not tricky to secret signs 
 from the labor hostler. 
 
 The premier has apparently lost little in the 
 ranks of labor, while his gain b}'- his audacity had 
 been immense in other directions. Only that por- 
 tion of labor capable of sacrificing the narrow 
 interest for the broader one of country has been 
 sincerely friendly, and that portion he still holds. 
 Almost every other element, except the spoils-hunt- 
 ing among the Liberals, is marshaled in support of 
 the Government. England to-day shows a more 
 solid front than at any previous time. Lloyd 
 George's well aimed blows have backed his enemies 
 off the boards, and those who are against him now 
 are down-and-outers and tainted with treasonable 
 pacifism. 
 
 Yet with all the fine developing to which refer- 
 ence has been made there is still a certain narrow- 
 ness about Lloyd George. In a limited number 
 of things he thinks in terms of politics. He has 
 defied ])arliamentary enemies, outschemed and out- 
 fought them. But, as I read him, he is still an 
 opportunist. He would n't go against the popular 
 
118 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 mood, however uninformed and misled. He keeps 
 his ear rather close to the ground. 
 
 I was discussing Mr. George, his services to 
 his country and humanity, at an officers' mess at 
 the American headquarters recently. The talk 
 was in regard to a policy of absolute and public 
 frankness about sinkings by the U-boat. An army 
 doctor, evidently sharp on psycholog}% spoke in 
 effect as follows: 
 
 "The present policy of soft-pedaling on sub- 
 marine news is precisely the reverse of what is good 
 for us and bad for Germany. We ought to put 
 it out at its blackest. Fill Germany full of 
 optimistic 'dope.' Let her get good and drunk on 
 it. Then will come the inevitable disappointment. 
 After that there will be a recovery. Give tlie same 
 treatment again. Get them up as high as possible. 
 Then will come a fall. Keep it going on these 
 lines, and Germany will crack. There is no forti- 
 tude that can withstand that process. On the other 
 side, looking at the facts squarely will give us an 
 intelligent and reasoned courage and stimulate our 
 effort. Mark my words, the war will be won by 
 those with strength enough to face the truth at 
 every stage and lost by those who bemuse them- 
 selves with ill-timed optimism." 
 
BRITISH MEN OF THE WAR 119 
 
 BALFOUR 
 
 Every one said that after the reception to Joffre 
 and his French colleagues there would be an anti- 
 climax when the English came. It was certain that 
 there could be no higher pitch of enthusiasm; any 
 change must be downward. Perhaps Mr. Balfour 
 himself expected an anticlimax. Possibly the 
 greeting that New York gave him penetrated his 
 traditional reserve ; for he was visibly affected when 
 he stood before the audience at the City Hall yes- 
 terday afternoon. 
 
 No public man in England, unless it be Mr. 
 Bonar Law, is more coldly self -restrained than Mr. 
 Balfour, but those who were there yesterday had 
 the rare opportunity of seeing an Englishman, per- 
 haps the greatest and certainly the most typical and 
 representative Englishman, under the influence of 
 his emotions. 
 
 Mr. Balfour is an old campaigner. He was born 
 in 1848 and was a member of the House of Com- 
 mons at twenty-six. At thirty-one he wrote a book, 
 "A Defense of Philosophic Doubt," and from that 
 time on has never been too busy in practical politics 
 to disport himself in academic backwaters. He was 
 prime minister at fifty-four, and for a number of 
 years he was a vibrating hyphen between two ele- 
 ments in his own party, representing the extremes 
 of tariff policy. He was the captain of the St. 
 
120 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 Andrew's Royal and Ancient Golf Club; he is a 
 cultivated musician ; in his seventh decade he played 
 in doubles of the open tennis tournament with the 
 world's champion, Tony Wilding, since killed in 
 action, as his partner. To top it all, Lord North- 
 cliffe has made two campaigns against him, one 
 when he was at the admiralty, and the other since 
 he was transferred to the Foreign Office. 
 
 It is n't on record that Mr. Balfour ever turned 
 a hair. But yesterday in the City Hall he was 
 clearly embarrassed, and in a way that went to the 
 heart of his auditors. No eloquence could have 
 been as moving as the slight breakdown in self-con- 
 trol of this great kinsman from across the sea. 
 
 When Mr. Balfour came in with the mayor and 
 his party he had a cordial reception, but less fervid 
 and tumultuous than that accorded Joffre and 
 Viviani. As he mounted the rostrum he applied 
 to his mouth and face a handkerchief that he held 
 in his right hand. He smiled pleasantly and 
 showed a set of even white teeth. He has a fine 
 head, fresh pink skin, a manly handsomeness of fea- 
 tures that commands instant good-will and confi- 
 dence. 
 
 By their contrast his eyes remind me of General 
 Joffre's. His had mystery in them; they inspired 
 me with awe ; they gave him a soldier's severe mien. 
 He bent their glance on you searchingly, almost 
 
BRITISH MEN OF THE WAR 121 
 
 with menace. Mr. Balfour's eyes are blue and 
 frankly amiable. 
 
 As a fact, many people have tackled Mr. Balfour 
 in the last forty-five years, thinking, because of his 
 gentleness of nature or his urbanity of manner, that 
 fighting quality was lacking in him. They have 
 "caught a Tartar." This impression of harmless- 
 ness was borne out in his early years by frail health 
 and a certain dilettantism. But when Balfour has 
 been stirred up he has always surprised his enemies 
 by his pugnacity and staying power. His temper- 
 ament is not unlike President Wilson's. Both are 
 intellectuals, and Diderox's paradox, which has been 
 applied to the President, fits Mr. Balfour. In some 
 of the great crises in which he has figured he has 
 been "a centre of human agitation in which he him- 
 self took no emotional part, though he was its intel- 
 lectual prime mover." 
 
 When the question of a new Ambassador to the 
 United States was under discussion a few months 
 ago, I heard Mr. Balfour's name mentioned in that 
 connection in Downing Street circles, and the intel- 
 lectual congeniality of the foreign secretary and the 
 President was remarked by men who knew both per- 
 sonally. 
 
 While Lieutenant-General Bridges, the very pic- 
 ture of a soldier, stood motionless on the left, Mr. 
 Balfour showed restlessness. He put his pince-nez 
 
122 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 glasses on and then took them off; he folded his left 
 arm across his chest, rested his right elbow on it, 
 and put his chin in his right hand ; he felt his cravat, 
 put both hands behind his back, then again clasped 
 them. This went on all through the preliminary 
 speaking. During most of this time Mr. Balfour's 
 lips were parted in a pleasant smile, for the mayor 
 was saying mighty nice things about him. 
 
 When the crowd had a chance to revise its im- 
 pression, it noted that all Englishmen of the party 
 were very like men of the same sort in this coun- 
 try, and the similarity conveyed vastly more sense 
 of compliment than it would have done a few short 
 months ago. The crowd saw, too, with a certain 
 pride of race, that the foreign secretary was the 
 pattern of an English gentleman. 
 
 He is six feet and over, with a fine, well set-up 
 frame. He wore a Prince Albert coat with a low 
 turn-down collar. His shoes were calfskin and 
 British in a certain affectation of heaviness. 
 
 I could n't help feeling that Mr. Balfour was a 
 good deal di'essed up. I have often seen him in 
 the dining-room of a club in London where I am 
 in the habit of lunching in the summer, and he 
 would wear tweeds and rubber-soled shoes. He 
 would come in very quietly, usually with a book in 
 his hand, and nobody would notice him much, for 
 they don't lionize their lions much in England — 
 a good habit we ought to learn from our cousins, 
 
BRITISH MEN OF THE WAR 123 
 
 now that we are brothers-in-arms. I had the im- 
 pression from seeing Mr. Balfom' thus that he had 
 a contempt for dress. But of course convention- 
 ahty called for a certain costume for the head of 
 the commission; Mr. Balfour wore it, and it was 
 becoming to him. 
 
 I could n't repress a feeling of pride in this great 
 gentleman as he stood there, and I believe that 
 the same feeling was general in the audience. The 
 best thing, perhaps, about family and position is 
 that it confers the right not to think too much about 
 it. Mr. Balfour is one of the best-born men in 
 England, but there is n't a trace of the kind of con- 
 sciousness that sometimes goes with position. He 
 has had in his hands the power to create peers; he 
 could himself have had any kind of peerage. His 
 transfer to the House of Lords would have con- 
 ferred distinction upon that body. He has pre- 
 ferred to remain Mr. Balfour. 
 
 His mother belonged to the great house of Cecil, 
 and the representative of the house in the last gen- 
 eration, the third Marquis of Salisbury, gave his 
 nephew his schooling in politics. While the Cecils 
 are aristocrats of aristocrats, they owe their en- 
 nobling to a sturdy and strenuous business man 
 who a few centuries ago rendered his country a 
 signal service and one that was, in a way, prophetic 
 of the present mighty struggle. The original Cecil, 
 from whom the race may well get its moral and 
 
124 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 intellectual vigor, was a certain Burghley who 
 helped to organise the Merchant Adventurers' 
 Association of London. Through the hold work of 
 this organization London and England threw off 
 the commercial slavery of the Hanseatic League, 
 which had controlled the countrj'^ by corrupting the 
 court. 
 
 The first sound from Mr. Balfour's hps was when 
 he gave the British "Hear, hear" to express his ap- 
 proval of the mayor's allusion to the common cause 
 of England and America. There was what is to 
 us a new and very pleasant mannerism in his turn- 
 ing to the admiral and smiling quite frankly at the 
 reference to the service rendered by the British 
 Navy. An American would have indicated his no- 
 tice and approval much more furtively. When the 
 mayor alluded to victory in the trenches, Mr. Bal- 
 four's hand went to his heart. It was done ab- 
 sently, and may have been accidental. 
 
 The mayor's introduction of Mr. Choate was fol- 
 lowed by a beautiful incident. Mr. Choate stood 
 on a lower level about fifteen feet away. At the 
 mayor's mention of "New York's foremost citizen," 
 Mr. Balfour turned to Mr. Choate with an affec- 
 tionate and smiling regard. He hesitated, took a 
 short step or two, and then went forward with out- 
 stretched hand to the American whom he had known 
 so well and had learned to respect and love when he 
 was Ambassador at the Court of St. James's. The 
 
BRITISH MEN OF THE WAR 125 
 
 incident was free from the least tinge of the theat- 
 rical. It was characterized by such sincerity and 
 good taste that it aroused the kind of feeling that 
 is not spent by making a show. 
 
 Mr. Choate's allusion to Mr. Balfour's lifelong 
 friendship for America recalled to many the 
 Venezuelan trouble, which once brought America 
 and England apparently so near war. It was 
 during the Marquis of Salisbuiy's premiership, and 
 it was Mr. Balfour who, as leader in the House of 
 Commons, announced that his Government would 
 give way virtually on the broad gi^ound that there 
 must never be a war between the two branches of 
 the English-speaking race. 
 
 The English are very sensitive to heat, and Lord 
 Cunliffe must have suffered intensely with his over- 
 coat on. General Bridges was a military statue 
 through it all, but the foreign secretary was per- 
 spiring freely. The room was stifling by the time 
 Mr. Balfour's turn came. The introduction was 
 the signal for a silk-hat salute and a general out- 
 burst that made me doubt whether even the hero of 
 the Marne had called forth greater enthusiasm. 
 
 It was wonderful to see an American audience 
 with a considerable portion of Irish and German 
 Americans giving such a royal welcome to an 
 Englishman. A neighbor at my elbow recalled 
 with appropriate paraphrase Tennyson's lines on 
 the welcome to Queen Alexandra, 
 
126 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 "Saxon and Norman and Dane are we. 
 But all of us Danes in our welcome to thee." 
 
 Mr. Balfour took the welcome with that charm 
 of simplicity and naturalness that is characteristic, 
 but it could be seen that he was touched to his very 
 center. There was not the customary sparing of 
 gesture. On the contrary, the hands were in con- 
 stant action, and his words did n't flow. But it 
 was exactly the speech to sink deepest. He 
 couldn't have produced a better or deeper im- 
 pression by delivering an eloquent oration. As 
 he proceeded, the applause increased, and there was 
 a big outburst when he spoke of America's coming 
 to England's assistance and "sharing our tri- 
 umphs." He spoke with scarcely a trace of what 
 we are pleased to call the English accent. 
 
 When he described the reception at the landing 
 and in the street he was so affected that he had 
 to pause for the simplest words. In telling of the 
 shouts of welcome he said that they came "from 
 every — every — every window, every house — " and 
 later he began a new passage with "Ladies — " 
 
 Those of us who went out together were agreed 
 in the view, that the occasion could hardly have 
 been more successful in its creation of genuine good- 
 will, and that Mr. Balfour had produced by his sim- 
 plicity and even by his halting and embarrassment, 
 if such it was, an effect of sincerity that no rhetorical 
 
BRITISH MEN OF THE WAR 127 
 
 art could have given. I think we were agreed in 
 allotting Arthur James Balfour first place in Eng- 
 lish public life, though we all admitted Lloyd 
 George's superior fitness for war leadership. Cer- 
 tainly in our little discussion Mr. Balfour was ac- 
 corded first rank in all England as a simple, great- 
 hearted gentleman. 
 
 "For he has worn without abuse 
 The grand old name of gentleman." 
 
 LORD NORTHCLIFFE 
 
 December 11, 1917. Lord Northcliffe has been 
 a conspicuous figure at the Paris conference. He 
 has been more than that, for next to the premiers 
 and Colonel House he has been the most active 
 man. 
 
 "We could not have accomplished what we did 
 without him," the colonel remarked. Northcliffe 
 has more steam than any other man in England, 
 and I cannot recall his equal in that respect in 
 America. His enemies say that he acts first and 
 thinks afterwards, if at all. The truth is that 
 Northcliffe has a wonderfully quick mind in which 
 he maintains a most precise order. Iri his mental 
 housekeeping he is assisted by one of the best mem- 
 ories I have ever known. He does n't know what 
 fear is ; his enemies call this lack of sensibility." 
 
 A surface judgment would be that he is literally 
 made of indiscretion, but those who watch him 
 
128 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 closely will not fail to notice that he always sets 
 a mark for himself and is moving toward it even 
 when he appears to be rmming wild. 
 
 He unquestionably has more to do with directing 
 British opinion than any other man, and j^et, in all 
 except his bulldog tenacity, he is more of a new- 
 country man than a Britisher. 
 
 The love of form and established habit that is 
 characteristically British Lord Northcliffe has no 
 time whatever. Prudence and tact are also left 
 out of his vocabulary. 
 
 I could not help wondering at him the other day 
 when he dictated for publication in "The New York 
 Times," the statement that, of the British cabinet, 
 Lloyd George, Milner, and Smuts were capable, 
 with the implication, at least, that the rest were 
 "shirt-fronts" and "rubber-stamps." Other men 
 may achieve greatness by the toilsome methods of 
 conciliation, but whatever Northcliffe wins will be 
 by using both fists and a pair of stout English boots. 
 
 Wherever Lord Northcliffe is, it pleases him 
 most to be head of the newspaper tribe. If the 
 nobility are on one side of the road and the journal- 
 istic profession on the other, give Lord Northcliffe 
 a chance to choose between them and he will always 
 herd with those who have been his life-long asso- 
 ciates, with whom he retains sympathy and affinity, 
 and whose ability he rates higher than ability in 
 any other line of human endeavor. 
 
THE FO C SLE OF A BRITISH BATTLESHIP 
 
A BRITISH BATTLESHIP TAKING IN OIL FUEL AT SEA 
 
BRITISH MEN OF THE WAR 129 
 
 He is quick-tempered, but good-hearted to the 
 core, and no fellow-journahst ever applies to him in 
 vain for legitimate assistance in his work. He is 
 never ashamed, but always proud of liis profession 
 and willing in any company to stand up and be 
 counted a reporter. 
 
 On the morning that the Supreme War Council 
 was to meet at Versailles, a little woman reporter 
 met him at the door of the Hotel de Crillon. She 
 wanted an interview with Lloyd George, which was 
 ridiculously impossible at such a time. Northcliffe 
 had known her and regarded her highly, and he was 
 at once keen to help her get what she wanted. 
 
 The prime minister, late as usual, for it wanted 
 but a few minutes of the hour appointed to leave 
 the hotel, was holding a conference with Balfour, 
 Milner, and Reading. Lord Northcliffe went in 
 and when he came out he said, "I interrupted them 
 in an important meeting, but I apologised." On 
 the way from the room to the carriage the woman 
 reporter, through Northcliffe's good offices, had a 
 chat with the prime minister and got a story that 
 went all over the world from the "Petit Parisien." 
 
 Lord Northcliffe was here, there, and everywhere, 
 for and with the American Mission. Since its de- 
 parture I happen to know that he has been working 
 day and night "buttoning up" work necessarily left 
 uncompleted by them. 
 
 If there were such an office as general manager 
 
130 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 of the details of war, it would be difficult at this time 
 to find any man better suited for that job. Another 
 man who gives the same impression of hustling effi- 
 ciency is Sir Eric Geddes, who, it seems to me, 
 should have been included with the "capables" in 
 the Lloyd George cabinet. 
 
 London, December 7, 1917. I have had an in- 
 terview at "The London Times" office, in Printing 
 House Square, with Lord Northcliffe, who is the 
 storm center of the present political crisis. The 
 fall of the Asquith Government follows on the con- 
 tinued hammering of the Northcliffe press, and 
 Lord Northcliffe is blamed or praised according to 
 the point of view. 
 
 *'The whole country has risen to the leadership of 
 Lloyd George," said Lord Northcliffe. "The 
 English spirit responds to his will and determina- 
 tion. 
 
 "He has summoned to his council the best bus- 
 iness brains of the country, an element that has been 
 entirely neglected by the politicians of the late 
 Government. 
 
 "The English are not an emotional people, but 
 the crowds, which gathered in such numbers and 
 with such enthusiasm at the war office to-day, 
 showed that the English people wanted a man and 
 they have got a man. 
 
 "I think that Americans will welcome the Lloyd 
 
BRITISH MEN OF THE WAR 131 
 
 George ministiy. There are likely to be two men 
 in the new cabinet peculiarly acceptable to the 
 United States, one of them in the foreign office, 
 which has to deal with all the questions arising be- 
 tween the two nations." 
 
 Lord Northcliffe was confident of the present 
 crisis working out in such a way as thoroughly to 
 energize the conduct of the war. When asked 
 whether he would enter the Government or take any 
 active personal part in poliitics, Lord Northcliffe 
 said: 
 
 "To a newspaper like 'The New York Times,' 
 which puts into practice on a very large scale and 
 with marked success the doctrine of promoting its 
 own welfare by working along thoroughly imper- 
 sonal and independent lines for the welfare of 
 country and humanity, the course of the newspapers 
 under my management needs no explanation. 
 Throughout all these critical times the so called 
 Northcliffe press has sought nothing for its con- 
 trolling head, and for a reason that may be referred 
 to selfish motives, if only those who examine the 
 motives do so with an informed mind. 
 
 "Newspapers can succeed only when they are 
 newspapers and nothing else, that is to say, when 
 they print the news fully and fairly on the one hand 
 and on the other comment on it, having only the 
 public interest at heart. No purse would be equal 
 to the strain of running a newspaper as a personal 
 
132 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 or political organ to promote the fortunes of its 
 owner. Nor could such a paper ever appeal to a 
 public broad enough to form a base on which to 
 build a real newspaper success. 
 
 "For proof of the fatuity of journalistic endeavor 
 in the form of the party organ a glimpse at the 
 London field is quite sufficient. In nearly every 
 case the abuse of the Northcliffe press comes from 
 some pitiful failure of a newspaper that is a per- 
 sonal or political affair and extra- journalistic in its 
 aims. Such jom'nalism is a fragile mushroom and 
 is bound to perish. To the discriminating eye the 
 criticism indulged in by such newspapers is an un- 
 warranted tribute to power that does not exist or 
 at least not in the form that they apprehend. The 
 Northcliffe press gets no power from and gives none 
 to its director except in so far as he directs it for 
 the good of the nation and in accordance with the 
 demands of public opinion. 
 
 "It is true that an intelligently conducted news- 
 paper can inform and guide public opinion, but this 
 is done more through publishing the news than by 
 the dictum of the editorial. *Ye shall know the 
 truth, and the truth shall make you free* must be 
 the underlying principles of journalism in a democ- 
 racy. 
 
 "To go back to the truth-telling which set the 
 face of England toward real preparedness in this 
 war : We were up against the condition of the Ger- 
 
BRITISH MEN OF THE WAR 133 
 
 man machine-gun being equal in fighting power to 
 one thousand English soldiers, and we were shoot- 
 ing shrapnel at the trenches when in the spring of 
 1915 the 'Times' succeeded in penetrating through 
 the censorshij) with a statement of the facts as they 
 existed in France. Coincidentally with the pub- 
 lication of the news 'The Daily Mail' brought home 
 the responsibihty to the war office in a series of 
 editorials that may be described as brutally frank. 
 
 "Now nine out of ten of the unthinking blamed 
 the director of the Northcliffe press at that time. 
 A wave of indignation swept over the country. 
 Charges were sprung by the privately owned and 
 politically controlled organs. It was charged, per- 
 haps with a color of truth, that the Northcliffe press 
 had been largely responsible for the appointment 
 of Lord Kitchener originally. It never occurred 
 to these un journalistic minds that the responsibility 
 imposed continuing responsibility or the proper con- 
 duct of the war office. 
 
 "The advocacy of Lord Kitchener's appointment 
 had been for public, not private reasons. It was 
 not because he was a personal friend but because he 
 seemed to be the man best fitted for the work. He 
 proved his fitness except in certain particulars, and 
 his deficiencies in those, when they became apparent, 
 laid upon the newspaper, which had been instru- 
 mental in turning him back from Egypt to the war 
 office, a peculiar obligation of frank criticism. 
 
134 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 "Its duty was to the nation when Lord Kitchener 
 was appointed. Its duty remained to the nation 
 when the time came to choose between duty to the 
 nation and bhnd support of the war office. 
 
 "No pride of authorship, no fear of consequences, 
 restrained the Northchffe press when the hour ar- 
 rived to save England through bringing out ugly 
 and terrible facts. There was n't a single sub- 
 scriber or line of advertising or any other immediate 
 journalistic advantage to be gained by it. There 
 were friends to be lost. There was misunderstand- 
 ing hard to bear and not to be cleared away in a 
 life-time. But things had to be done or all the 
 foundation stones upon which had been built the 
 work of a hf etime had to be uprooted and cast aside. 
 And far beyond all that the country would continue 
 to suffer from unrectified error. 
 
 "The criticism of the Asquith Government has 
 been precisely the same. The charges against the 
 Northcliffe interests of personal ambition and con- 
 spiracy and all the rest have come from imagina- 
 tions fed by superabundant ignorance on the sub- 
 ject of independent journalism. 
 
 "Neither friendship nor enmity has had the least 
 part in shaping the policy of our newspapers. Mr. 
 Asquith and Mr. George would be supported and 
 opposed if their places were exchanged. We have 
 tried to sweep the horizon telescopically to find the 
 strong spots for the Allied defense. We have stud- 
 
BRITISH MEN OF THE WAR 135 
 
 ied the situation agonizingly for men to lead, above 
 all, for the man who could rise to an emergency. 
 
 "The man whose development in the war con- 
 ditions was the best and biggest did not happen to 
 be in our own poHtical camp. He was on the op- 
 posite side. His whole ante-bellum career was an- 
 tagonistic to the political principles to which we ad- 
 hered. That mattered not one jot. There were 
 neither political nor personal considerations where 
 the country was at stake. 
 
 "It is not only because of Lloyd George's record 
 that he has the support of the Northcliff e press, but 
 his selection has been come at by a process of elim- 
 ination. He is not a man of detail, but perhaps it 
 is better that his outlook on this great war should 
 be imfettered by so much detail. He has great 
 vision. He will penetrate to the realities. Things 
 the seeing and doing of which in season would have 
 won this war can almost be counted on the fingers 
 of one hand. Not seeing a thousand unessentials 
 is a help in seeing the ten essentials. 
 
 *'Lloyd George has an enthusiasm that is in itself 
 genius. He infects others with it, and thus they 
 are made to put forth their best effort. His un- 
 selfishness, his sincerity, his sympathy for the com- 
 mon man, his pure patriotism, his insight, his bound- 
 less energy, and his power to preach to the nation 
 the uncompromising faith in victory which animates 
 his whole being will bring success to his leadership. 
 
136 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 "We shall see the war stride at last. The ma- 
 chine will be geared to run at high speed. The un- 
 alterable resolve of this people to put forth every 
 ounce, the veiy last agony of effort, will find ex- 
 pression in a human being responsive to that su- 
 preme will. 
 
 "And permit me to add, the leadership of the 
 gi-eatest democrat in the world, the most true and 
 tried upholder of free institutions, and the most 
 sincere champion of common people should renew 
 and make vital and living the bonds which bind us 
 to the hundred millions across water who enjoy the 
 same liberty and who are of our tongue and blood." 
 
 As I was leaving Lord Northcliffe, he called me 
 back and asked me to include the following in what I 
 cabled to the "Times": 
 
 "A letter has been quoted here as having been 
 received in America from a man named Trevelyan, 
 who writes 'M. P.' after his name, and purports to 
 put forward peace aspirations on behalf of a body 
 of sentiment in this country. He may be a member 
 of Parliament, (there are 670 of them,) but if he is, 
 I never heard of him." 
 
 SIR HORACE PLUNKETT 
 
 If I were asked to mention the Britisher who, I 
 think, is most familiar and sympathetic with Amer- 
 ica and her institutions and traditions, Sir Horace 
 Plunkett would come first into my mind. 
 
BRITISH MEN OF THE WAR 137 
 
 I have happened to see something of him on both 
 sides of the ocean, and he seems to me to be equally 
 at home in Washington and London. He is a 
 friend of President Wilson and an intimate 
 of both Colonel House and Colonel Roosevelt. 
 The latter found in him a most helpful adviser 
 on agricultural and conservation subjects, which 
 he made important concerns of his administra- 
 tion. When recovering from the injuries re- 
 ceived in the Irish rebellion a year ago, Sir Horace 
 went to a sanitarium in Michigan for the period 
 of his convalescence, and he has but recently re- 
 turned. 
 
 Sir Horace belongs to the family of which Lord 
 Dunsany is the head. I believe that his father, the 
 late baron, had some cattle interests in America. 
 At all events, the present Sir Horace, a younger 
 son, went to Wyoming in 1879 and remained in 
 America ten years. Wherever he goes he makes 
 friends through his gentle optimism and sturdy 
 character, "the synthesis of the ideal and the prac- 
 tical," and when he came home to Ireland he left 
 behind him associations that he has continued to 
 cherish. 
 
 His unanimous selection as chairman of the Irish 
 Convention was a unique tribute. Amid all the 
 conflict of opinion the presidency went to Plunkett 
 by common consent. He is certainly entitled to re- 
 gard his choice as the crowning honor of a life 
 
138 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 devoted to Ireland. For British patriot that he is, 
 he is an Irishman to his heart's core. 
 
 His hfe has been a labor of love for Ireland. It 
 was one of those rare instances in which high motive 
 and practical success were combined. He came 
 back from America in 1889, thirty-five years of 
 age, with an irrepressible enthusiasm that has 
 been molded into a grand purpose, to redeem Ire- 
 land from poverty to prosperity. With the pure 
 zeal of a crusader he went about preaching coop- 
 eration, cooperation, cooperation, cooperation for 
 the purchase of seed, so as to buy the best at the 
 cheapest price, for the purchase of fertilizer, and 
 for the marketing of the crop. All of this Pat 
 had previously done in the happy-go-lucky way of 
 his race. 
 
 The work went slowly at fii'st ; only a pure zealot 
 would have held on. Having finally made a start 
 in building a cooperative machine, Plunkett went 
 after legislation, and at last secured the passage of 
 laws that gave tenants right of purchase on favor- 
 able terms. 
 
 To-day the Ireland that groaned under its hard- 
 ships thirty years ago is one of the most prosperous 
 sections of Great Britain. It is said that while in 
 politics representatives of the different Irish sec- 
 tions will beat each other's brains out with shillalahs 
 on sight, the same representatives will sit down to- 
 
BRITISH MEN OF THE WAR 139 
 
 gether in amity in one of Sir Horace Plunkett's 
 agricultural meetings. 
 
 These facts will give some idea of the fitness of 
 Sir Horace for the post to which he has been called 
 and the momentum that his selection imparts to the 
 cause of a pacified and united Ireland. In the first 
 flush of enthusiasm that this act of the convention 
 has generated there are new and strong hopes of 
 settling the problems hitherto regarded as insoluble. 
 It is difl[icult to imagine any source more prolific 
 of encouragement for the Allied cause than such 
 a settlement. Every influence in America that can 
 be brought to bear ought to be counted on, for the 
 United States is now irrevocably committed to this 
 war, and it is a case of "one for all, and all for 
 one. 
 
 Incidentally it may be mentioned that one of Sir 
 Horace Plunkett's cherished ambitions has been to 
 serve America in respect to her agi'icultural inter- 
 ests. The subject is one about which he has writ- 
 ten, and I know that he stood ready to give some 
 such personal leadership as he gave to Ireland, if 
 desired. In the last year, he has not been robust, 
 and in such a cause as Irish reconciliation he will 
 put out the last ounce of his strength. May success 
 bring him rejuvenation instead of exhaustion. 
 
140 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 MAJOR ASTOR 
 
 In the appointment of his parliamentary secre- 
 taries Lloyd George once again illustrates the 
 happy faculty possessed by the prime minister of 
 drawing upon the entire civilization for public serv- 
 ice. His hunt for available material is not limited 
 by faction, party, or social caste. Of lively interest 
 to America is the drafting of Major Waldorf Astor 
 as one of the secretaries. 
 
 Major Astor is the Conservative M. P. for 
 Plymouth, and the eldest son and heir of Lord 
 (William Waldorf) Astor. He is a Conservative 
 in politics, and by wealth and position is associated 
 with the upper class, and the prime minister in his 
 wide searcli for Government servants who can serve, 
 singled him out. To-day Major Astor v/as already 
 at work superintending the erection of huts which 
 are to house the prime minister's staff, in the gar- 
 den, or wliat we call the backyard, of No. 10 
 Downing Street. For Major Astor himself, Mrs. 
 Lloyd George has given up two rooms that belonged 
 to the residential part of the premier's headquar- 
 ters, so great is the press for accommodation for 
 the enlarged official staff made necessary by the 
 strenuous war program. 
 
 When I saw Major Astor to-day I could appre- 
 ciate the reasons for I^loj^d George's choice. He 
 has the ease and kindness which make friends in- 
 
BRITISH MEN OF THE WAR 141 
 
 stantly. If I had not loiown who he was I should 
 have been doubtful from his manner and speech as 
 to whether he was American or English. 
 
 As is well known, Major and Mrs. Astor, for- 
 merly Miss Langhorne of Virginia, are warmly 
 American in sympathy and take a lively interest in 
 all that goes on across the Atlantic. At Cliveden, 
 their place on the Thames, they have made room 
 for the famous Canadian Hospital, with its one 
 thousand beds, where everything from toothbrush 
 to cot is made in Canada. Mrs. Astor devotes her- 
 self to this hospital, and it is not too much to say 
 that no woman has given herself more completely 
 to the work of caring for the wounded and helping 
 the permanently incapacitated. 
 
 Major Astor has treated the war as an oppor- 
 tunity for intensive effort. His political affiliations 
 as a Tory have interfered in no wise with his willing- 
 ness to accept service, however offered, and it hap- 
 pened that circumstances some time ago brought 
 him within the orbit of the present prime minister. 
 It speaks well for the breadth of both that they 
 found the association congenial from the first, and 
 now the prime minister has called the young poli- 
 tician to his side in delicate and important work. 
 
 At the risk of violating the modesty of Major 
 Astor I am going to gratify the interest of America 
 by dwelling somewhat upon his personality. There 
 are few young men in either the political or social 
 
142 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 life of the country more popular or more trusted. 
 If fate had cast his lot in the United States, it 
 would have been the same. His talents and en- 
 gaging qualities lie deeper than conventionality. 
 If he were in New York he would make a live 
 man to run for mayor and a good official after he 
 was elected, and perhaps he would be more pop- 
 ular on the east side than on Fifth Avenue. 
 
 Major Astor among other activities has belonged 
 to a coterie that backed and edited the "Round 
 Table," a publication a good deal like our own 
 "New Republic." The chief editor of the "Round 
 Table," Philip Kerr, is to be another secretary to 
 Mr. Lloyd George. The "Round Table" circle 
 is composed of live-wire Conservatives, men of high 
 social position who set no store by that, but who 
 put themselves above caste by rendering real serv- 
 ice of any kind. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 TO EUROPE WITH PERSHING 
 
 May 28 — June 7, 1917. We got under way 
 about five o'clock on May 28. As far as we could 
 ascertain there was no convoy and we had the fog- 
 horn going nearly all night. 
 
 My seat was at the captain's table with some 
 English officers, one of whom. Colonel Puckle, had 
 been with the Balfour party. General Pershing 
 and his personal staff, constituting a party of eight 
 or ten, had a table to themselves. The civilians, or 
 reserves, all wore uniform, while the regular officers 
 were in mufti. Soldiers — except the staff — had 
 their meals an hour earlier than passengers. 
 
 In the afternoon all the military on board were 
 ordered to appear before the medical staff for vac- 
 cination against smallpox, typhoid, and para- 
 typhoid, and about two hundi'cd injections were 
 given. The technic was extremely good, a fresh 
 sterile needle being used each time and the skin 
 cleaned up with an iodine pad applied for smallpox 
 vaccination. Most of the men were good-humored, 
 and joked while the operation was going on. 
 
 The wonderful health record made in the army 
 
 143 
 
144 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 and the absolute suppression of typhoid has made 
 every one a wiUing victim to the medical men. 
 
 The captain stays on the bridge pretty steadily. 
 He is the captain who went down with the Arabic. 
 That ship sunk eleven minutes after being hit. We 
 have life-boats, rafts, and belts in profusion, fully 
 four to one of the requirements, to say nothing of 
 our non-sinkable captain. All the officers are busy 
 studying French, and are much interested. 
 Classes have been organized by Major Robert 
 Bacon, Captain Gustave Forges, Major Bayne, 
 and the staff of interpreters. The American offi- 
 cers are profiting greatly by lectures given by ex- 
 perienced English officers aboard, and military con- 
 ferences are going on among the officers. The ship 
 is somewhat shy on social life, as there are only 
 about twelve women and one child in the first 
 saloon. We are proceeding at less than full speed. 
 
 We had a very simple drill for the purpose of 
 showing the passengers the way to their boats. Al- 
 though not told to do so, most of the passengers 
 wore life-belts to the drill. I found myself in boat 
 No. 7 with three ladies and nine men. 
 
 The method of assignment was to put the military 
 together and then divide the rest alphabetically ac- 
 cording to the passenger list. It was remarked that 
 only high officers were together in one boat, which 
 savored too much of putting all your eggs into one 
 basket. Fifteen passengers were allotted to each 
 
TO EUROPE WITH PERSHING 145 
 
 boat, the full capacity of which was sixty. All the 
 boats were swung out on the davits outside the rail 
 on deck. 
 
 Purser Thaw made a short address at luncheon, 
 advising warm clothes in case of an emergency, and 
 also advising sleeping in one's clothes. 
 
 The usual concert for seamen's orphans netted 
 over three hundred dollars, a record for the number 
 of passengers. There were readings by Lyn 
 Harding; Frederick Palmer spoke, and Miss Juta 
 sang. 
 
 I was asked to make an appeal for the children's 
 claims, which I did in part as follows : 
 
 "We make our appeal to-night for the sailorman 
 of the merchant ship — the man who has won for the 
 world, but lost for himself. He has always been 
 even in peace times a modest and nameless hero. 
 Since the war it has seemed to me that of all those 
 who served his country, his service has been most 
 truly and most deeply noble. For he has had no 
 country in the sense of its having furnished him 
 with luxury or comfort. Often he has been obliged 
 to leave wife and children ill-clad and poorly fed. 
 He has gone out to sea and storm, usually without 
 protection of guns or gunners, to meet eye to eye 
 the stealthy and deadly submarine, has met it, been 
 cruelly used by it, and then, perhaps, has gone 
 again and still again. We might have lost without 
 the merchant ship and its gallant crew, these men 
 
146 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 who have served without reward; who were free to 
 refuse, but who volunteered their services; who 
 braved unseen dangers ; filled unnamed gi'aves, and 
 left their children to an uncertain and absent- 
 minded charity. We who are more fortunate, we 
 who go down to the sea in ships and know its dan- 
 gers and its terrors, yes, who even now stand in 
 the shadow of them, we should feel it a privilege to 
 give — give to the children of those who have died in 
 a service to which we owe our freedom and life 
 itself." 
 
 But the big feature was the first public appear- 
 ance of General Pershing, who made a fine, soldier- 
 like impression. Colonel Alvord presided, and the 
 occasion was altogether successful. 
 
 On Sunday Lyn Harding and Dr. Beaumont 
 conducted the Episcopal service, and passengers 
 who failed to attend requested another service, 
 which was held in the evening. In the afternoon 
 Major Hugh Young dehvered an interesting ad- 
 dress to a large audience. 
 
 At dawn on June 6 destroyers wheeled into line 
 with us about half a mile off our forward quar- 
 ters, the Stars and Stripes flying bhthely from their 
 mizzens. As the day wore on and the ship's com- 
 pany assembled on deck, there was no demonstra- 
 tion or ceremony, but there was general satisfac- 
 tion. The destroyers frisked about like squirrels, 
 speeding up, slowing down, crossing our bows, 
 
TO EUROPE WITH PERSHING 147 
 
 circling round the ship, and otherwise disporting 
 themselves after the fashion of a four-funneled 
 high-speed war craft ready to dash at any sea 
 monster that might appear. Plow inspiring it is to 
 see the bright blue banner of freedom fluttering at 
 their mastheads! Every passenger has a sense of 
 elation ; his stride on deck becomes more elastic, and 
 light-hearted laughter rings out from the saloons. 
 Men and women stand at the rail for hours on end 
 watching the destroyers' manoeuvers. 
 
 We did not know it, but we had all been suffer- 
 ing from a subconscious nervous strain. Now it is 
 lifted. Uncle Sam has come to Europe with his 
 own fighting machines. 
 
 There is something of a national drama in this 
 voyage for freedom. It is the return of the May- 
 flower, armed. 
 
 ARRIVAL IN PARIS 
 
 The special train bearing General Pershing and 
 his party to Paris arrived at the Gare du Nord. 
 I happened to be where I had a close view of the 
 details of his reception. General Pershing ap- 
 peared in the doorway of the car: immediately in 
 front of him was the guard of honor in gray uni- 
 forms, and at the left the band of the Garde Re- 
 publicaine. The general filled the small door of the 
 car as he stood erect, motionless, and expression- 
 less, his eyes fixed above the heads of the reception 
 
148 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 partj^, which occupied the clear space of the plat- 
 form. The band immediately struck up "The 
 Star-Spangled Banner." His right hand was in- 
 stantly at salute and remained so until our national 
 air and "La Marseillaise" were finished. There 
 he stood, a statuesque figure, the very impersona- 
 tion and incarnation of West Point training and 
 tradition, as fine a specimen of American-style, 
 physical manhood as could be found in a month's 
 search from the Atlantic to the Pacific. 
 
 When the music stopped. General Pershing 
 stepped swiftly down the car steps to the platform. 
 Ambassador Sharp introduced himself and wel- 
 comed liim; then came Viviani. After the latter's 
 effusive welcome Pershing turned a little to the 
 right, and there stood "Papa" Joffre. I never 
 want to see anything finer than the meeting of those 
 two. Involuntarily, each stretched out both hands 
 to the other. They stood face to face without a 
 word. I have never seen such a smile as wreathed 
 the face of the great marshal. It did not change 
 in the course of the salutation. His eyes were so 
 fixed in their gaze on the American general that 
 they looked almost blind. There was no need for 
 a word from Joffre. What he would have said 
 was as plain as if he were shouting it: "You have 
 come, God bless you! a splendid soldier from a 
 people unconquerable in their greatness, to help 
 saye France — my France! I know your country 
 
TO EUROPE WITH PERSHING 149 
 
 and I know you, and the salvation of France is 
 sure." After that the hand-shaking with Pain- 
 leve, with the representatives from the Elysees, and 
 even with Foch, seemed perfunctory. 
 
 As the party moved toward the gate there was 
 a shout — a real rebel yell. It had not only the 
 volume, hut the tang in it ; it smote one's tympanum. 
 It took me back to New York and the shouting for 
 Joffre that rocked the Woolworth Tower. This 
 rebel yell was repeated over and over again. It 
 was even more tremendous when the party reached 
 the street, and it was taken up and spread as by 
 an electric current from square to square until it 
 became faint in the distance. 
 
 I was able to get a taxi and rode down the rue 
 de Lafayette behind the military party. I have 
 often seen Paris in a gala mood before, but to-day 
 it was an entirely different Paris. The people on 
 the street were either old or very young. The 
 women greatly outnumbered the men. Every face 
 wore a smile, not the happy, care-free smile of the 
 old fete-days, but a smile that clearly came from 
 a suffering heart, a heart that feels the world had 
 turned so bad that hope has almost died, that the 
 only good thing left is to meet whatever befalls with 
 patience and courage. Then suddenly comes 
 proof that there is good in the world after all; 
 there are chivalrous hearts, generous impulses; 
 there is kinship among men. For succor had come 
 
150 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 from far off, beautiful America. Here were the 
 actual soldiers who were to be followed by hun- 
 dreds of thousands of others, bringing not weapons 
 only, but warm flesh and blood to help France. 
 
 IN PARIS 
 
 The American contingent has encountered in 
 Paris a spell of weather that is homelike in its heat. 
 Last night at the Hotel de Crillon I found that the 
 orderlies who keep General Pershing's door were 
 fairly panting. As I came out one of them said, 
 "Would you mind using your influence with these 
 hotel people to get us some ice-water?" I went to 
 the oflice at once and made the request, which was 
 promptly complied with. I followed it up to see 
 that the thirsty dough-boys got the real thing, and 
 I had the satisfaction of hearing the ice-water hiss 
 as it went down their throats from an upturned 
 carafe. 
 
 Speaking of private soldiers, some of those who 
 have come in with the suddenness of patriotic im- 
 pulse are feeling a bit of the sting of distinction of 
 rank. There is no place quite so unsafe for 
 democracy as an army. On the ship it did n't make 
 much difference. Those who had social position 
 at home were able to maintain a certain equality. 
 Now that distinctions of rank are necessary in deal- 
 ing with the French Army, privates are privates; 
 they cannot break through by virtue of some noii- 
 
TO EUROPE WITH PERSHING 151 
 
 military influence. In some cases the result has 
 been just a httle mortifying. Men of breeding and 
 education who serve as interpreters, clerks, etc., are 
 excluded from association with officers. This is not 
 by any wish of the officers; it is simply military 
 practice. Deviation is impossible. 
 
 A burning question has been raised. By what 
 name shall the American private be called? The 
 Englishman is a Tommy, the Frenchman a Poilu. 
 It has been suggested that Sarmny, in compliment 
 to Uncle Sam, would be appropriate. And some 
 one suggested Teddy. 
 
 This expedition is one of the greatest experiences 
 soldiers ever had, and our men are enjoying it. 
 From the commander-in-chief down to the dough- 
 boy, our khaki commands the attention on the 
 streets that royal purple would get. The Ameri- 
 can soldier is the cynosure of all eyes; the 
 glances are intent, affectionate, caressing. But this 
 life in France is n't all ambrosia. Now that the 
 workaday part has begun, the officers are realizing 
 that they can't continue to live at the expensive 
 hotels, and are looking about for quarters more in 
 keeping with their purses. Comfort and cheapness 
 do not go hand in hand, and the officers are having 
 considerable difficulty locating themselves satis- 
 factorily. I met a lieutenant-colonel to-day in the 
 arcade on the rue de Rivoli who was wrestling with 
 this problem; 
 
152 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 "It is impossible to live decently in Paris on the 
 salary of an officer and have enough left to support 
 a family in America," he said, mopping his brow. 
 Before I had gone another block I met a private 
 whom I had come to know on the Baltic. "Hav- 
 ing a fine time?" I asked. "So-so," he replied. 
 "But let me tell you something. I was so hot last 
 night that I had to have a drink of whisky. I went 
 out and looked for it and I found it. But what 
 do you think it cost me? Fifty cents! F-i-f-t-y 
 c-e-n-t-s for one drink of whisky 1" 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 OUR ARMY IN FRANCE 
 ARRIVAL 
 
 July 1, 1917. As our party rode through the fair 
 French country, every acre bursting with ripened 
 plenty, there were many quarter hours of anxious 
 silence, and it was an immense relief to find our 
 gallant fellows all safe when we arrived at a port. 
 
 We felt like making a round of the commanders 
 and shaking hands on their outwitting Boche 
 prowlers, and cabling congratulations to Washing- 
 ton on excellent arrangements well carried out. In 
 normal conditions it would be something of a feat 
 to bring so many boats and men across the Atlantic 
 without even a minor mishap ; to do it in the teeth of 
 hostile submarines was to win America's first round 
 against Germany. 
 
 Aside from feeling that we had scored hand- 
 someh'^ on this particular venture, there was solid 
 satisfaction in the practical demonstration that 
 troops in large numbers could be sent across the 
 ocean, and that in the course of a few months an 
 American army big enough to count in the final 
 decision would surely be landed in France. 
 
 153 
 
154 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 There was soon opportunity for more enthusiasm. 
 We saw looming through the mist the shapes of 
 other transports coming up to the dock. One of 
 them passed so close that every face was visible. 
 The docks were literally yellow with men. There 
 must have been a thousand in sight. We could 
 have shaken hands with those nearest us. There 
 was not a sound from them, no singing, no shout- 
 ing. Even when I hailed them and asked them 
 about the voyage, there came back, and only from 
 two or three, a single word, "Good," or "Fine." 
 They had not found themselves in this strange 
 country. They had had a long voyage, packed like 
 sardines in transports menaced by a silent and in- 
 visible enemy. They were a beautiful lot of young- 
 sters, clean-limbed and bright-eyed. 
 
 Just as the transport was abeam, somebody on 
 the bridge called out through a megaphone: 
 "Don't stand at the rail! You're not here for 
 ornament!" There was a scampering, and two or 
 three dozen men ran up a companion way below the 
 bridge. When they had reached a barrier at the 
 top they all yaulted it with the lightness of 
 antelopes. 
 
 We spent a good part of the day walking about 
 among the newly arrived soldiers and were con- 
 stantly stiiick with their intelligence and independ- 
 ence. They came from a civilization in which 
 equality and fraternity were genuine. They were 
 
OUR ARMY IN FRANCE 155 
 
 real human beings; there was no stamp of the 
 humihation that comes from habitual acknowledg- 
 ment of social inferiority^ But this attitude does 
 not interfere with their accepting military dis- 
 cipline. West Point traditions are unbending in 
 that matter. 
 
 The troops were glad to touch earth after the 
 long voyage, but among the recruits there was some 
 reaction. A seaport town in a strange country on 
 a rainy day does not redeem the promise made to 
 the imagination of an adventuring youngster. 
 
 It was pay-day, and in the afternoon the streets 
 began to be crowded with kliaki-clad figures, and as 
 the effect of the voyage wore off, there was in- 
 creased curiosity and animation. ''Banque" was 
 the first French word the soldiers had to tackle, and 
 it gave them no trouble. "Bankwee" was their way 
 of saying it. 
 
 One of General Pershing's orderlies, who stood 
 watching them go into a bank to get French money, 
 growled patronizingly, as one knowing the country 
 and having enormous experience, "They won't have 
 a cent left to-morrow." 
 
 Intensely interesting it was to watch this swarm 
 from the West, to feel the vivid contrast with the 
 European order and civilization, and to speculate 
 on the effect of the linking of the two. It will be 
 enormous and permanent. In parts of France to- 
 day you see Mongolian types surviving from in- 
 
156 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 vasions centuries ago. Americans will leave their 
 imprint here, and take home with them influences 
 that may modify American thought. 
 
 The arrest of two stevedores for using profane 
 language fm'nished an amusing incident. They 
 were carried off to the lockup in deference to 
 French bystanders, though the objectionable 
 language might very well have been thought by the 
 said bystanders to have been American for ''Vive 
 la France" 
 
 Another amusing feature was the curiosity in one 
 another shown by various kinds of negroes. I saw 
 some of our good Southern darkies trying to make 
 friends with black soldiers straight from Africa, and 
 of course they could n't understand a word either 
 said, though all of them looked exactly alike. 
 
 The general and his staff arrived at the port at 
 an early hour in the morning. The attitude of 
 residents was one of mild interest and curiosity. 
 There was no outburst such as greeted General 
 Pershing in Paris. They were met by local officials 
 and a fair-sized crowd, and drove at once to inspect 
 the camp. Everybody was pleased at the results 
 accomplished in so short a time. The camp seems 
 sanitary and adequate. Naturally, work has only 
 just begun; a war city will spring up here within 
 a few months. 
 
 We met one or two friends among naval officers, 
 and I had the welcome opportunity of going aboard 
 
OUR ARMY IN FRANCE 157 
 
 a destroyer. It was beautifully shipshape after the 
 long voyage, and both officers and men were fresh 
 and fit, despite their constant vigilance. To look 
 into the faces of such men and hear their sensible 
 and confident, but never boastful, talk, is to get 
 re- Americanized. 
 
 PARIS 
 
 July 4, 1917. The appearance in Paris of 
 organized soldiery from America come to fight the 
 Germans side by side with the French, and their 
 marching through the streets of Paris to ragtime 
 music produced by their own bands in the presence 
 of tremendous crowds, all on the anniversary of 
 American independence, constituted one of the 
 great historical occasions of all time. Next will 
 come their occupation of their part of the line at 
 the front, and then, let us hope, the realization of 
 Judge Walter Berry's climax in to-day's speech, 
 "Their arrival on the Rhine.'* 
 
 I saw the show from many vantage-points from 
 eight o'clock this morning until the finish. 
 
 Everybody I saw was most impressed by the 
 crowds. They might be bigger and noisier in New 
 York, but I have never seen so many wearing their 
 hearts on their sleeves as to-day. There were seas 
 of faces everywhere, war-bitten, trustful, eager. 
 Of young men there was almost complete absence. 
 Women of all ages, young boys, old men, and tens 
 
158 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 of thousands of little children lined the streets. 
 They had picked up broken bits of English, like, 
 "Welcome," "Glad you 're here," and "Happy to 
 see you," which they flung almost with sobs of 
 laughter with the flowers they tossed upon the 
 troops and into the carriages. 
 
 A smile from any one wearing an American 
 uniform awakened in their eyes an expression of 
 delight that only Latins are capable of. I saw one 
 old soldier in tears which he made no attempt to 
 conceal while the ceremony was in progress at the 
 Invalides. 
 
 Although the infantry were mostly recruits, 
 they made a splendid impression. It was a pity 
 that it was impracticable to pick out a body of 
 regulars only for an occasion from which Paris will 
 have received a permanent impression. 
 
 There was a wait of half an hour or more at the 
 Hotel de Ville for rest and freshening up. There 
 I fell in with a Frenchman, a drill-master, who had 
 been handling American and English recruits. He 
 commented favorably on our lot, which he had had 
 opportunity to inspect closely. "As human beings 
 and raw material they 're the very best," he said, 
 "but they need a deal of training. The hardest 
 thing to teach them is not to be too brave. They 
 must learn first to hide. That 's the prime essential 
 in this war. Bravery and human flesh are no good 
 
OUR ARMY IN FRANCE 159 
 
 against machine-guns or barrage fire. Those 
 splendid fellows will want to go right at the enemy- 
 just as the English did, who are only now learning 
 how to strike without risking themselves too much. 
 Methods in this war are largely those of stealth; 
 you must use men in combination with plenty of 
 artillery, machine-guns, and air-planes. 
 
 General Pershing rode with Major Margetts, 
 passed us, and drew up for review on the Boulevard 
 Diderot, where it is crossed by the avenue Dum- 
 eril beyond the Bastille. A wee girl brought a 
 bouquet, climbed on the running-board, and 
 presented it to General Pershing, who smiled his 
 pleasure. The spectators in this part of the city 
 were of a class who would be ugly in a revolutionary 
 period, but they were all smiles to-day. When the 
 troops marched past, they were almost entirely 
 hidden behind the crowds, mostly women running 
 alongside. At the hospital entrance of the ceme- 
 tery General Pershing joined Marshal Joffre, and 
 they stayed together throughout the ceremony and 
 sat together afterward. There was a tremendous 
 press inside the cemetery. Many of the women 
 were carrying babies, and the men were holding 
 up floral pieces above their heads. Brand Whit- 
 lock's address was a classic, and his characterization 
 of German Kultur as "the camouflage of civiliza- 
 tion" was most apt. Colonel Stanton gave us 
 
160 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 twenty minutes of old-fashioned Fourth of July 
 eloquence, while General Pershing made his usual 
 soldierly, two-minute address. 
 
 FIELD HEADQUARTERS 
 
 August 19, 1917. The contrast of the great 
 numbers of Americans with this Old World en- 
 vironment in which they find themselves never loses 
 its vividness for me. To study this contrast be- 
 tween new country and old country with all the 
 advantage of juxtaposition excites an interest little 
 short of thrilling. Never was there such a spectacle 
 in all history as that of the fresh millions of free 
 America flocking to the rescue of beleaguered and 
 exhausted Europe. 
 
 My heart was full when I mingled with my 
 khaki-clad compatriots in the little valley that con- 
 stitutes the field headquarters, but it was the full- 
 ness of home feeling and familiarity, rather than 
 pride. Having seen much, as I have recently, of 
 the martial breed, I was just a bit disappointed to 
 find myself in an atmosphere much less surcharged 
 with war. Perhaps it is yet too early to expect 
 otherwise, but as I went up and down among these 
 young fellows, talking to as many as I could, they 
 seemed still mothers' boys to me, specially my own 
 Southerners with their soft accents. As soon as 
 they knew that they were talking to a friend from 
 home, they set up a cry for a popular brand of 
 
AT BAPAUME 
 
OUR ARMY IN FRANCE 161 
 
 tobacco which cost ten cents, or perhaps less, in 
 America, but which can't be bought here for less 
 than as many francs per bag. All other kinds of 
 tobacco are plentiful; only what the soldiers want 
 is scarce. 
 
 It is wonderful how these young chaps have 
 settled down into the village life. Of course they 
 don't speak French, but they manage to understand 
 and make themselves understood. The popula- 
 tion of the village is pretty much limited to women 
 and children, and they have been captivated by the 
 free and fearless friendship that the American boys 
 promptly tendered to them. In the quiet summer 
 night the French women sat five or six on a bench 
 in front of their houses in the main street. I drew 
 many of them out on the point of how they liked 
 the change from deserted village conditions, which 
 had prevailed previously. They were frankly 
 charmed. They liked the American boys, indeed, 
 loved them, they were so affectionate and consid- 
 erate. "GentiV was the word most used. It had 
 been a great change for the better since they had 
 come to bring hfe and movement to their town and 
 later. Heaven grant, to bring an end to the cruel 
 war to which this one small community had con- 
 tributed its whole manhood ; over sixty would never 
 return. 
 
 My room was in a neat little house tenanted by 
 a young widow with five small daughters. She 
 
162 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 kept a store in the front part, let the rear room, 
 and hved on the second floor. This house was a 
 kind of headquarters for our soldiers. They petted 
 the children, who in return taught them French, 
 and the exchange was accounted mutually profit- 
 able. I talked with the mother, and she said that 
 the character and conduct of these young fellows 
 had been a revelation to her. She specially com- 
 mented on their inborn regard for women which 
 one does n't see manifested so positively in a 
 European country, and said they were always want- 
 ing to do something for her, and as for the children, 
 they idolized them. 
 
 I saw soldiers drawn up in line awaiting a visit 
 of inspection. As at the port when they arrived 
 at the end of June, so here they won my spontaneous 
 admiration as raw material for an army. They 
 were all in good health and spirits, but not yet, 
 so far as I could judge, inoculated with any particu- 
 lar militarism. I could n't help being reminded of 
 an encampment of State militia. 
 
 I was not content to be constantly shown around, 
 but wandered about alone part of a day, seeing 
 as much as I could in a short time. I inspected 
 two kitchens, and found them clean, with excellent 
 food and cooking. I climbed to a hayloft in which 
 twenty-five men were billeted. A half-dozen were 
 sitting on the floor eating a midday dinner of beef 
 stew, white bread, and coffee. It looked and 
 
OUR ARMY IN FRANCE 163 
 
 smelled good. This loft was taken care of by an 
 old "Dick Deadeye" of a Frenchman, who was 
 evidently enjoying his experiences to the full, and 
 referred to the soldiers as his "amis" but I was 
 somewhat disappointed to notice that "Dick's" 
 general friendliness extended to the spiders, who 
 had spun their webs at will under the roof. 
 
 I dined at the division officers' mess in one 
 village and at the battalion officers' mess in another, 
 and in both had good food and enjoyed real Ameri- 
 can hospitality. At one of these meals I had a 
 chance to get the regular-army officers' side of the 
 question of promotion, as I had before heard the 
 reserve officers'. I sat next to a captain who had 
 enlisted thirty-two years ago. He served thirteen 
 years as a private and non-commissioned officer. 
 It had taken him nineteen years to pass from 
 second lieutenant to captain. Perhaps a case like 
 this may suggest a new line of thought to your 
 reserve officers of a few months who grow im- 
 patient at delay in promotion. 
 
 I went from one village to another until I found 
 myself at the very end of the American field head- 
 quarters. My visit had fallen out fortunately, for 
 in this last lot I found what I had been wishing 
 for. Here it was not a case of hundreds of young 
 soldiers strewn about anyhow; there was organiza- 
 tion, atmosphere, authority ; you might be shot, but 
 it would be for cause and not by accident. 
 
164 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 I suppose I would not be permitted to identify 
 the troops to whom I refer. But I know that 
 General Petain identified them. They had waited 
 from eight in the morning till five at night to be 
 inspected. When the generals came, these troops, 
 showing not the faintest sign of fatigue, went 
 through the appropriate portion of drill with beauti- 
 ful precision and snap. What was the difference 
 between this regiment and the others? As far as 
 I could learn, the proportion of regulars and re- 
 cruits was precisely the same. Apparently the 
 difference lay chiefly in the possession by this regi- 
 ment not only of its own officers, but its own 
 history and traditions. Pride in a past stimulated 
 new men to strenuous exertion. It was obvious 
 that this regiment might be profitably used as a 
 pace-maker for other regiments. Just as here the 
 regulars gave the cue to the recruits, so could the 
 example of the regiment as a whole be made potent 
 to arouse a spirit of emulation throughout the whole 
 new army. Here are soldiers ready at the blowing 
 of a bugle to go in against the Germans. Their 
 village is a Spotless Town. They wash their own 
 clothes every night; their leather and metal are 
 bright with polishing; they move smartly; they are 
 every inch of them soldiers from head to heel. 
 
 As the army organization progresses, the 
 experience of this regiment, as well as of all regi- 
 ments in the English army, would seem to point 
 
OUR ARMY IN FRANCE 165 
 
 to the adoption of names for different units. 
 Tradition is evolved out of a name and preserved 
 in it. Pride in youi' regiment works wonders. 
 Who can recall without a thrill such names as Cold- 
 stream Guards, Black Watch, Grenadier Guards, 
 Gordon Highlanders, Dublin Fusiliers, Royal 
 Fusiliers? The only approach to a parallel that 
 we have in our army seems to have helped to pro- 
 duce a result that is most excellent, even when 
 judged by expert European standards. 
 
 I dined at the officers' mess of this regiment, and 
 if anything could have increased my sense of satis- 
 faction, it was the information elicted by comparing 
 notes at the table. Of the six regimental officers 
 present four were Virginians. 
 
 "Oh, carry me back! Carry me back] 
 To old Virginny's sho!" 
 
 HUGE TONNAGE NEEDS OF OUR ARMY ABROAD 
 
 The American army in France will need some 
 transporting. Here are figures that are at least 
 approximately correct. 
 
 It is estimated that one hundred pounds of 
 freight per man per day must be unloaded at the 
 port of debarkation. Therefore, when at the end 
 of two years we have, say, one million men in 
 France, we must unload daily one hundred million 
 pounds or fifty thousand tons of freight. 
 
166 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 Three thousand tons can be unloaded daily from 
 a good-sized ship; hence seventeen ships at the 
 wharves, each of them unloading three thousand 
 tons, will fill the requirements. In the United 
 States seventeen ships must be loading fifty- 
 thousand tons a day. This makes a total of thirty- 
 four ships at the docks. Taking as a basis a six- 
 thousand ton (dead weight) ship, we see that 
 seventeen ships must leave New York every two 
 days and seventeen ships leave some French port 
 every two days in transit with army freight. 
 Assuming ten days as the time of passage, there 
 would be one hundred and seventy ships (six 
 thousand tons) en route to and from the United 
 States, which added to the thirty -four at the docks 
 will make a total of two hundred and four ships, 
 assuming no loss or delay. 
 
 To indicate the quantities of certain articles re- 
 quired, fuel for cooking for six months, on a basis 
 of half a cord a day per hundred men, would 
 amount to thirteen thousand, five hundred cords 
 and owing to the scarcity of fuel, part of tliis may 
 have to be brought to France. 
 
 With one million men there will be approx- 
 imately two hundred thousand animals. At 
 fourteen pounds of hay a day, there would be re- 
 quired for six months over four hundred and fifty- 
 six million pounds of hay, which must be imported, 
 and also three hundred and sixty million pounds 
 
OUR ARMY IN FRANCE 167 
 
 of oats. Rations will require eight hundred and 
 fifteen million pounds. Ammunition will run into 
 billions of pounds. 
 
 This freight calculation does not consider what 
 would be required in building and rebuilding rail- 
 roads or cantonments. The space required for 
 storehousing at the base would be about as follows : 
 Rations, etc., two hundred and fifty acres ; fuel, one 
 hundred and fifty acres ; forage, four hundred and 
 fifty acres ; remount depots, two hundred and fifty 
 acres; cantonments for casuals, etc., eight hmidred 
 acres; sick and wounded, one thousand acres; 
 engineer, ordnance, and signal corps, fifteen 
 hundred acres. Allowing for roads, office-build- 
 ings, barracks, etc., the total would be about five 
 thousand acres. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE AGONY OF FRANCE 
 
 The ruined towns of Belgium and France have 
 been written about so much that we have all become 
 case-hardened, and I was surprised at the fierce- 
 ness of my own reaction to such wanton acts as ap- 
 pear in the ruins of Peronne, Bapaume and Arras. 
 I was reminded of what Sir Johnston Forbes- 
 Robertson had said on the destruction of priceless 
 architecture by the Boclie. He set it down as a 
 greater injury to mankind than the loss of life. 
 The latter was replaceable, but the spirit that, com- 
 ing forth from the great silences of a past without 
 railroads, telegraphs, or other modern conveniences, 
 had expressed itself in painting, poetry, and archi- 
 tecture, would perhaps never return to the world, 
 and so the works that it had created and left behind 
 could never be produced. 
 
 Take Peronne, for example. Here, in a vale on 
 the Somme, a country town was built four or five 
 hundred years ago with a poetic taste and artistic 
 enterprise not possible to-day in any city of any 
 size and wealth. When the Germans saw that they 
 could hold Peronne no longer they dynamited every 
 
 168 
 
THE AGONY OF FRANCE 169 
 
 single building that had been left, including the 
 beautiful cathedral and city hall. In the former 
 was found a facetious notice in English: "Don't 
 be annoyed, but admire." 
 
 Peronne was literally pounded to a pulp. There 
 was not a cubic yard of it left whole. 
 
 Nor does this state of ruin fully convey the 
 extent of Boche meanness and devihy. Take the 
 placard, "Don't be annoyed, but admire," and apply 
 the spirit in a thousand ways, little and big, and 
 even then there will come only a hint of the Boche 
 nature in war. For example, sewage deposits were 
 thinly covered over with coal to deceive the French 
 into thinking for a moment that some supply of 
 fuel had been left. 
 
 When I saw and heard these things, I recalled 
 with less skepticism the stories I had heard from 
 the Americans who had come away from Berlin. 
 To give a single instance, one doctor reported this 
 scene to which he had been an eye-witness: there 
 was an idiot in the village near a prison camp. One 
 day an automobile ran over him crushing his legs at 
 the knees. He lay in the street, screaming with 
 agony, while around him gathered a crowd that 
 laughed loudly at what they regarded as sport. 
 
 I have since heard similar stories from officers 
 personally known to me who have given me chapter 
 and verse. For example, the binding and burning 
 of wounded prisoners by the Boche is vouched for 
 
170 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 by a second lieutenant with whom I played golf 
 at St. Andrews before the war, and in whose bona 
 fides I have the utmost confidence. I have never 
 before felt quite willing to accept the stories of war 
 cruelty at par. 
 
 One needs to go no further than the physical evi- 
 dence of barbarous destruction at Peronne, Ba- 
 paume, and Arras to justify the feeling that the 
 German has so long and so fully surrendered him- 
 self to cumulative war impulses and war education 
 that he is at last a different being from the rest. 
 Kipling's classification of the world's people into 
 "human beings and Germans" is not wide of the 
 mark, and a visit to the cities wantonly ruined by 
 the Germans with their overwhehning testimony of 
 unspeakable brutality compel an acceptance of 
 extremist views in respect to the method of dealing 
 with Germany. The good in that country must 
 suffer with the bad, for it is the bad who have been 
 permitted to have full, unbridled sway. 
 
 It was a relief to return from such scenes to the 
 pleasant chateau where I was a guest, and the talk 
 of fellow-visitors, among them General Georgiesco, 
 the Rumanian lieutenant-general, who represents 
 the supreme militarj?^ command of his country at 
 the British front. 
 
 He gave me an interesting idea of the strategic 
 situation of France. The frontier of France, he 
 said, bent back from Switzerland on the south- 
 
THE AGONY OF FRANCE 171 
 
 east to the channel on the northwest. Forces de- 
 fending the country, therefore were precisely in the 
 position of a man trying to fight while leaning so 
 far backward as to lose his equilibrium. General 
 Joffre's problem was to square himself round to 
 the German attack, and this he had successfully 
 done. 
 
 General Georgiesco was at the front partly to 
 inspect the Portugese troops, who are much in ev- 
 idence in the Bethune neighborhood and near the 
 base. They are eager for military duty and when 
 well led shall make a good showing. 
 
 There were some members of the British govern- 
 ment at the chateau. A subject of conversation 
 was the new financial position brought about by 
 America's coming in. The importance of freeing 
 England from the strain of financing the Allies 
 single-handed can hardly be overstated. It had 
 reached the back-breaking point. America's open- 
 handedness with her boundless resources has not 
 only removed the danger of disaster through ex- 
 haustion, but has enabled Britain to turn with a 
 comparatively free mind to her own particular prob- 
 lems of perfecting her great military machine and 
 providing protection against the submarine. 
 
 KHEIMS 
 
 This ruined French town has become a place of 
 pilgrimage, like Jerusalem or Mecca. To come to 
 
172 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 Rheims is a pious act. From every corner of the 
 globe people find their way to this ghost of a city 
 for spiritual rebirth, and to pledge themselves anew 
 to the overthrow of brute force that has here shown 
 itself at its foulest. 
 
 It is here that the conviction of German crim- 
 inality becomes irresistible, for, alas! the sight of 
 Rheims destroys the power to think of Germany 
 in sections. The kaiser is a vandal and a murderer, 
 and his people particeps criminis. It is all one 
 monstrous, brutal Germany, the unprotesting good 
 only serving the dominant bad the better by their 
 supine goodness. 
 
 The cathedi-al is a pitiful spectacle. You ahnost 
 burst into tears at sight of it. And yet the poor 
 mutilated remains of one of the noblest of all the 
 works of man may serve an even greater purpose 
 than the church ever did in its perfect wholeness. 
 Out of its destruction has sprung a spiritual temple, 
 an intangible, but very real, structure in the heart 
 of the world. 
 
 The battered ruin has done more to recreate rev- 
 erence on earth than any church ever built. It also 
 serves another great purpose. In every fight be- 
 tween right and wrong there is an micertainty as 
 to where one begins and the other leaves off. JVIoral 
 confusion is often the worst feature of such a strug- 
 gle. In this mightiest of all moral contests, Rheims 
 js tangible, monumental, unmistakable testimony. 
 
THE AGONY OF FRANCE 173 
 
 Rheims, Louvain, Ypres, Arras, Lille, Peronne — 
 but the greatest of these is Rheims. 
 
 The cathedral as it stands to-day is the inde- 
 structible record of Prussian villainy. There can 
 be no distortion of facts or truth. Lying and sub- 
 terfuge will avail nothing here. The cruel wounds 
 here inflicted write the doom of Prussianism. 
 
 And "when ye spread forth your hands, I will 
 hide mine eyes from you : yea, when ye make many 
 prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of 
 blood." 
 
 I am visiting Rheims in a rain-storm. The scene 
 is one of complete and utter desolation. The cathe- 
 dral has been the target of German gunners, and 
 everything in the line of fire, including an area ap- 
 parently about half a mile by a mile, which takes 
 in the heart of Rheims, has been shattered. 
 
 There seemed a sad irony in the fact that while 
 such buildings as the beautiful city hall have been 
 destroyed, the hideous new court house immediately 
 opposite the cathedral has so far escaped. The fa- 
 mous equestrian statue of the Maid of Orleans is 
 still intact, although there is a big shell hole within 
 a few feet of it. 
 
 The state of the cathedral has been described over 
 and over again. There has been no intense bom- 
 bardment recently, but whenever the Boche finds 
 things dull he fires a shot or two at the church. 
 Each month the destruction is worse than it was the 
 
174 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 previous month. Every sort of projectile, from a 
 three-inch to a sixteen-inch shell has been shot into 
 the great pile. 
 
 One of the main Gothic columns supporting the 
 transept has been shattered, and the whole central 
 portion of the super-structure appears to be on the 
 point of collapse. The famous rose-window has 
 been shot out, but I am happy to learn that much 
 of the priceless stained glass of other windows was 
 removed to a place of safety. 
 
 My visit to Rheims was under a very dis- 
 tinguished escort. I was with Captain Gerard de 
 Ganay, who is one of the heads of the great Creusot 
 munition works, which bears the same relation to 
 France that Krupp's does to Germany. 
 
 Of course we visited Cardinal Lu^on. His pal- 
 ace has been destroyed, and he has moved to one of 
 the parish buildings across the street. There he 
 holds the fort, shells or no shells. 
 
 He is a hero without any heroics. He tells the 
 story of his experiences with feeling, lighted up 
 now and again with humor. We sat in a circle 
 around him, and listened with enchanted interest, 
 watching the while the play of his mobile face. 
 Before saying good-by, I asked if his Eminence had 
 any message for America. 
 
 "Yes," he replied promptly; and as he spoke one 
 of the party translated his words into English. 
 The translation follows: 
 
THE AGONY OF FRANCE 175 
 
 Through the "New York Times" I send my salutations to 
 the United States in the name of my city, my diocese, and 
 my comitry. We thank you for your cooperation in the fight 
 which we are carrying on for the defense of the principles of 
 right, of humanity, and respect for treaties, which are the 
 safeguards of the peace of nations. I thank you also for the 
 charitable offerings which you have sent us for relieving the 
 misery caused by the war. 
 
 The venerable prelate went with us to the door 
 and even followed us outside, where he stood uncov- 
 ered in the rain, so gi'eat was his interest in our 
 visit. In saying adieu to him at last, I ventured 
 to tell him how great a part his own courage and 
 devotion played in the American conception of the 
 destruction of Rheims. And I may add that at this 
 assurance of our appreciation he was frankly 
 pleased. 
 
 We went to the French trenches opposite the 
 point where much of the artillery fire is rained on 
 the cathedral by the Germans, and looked our 
 strafe at them from the front line across a few 
 acres of no-man's-land. All was very quiet on this 
 sector, but a few miles fm*ther west there was in- 
 tense activity, probably in connection with the great 
 offensive since so successfully developed. 
 
 Not even in Alsace have I experienced a more 
 charming welcome and hospitality than in these 
 trenches in front of Rheims. The faces of the offi- 
 cers were literally beaming with trust and affection. 
 
176 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 not for me, but for my glorious country. As we 
 turned back from the remotest front, the officer who 
 had had charge of us bade us good-by, as his route 
 lay in the opposite direction. 
 
 In a few seconds there came the sound of some 
 one overtaking us at a run. I turned round, and 
 there was the officer back again. "America for- 
 ever!" he was crying, "Au revoir and America for- 
 ever!" Who but a Frenchman would have such a 
 pretty emotion and give way to it? It may be 
 deep as a well or shallow as a brook, I care not. It 
 is brightness in this vale of tears. 
 
 When we got back to the hoyau trenches, where 
 the headquarters of the sector were, we went into 
 the semi-subterranean quarters of the captain and 
 sat down, a party of eight, for a discussion of what 
 we had seen. There was the inevitable bottle of 
 wine to put good fellowship in flow. It was inter- 
 ested to observe that in the very heart of the Cham- 
 pagne country the tipple was Italian Asti. 
 
 After three quarters of an hour of comradely 
 communion we said good-by and then turned and 
 shook hands a second time with men who almost 
 certainly had an early tryst with death and yet 
 apparently never gave it a thought. They were 
 a light-hearted company ; it was we who were sad. 
 
 This sadness deepened as we reentered the ruined 
 city in the darkness. There was scarcely a light 
 
THE AGONY OF FRANCE 177 
 
 anywhere. When we passed a house that had a 
 Hght in it we surmised that it must be an undertaker 
 catching up with his work. 
 
 I must not omit mention of a hero of my own 
 craft. Within a few feet of the apse of the cathe- 
 dral, across a narrow wind, is what is left of the 
 office and plant of the Rheims paper, "L'Eclaireur 
 de I'Est." 
 
 This paper comes out daily, about six inches 
 square, folio, and it has never missed an issue. Its 
 plant has been shot all to pieces. A pressman lost 
 his life while operating a hand-press. 
 
 It used to be a fine little plant, with three or 
 four linotypes and as many presses for newspaper 
 and job work, and the building was commodious and 
 suitable. When I paid my visit to-day, there was 
 scarcely a whole piece of machinery in the shop. 
 The roof and floors were full of holes, and the 
 mechanics work in the rain. The floors and the 
 contents of the building were sopping wet, and the 
 conditions were altogether as miserable as it was 
 possible to imagine. 
 
 There was one discord in this diapason of melan- 
 choly. Everybody was cheerfully busy. Every 
 face beamed happiness and good humor. Back of 
 it all there must be a chivalrous heart that is proof 
 against trial. I was sorry not to have the chance 
 of shaking the hand of the editor and proprietor, 
 
178 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 but he had gone out when I called. His was the 
 indomitable spirit ; that I could tell by the way the 
 employes spoke of him. He has the name to go 
 with such a character and career — Paul Dramas. 
 Good luck and long life to you, Monsieur Dramas! 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 IN SWITZERLAND 
 
 Bern, August 8, 1917. Switzerland is the ren- 
 dezvous of nations, but the line between the bellig- 
 erents is severely drawn. In Bern many of the 
 diplomatic gi-oup live at the principal hotel. The 
 secretaries from the German legation have a big 
 table in one corner of the dining-room, where they 
 talk gaily at meal-times, but as they go in and come 
 out, passing former friends among the American 
 secretaries, they are stone-blind, and so are the 
 Americans. 
 
 Switzerland, and especially Bern, the capital, is 
 at present a beehive of German propagandism. 
 Politicians from Berlin, German diplomatists in the 
 service, German business men with international 
 connections, German- American journalists, are all 
 putting out talk intended to filter through and cre- 
 ate the impressions desired. 
 
 Those Germans charged with the management of 
 this war are believers in "putting things over" or 
 under, as the case may be, and the Zeppelin and 
 the U-boat correctly present the war mind of 
 Germany. Nothing comes about spontaneously. 
 
 179 
 
180 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 Great principles count for naught. Right and jus- 
 tice are empty words. The race is to the swift, the 
 battle to the strong. A lie is as good as, yea, better 
 than the truth if you can make it stick, for the 
 strong and the clever can "make the worse appear 
 the better reason." 
 
 That is the brand of German Kultur that one sees 
 and feels in Switzerland, and it is probably predom- 
 inant in these times in the direction of the affairs 
 of Germany. I do not say that the whole German 
 people have lost all sobriety, love of truth, and sin- 
 cerity. But Germany is the country of discipline. 
 There is leadership, and the people trust and obey 
 it. It has thus come about that a leadership of 
 lies, of lust of power and self-seeking, has had the 
 support of the enfeebled moral sense of a people 
 of whom the great majority are individually sound 
 and right-loving. 
 
 Either because it suits the German stage-manage- 
 ment, or because neither the fact nor the knowledge 
 of it can any longer be suppressed, the impression 
 is spreading in Switzerland that the scales are fall- 
 ing from the eyes of the German people. This im- 
 pression comes to me necessarily second-hand and 
 largely through Swiss intermediaries. 
 
 There is a law forbidding communications with 
 citizens of an enemy country. Germans come to 
 Switzerland by the thousand. Politicians like Herr 
 Erzberger, leader of the Catholic party, come, hoist 
 
IN SWITZERLAND 181 
 
 a flag of truce, and invite peace parleys. Some may 
 be acting in sincere good faith. Yet it is harder for 
 a German to get a hearing than for the proverbial 
 camel to pass through the pedestrian's gate of the 
 city. The Germans have only themselves to thank. 
 They have trifled with world confidence and have 
 lost it. 
 
 What is here set down comes from German 
 sources and must be discounted accordingly. I hear 
 that there has been a marked change in Germany, 
 specially in these latter months. The recent action 
 of the Reichstag (by its action in July, 1917,) fur- 
 nishes testimony that carries conviction to all who 
 are familiar with German conditions. It is claimed 
 that it shows two things of enormous significance: 
 
 1. That public opinion has established itself as a 
 force in the exact sense that it is a force in democ- 
 racies, and is already more potent than the kaiser. 
 
 2. That public opinion is for peace on terms humil- 
 iating to neither the Entente nor the Central Alhes, 
 that is, peace without indemnity, annexation, or 
 commercial boycott. 
 
 Germany's standing out against indemnities is 
 not to be referred to financial reasons. It means 
 that she is not willing to put herself to her people, 
 to her posterity, and to the world, in a position of 
 having waged a wicked war. She feels keenly the 
 isolation she has been forced into by having twenty- 
 four nations arrayed against her. She knows that 
 
182 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 she will have to face a hostile and scornful world. 
 But she can, and does, feel now as if her moral 
 isolation is the result of the misunderstanding of 
 the rest of the world. 
 
 The payment of an indemnity would write her 
 down a felon in her own eyes and those of the world. 
 She will shed her last drop of blood before accepting 
 such humiliating terms. 
 
 All the claims of liberalization must be discounted 
 by the undeniable fact that the kaiser remains strong 
 with the people. His service to the country before 
 the war was entered upon, his devotion to work, 
 his religious character, and the family life led by 
 him, supplemented by the fine character of the 
 kaiserin, make it difficult for any sentiment against 
 the Hohenzollern dynasty to gain headway. 
 
 Probably a majority of the people want some 
 form of democracy, but they retain a sense of loy- 
 alty to the present sovereign. The kaiser is per- 
 sonally much stronger than Pan-Germanism, which, 
 specially outside of Germany, makes a noise out 
 of all proportion to its numbers. The Pan-German 
 papers that are so much quoted in London, Paris, 
 and New York are journals of small circulation and 
 influence, the most important having only about ten 
 thousand circulation, as against, say, half a million 
 for the largest socialist paper. 
 
 Relations with Austria are said to give no anxiety 
 
IN SWITZERLAND 183 
 
 in Germany, for the latter has an unbreakable grip 
 on the Austrian Army. After the breakdown in 
 the face of Brusiloff 's drive the Austrian Army was 
 reorganized by Germany, which, it is claimed, has a 
 majority of the rank and file, and virtually all the 
 higher officers in every regiment. Austria-Hun- 
 gary is powerless, and if she attempted to make a 
 separate peace, what Viemia could deliver to the 
 Entente wouldn't be worth the offense that such 
 a move would give to Italy. 
 
 The people of Germany are represented as being 
 in a quiet state of mind and ready for all sacrifices, 
 provided only that the Government shall seize the 
 first opportmiity for peace without humiliation. It 
 is claimed that there is n't the slightest danger of 
 strangulation by blockade. Oil is coming from 
 Rumania, and more and more will be received ; grain 
 will come from the same source later in the season. 
 There is the gi'eatest care in the use of munitions, 
 but this is a matter of policy rather than of necessity. 
 In air-planes Germany is relatively stronger than 
 a few months ago. 
 
 Paper money is abundant and serves every pur- 
 pose, for Germany has very little international 
 trade that calls for real money. The very poor are 
 better off than in times of peace, as are the very 
 rich. 
 
 To sum up the claims implied by current talk 
 
184 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 among Swiss people who have German connections, 
 inside conditions in Germany may be briefly stated 
 as follows: 
 
 First, Bethmann's resignation and Michaelis's 
 appointment were the result of a real political 
 crisis arising from deep-seated and significant con- 
 ditions. 
 
 Secondly, Germany realizes the importance of 
 America's entry into the war, and realizes also that 
 the next six months will probably offer a more 
 favorable time for peace than after America's army 
 has taken its place on the western front. 
 
 Thirdly, The four-party coalition, which con- 
 trolled the Reichstag by a large majority, repre- 
 sents public opinion in equal or greater proportion. 
 The resolution adopted voices such a genuine desire 
 for peace on the terms therein promulgated that 
 Michaelis will be obliged to adhere to them or to 
 resign. 
 
 Fourthly, There is a real public opinion in Ger- 
 many to-day that, while not antagonistic to him, is 
 in some measure independent of the kaiser. This 
 is increasingly aggressive in its effort to enforce its 
 demands, and means a distinct and definite advance 
 toward liberal government. 
 
 Fifthly, June marked the low point in food 
 supply. Green vegetables have somewhat im- 
 proved conditions, and the near approach of harvest 
 temporarily relieves the strain. 
 
IN SWITZERLAND 185 
 
 Sixthly, The opinion is divided as to whether the 
 submarine is coming up to reasonable expectations, 
 but the majority sentiment is that the benefit of un- 
 restricted U-boat war does n't offset the danger and 
 loss involved in America's coming in. The press 
 under orders from Hindenburg has recently been 
 emphasizing submarine effectiveness, and there is 
 increasing popular optimism on that subject. 
 
 If man-power is declining, it is not visible to 
 civilian observation. Supplies of war material are 
 sufficient, and military conditions generally have 
 suffered no impairment. 
 
 The accounts of the political crisis are interesting. 
 There has been a growing impatience with Beth- 
 mann-HoUweg. He came to be regarded as inver- 
 tebrate and inefficient, as well as a sort of Jonah. 
 Germany had had numerous victories ; for example, 
 the defeat of Russia in 1915, the conquest of Ru- 
 mania, the showing made by the submarines, and 
 always the war map, which an abler chancellor might 
 have turned to account in bringing the war to an 
 end. In these circumstances a peace should have 
 been concluded on some favorable occasion any time 
 in the last two years and nine months. 
 
 From the battle of the Marne on, it was clear 
 that the typical Prussian victory by onset alone was 
 not for this time. The German public has grown 
 hungrier for peace, but the chancellor failed to react 
 to the German impulse; he conciliated, discussed. 
 
186 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 postponed, paltered, and, trying to please every- 
 body, has pleased nobody. 
 
 Finally, public opinion working on the Reichstag 
 brought about an untenable position for Bethmann. 
 The four-party coalition was the direct result of 
 the popular unrest, of the demand of the people for 
 an energetic initiative for peace. There are three 
 hundred and seventy-nine votes in the Reichstag. 
 Of these the Centrists, or Catholics, have ninety- 
 one; the Socialists, eighty-nine; the National Lib- 
 erals, (businessmen,) forty-f our ; the Progressives, 
 forty. This coalition thus controlled a large ma- 
 jority, but it was not altogether homogeneous. 
 
 The three main causes of unrest were the desire 
 for peace, dissatisfaction with the voting system in 
 Prussia, and the wish of other German states to 
 have it regularized, and dissatisfaction with Beth- 
 mann. The trouble was that all the members of 
 the four parties could n't be lined up on all three 
 proposals. 
 
 It was at this stage that Herr Erzberger con- 
 cluded to "start something," and the bomb that he 
 threw led to an excitement and stampede that con- 
 solidated the position. In vain the chancellor 
 pulled his wires. Even the mysterious hints set 
 afloat that the Emperor Charles wanted him re- 
 tained were unavailing. 
 
 There was some disappointment among members 
 of the four-party coalition at Dr. Michaelis's speech 
 
IN SWITZERLAND 187 
 
 on his assumption of the chancellorship. In his 
 official relation with the Prussian diet he will do 
 all that can be done, which is to communicate the 
 desire of the Reichstag for voting reform in 
 Prussia. This is, after all, a matter for Prussia, 
 just as it is a matter for Maryland to say who 
 shall and shall not vote for members of her general 
 assembly; at least, that is the contention of those 
 who are opposed to any change in Prussia. 
 
 Unless there is some change in the military aspect 
 that causes a revulsion in popular sentiment, the 
 chancellor must proceed with the peace program 
 when the Reichstag reassembles in September, — or 
 at the call of the President before that, — or the 
 coalition will compel the kaiser to name a new 
 premier. The power of the Reichstag is not direct, 
 but as it holds the purse-strings, it can, theoretically 
 at least, dictate policy even to the kaiser. 
 
 The food situation is represented as less acute. 
 June was the hard month. The people stood the 
 strain because they believed that peace was coming. 
 The idea of peace had got abroad and was almost 
 an obsession. The Government had spread it, and 
 the masses suffered patiently because they believed 
 that the Government was moving toward peace. 
 
 When popular discontent over starvation and 
 other sacrifices became menacing, speeches of allied 
 orators or editorials from newspapers were quoted 
 and emphasized to show that Germany must endure 
 
188 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 to the end on peril of her destruction. The answer 
 of the Entente last December to Germany's peace 
 suggestion has been used over and over again to 
 show Germans that they must fight or die. 
 
 The attitude toward America is a mixture of fear 
 and contempt, at least among the militarists who 
 are in charge of tliis war. They would like to think 
 that the Spanish and Mexican Wars furnish the 
 scale by which American capacity for war is to be 
 measured. But when they look at American re- 
 sources in wealth and population, and when they 
 turn to the direct evidence of German-born citizens 
 in America as to her earnestness and purpose, their 
 contempt fades into fear, and they quail at the pros- 
 pect. 
 
 The talk now put out here is that Germany real- 
 izes that America is sure to come in with all her 
 weight, and that because of tliis, Germany must take 
 whatever steps for peace she has in mind within the 
 next few months. It is declared that Germany 
 carefully refrains from any act that might inflame 
 America toward her and thereby accelerate her 
 preparations. It would be possible, they say, to 
 torpedo American transports and passenger ships, 
 but submarine commanders have rigid instructions 
 not to touch them. 
 
 Unless compelled by circumstances, Germany 
 will do nothing to rouse American fighting spirit, 
 and will hope that peace can be concluded before 
 
IN SWITZERLAND 189 
 
 America gets into the trenches "with both feet," or 
 that the submarine can so reduce shipping tonnage 
 as to make transport on a large scale impossible 
 within the next six months, except at the cost of 
 starving England and France or cutting off sup- 
 plies for the Entente armies. 
 
 August 9, 1917. This was a day set for a visit 
 to the English internment camp at Mlirren. It is 
 a four hours' ride by way of Interlaken and Lauter- 
 brunnen ; thence there is a climb of about two thou- 
 sand feet by a funicular railroad, follov/ed by a few 
 miles' ride on the very edge of a precipice that com- 
 mands a matchless view of the noble peaks opposite. 
 
 Miirren occupies a peninsula about one third of 
 the altitude of the Jungfrau, 4167 meters high. It 
 faces the great granite fortress that is the Jung- 
 frau's base, of which the walls seem less than a 
 golf drive distant, but are actually more than two 
 miles. The top of Jungfrau would be five miles, 
 as the crow flies, with the Monch and Eiger in 
 full view on the left. Between the granite base 
 and the snow line are green stretches on which, they 
 told us, chamois were even then grazing, but they 
 were not visible to the naked eye. 
 
 There is nowhere in the world a finer scenic 
 beauty than at and from Miirren, but one must n't 
 speak of it to the soldiers. They 're "fed up" on 
 scenery. All the same, when it 's all over and they; 
 
190 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 get back to Blighty, and peace comes with its chores 
 and hardships, many a time they 11 recall what 
 happy days those were at Miirren. 
 
 There are now about four hundred British sol- 
 diers, including about twenty officers, interned at 
 Miirren. The camp was opened in August, 1916. 
 All but a small percentage are wounded men, and 
 most of them came from prison hospitals in Ger- 
 many. They tell of their experiences in these hos- 
 pitals with wry faces. 
 
 The men are mostlj^ English, but Canada, Aus- 
 tralia, and even America, are represented. Max- 
 well, a Philadelphian of Scotch parentage, who en- 
 listed as a private with the Canadians, has charge 
 of the shop where watches are repaired. There is 
 also a carpenters' shop, a printing-office, which turns 
 out a camp newspaper about once a month, a tailor's 
 shop, and a chauffeurs' school. The latter has 
 graduated a number of men who are running cars in 
 various parts of Switzerland. 
 
 There is a dentist who has treated four thousand 
 teeth in his camp. His wife helps him, and they 
 have won the gratitude of the men for their devoted 
 and skilful service. There is a good Y. M. C. A. 
 organization, with nice quarters and a hall where 
 entertainments are given. 
 
 As it was a brilliant day, games of cricket, associ- 
 ation foot-ball, and hockey were in full swing this 
 afternoon. "Not much sign of weakness and 
 
IN SWITZERLAND 191 
 
 wounds in that lot," I remarked to the lieutenant 
 colonel as we watched the gay scene from a bench 
 that commanded a view of all three games. "Ah! 
 but you should have seen them when they came 
 here!" he replied. The foot-ball team was prac- 
 tising for a go with the Bern team the next Sunday. 
 There is a base-ball game now and again. 
 
 There are a great many glass eyes. I talked with 
 an Irish officer who had one almost as good to look 
 at as the good eye. "I had some made in Geneva," 
 he said. "Jolly good eyes they make in Geneva!" 
 He was a young fellow about twenty-four or 
 twentj^-five. At first I didn't recognize his race, 
 and asked what part of England he was from. "I 
 am not an Englishman," he snapped back. He was 
 a Dublin man. ^Vhen I inquired where he had 
 been hit, he couldn't remember the name of the 
 place for a minute or two and screwed up his face 
 in the effort. "Oh, yes, Thiepval," he said, "the 
 bally name" suddenly coming back to him. 
 
 All the world remembers Thiepval and the gal- 
 lant work of the Connaught Rangers on July 1, 
 1916, but a Connaught officer shot on that day has 
 dwelt so little on the episode that he must have time 
 before he can recall the name of the place. A 
 rifle bullet entered his right cheek, passed through 
 the eye, and came out above the bridge of the nose. 
 
 He was greatly interested in the Flanders battle. 
 "Do you think it is going to be a really big show?" 
 
tl92 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 he asked. He was sorry that there didn't seem 
 much chance of his going back home. He and all 
 other officers I talked with were very keen on 
 getting with the Americans to train recruits. They 
 dread winter at Miirren not only because of the 
 cold, but because deep snow covers the whole place 
 except one street, which is kept clear and affords 
 the only chance of outdoor exercise. 
 
 The officer under whose guidance I looked about 
 was a captain in the Buifs. His battalion was 
 wiped out at Loos in September, 1915, and he was 
 badly wounded, and captured by the Germans. He 
 was a stock-exchange broker and enlisted in August, 
 1914. His family have joined him at Miirren, and 
 they have a nice cottage on the side of the moun- 
 tain. 
 
 The village itself is extremely picturesque. The 
 streets, which are little more than walks and the 
 prettier for being narrow and winding, have been 
 rechristened with London names, the usual Picca- 
 dilly, Fleet Street, Strand, Edgware Road, and 
 Regent Street. Further to carry out the illusion 
 of the big city on the Thames the plainer end is 
 called Whitechapel. 
 
 The officers and soldiers are quartered in the well- 
 known Hotel des Alpes. The back building is 
 given over to the Tommies, who have nice, neat 
 rooms with two or three single beds in each. It 
 makes you cry to see the walls of these rooms with 
 
 I 
 
IN SWITZERLAND 193 
 
 their profusion of photographs from home, wives, 
 children, fathers, mothers, sisters. 
 
 It was a pleasant disappointment to find such a 
 gay company, and to see such good progress in re- 
 covery from wounds. The day impressed me anew 
 with the wonderful recuperative powder of man and 
 his ability to adapt himself to almost any situation. 
 
 August 10, 1917. I went with the American 
 minister to see some English Tommies start for 
 home after a long internment in Switzerland. 
 They were all typical wounded convalescents, this 
 one lacking a leg, that one an arm, another an eye, 
 a fourth paralyzed. There were two affected pre- 
 cisely ahke and very strangely. Through shell- 
 shock or otherwise they had been so shaken that 
 every minute was agony unless both hands were 
 immersed in ice-vv^ater. This relief had been 
 worked out by wide experimentation in the hospital. 
 They were provided with ice to last them to Paris. 
 Except for the pecuhar nervous trouble, both men 
 were physically fit. 
 
 An interesting chap who was on the platform to 
 see the soldiers off was a young oflScer with one arm, 
 who is now an interne in Bern. He was an airman, 
 and his machine was brought down by a German 
 avion. It fell two miles and was shattered to bits. 
 The pilot was killed instantly. The young officer 
 was terribly mangled, and his case was regarded as 
 
194 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 hopeless, but he got well, except that his left arm 
 had to be amputated. He is a cheery chap and very 
 popular in Bern society. 
 
 JNIinister Stovall and I walked away from the 
 station toward the hotel, recalHng the contrast be- 
 tween these war days and the time when we last met 
 at the Baltimore convention in 1912. A gentleman 
 passed us and saluted the minister. "That is a for- 
 mer President of Switzerland," he remarked. Mr. 
 Stovall has found the work here interesting and 
 congenial. He keeps in close touch with his paper, 
 the "Savannah Press," which, under his ownership 
 and management, has become a power in the public 
 affairs of Georgia. 
 
 Mrs. Stovall, like Mrs. Walter H. Page and Mrs. 
 Sharp, and perhaps others among the wives of 
 American diplomats I have not had the chance of 
 meeting, has fitted into the diplomatic environment 
 most admirably, and is generally esteemed. 
 
 Bern, August 10, 1917. I got some side-lights 
 on Balkan internal affairs to-day. Those who sj^m- 
 pathize with Serbia are extremely restless over the 
 toleration of Bulgaria by England and America. 
 It is a curious thing that, while Serbia and Bulgaria 
 are both Slav and have the same religion, they hate 
 each other almost more than any other combatants. 
 The Serbs think that it is the greatest mistake to 
 treat with Bulgaria separately. They say that in 
 
IN SWITZERLAND 195 
 
 sympathy Bulgaria is as German as Bavaria, that 
 she is the Prussia of the Balkans, and that, if there 
 should be an inconclusive peace, Bulgaria would 
 organize trouble within a few years. 
 
 A particular cause of irritation is the retention of 
 the Bulgarian minister at Washington. He was 
 a professor in Roberts College at Constantinople 
 before the war, and his retention and the main- 
 tenance of relations with Bulgaria are referred here 
 to the influence of Americans who are interested in 
 Roberts College. "It is a great blunder," I am 
 told, "to keep the minister there on the theory that 
 he is a nice, friendly, college professor. For the 
 purpose of injuring America in every possible way 
 he is a Bulgarian, and Bulgaria is Germany, and 
 Germany is the kaiser." 
 
 I met to-day an old "singe-cat" politician from 
 America, who had spent some years in Germany in 
 an official position. "If you figure on any dem- 
 ocratization in Germany in time to affect the de- 
 cision of this war, you will be beautifully left," he 
 said. "You 've got to lick Germany, or they '11 lick 
 you. There 's no middle ground. This is a fight 
 for a crown or several crowns, for all the old power, 
 and then some. The kaiser is gambling with other 
 people's money, and nothing will stop him short of 
 spending it all in this effort to conquer the world. 
 
 "The discussion of liberalization inside Germany 
 is predicated on conditions that exist in America, 
 
196 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 England, and France. But these conditions do 
 not exist in Germany. Previous to 1848 the Ger- 
 mans were mostly in a state of serfdom. What 
 they have enjoyed under kaiserism is so good by 
 comparison that they are satisfied. Germany is 
 a country that in its relation to its rulers can be 
 compared to only two other nations and races. As 
 Confucius was to China, as Moses was to Israel, so 
 is the Hohenzollern, from Frederick the Great 
 downwards, to Germany. 
 
 "The trouble with long-distance opinion," con- 
 tinued my friend, "is that it ig-nores the all-impor- 
 tant element of background, antecedents, local con- 
 ditions. We judge Prussia, we judge Germanj% 
 in terms of American individuality and democracy. 
 The Germans will stand for another century the 
 political tyranny and abuse that our people would 
 wake up to and tlu'ow off in a month. So go to 
 work fixing the submarines and transporting an 
 army; the treaty of peace must be signed some- 
 where in the vicinity of Berlin." 
 
 Bern, August 12, 1917. The American Lega- 
 tion at Bern is a nodal point. Every day refugees 
 are here from some place in the near Orient, making 
 their way homeward to America. This morning I 
 saw a Jewish woman who was at the head of a party 
 of thirty, thirteen women and seventeen children, 
 who were en route from Jerusalem. She was 
 
IN SWITZERLAND 197 
 
 American-born, she said, the wife of an east-side 
 rabbi in New York. She went to Jerusalem some 
 years ago to be with her parents, who had grown 
 old and needed her, but her husband continued to 
 support her. Then her parents died. A few 
 months ago a party was made up to flee from the 
 typhus-cursed and poverty-ridden city and go home 
 to America. It had taken five weeks to go from 
 Jerusalem to Constantinople. The party had trav- 
 eled by train, automobile, horse cart, and on foot, 
 making their way as best they could and largely 
 by their own wits. They had to wait six weeks in 
 Constantinople, and then came here by a circuitous 
 route. They were traveling on funds furnished by 
 Jewish charitable societies. They will sail from 
 Bordeaux for New York. 
 
 I met one of the many refugees from Armenia 
 who are passing through. Their stories are too ter- 
 rible to accept without some authentication. They 
 report the most unthinkable butchery of the Armen- 
 ian population by the Turks. The figures they give 
 are more than seventy per cent, killed in the whole 
 population. The roads are strewn with dead bod- 
 ies. On the roadsides the jackals from the moun- 
 tains, grown tame by usage, are constantly busy 
 with the human carrion. Half-crazed, starving 
 women wander on the highways without a shred of 
 clothing. The stories of maltreatment of women, 
 including refined girls at Christian colleges main- 
 
198 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 tained by Americans, are really too awful to be- 
 lieve. They make German behavior in Belgium 
 seem restrained by contrast. 
 
 Still another visitor at the legation had come re- 
 cently from Warsaw. He brought reports of ap- 
 palling conditions. All prices were so high as to 
 be beyond the reach of the poor. It was impossible 
 to buy clothes at all. The bread ration was less than 
 half the bread ration in Germany. A civilian could 
 buy two eggs a month. There was tremendous 
 mortality among babies. Owing to the low vitality 
 of the population, typhus was killing off the people 
 in great numbers. The native population had 
 grown so desperate that they got the upper hand 
 of the Landstiirm soldiers, who had been put over 
 them and who themselves were but poorly fed, a 
 begging soldier being a not infrequent sight. The 
 natives were so rebellious that the German soldiers 
 did n't have the courage to stand up to them and 
 often suffered ill-usage at their hands. 
 
 August 13, 1917. I fell in with some Russians 
 to-day, and was much interested in their discussion 
 of the situation in their country. They are not op- 
 timistic. They think it will be many a year before 
 Russia is ready for a democratic government. At 
 present the best results for war could be got out 
 of the right kind of czar. Nicholas was the wi'ong 
 kind. If you lack intelligence and enlightened pa- 
 
IN SWITZERLAND 199 
 
 triotism, then power is the only thing that can hold 
 together many countries in one country. The czar 
 had no love of power. If he had the chance now 
 to be emperor he would n't take any great amount 
 of trouble to get back. If he were very good or 
 very bad, if he loved power, if he had any sense of 
 worldly realities, he might have saved Russia. He 
 doubtless abdicated, believing that it was best for 
 his country, but Russians of the type I am quoting 
 think that he had no right to abdicate, and that 
 by his act he forfeited all claim on the loyalty of 
 his subjects. He had taken the vow to reign; he 
 broke it. The czar represented in his own personal 
 character the vice of mental shiftlessness, which is 
 general in the Russian bureaucracy. It is related 
 that when the Russian foreign minister received 
 the ultimatum from Tokio that resulted in the 
 Russo-Japanese war, it was a Friday night. He 
 threw up his hands in despair and said, "It will 
 not be possible to see his Majesty until next Tues- 
 day, and that will be too late!" Not that his 
 Majesty was attending to anything of importance, 
 but his time was disposed of by some sort of rou- 
 tine, and the minister knew that on no pretext 
 could the routine be interrupted. When finally 
 the czar could be seen he rejected the idea of war 
 being possible. It was many days before he 
 could be persuaded that the Japanese war was a 
 fact. 
 
200 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 Once the governor of one of the Russian prov- 
 inces became entangled with the Petrograd author- 
 ities on a matter of overwhelming importance. He 
 could n't get it settled in treaty with the minister 
 of the department; so he undertook a long trip to 
 the capital for an audience with the czar. The sov- 
 ereign received him most pleasantly, knowing the 
 object of his mission. But he didn't permit him 
 to talk on the all-important subject. He knew that 
 it would be necessary to send for ministers and en- 
 tertain perplexing considerations. So he began an 
 animated conversation on other matters. How was 
 his Excellency's wife? Was she interested in Red 
 Cross work? (The Red Cross was one of the czar's 
 hobbies). She was president of the local society. 
 Ah, the empress would be interested! So he sent 
 for her Majesty, and there was a great to-do about 
 the Red Cross work in the governor's district. 
 When the time came for bringing the interview to 
 an end, not one word had been permitted on the 
 governor's real errand, and he went home with his 
 trouble on his back. 
 
 "How about Kerensky?" 
 
 When I put that question it was like throwing 
 a ball of yarn among a litter of kittens. Finally, 
 one of the Russians got the floor as against the 
 others; to make sure of keeping it, he stood up 
 and, making motions all the while with his hands 
 
IN SWITZERLAND 201 
 
 like a Swiss bell-ringer, gave his analysis of the 
 Russian situation in such a torrent of words that it 
 was difficult to follow him. 
 
 He rated Kerensk}^ as a shrewd politician, but 
 lacking touch of genius. He said Kerensky had 
 himself proposed in the Duma, two years ago, the 
 precise separate peace with Germany that was now 
 so much reprobated. Kerensky was so fettered by 
 party ties, which he neither wished, nor knew how, 
 to throw off, that he would find it impossible to con- 
 trol the Russian situation. While he was playing 
 the party game, that situation would get away from 
 him. Kerensky had encouraged the democratic 
 methods in the army that now made discipline im- 
 possible. He could easily sow the seeds of insub- 
 ordination, but he could n't put things back where 
 they were by threatening to shoot disobedient sol- 
 diers. 
 
 Brusiloff was put out on account of his popularity 
 and strength. They were afraid he might be made 
 military dictator. Nobody in Petrograd wants effi- 
 ciency against Germany enough to take any chance 
 of a military dictatorship. Korniloff would prob- 
 ably not be Brusiloff's successor on the terms he 
 had laid down, because the power he demanded 
 would make him dictator. It is exactly a dictator- 
 ship that Russia needs ; it would be the road to quick 
 and sure Allied victory. 
 
 The big mistake of the revolution was lack of a 
 
202 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 pre]3ared plan. You can't throw an enormous 
 country like Russia on its resources over night. 
 The people had been more or less prepared on the 
 subject of social revolution, but of political they 
 knew nothing. As soon as political revolution 
 leveled down whatever powers had been standing, 
 the social revolutionists took possession with their 
 big following and semi-matured ideas. The only 
 hope of Russia's coming back and presenting a solid 
 front on the side of the Allies is in a military dic- 
 tatorship. 
 
 That was the last word. 
 
 August 12, 1917. I met a real democrat from 
 Germany to-day. He had n't been there very 
 recently; perhaps his "room is better than his com- 
 pany" in the kaiser's bailiwick. But he is very in- 
 telligent and has a large acquaintance in Germany 
 with whom he is in constant correspondence. He 
 is a zealous worker for the adoption of democratic 
 ideas on American lines. I inferred that while his 
 mind had been tending in that direction for some 
 time, his actual conversion had been brought about 
 by President Wilson's state papers. 
 
 The late cabinet crisis contained no comfort for 
 this democrat. It was true that there had been 
 some growth of liberal thought in Germany since 
 the war, but it was not strong enough to defy or 
 even to disregard the kaiser, representing, as he did, 
 
IN SWITZERLAND 203 
 
 the tradition and fact of royal power and the mil- 
 itary system. 
 
 The people are stirring more or less for dem- 
 ocratization. Their thought gives the impulse to 
 the Reichstag. But public opinion as a force is 
 not yet rooted. The initiative comes from the peo- 
 ple, but the militarists override it. A half -formed 
 public opinion proposes; a highly organized, thor- 
 oughly intrenched kaiserism disposes. That was 
 the formula for the recent action of the Reichstag 
 and the sequel. 
 
 The kaiser is a neurasthenic. He changes from 
 week to week. At times he is something of a dem- 
 ocrat himself. He is worked upon by war con- 
 ditions and by personal influence. Russia's break- 
 down has withered his budding faith in democrac}^ 
 and di'iven him back to the old real thing. 
 
 "The devil was sick, the devil a monk would be. 
 The devil was well, the devil a monk was he." 
 
 The people of Germany are strong when they 
 serve the kaiser, but grow weak against him. They 
 are yoke-oxen. The very discipline that cements 
 them prevents the development of initiative and de- 
 pendence. But the present informant sees better 
 things in the future. Even the Germans can't 
 stand everything. They will be aroused against 
 the tyranny over them either in case of military de- 
 
204 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 feat or in the continuance of, or further decline in, 
 economic and food conditions. 
 
 This man thought that Sweden and Bessarabia 
 would be decisive as to food supplies. The Pres- 
 ident should carry out the most drastic measures in 
 respect to Sweden. From that country such quan- 
 tities of material for munitions and food supplies 
 have come into Germany that people have wondered 
 how Sweden had gathered it and transported it. 
 It was thought possible that the German Navy had 
 helped in the transport from Sweden. 
 
 Germany was now making a drive on the eastern 
 front for Bessarabia. The present crop of grain 
 in that ricli agricultural countrj'^ would help enor- 
 mously, but even if it were necessary to wait until 
 next harvest, the possession of Bessarabia would 
 encourage Germany. The people are quick to take 
 heart, and hope goes ahiiost as far as actual food. 
 
 My informant thought that Germany could hold 
 together until late winter, but if by that time 
 Sweden and Bessarabia should be out of hand, it 
 would be difficult to control the people longer, and 
 revolt in some tangible form would follow. 
 
 The lack of information in Germany and the blind 
 acceptance of authority by an intelligent community 
 was attributed in part to press control. The repre- 
 sentatives of the military, naval, and civil power sit 
 together in daily conference and adopt policies for 
 the press. Even a great journal like the "Frank- 
 
IN SWITZERLAND 205 
 
 furter Zeitung" is obliged to submit to this brutal 
 dictation. 
 
 The press, on orders, prints next to nothing about 
 America. That situation receives the silent treat- 
 ment. The people would be influenced by America, 
 owing to the bonds of kinship between the two coun- 
 tries, but they get nothing but a few half-truths. 
 
 A sample of the kind of misleading news that is 
 put out and accepted by German people is the fic- 
 tion that America is in a state of mental servitude to 
 England. They firmly beheve that America was 
 captured by an extensive scheme of English propa- 
 ganda antedating the war. The publication of ex- 
 tracts from Bernhardi's book by several American 
 newspapers early in 1914 is cited as conclusive proof 
 of the English propaganda. 
 
 The tenacity with which Germans hold to the 
 utterly absurd belief in the mental subjection of 
 America by perfidious Albion recalls a not dissimilar 
 obsession in England that Count von Bernstorff 
 had America in hand at one stage of the game. Of 
 course poor Bernstorff never had a particle of real 
 pull anywhere in America at any time. He did n't 
 even always receive his "cash on delivery" purchases. 
 It was German propagandism, a thing discarded 
 off-hand by the rebelliously free mind of America, 
 that impaired Germany's standing at the bar of 
 American opinion from the very fu'st. Her case 
 was really never considered on its merits, for it had 
 
206 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 none after Belgium and the Lusitania. American 
 perception was quick to grasp this. 
 
 My informant brought a report that will be es- 
 pecially interesting in America. It was to the 
 effect that Count von Bernstorff was giving real ad- 
 vice and information in regard to America, and that 
 he was himself showing distinct leanings toward 
 democracy. Stranger things have happened than 
 Bernstorff holding a seat in a German Liberal min- 
 istry. He knows America, if they will but en- 
 courage him to bring his knowledge to bear in the 
 councils in Berlin. 
 
 The trouble is that the kaiser, like most of the 
 breed of autocrats and tyrants, listens only to those 
 who tell him what he wishes to hear. No minister 
 can get along with him without sacrificing his own 
 principles and convictions. Hindenburg and Lu- 
 dendorff are not so subservient, but they are war 
 chiefs and cannot be replaced. These two are said 
 to give the kaiser when he is at the front an hour a 
 day, and no more, for advice and consultation. 
 That hour finished, the two generals leave on the 
 dot, declining always, on the score of military duty, 
 to accept royal hospitality, which would tend fur- 
 ther to open military matters to what they regard 
 as lay discussion. 
 
 The opinion was expressed that if anything 
 should happen to the kaiser, the crown prince would 
 never be allowed to take his place as absolute mon- 
 
IN SAVITZERLAND 207 
 
 arch. There is enough "kick" in German hberalism 
 for that. Moreover, the kaiser's policy, ending in 
 this great war, has fully capitalized for himself all 
 the loyalty to dynasty that there is in Germany, 
 every drop of it. 
 
 The liberalism that must lie at the bottom of the 
 working German's unwillingness to delegate to a 
 single person future power to plunge him into war 
 ruin, the liberalism of kinship and sympathy with 
 the world, the liberalism of right thinking and right 
 feeling of which even war brutality has not ex- 
 tirpated the roots, the liberalism of love of family, 
 pleasant routine, music, friendly conversation, and 
 quiet things — this is the liberalism that my in- 
 formant hopes for in Germany, whether now or 
 later, whenever final doom shall be pronounced upon 
 the tyrann}^ that now stalks over the land. 
 
 "He that leadeth into captivity shall go into cap- 
 tivity : he that killeth with the sword must be killed 
 with the sword." 
 
 Bern. This is the city of the bear. Bruin is 
 everj^where, on the monuments and gate-posts, in 
 coats of arms and trademarks, and most real of all, 
 in the bear den maintained from time immemorial 
 by the municipality of Bern. 
 
 Napoleon took the Bern bears to Paris. When 
 peace came, the Bernese clamored loud to have 
 their bears returned, and the treaty so provided. 
 These bears of the Bern bear-pit are a royal family, 
 
208 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 and can trace their ancestry back for centuries. 
 
 It is a sort of relief to turn in these war times 
 to a less ci-uel wild animal than man, and fall down 
 in bear worship. Really, there is something kind 
 in bruin's face as he opens his mouth in what might 
 pass for a smile, taking short breaths, with his red 
 tongue hanging over his lower lip. At least there 
 is no such expression as might be on the face of an 
 aforetime gentle youth as he plunges his bayonet 
 into the breast of an equally gentle youth differently 
 uniformed. 
 
 I paid a visit to the bears' den, going down to 
 the river level and walking from the upper to the 
 middle bridge amid old architecture that appealed 
 as no new architecture does or can. Why is it that 
 just across the river, in the new and fashionable 
 quarter where the legations are located, there should 
 be such hideously suburban architecture and land- 
 scaping, when the most beautiful models in the 
 world utter a wordless, but righteous, protest a few 
 hundred yards away? 
 
 When I spoke of my visit to the bear-pit this 
 afternoon, a lady recited the story that has become 
 a tradition in Bern, but is historically accurate. 
 She told it well, and it was much more stirring than 
 the story of the horrible butchery by which thou- 
 sands had lost their lives in Flanders only the day 
 before. So cruelly does usage blunt the human 
 feelings ! 
 
IN SWITZERLAND 209 
 
 On a night many years ago one of the secretaries 
 of the British legation, with a colleague from 
 another legation, stopped at the bear's den. It was 
 about midnight. They had been out to dinner and 
 were much under the influence of wine. The 
 Englishman in a sporting spirit vaulted over the 
 iron rail at the top and then back several times. 
 The last time he was tripped by his cane, which 
 he held in his hand, and fell twenty feet to the 
 bottom of the pit. He was not hurt by the fall, 
 and the pit was empty, for the bears had gone into 
 their sleeping cellars. 
 
 Neither diplomat was much alarmed after it was 
 found that the Englishman was n't injured by his 
 fall. He was sobered, and cautioned the other not 
 to make too much noise while he explored the place 
 to see whether he could climb out. Some time was 
 spent in this hunt, which was without result; but 
 there was still no sign from the sleeping bears. 
 
 The colleague then went off to find a rope or a 
 ladder. At the end of half an hour he came back 
 empty-handed, but with three or four other men, 
 and ways and means were discussed, without any 
 decision being reached. The Englishman, mean- 
 time, was sober as a judge, but his colleague was 
 intoxicated and excited. It was now after one 
 o'clock and the bears were apparently still asleep. 
 The men went off on another hunt for ropes and 
 ladders. They were gone a long time, knocking at 
 
210 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 doors and searching fruitlessly. The leader was 
 now in a panic, and his own mental paralysis seemed 
 to spread to all whom he met. He finally returned, 
 bringing with him a crowd of helpless people, in- 
 cluding a policeman. 
 
 Despite warnings from the Englishman, the 
 crowd made a great noise, which waked up the bears, 
 and they began to appear from their sleeping-quar- 
 ters. They gathered around the Englishman with 
 curiosity, but at first without evil design, smelling 
 at him and yawning. The crowd kept on shouting, 
 one suggesting one thing and another something 
 else. There was running and cursing, but there 
 was no Jim Bludsoe to yell out what should be 
 done. 
 
 By thi*ee o'clock the bears grew more and more 
 restless, and their behavior less and less friendly. 
 Some one suggested that a coat be torn into strips, 
 tied together, and used as a rope. It was done. 
 The Englishman was pulled half-way up ; the rope 
 broke, and he fell back. 
 
 The bears now began to show signs of ugly tem- 
 per. They were walking rapidly to and fro, ap- 
 proaching the Englishman, putting a paw on his 
 shoulder, smelling at him longer at a time. It was 
 suggested that the policeman use his pistol. He re- 
 plied that it was useless, as the bears would not 
 attack a man. 
 
 Meanwhile another rope of coat strips was made. 
 
IN SWITZERLAND 211 
 
 The Englishman grasped it, and the crowd began 
 puUing him up. When his feet were a few inches 
 from the bottom, one of the bears staggered up to 
 him, and struck him with his paw in the small of 
 the back. The rope parted, and he fell, his spine 
 crushed by the blow. The bears fell on him and 
 literally devoured the dead body. Then the police- 
 man shot the bear that struck the deadly blow. 
 
 I saw the swaying shoulders and the paunch's swag and swing, 
 And my heart was touched with pity for the monstrous plead- 
 ing thing. 
 
 Nearer and nearer he staggered with paws like hands that 
 
 pray, 
 From brow to jaw that steel-shod paw, it ripped my face away. 
 
 A model city is this city of the bears, the capital 
 of the mother republic, a republic founded two hun- 
 dred years before Columbus discovered America. 
 A lady in one of the legations raised her hands in 
 despair at the stupidity of the Swiss. You go into 
 a shop, she declared, and ask for something. A 
 man ambles off, comes back empty-handed, stares 
 stupidly into your eyes, goes away, misunderstands 
 again. What is it that gives such a wonderful 
 product from a people individually dull, if dull they 
 are? I turned from the lady to the young son of 
 Minister Stovall and asked him the question. 
 
 "I don't admit that they are dull," he said, as a 
 
212 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 diplomat's son should. "What they do is well done 
 because their tasks are limited and definite, and they 
 have only to understand to be faithful." 
 
 I could see for myself that there was discipline. 
 There are no unruly children running about From 
 my window, which also commands a view of the 
 Jungfrau and the Oberland, I can see thi-ee or four 
 playgrounds on the banks of the Aar. In the af- 
 ternoons these spaces are always ahve with young- 
 sters. Their play is well ordered. They run, 
 jump, throw the discus, pole-vault, and swim and 
 dive in the river. It is real play, but it is orderly. 
 All are in good earnest about it. The play does n't 
 degenerate into horse-play. 
 
 In our America it would be almost impossible 
 to maintain these playgrounds except under the se- 
 verest supervision. They would be picked to 
 pieces, strewn with litter, and the earnest work of 
 athletics turned into some sort of buffoonery. 
 Here the play goes on, apparently without super- 
 intendence, right up to dark. 
 
 The arrangement of this little city, the squares 
 and public buildings, the municipal housekeeping, 
 are a model of painstaking and good taste. The 
 wonderful river combines utility and beauty. It 
 twists and turns in its com*se through the town, 
 making landscaping opportunities that have been 
 taken advantage of. After it reaches the outside 
 of the city it pursues its swift course a mile, then 
 
IN SWITZERLAND 213 
 
 bends sharply, and comes back to within three hun- 
 dred yards. The thrifty Bernese have made a 
 tmmel from bend to bend with forty feet of fall, 
 and here the city gets its supply of electric power. 
 
 The water for drinking comes from the moun- 
 tains, and, though analysis shows chemical purity, 
 it is under suspicion of bringing the disease of 
 goitre, which is almost a curse in Switzerland. 
 
 I wish that there might be systematized study of 
 Swiss cities by Americans, and that we might apply 
 some of their good ways. Eveiy thing moves 
 quietly. There is no hurry, but there is no tar- 
 diness. It is the rarest thing for a street-car to be 
 behind time. And, by the way, there is one obvious 
 suggestion from their street-car methods. We have 
 too many stops. Every other corner would be quite 
 enough. 
 
 August 17, 1917. It is believed in many quarters 
 in Switzerland that Herr Erzberger, through whose 
 initiative the four-party coalition was formed in the 
 Reichstag for the passage of the peace resolution 
 that brought on the political crisis of July has car- 
 ried, perhaps in unison with Austria, his irrepres- 
 sible activities to the Vatican, and has brought forth 
 the new proposal for which the pope is sponsor. 
 
 It is the Center, or Catholic, Party in Germany, 
 controlling ninety-one votes in the Reichstag, which 
 has lately constituted itself, under Erzberger's 
 
214 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 leadership, the special spokesman of peace yearn- 
 ings. Erzberger engineered the coalition of Cen- 
 trists, Socialists, Progressives, and National Lib- 
 erals that upset the Betliniann-Hollweg Govern- 
 ment, and despite the fact that his movement struck 
 the rock of military opposition, he has continued to 
 proclaim his purpose to work for peace in every pos- 
 sible direction. 
 
 For weeks the movement with which Erzberger's 
 name was identified has been discussed in a specu- 
 lative manner in Switzerland, with divergent 
 opinion as to whether it sprang from sincere motives 
 or was part of the German game. It is only pos- 
 sible to average opinion as to inside conditions in 
 Germany. ,There is an irreconcilable conflict of 
 testimony, and every statement contains a mixture 
 of a certain proportion of truth, which inevitably 
 filters through with the propaganda spread by 
 German agents, the counter-propaganda by allied 
 agents, and exaggeration by repetition. 
 
 Underneath every proposal for peace, however 
 impossible from the Allies' point of view, there is 
 always the popular wistfulness to see the war ended. 
 
 This desire grows stronger with adversity and 
 weaker with success, but when you get to details, 
 the Germans shrink from conditions such as in- 
 demnity, which they regard as a plea of guilty to 
 the felony of starting a wicked and murderous war. 
 
 In the general sentiment for peace the civilian 
 
IN SWITZERLAND 215 
 
 element has been reinforced by the discontent and 
 the progress of the democratization idea in the 
 army. Soldiers obey their officers and still fight 
 well, but men who go home after peace will never 
 consent to live under an autocracy that can 
 capriciously involve their country in war. 
 
 Of this sentiment in the army the generals and 
 the kaiser are well aware, and like the civilian un- 
 rest, it gives them constant solicitude. Even in 
 Switzerland one meets few persons who claim that 
 the autocracy will last beyond the present kaiser. 
 
 Out of these conditions the demand for peace 
 arises in varying forms and degrees of intensity. 
 The Catholics who under Erzberger's leadership 
 organized the Juty revolt would naturally give their 
 support to the latest peace initiative from the 
 Vatican. 
 
 In Germany the government policy exactly re- 
 verses that of England. The German theory is 
 that the Government can prevent the weakness and 
 panic that the sudden suggestion of peace might 
 produce by keeping that topic constantly under dis- 
 cussion. This is the pet policy of the Catholic 
 party the leader of which, Erzberger, advertises 
 that he is always ready to meet any advocate of 
 peace from any belligerent Government, in Swit- 
 zerland any day, and collaborate for peace on terms 
 fair to both sides. 
 
 The British and American governments take the 
 
216 FLASHES FROM THE FKONT 
 
 contrary stand, and advocates of peace are re- 
 garded as playing Germany's game. This indi- 
 cates that despite the claims for German discipline, 
 that country is less able to hold its people to war 
 sacrifice than are the Allies, but it also indicates 
 that the Allied peoples are taught to regard the 
 initiation of peace discussion as an unmistakable 
 weakening, whereas the Germans can shout peace 
 on every street corner without suffering a loss of 
 morale themselves or encouraging their enemies. 
 
 After spending ten days in Switzerland and talk- 
 ing with all kinds of people, I believe that it is vain 
 to hope for a popular upheaval in Germany before 
 the war ends. Germany is held in the vice of dis- 
 cipline. Fear is the chief element in its loyalty; 
 but while the people stand in awe of the autocracy, 
 the autocrac}'^ also fears the people. It may not be 
 possible, owing to long-established mental disci- 
 pline, for the people to develop and enforce an en- 
 lightened and matured public opinion, but waves 
 of emotion are continually sweeping over Germany, 
 and sharply react on the Reichstag and the powers 
 behind the throne. 
 
 Hindenburg and Ludendorff, to whom are now 
 delegated the powers of the autocracy, though in 
 what proportion as between the two is not precisely 
 known, came together from the front and assumed 
 personal, direct control of the situation during the 
 political crisis in July, Their authority was 
 
IN SWITZERLAND 217 
 
 recognized on all hands. Even the four-party 
 coalition, which in the Reichstag had a majority for 
 the peace resolution of more than a hundred, a body 
 that derives considerable power from its control of 
 money credits, modified its plans in conformity with 
 the dictation of Hindenburg and Ludendorff. It 
 was they who chose Michaelis and indicated the 
 program he should outline, and it is they who will 
 decide what program he shall actually carry out 
 when the Reichstag reassembles. 
 
 In the tripartite distribution of power, by far the 
 greater part resides in the autocracy, of which the 
 kaiser is temporarily the figurehead. On the op- 
 posite side are the people, with the Reichstag in the 
 middle furnishing a connecting-link. 
 
 The July crisis was produced by popular unrest, 
 of which the chief immediate cause is said to have 
 been the landing of American troops in France 
 when the food scarcity was at its worst. This 
 thoroughly alarmed the military party. The popu- 
 lar demand for peace and political reform came to 
 the Reichstag with an impact that momentarily 
 transferred the balance of control by which that 
 body is normally held. The adoption of the peace 
 resolution was the result. 
 
 The strong-handed intervention of Hindenburg 
 and Ludendorff was favored by events in Russia 
 during subsequent weeks, and also by using through 
 the press submarine statistics, which had apparently 
 
218 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 been held in reserve until the disappointment due 
 to the failure of the Government's promises when 
 submarine frightfulness started last February had 
 subsided. The German press pointed out that 
 while England had not yet been reduced, as 
 promised, by the U-boat campaign, the destruction 
 of tonnage would yet accomplish that result and, 
 what was even more certain, would render impos- 
 sible the transport and supply of American 
 soldiers in sufficient measure to affect the result 
 of the war. 
 
 As the news from Russia has become less favor- 
 able for Germany, the press and propaganda have 
 emphasized submarine warfare as the offensive 
 against which the Allies are helpless, the silent and 
 invisible blows of which are winning the war for 
 Germany. 
 
 August 31, 1917. A reading of Mr. Hoover's 
 clear and forcible appeal to the public, printed in 
 "The Times" of August 11, 1917, moves me to call 
 the attention of America to the example of Switzer- 
 land. In that country, more even than in France 
 or England, there exists a plan carefully worked 
 out by the authorities, and scrupulously put into 
 effect by the people, for the conservation of food. 
 There are so many things in the world to shake 
 democratic faith that it is comforting to see the pos- 
 sibilities of reverence, order, and obedience to 
 
IN SWITZERLAND 219 
 
 authority under a republic so fully demonstrated 
 as in the mother republic of Switzerland. 
 
 It is possible that what has been needed in 
 America was an emergency under such leadership 
 as Mr. Hoover's, and that our hitherto self-in- 
 dulgent public will come out of their experience 
 with disciplined hearts. 
 
 The regulations in Switzerland are not extreme, 
 but they are thorough and are rigidly enforced, or, 
 to put it more justly, are lived up to. The people 
 have confidence in the wisdom of the plan and the 
 impartiality of its administration, and they there- 
 fore make enforcement unnecessary by general, 
 voluntary compliance. 
 
 People in France will in many cases beat the law 
 by laying in big stocks on the market-day preceding 
 the meatless days. This in Paris is not considered 
 reprehensible, but in Switzerland it would be most 
 severely reprobated by public sentiment, to say 
 nothing of the legal consequences. For example, 
 in Bern even the household of the American minis- 
 ter is on rations. On the first of each month Mrs. 
 Stovall receives a card to fill in, stating the probable 
 needs for that month. She sets down the quanti- 
 ties of the meats and vegetables that count, and 
 sends the card back. The authorities then return 
 the estimated allowance as approved by them. 
 
 This is not accounted a hardship by any one. 
 On the contrary, there is general agreement that the 
 
220 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 method is necessary, orderly, fair, and in the public 
 interest. 
 
 There are not only laws against profiteering, but 
 public opinion is so alert on this subject that no 
 market vender would dare attempt extortion. In 
 the few cases where it has been attempted indignant 
 women marketers have upset stalls and scattered 
 their contents in the street. 
 
 The attitude of the people toward food and 
 marketing interested me greatly. Marketing is a 
 kind of sacred rite. Food is handled with caressing 
 and cherishing care. In the morning hours the 
 street-cars are virtually given over to the market- 
 ers, who carry their prizes in neat, small baskets 
 and string bags. 
 
 It is astonishing how quickly a new-comer falls 
 into the prevalent idea. I found myself soon tak- 
 ing the Swiss view of the preciousness of food. 
 And what a wonderful flavor is imparted by a little 
 stint! Like many other Americans, I like my 
 breakfast best, and make it the chief meal. A 
 favorite breakfast consist of fruit, bacon, coffee, 
 bread, and plenty of butter and sugar. In Swit- 
 zerland oranges are plentiful from Italy, so one is 
 not limited there, though the price is high. But of 
 bacon I could have only three very small bits; of 
 butter, three slivers, equal to about one ordinary 
 piece ; and of sugar, one piece broken in the middle 
 
IN SWITZERLAND 221 
 
 to look like two. The bread allowance was equal 
 to about two rolls. This is enough breakfast for 
 anybody, and it was all anybody could get. And it 
 was simply delicious. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 A CORNER OF ALSACE RECONQUERED 
 
 July, 1917. The minister of war had elected that 
 we should see a portion of that Alsace which French 
 arms had reconquered. I was the first American, 
 as it happened, to appear in Alsace since our 
 country had come into the war. I was a little em- 
 barrassed to find that word of the visit had pre- 
 ceded me and that it was to be taken somewhat 
 seriously as a mile-stone. I soon saw, however, 
 that nobody could be embarrassed long, but only 
 pleased and delighted by the gay and charming 
 hospitality of Alsace. 
 
 Our route lay over the famous Vosges Moun- 
 tains. Shortly after we had passed the crest, 
 which here is only about eleven hundred feet 
 above sea-level, our officer announced that we were 
 now in Alsace, and there opened before us the lovely 
 valley of the Doller. In a few minutes we were in 
 the village of Sewen (pronounced Sayven), which 
 is garrisoned largely by Senegalese. They greatly 
 interest a Southerner raised among and by darkies. 
 It never loses its strangeness to me that these 
 Africans are unable to talk or understand Ameri- 
 can. 
 
 222 
 
ALSACE RECONQUERED 223 
 
 A big buck was cooking supper out on the road- 
 side, and we watched him with an interest that was 
 augmented by our guide's conversation with him in 
 a patois understood by both. He was making a 
 kind of burgoo of rice and horse-meat in an im- 
 mense vessel about the size of a stereotype metal 
 pot, from which issued a most appetizing smell. 
 His tribesmen eschew pork, but when taxed with 
 slipping some quantities of hog-meat surreptitiously 
 into the stew, old Mose, as he might have been 
 called on form, grinningly admitted the charge. 
 His nose spread almost across his face, which was 
 pock-marked; humor laughed in his eyes and ex- 
 panded his lips. He was one of those negroes 
 whom an experienced Southerner would at once 
 pronounce as having "a heap of sense." 
 
 When I showed interest in the black men, several 
 of them were called up, and we tried to induce them 
 to carry on conversation in their native tongue, with 
 only indifferent success, owing to their timidity. 
 Their faces are scarred in infancy by lines indicat- 
 ing tribal affiliation. They carry a kind of cutlass 
 that might have been old-fashioned three years ago, 
 but wliich has become most useful in trench war- 
 fare. 
 
 We went up the Doller a mile or two to see a 
 dam built by the Germans in 1884-87 and which 
 supplies water-power to a portion of the valley. 
 We had an entrancing view from this dam, one of 
 
224 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 many permitted us dm-ing om* visit. It was diffi- 
 cult to realize amid such peaceful scenes that a hor- 
 rible war was going on within a few miles. In the 
 valley of the Doller as elsewhere in that part of 
 Alsace now in French hands the crops, particu- 
 larly potatoes and hay, are unusually fine, and the 
 impression from any vantage-point is one of 
 prosperity and plenty. 
 
 In the late afternoon we drove down the valley 
 in the direction of the Rhine to Massevaux, where 
 we were to put up. It is a beautiful town, with a 
 population of several thousand. It has enjoyed 
 prosperity from cotton and leather manufacture, 
 and so far the Boche has spared it, contenting him- 
 self with an almost daily air-plane visit, perhaps 
 by way of warning. The church has an organ 
 which the inhabitants compare favorably with the 
 famous one in the Strasburg Cathedral. They had 
 arranged a recital in our honor in order to show 
 its quality, but the time proved too short. 
 
 We drove to headquarters, over which floated 
 the Stars and Stripes along with the French flag, 
 to pay our respects to the conmiandant, and found 
 that he was to give us a dinner in the evening. In 
 the meantime we were conducted not to the 
 excellent hotel, but to private houses. My friend 
 went off to a house near the main street, while a 
 captain took me to a fine old mansion in the square 
 and introduced me to my hostess. 
 
ALSACE RECONQUERED 225 
 
 When I met my colleague later I said, "No 
 matter how charmingly you are located, I am more 
 so." But he stood up stoutly for his own host. 
 My hostess was the youngest of four sisters left re- 
 maining of a prominent Alsatian family. The 
 parents had died since the war; the only son was 
 killed in Champagne. The three elder sisters were 
 conducting a hospital in Belfort. My hostess kept 
 her house open for French officers and soldiers. 
 At one time thirty or forty were accommodated 
 there, but the number was now reduced to six or 
 eight. 
 
 From my hostess I heard the strongest plea for 
 restoring Alsace and Lorraine that I had ever heard 
 anywhere. She had only a small vocabulary of 
 broken English, but she used it with a convincing 
 eloquence. It was as if I embodied the whole 
 United States, which had come to rescue Alsace if 
 it could be shown that Alsace needed, desired, and 
 deserved rescue. She made me feel that German 
 rule had been intolerable, and would be far more 
 intolerable if the Germans were victorious. The 
 losses were terrible; her own house had been left 
 headless, but better total extinction than the ac- 
 ceptance of Hun tyranny. This beautiful young 
 girl made me feel as I had never felt before the 
 reality of an alien oppression. "I feel as if the 
 hoof of an unclean beast is on my neck, and I must 
 throw it off if I die." 
 
226 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 I cannot exaggerate the trust in America which 
 I found in this house, both in her will to put an end 
 to German brutalism and her power to do it. 
 
 The dinner tendered by the commandant was at- 
 tended by a dozen officers, and was a happy occa- 
 sion. American flags entwined with the Tricolor 
 were much in evidence, and the commandant made 
 an eloquent speech in English. Afterward we all 
 walked out together under the stars, and we said 
 good night with assurances of sincere good-will all 
 around. 
 
 We turned out early the following morning for 
 the greatest experience possible in Alsace, — and for 
 the matter of that, anywhere, — a visit to the battle- 
 line on the very top of a mountain. 
 
 The route from Massevaux to Hartmannsweiler- 
 kopf takes one over the Roseberg, through Thann 
 and Bitschwiller. At the latter village we were 
 joined by the local commandant, a captain born in 
 Mulhouse, or Miihlhausen, and changing to a 
 higher-powered car, we began the steep ascent. In 
 an hour we had reached the end of the automobile 
 road. We had stopped at an ambulance station 
 on the way up, inspected the hospital, which was 
 hewn out in the side of the hill, and provided our- 
 selves with steel helmets and gas-masks. 
 
 It was a fine morning, affording exquisitely 
 beautiful views, and Fritz was taking full advan- 
 tage of it to pay his respects to Hartmanns with 
 
ALSACE RECONQUERED 227 
 
 his 77's. AVhen we started on the pedestrian part 
 of the journey an airplane was buzzing in the blue 
 sky above to give location and range to the German 
 gunners three or four miles away. 
 
 We walked right into the zone of fire, on our 
 way picking up bits of shell that had fallen in the 
 road a few minutes before. Our ofiicers shook their 
 heads over the prospect of our going to the top, 
 and at the first post the officer in charge pronounced 
 against the attempt. The avion would certainly 
 see us, and the German gunners would shoot 
 directly at us. We took refuge in a dugout, where 
 we listened in security to the bursting shells of the 
 Germans, alternating with the rattle of the French 
 fire on the airplane. 
 
 Our hospitable officers meanwhile brought 
 champagne for our refreshment. The opinion was 
 that the 77's would keep busy until lunch-time, but 
 that Fritz would surely hold his midday feast 
 sacred, and we might then proceed to Hartmanns, 
 which lay twenty minutes' climb farther up. 
 Actually, the firing ceased about eleven, and the 
 hostile airmen having disappeared, we made our 
 way up a mule-path to the communicating trenches. 
 This path is not used in daytime as a rule, and every 
 night the Germans shoot at it from their trenches 
 on the other side of the valley. 
 
 When we entered the trench my guide ordered 
 a stop in order to give me a drill in putting on the 
 
228 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 gas-mask, which, he assured me, might prove very 
 useful. I was taught first to throw down my cane, 
 then my hehnet, with the greatest possible speed, 
 and, thus disencumbered, to take the gas mask out 
 of the bag in which it was carried on a strap over the 
 shoulder and put it on, chin first. 
 
 It was a long walk for a tenderfoot up Hart- 
 manns, and my captain spent half his time waiting 
 for me. When we reached a point within a hundred 
 yards of the top the trenches became a series of 
 chambers hewn in the living rock. We crawled into 
 one of these and looked through a loophole at the 
 German trenches opposite. They v/ere twenty 
 meters, or about seventy-five feet, away, or about 
 the distance across Broadway. The hole through 
 which we looked was just about big enough for a 
 pair of eyes and the muzzle of a machine-gun, 
 which was always trained on the trench opposite. 
 We could see the trench quite clearly, but not any 
 signs of life. 
 
 The Germans were there, just as we were here. 
 If they had shown an eyelash, we would have 
 popped at it, and we were restricted to very brief 
 peeps lest Fritz should become interested in us. 
 
 All this top part of Hartmamis has been denuded 
 of its tree life and presents a desolate, bald-headed 
 aspect. It is almost like fighting on the Cheops 
 pyramid. At the very top a row of five blasted 
 pines within a few feet of one another measures the 
 
ALSACE RECONQUERED 229 
 
 distance between the Germans below and the 
 French above. The problem of getting up food 
 and supplies is a difficult one for the French, who 
 have a fine new military road nearly all the way 
 from the valley. How the Germans manage I 
 don't know. On the French road hundreds of 
 pack-mules toiled up as we came along. Three 
 years warfare on top of Hartmanns constitutes one 
 of the tragic romances of the war. 
 
 We visited another chamber, affording a different 
 view; then we went back into the open trench and 
 made our way to within a few yards of the very 
 top. We found a place protected from the Ger- 
 mans from which we could see the trenches at the 
 crest at what seemed a few arms'-length. This 
 view brought home to us even more vividly this 
 extraordinary mountain warfare, carried on grimly 
 in the face of nature's difficulties for possession of a 
 toe-hold in Alsace. If the hardships were great 
 now, imagine what they must be in the rigorous 
 winters peculiar to the Vosges ! 
 
 We went down a different way, stopping now 
 and again to get the views. I was struck by the 
 great supply of living water at the very top and 
 all the w^ay down. On the roadside here and there 
 are baths made of rubble masonry for the soldiers. 
 
 We soon got back to the automobile road, and 
 having driven to the ambulance headquarters, we 
 got out for a walk to the observation-point that af- 
 
230 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 fords the widest and best view of the Thur Valley. 
 It is near the top of a lower peak than Hartmanns- 
 weilerkopf. It is one of the most valuable of the 
 tops controlled by the French and, with others, 
 enables them to dispense almost entirely in this 
 region with airplanes for observation purposes. 
 It commands the German trenches for miles, and 
 from it one sees several great potash factories (they 
 are shut down at present lest the French be tempted 
 to destroy them from the heights) and seven or 
 eight towns in the valley. Although the two lines 
 of trenches were visible, the valley lay calm and 
 peaceful in the summer sunshine. 
 
 When we walked back to the ambulance head- 
 quarters I had a chat with a clean-cut young Ameri- 
 can named Colie from Orange, New Jersey. He 
 had been here several months driving an ambulance, 
 and like most of his kind had things sized up pretty 
 well. You never meet one of these young Ameri- 
 cans without a fresh access of confidence in all their 
 breed. The}'^ will deliver the goods. 
 
 We slid down the hill past Bitschweiler and on to 
 our lunch at Thann. The excellent White Bear 
 Inn is under the management of M. Ortheb, an 
 Alsatian American. I asked: 
 
 "Do you know Chicago?" 
 
 "I have been there." 
 
 "Hoboken?" 
 
ALSACE RECONQUERED 231 
 
 "Yes; and Jersey City. New York still better, 
 but New Orleans best of all." 
 
 *'Do you know the St. Charles Hotel?" 
 
 "When it was built I opened it." 
 
 So small is the world I 
 
 After luncheon we were taken to Alt Thann to 
 see what the Germans had done to the church. It 
 was a pitiful ruin, even the head of the Saviour on 
 the cross, inside the nave, having been shot away. 
 
 Indeed, the lovely town of Thann has been half 
 ruined, almost a worse state than total ruin, by the 
 Boclie. The only parallel that I can recall is the 
 town of Port Tobacco in Charles County, Mary- 
 land. It lived by being the county seat. When 
 the latter was moved to a rival town, La Plata, 
 Port Tobacco dried up like a locust-shell, and is to- 
 day one of the saddest spectacles I know. When 
 a roof in Thann is destroyed, no one mends it. 
 What is the use? The Germans are within a mile 
 of Thann and can ruin it at will. Now and again 
 they send over a few score shells. They call them 
 "forget-me-nots." 
 
 There is a cathedral at Thann. A saying in 
 Alsace runs that the Cathedral of Strasburg is the 
 highest, that at Metz the largest, that at Thann the 
 nicest. The Thann Cathedral has some precious 
 stained-glass, which fortunately has been taken 
 away for safety. The buildings have been blasted 
 
232 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 on all sides of the square in which the cathedi-al 
 stands. The public school and the city hall are 
 ruined; but the cathedral is still intact, and latterly 
 the Germans have been less busy. 
 
 Our captain had been looking forward all day 
 long to something, and when we started up the 
 hill which overlooks Thann I could see "the love- 
 light in his 'een." When we reached the observa- 
 tion-point he handed me his glasses, and, pointing 
 to a steeple far away in the plain, said: "Look. 
 There is Mulhouse." It was his native city — a city 
 for which every heart in reconquered Alsace is wist- 
 ful, a city once retaken by French troops early in 
 the war, but then impossible to hold against the 
 Germans. 
 
 Here my captain was born, as were his fore- 
 fathers before him. They owned a great cotton 
 manufacturing business. He was French in back- 
 ground and sympathy, and when he reached the 
 age of sixteen he was told that he would either have 
 to attest his German citizenship by serving in the 
 army or clear out. He moved to Belfort and 
 motored daily to Mulhouse to look after his busi- 
 ness; but, in accordance with the German regula- 
 tions, he was not permitted to sleep there. 
 
 Mulhouse nestles in the middle of the Rhenish 
 plain. We were unable to descry the Rhine, fifteen 
 miles distant. From our point of view the valley 
 of the Thur was serene and lovely, an incredible 
 
ALSACE RECONQUERED 233 
 
 picture of peace in war. Yet within two and a 
 half miles of where we stood lay a bare, brown 
 strip in the midst of the green. This was the no- 
 man's-land between the French and German 
 trenches. Through the glasses we could make out 
 the two lines gashed into the plain. On the French 
 side there was cultivation to within a few score yards 
 of the first-line trenches. Women were at work in 
 the fields and teams of horses and oxen drew their 
 loads along the roads. 
 
 We lay down on the grass, and the two literary 
 men who were of our party talked of English 
 poetry. They agreed on Shakespeare and Milton 
 as belonging in a class by themselves, but there was 
 a controversy over third place, which the French- 
 man assigned to Shelley. The Enghsh critic was 
 all for Wordsworth. Somewhat meekly in the 
 presence of such literary overlordship, I piped up 
 for Burns. 
 
 "He is not in the discussion at all," said the 
 Englishman. "Poetry must be song or it must be 
 revelation. Burns's work, while very good, is 
 neither. He simply expresses human emotions. 
 Wordsworth is clearly third among English 
 poets." 
 
 Over our head the droning avion came again. 
 
 "We must be going," said the captain "In a few 
 minutes they will be shooting at us. It always 
 happens, first the airplane, then the 77's. That 
 
234 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 is one advantage in dealing with the Germans. 
 They always do the same thing." 
 
 As we turned to descend I noticed for the first 
 time a ruined building that had probably served 
 as a place of refreshment. 
 
 "The Bodies did that last week," said the 
 captain. "They may get playful any minute now." 
 
 At the bottom he bade us good-by and went back 
 to his post at Bitschweiler, and right sorry were we 
 to part with the gallant son of Mulhouse. 
 
 From Thann to Massevaux is an hour's drive on 
 a road which for most of the way parallels the 
 trenches at a distance easily within shell-fire. The 
 run was made without incident, and from Masse- 
 vaux we proceeded to La Chapelle to dine with the 
 division commander and his staff. 
 
 The general I found to be an Alsatian, and I 
 thought I could see points of resemblance to Gen- 
 eral Pershing. He showed a deep feeling for 
 America, and we were greatly impressed with his 
 steady, soldier-like character. The dinner was 
 dominated by the Stars and Stripes and by cordial 
 talk of good-fellowship and cooperation to beat the 
 Bodies. An interesting feature was the presence 
 of a lieutenant who had lived a year in Manchester, 
 Vermont, and who acted as interpreter for the 
 happy occasion. "I never had a minute's doubt as 
 to where America would land," he said. 
 
 We got an early start the next morning and 
 
ALSACE RECONQUERED 235 
 
 drove back to La Chapelle to pay our respects to 
 the general, and the English-speaking lieutenant 
 then took us in charge for a di'ive to another portion 
 of the front. It was evidently desired that we 
 should see as much as possible. The portion of 
 Alsace under French occupation is only a fraction 
 of the whole, but the French feeling is great. 
 
 Our guide wanted us to see a school where the 
 children were being taught French; so we went to 
 a village a few miles distant for that purpose. We 
 could hear the guns booming and shells bursting in 
 the distance, while the shrill little voices were piping 
 recitations under the leadership of a uniformed 
 master. The old German teacher was there, too, 
 as a kind of assistant under the new regime. 
 
 There was something very pitiful in the picture 
 of these frail children of war. How long ! oh, how 
 long! For centuries it had been the same in Alsace 
 and Lorraine, first one harrow and then another 
 driving over a race that is fundamentally neither 
 French nor German. They are Celts to the core. 
 The Celtic tongue rebels against "the language of 
 horses," and the result is the Alsatian patois. Now 
 the children were learning French. The struggle 
 of their childish optimism against hard conditions 
 reminded me of Robert Louis Stevenson's constant 
 wonderment at that ever-present quality in God's 
 creatures. The poorest of them, even the ants and 
 insects having only a brief span of life, and that 
 
236 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 always under the menace of destruction by exposure 
 and starvation, yet pursue their tasks with what 
 seems to the human observer a cheerful energy. 
 
 So it is with the unfortunate inhabitants of these 
 war-devastated countries. In the trenches, behind 
 them, among all who endure real hardships, you 
 find that optimism, which is the very finest thing 
 that God has planted in the hearts of men. These 
 little children ranging from five to twelve, and the 
 treble of their voices in recitation and song, will be 
 among my ineffaceable memories. 
 
 The lieutenant-colonel in command of the first 
 line at this front was a splendid Paris-bred officer 
 under whose guidance we proceeded to an observa- 
 tion-point not much over a mile behind the French 
 and German trenches. But with a German avion 
 droning in the sky above we dared not stand long 
 in a group. 
 
 At the colonel's headquarters I was provided with 
 a pleasant surprise. The colonel had me step down 
 ibst from the car, and a band which had been drawn 
 up in front of headquarters inmiediately struck up 
 "The Star-Spangled Banner." We all stood at at- 
 tention with swelling hearts. The leader was in- 
 troduced to me and told me that he had reproduced 
 and written out the music from memory the night 
 before, and had taught it to the musicians that 
 morning so as to play it in honor of a visiting 
 American, 
 
ALSACE KECONQUERED 237 
 
 Another French soldier was brought up to be 
 introduced. He was a naturalized American 
 citizen, Alphonse Nicole, who was living in San 
 Francisco when war was declared. He came back 
 to fight for his native land, and had been promoted 
 to sergeant. His eyes shone as he spoke of what 
 his adopted country had done to help put the Boche 
 under. 
 
 Throughout the Alsatian trip I had wondered at 
 the immunity enjoyed by the towns, with German 
 trenches so near. The colonel told me that it was 
 because the Germans hoped to get these towns back 
 and also because the wives, children, and other 
 relatives of German soldiers inhabited them. This 
 condition gives a certain appearance of unreality 
 to war in Alsace except at strategic points like 
 Hartmannsweilerkopf. 
 
 We drove to Belfort in time for lunch, and de- 
 scending at the Grand Hotel, in the center of the 
 town, we were surprised to see that the whole facade 
 had been peppered with shell-fire. The omni- 
 presence of war was again shown when we entered 
 the hotel. The woman clerk fell into conversation 
 with my colleague, and told him that at the 
 beginning of hostilities she and her nephew had been 
 employed in the Criterion in Piccadilly Circus. 
 The nephew at once enlisted in the French Army. 
 In one of the battles of the Chemin des Dames a 
 year ago he had disappeared. She had heard 
 
238 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 nothing since, and had given him up for dead. 
 
 And so it is everywhere in France. There is a 
 certain alleviation in the universality of the bereave- 
 ment and suffering. It is the normal state. There 
 comes from it a consolation that recalls a story of 
 Buddha. A woman who had lost her only son be- 
 sought him to bring the dead back to life. 
 
 "I command you," said Buddha for reply, "to 
 travel over India and seek for a grain of mustard 
 in a house that has not known death." 
 
 After a long absence the woman returned. 
 
 "And have ye found the mustard seed?" asked 
 Buddha. 
 
 "No," replied the woman; "but everywhere I 
 have found sympathy and consolation." 
 
 Alsace and Lorraine are the dominating topic 
 in France at this moment. We are all of us very 
 free in thinking how we would manage Germany 
 if we were in control of it. If I were the kaiser, 
 it seems to me that I would give France a title deed 
 to Alsace and Lorraine right now. It would be 
 a sensational move but it would do more to enable 
 Germany to come out of the trouble she has made 
 for herself with a comparatively whole skin than 
 anj^thing else she could do. If we are to have an 
 end of Prussian militarism, — and we are, — it will 
 be German energy and enterprise rather than 
 frontier lines that will give that industrial com- 
 
ALSACE RECONQUERED 239 
 
 munity a hold on the indispensable mineral re- 
 sources of Lorraine and Alsace. 
 
 These provinces are the double tap-root of con- 
 flict, ruin, and misery in Europe. The few- 
 thousand square miles and two million population 
 of Alsace and Lorraine have cost not less than 
 twenty million lives, and for centuries the insoluble 
 problem of their rightful ownership has been the 
 ever-present death's-head over the prosperity and 
 happiness of millions of human beings. 
 
 I came away from Alsace with one strong con- 
 viction. A plebiscite to determine allegiance is im- 
 practicable. Among other reasons for this belief 
 are the following: 
 
 1. — The present population of two million in- 
 cludes about four hundred thousand Germans im- 
 ported into the provinces after the Franco-Prussia 
 War. While these are residents, they have never 
 become assimilated into the people. They obtained 
 possession of the property of the French unfairly, 
 and their moral status is tainted. 
 
 2. — About two hundred and fifty thousand 
 French were driven back to France by the un- 
 fair policy of Germany, and these, though properly 
 a part of the provinces, would not be allowed to 
 vote. 
 
 3. — Germany, having been in occupation, was in 
 the position to force men into her armies, and the 
 
240 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 vast majority of serviceable Alsatians and Lor- 
 rainers are German soldiers. 
 
 4. — Most of the inliabitants who have scattered 
 over the world since the Franco-Prussian War are 
 French sympathizers who could not be happy under 
 German rule. This has further deprived Alsace 
 and Lorraine of the means of making vocal their 
 natural preference for France. 
 
 5. — Who could hold a plebiscite and guarantee 
 its fairness? It would be difficult, perhaps an im- 
 possible problem. 
 
 Monsieur Painleve in his interview in "The New 
 York Times," Premier Ribot in his Fourth of July 
 speech, every spokesman for France, on every pos- 
 sible occasion, sounds the same note: *'A great 
 moral question cannot be arbitrated. Alsace and 
 Lorraine are ours and must be returned to France 
 unconditionally and forever." 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 TO THE RESCUE OF ITALY 
 
 In Italy one sees much of the famous Bersagiieri, 
 wearing their head-gear of cock-feathers, and mov- 
 ing about as hght as lapwings. These men go 
 through several processes of selection and are one 
 of the finest picked bodies in any army. The thing 
 that weeds out all weaklings who may have any de- 
 sire to go with these troops is that they march at 
 the double-quick. A man has got to be young, 
 strong, sound in wind, heart, lungs, and legs to pass 
 this test. I was told that three whole divisions, or 
 sixty thousand of these splendid fellows, were wiped 
 out in the retreat from the Isonzo. 
 
 The Italian people have been eager for their king 
 to show up strongly and every inch a king in these 
 trying times. Personality in the king would do 
 almost more to unify Italy than any other one thing. 
 The king is modest, faithful, and capable, but too 
 timid for the self-assertion which the Italians long 
 for in him. Self-sacrifice at the front is no trouble 
 to him at all, but he hates to come out in addresses 
 to the people, and that is precisely what they want 
 him to like and to do. The king's shrinking from 
 publicity is probably in some measure due to his 
 
 241 
 
242 FLASHES FHOM THE FRONT 
 
 short stature. When his queen is on her knees and 
 he is standing up, their height is precisely the same. 
 The queen is a model mother, but she, too, has little 
 fancy for the public and spectacular side of the 
 royal office. 
 
 Paris, October 31, 1917. After forty-eight 
 hours of strenuous work on the Italian situation and 
 other very important matters, the French prime 
 minister Painleve gave me an appointment at the 
 War Office at 10 o'clock last night, and made a 
 statement on behalf of France and the other Allies. 
 Before discussing general questions, M. Painleve 
 spoke very earnestly of Italy. 
 
 "France and England," he said, "will fly to 
 Italy's aid with all means available. We are not 
 only impelled by military interest. We can never 
 forget that our valiant ally, Italy, voluntarily took 
 up arms and exposed herself to such perils as these 
 in order to defend the sacred cause of right for 
 which we are all fighting. 
 
 "The recent French offensive, flawless in its 
 method and execution and irresistible in its plan, is 
 significant of the sustained fighting power of 
 France, of that reserve force which can still be 
 drawn on after over three years at grips with the 
 most formidable military organization the world has 
 ever seen. 
 
 "If we have our troubles in France, they are 
 
TO THE RESCUE OF ITALY 243 
 
 superficial, and tend to cure themselves by their own 
 manifestations. There has never been a minute 
 since the Marne that France has not been more than 
 equal to every obligation imposed by the war. Our 
 burdens have been heavy, but never beyond our 
 strength. In fields and factories our women and 
 children have proved worthy rivals to our soldiers 
 in constancy and courage. 
 
 "All the belligerents have been subject to the 
 exhaustion of a long-drawn-out war, but America's 
 participation puts the Entente on an entirely dif- 
 ferent basis from the enemy. The incalculable 
 fresh resom'ces, moral and material, thus thrown in 
 on our side raise the average of endurance and strik- 
 ing capacity as against the opponent not thus re- 
 cruited, and worn to the breaking-point by the pro- 
 longed military and economic stress. 
 
 "That is the vital point in the situation as it 
 stands to-day. France, England, and Italy, sup- 
 ported by a new ally of unmeasured material 
 wealth, but still richer in spirit and unbreakable 
 will, are shoulder to shoulder in one sure purpose. 
 
 "There is to be neither halt nor parley until the 
 German brute force is shattered and world-terror- 
 ism is ended. Momentary trials which are afflict- 
 ing Italy, and against which the force of Allies will 
 make successful headway, may delay, but not 
 modify, the issue of this formidable war, which 
 henceforth is inevitable. Germany may make other 
 
244 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 spectacular moves in the far-off and temporarily in- 
 defensible areas, but we are dealing solid blows on 
 the western front. 
 
 "Whenever Geniiany is sincerely ready to con- 
 sider peace it will be because she is beaten, and when 
 she is beaten, the victors will write the terms in con- 
 formity with justice and the rights of humanity, 
 steadfastly refusing to admit any compromise with 
 violence. This note of high resolve struck by 
 President Wilson in all his recent utterances has 
 been accepted and adopted by the European Allies. 
 We stand together in complete harmony, and we 
 are convinced that there is no other road to peace 
 save by victory. 
 
 "The arrival of the Americans in the trenches," 
 M. Painleve concluded, "is greeted with the great- 
 est joy by their French comrades in arms and by 
 our whole nation. It is a beginning not only of the 
 utmost symbolical importance, but of enormous 
 material significance. Before long I intend to pass 
 an evening in one of the trenches occupied by the 
 American troops in order to bring to them person- 
 ally and on the spot the greeting and good wishes 
 of France." 
 
 Turin, November 5, 1917. I had my first chance 
 of seeing how Italy was taking the crisis. Crowds 
 lined the route for miles to see the soldiers off for 
 the front, but there was no excitement. 
 
TO THE RESCUE OF ITALY 245 
 
 I occupied a compartment with an Italian officer 
 returning from Petrograd, and as we were invaded 
 in the free Itahan way by fresh sets of passengers 
 going short distances, with whom the officer con- 
 versed freely, we got a good line on the feeling of 
 this part of Italy. The people had been shocked 
 to the core. They were unprepared. The very 
 worst they had reckoned on was the halt of the 
 Italian advance for the winter, which was causing 
 considerable grumbling. 
 
 When Cadorna's frank communique was read 
 by the crowds assembled in the Galleria Vittorio 
 Emanuele, the famous Milan arcade, last Sun- 
 day night, scores momentarily gave way to their 
 grief, weeping hysterically ; but soon a common in- 
 stinct of courage and loyalty asserted itself, and the 
 whole crowd joined in shouts of acclaim for Italy 
 and the king. The latter possesses the love and 
 confidence of the people, who also continued to 
 trust Cadorna. Reasons for this loss in a few days 
 of all that had been taken with sacrifice, and 
 cherished so passionately as the homeland free from 
 alien rule, are sought elsewhere than at the com- 
 mando supremo. 
 
 Milan, which is Italy's chief commercial city, is 
 also the center of the war spirit. The public here 
 is uninformed about details of the military opera- 
 tions, does not even know the present army head- 
 quarters, but faith is pretty general in Cadorna and 
 
246 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 in Allied cooperation. I have not heard one word 
 of criticism of any ally except Russia. I feel safe 
 in saying that this part of Italy and, so far as I 
 can gather, other parts, have stood the shock of the 
 disaster well, and that there is not going to be the 
 kind of collapse that alone could make Italy put an 
 eventual Alhed victory in danger. 
 
 Rome, November 8, 1917. My observations here 
 confirm previous insistence upon the urgent need 
 of centralized methods of managing the war. At 
 bottom this war is the biggest business enterprise 
 ever undertaken, and while the kaiser handles his 
 end of it as such, each of the Allies is more or less 
 playing its own separate game. With vast re- 
 sources, the Allies have discussed and postponed 
 critical decisions until they have lost the advantage. 
 
 To mention one recent instance ; if the Korniloff 
 movement had been handled by the Allies as the 
 kaiser would have handled such an opportunity, the 
 Russian situation might have been stabilized and 
 the Italian drive rendered impossible. 
 
 There had not been a single Allied action, with 
 the exception of the Battle of the IMarne, which 
 ranks as a great aggressive stroke. The Allies are 
 not organized to initiate and execute big policies. 
 Instead of looking ahead and planning on a big 
 scale, they yield where pressure is applied, with the 
 result that they usually trail along a few days or 
 
TO THE RESCUE OF ITALY 247 
 
 weeks behind Germany. Purely local and political 
 matters divide and divert attention in the Allied 
 chancelleries. 
 
 Coming on top of many previous heartbreaking 
 lost opportunities, the present menace in Italy is 
 quite serious enough to rally the Entente powers 
 at last into substituting for the town meeting some 
 plan under which they can see the war situation as 
 a whole, and concentrate with foresight, originality, 
 and driving power, as we understand those things 
 in America. 
 
 In a word, after thi'ee years, it is time to quit 
 playing amateur against professional. If America 
 gives the lead, all the rest will follow. There are 
 directed against us none of the petty jealousies 
 peculiar to Europe, and all the Allied countries 
 have complete confidence in our disinterestedness 
 and sound leadership. 
 
 November 13, 1917. To understand the present 
 situation in Italy, we must consider three essential 
 facts : 
 
 The first is geographical. The remark is attrib- 
 uted to Napoleon: "Italy is a wonderful country, 
 but too long." From Turin to Naples and back 
 is as long a trip for a Caproni as from Turin to 
 London. 
 
 The second fact is racial and dynastic. The king- 
 dom of Italy is only fifty years old, composed of 
 
248 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 units widely separated, and differing in race and in 
 historic antecedents. 
 
 The third fact is that there is a kingdom within 
 a kingdom. The Vatican is in Italy, but not of 
 it. It is necessary to be careful on this del- 
 icate ground, where much controversy is raging. 
 Enough to say that no one can grasp the present 
 condition who does not realize that in Italy two 
 separate and inherently antagonistic powers occupy 
 the same ground, the one spiritual, with the tem- 
 poral in retrospect and prospect, and the other 
 purely temporal. They rule over the same sub- 
 jects, for virtually all Italy is Catholic. History 
 has bequeathed this condition. 
 
 If all Italy had the spirit of Milan, no question 
 would arise as to its power of resistance to the Ger- 
 man invasion or as to a separate peace. The cap- 
 ital of Lombardy is the chief jewel in the crown of 
 the Italian Kingdom. Not even in America does 
 city pride exist more strongly than in Milan. 
 
 When I arrived three days ago I found every- 
 where deep disappointment that the Isonzo line 
 should have given way, and dread of the possible 
 consequences; but there was neither panic nor in- 
 difference. I attended service at the great cathe- 
 dral. On every face was written anxiety, but also 
 earnestness and determination. An enterprising 
 and energetic people have built a fine city and are 
 filled with zeal for future efforts. They watch with 
 
TO THE RESCUE OF ITALY 249 
 
 anxious eyes the approaching Germanic tide from 
 the Venetian plain, realizing also the possibilities 
 of new eruptions from the Cadore and the Trentino. 
 Tears gather in their eyes as they contemplate the 
 city which they have been building with such labor, 
 and love so well; but there is no white feather in 
 Milan. The Milanese will die, if necessary, in the 
 proud belief that their city is the center of Italy's 
 will to war. 
 
 Rome is a different story. There is no danger 
 here of German murder and pillage. The censor- 
 ship is strict, and the masses are ignorant of the 
 seriousness of the Northern situation. Further- 
 more, Rome lives much in the past, and her climate 
 is relaxing. Rome has a great many "knockers." 
 There are circles which take pride in holding "well- 
 balanced" views. From such sources flows a con- 
 stant stream of cynical sanity, which is destructive 
 of the war spirit. Only in the house of spiritual 
 frenzy will men make the sacrifices imposed by the 
 defense of the nation. 
 
 In Rome one encounters few fine enthusiasms. 
 The German invasion is discussed in an entirely 
 different temper from that which one meets in 
 Milan. Warm-blooded optimism is non-existent. 
 There is polite appreciation of America's response 
 to Italy's needs. 
 
 By common consent Baron Sonnino is Italy's 
 leading figure. He is of Jewish origin, and Eng- 
 
250 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 lish on his mother's side. I had introductions to a 
 family in Rome which is on intimate terms with 
 him, and I hoped to get an interview, but found 
 that it was quite as impossible as to interview the 
 Grand Lama of Tibet. He has never once talked 
 to a newspaper man even privately, and is the most 
 aloof of all the world's statesmen. Sonnino's bril- 
 liant mind illuminates everything within a certain 
 radius, but the circle on which he throws its light is 
 small. 
 
 It is reported that the Swiss are heavily mobilized 
 on the Italian frontier. The reason given by a 
 well-informed authority is this: in previous wars 
 Italian and Austrian troops have not been over- 
 scrupulous about territorial boundaries. Switzer- 
 land is determined in the present circumstances that 
 there shall not be the smallest violation of her neu- 
 trality. 
 
 November 14, 1917. From different sources, in- 
 cluding military experts returning from the front, 
 I am able to piece together the following explana- 
 tion of the break on the Isonzo, that led to the 
 Italian rout. 
 
 The positions held by the Italians, won by the 
 greatest valor and by immense losses, seemed al- 
 most impregnable except to protracted siege. The 
 terrain opposite Tolmino on the Isonzo front was 
 precipitous, and the position along the top of this 
 
TO THE RESCUE OF ITALY 251 
 
 small mountain-range was strongly fortified with 
 cannon of large caliber. The slopes and foot of 
 the ridge were fortified by trenches with wire en- 
 tanglements and other obstacles. The Isonzo 
 River flows at the foot of this fortified ridge. 
 Along the top of the ridge ran a new and excellent 
 road, macadamized and drained. This position in 
 front of Tolmino appeared to be very strong, and 
 I am told that this view was held by the supreme 
 command of the Italian Army. They have been 
 criticized for placing troops there who might have 
 been infected by the peace propaganda, but it can 
 be stated in their favor that troops with any spirit 
 whatever could have held this position sufficiently 
 long for reinforcements to be sent them in case of 
 wavering. 
 
 It would seem, however, that the Second Army, 
 unknown to the higher command, had been honey- 
 combed by sedition, fostered by very subtle so- 
 cialist and other propaganda, which was coupled 
 with an intense desire for peace and for an oppor- 
 tunity to return to their families, for peasants com- 
 posed the largest part of this army. Some of the 
 troops it has also been stated, when captured or 
 when searched, had on their persons copies of the 
 Socialist paper "Avanti." 
 
 It is known that a very heavy bombardment was 
 turned on the trenches in front of Tolmino, and that 
 a shell fell within every hundred feet of trenches 
 
252 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 every fifteen seconds for two hours preceding the 
 attack. The Austro- German attack was aided by 
 mist and fog from the river valley. This, however, 
 was a normal condition, as in the morning, even 
 in August and the beginning of September in a 
 good season, this mist was usual, particularly along 
 the upper and middle Isonzo Valley. 
 
 It has been stated that the trenches of the Italian 
 position that were carried by the Austrians were 
 first bombarded with a new gas, which nauseated 
 the men in the trenches during the first part of 
 the bombardment, and compelled them to remove 
 their masks. Four to five minutes after this first 
 bombardment of nauseating gas, asphyxiating gas 
 was used, which caught the men with their masks 
 off, and confusion as weU as a great many casualties 
 resulted therefrom. 
 
 The intelhgence work of the Austro-Germans 
 was excellent. It was reported that the first shot 
 fu-ed during the bombardment destroyed the tel- 
 ephone central of that section of the front. The 
 disaffection was not confined to men in the front 
 line trenches only, but was prevalent among the 
 reserves, and many positions in the front-Hne 
 trenches were held until the Italians were vir- 
 tually annihilated ; for the reserves, who should have 
 supported them, had already retreated. Thus a 
 gap in the line was left where there was virtually 
 no resistance. It is said that the way to Udine was 
 
TO THE RESCUE OF ITALY 253 
 
 absolutely clear, if the Germans had only known it, 
 thirty-six hours after their first attack. 
 
 As there are very few roads in the mountains, 
 when one portion of the defensive line in the lines 
 gave way, undoubtedly these roads became heavily 
 congested, and the rolling up of the line on both 
 sides of the gap, once begun, could not be arrested. 
 About twelve kilometers of the defensive line fell 
 at once and through this gap poured the Austro- 
 German offensive, virtually unresisted except by a 
 few isolated organizations, such as the Bersaglieri 
 and Alpine regiments, who were almost annihilated. 
 When the opening through the line became so large 
 that it could not be closed, it caused the withdrawal 
 of the armies on both sides. The withdrawal added 
 to the confusion. 
 
 I have also been informed that wireless and tele- 
 graphic codes were captured by the enemy or ob- 
 tained by treachery. The supreme command at 
 Udine could not communicate in any way with the 
 lesser commands except by means of messengers. 
 
 Though twenty-five hundred guns of different 
 calibers were captured, many of these gims were 
 old and of obsolete patterns, and a great many, 
 while they were a loss to the Itahans, could not be 
 used against them, as they had destroyed many 
 parts before they were captured. 
 
 The great difficulty at present seems to be not 
 so much lack of men, but the great loss of arms, 
 
254 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 equipment, guns, and munitions of every descrip- 
 tion. 
 
 A few days ago a royal decree was promulgated 
 by the supreme command, giving five days' grace 
 for all soldiers separated from their armies to report 
 to military authority. If they did not do this within 
 the time specified, they would be treated as deserters 
 and shot in the back, according to the army penal 
 code. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 GREAT BRITAIN AT BAY 
 
 December 1, 1916. When I embarked for Liver- 
 pool, on Satm-day, November 18, I fomid awaiting 
 me on board the clean, comfortable, swift, and safe 
 American liner St. Paul a letter from a man prom- 
 inent in affairs, well known among his intimates for 
 a childlike curiosity exceeding that of a certain 
 famous Chinese diplomat. This letter set out a 
 score or more of questions, and, as they show forth 
 a typical American interest, I have sought ma- 
 terial for categorical answers. 
 
 What, if any, effect has the increased rate of tax- 
 ation had upon the apparent life and habits of 
 Englishmen? 
 
 In the sense of imposing real hardship, very little. 
 The manner of life has been much altered, but 
 fundamentally, chiefly in quarters w^here alteration 
 has meant improvement. It is as it was with the 
 philosopher in the garret. The garret was very 
 small and crowded, and a visitor exclaimed : 
 
 "Why, you have n't room here to swing a cat." 
 
 "I don't want to swing a cat," the philosopher 
 replied. 
 
 255 
 
256 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 The well-provided classes discover that with small 
 sense of sacrifice they can give up much luxury 
 that had been masquerading as necessity. Life has 
 become compressed and restricted; the contrasts 
 which usually differentiate plenty and poverty and 
 give the sense of satisfaction and comfort to the for- 
 tunate are now furnished by the suffering and self- 
 denial of those directly connected with the war, the 
 soldiers and their near relatives, while this latter 
 class in turn are sustained by the heroism of their 
 sacrifice. Society has thus established a new bal- 
 ance and goes on without complaint, perhaps even 
 with a larger measure of inner happiness. 
 
 What is true of the upper and middle classes 
 would be true of the lower in similar circumstances 
 were it not for the fact that the flow of money to 
 labor is in vastly increased volume since the war. 
 There is, therefore, no economic pinch in that quar- 
 ter. The danger lies in the formation of habits the 
 indulgence of which will become impossible after 
 the war and the necessary readjustment to the re- 
 turn of normal conditions. 
 
 Are the English people doing anything the better 
 to conserve the resources of the country ? Are they, 
 for instance, cultivating more of the ground, that 
 was formerly given up for parks and hunting pur- 
 poses? Are they making any definite efforts to 
 restrict waste and unnecessary use of food and ma- 
 terials ? 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AT BAY 257 
 
 The a<;reage under cultivation in 1916 showed a 
 decrease as compared with 1915, owing to labor 
 scarcity. Farm labor is too heavy for English 
 women. They cannot stand it, and the males have 
 been drawn off to militarj'^ duty and munition-mak- 
 ing. It cannot be denied that England is still 
 backward both in organized effort to promote pro- 
 duction and to stop waste. A measure for the latter 
 purpose is now going thi'ough the painful process 
 of parturition in the cabinet, amid the sneers and 
 gibes of the opposition press. 
 
 What particularly impressed you on your ar- 
 rival in England after an absence of fifteen months? 
 
 The changelessness of England. As 3Ir. Brit- 
 ling remarks, "Nothing is ever changed in England 
 except the mind of England when that mind is 
 made up to change something." 
 
 The country-side looks much the same as it did 
 when I last saw it. London is much darker at 
 night, the parts lying beyond the main arteries being 
 very dark indeed. The streets are pretty bare of 
 pedestrian traffic after, say, eight o'clock. The 
 busses and cabs go swiftly through the darkness, 
 with a comparatively small percentage of accidents. 
 The bus service is well maintained, but cabs are 
 scarce. Women have not yet developed as drivers. 
 The spirit of the people is about the same. 
 
 London, July 18, 1917. The change at the Ad- 
 
258 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 miralty, by which Sir Eric Geddes succeeds Sir 
 Edward Carson, calls attention to submarine con- 
 ditions, and there have been sharp revisions of opin- 
 ion in the last few hours as a result of a reexami- 
 nation of facts and figures. 
 
 The prime minister's recent assurance of safety 
 from the submarine had a sedative effect on the 
 public mind, but discussion by well-informed per- 
 sons, particularly in banking and commercial cir- 
 cles, during the last few days has brought out con- 
 ditions that are disquieting. Confidence about the 
 submarine situation appears to have had no founda- 
 tion more substantial than the hope that some sci- 
 entific means was surely in the way of being found 
 to put the submarine finally and entirely out of bus- 
 iness. The syllogism was: America is a wonder- 
 fully inventive country; America is now a bellig- 
 erent ; ergo, America will provide a solution for the 
 submarine menace. 
 
 That part of England that wakes up somewhat 
 ahead of the rest has suddenly grasped a fact that 
 is so simple that it ought to have been realized and 
 acted on long ago. The average man has been 
 thinking about food, — it has been plentiful, — or 
 thinking about Germany's threat to reduce England 
 in two months. Five have elapsed, and England is 
 no worse off. What has escaped attention, and 
 what is now brought to the fore by the change at 
 the Admiralty is the inexorable fact, which any- 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AT BAY 259 
 
 body with knowledge of the rule of three can cipher 
 out for himself, that at the present rate of con- 
 struction and destruction there cannot possibly be 
 at the end of a few months shipping enough, unless 
 British commitments elsewhere are considerably 
 curtailed, to feed England and France and main- 
 tain the present armies in the field; and as for con- 
 veying America's armies to Europe and maintain- 
 ing them, it will simply be out of the question. 
 
 The loss of ships by submarines totals six hundred 
 thousand tons a month, or from two to three times 
 the total of new construction. There is no possibil- 
 ity whatever of construction capacity overtaking the 
 present rate of loss in time to avoid a peace being 
 forced on the Alhes. What is wanted, therefore, 
 is largely to increase the destruction of U-boats. 
 
 The British Government is, and the American 
 Government ought to be, eye to eye with the stag- 
 gering fact that the Allies have got to find a way to 
 curb the submarine or lose the war, a way not yet 
 found and not even approached except exper- 
 imentally. Damage by submarines has been re- 
 duced by American cooperation, and every single 
 ton of craft effective against submarines ought to 
 be sent to European waters without a single hour's 
 delay. 
 
 It is crystal-clear that in American waters pro- 
 tection is not needed from the submarine, and to 
 keep destroyers on the Atlantic seaboard is sheer 
 
260 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 waste when the situation here is so critical. The 
 Enghsh fleet over here protects all interests over 
 there. For the purpose of this war, the Irish Sea 
 is just as truly American as Long Island Sound. 
 
 It is around the Irish Coast that the fight to make 
 a world safe for democracy is at its deadliest crisis. 
 No mihtary victory, short of marching into Berlin, 
 can take the place of a death-blow to the German 
 U-boat. 
 
 September 6. Although I had been in London 
 when the Zeppelins were calling in the outskirts, I 
 had never before been in the very midst of an air 
 raid, and the experience of Wednesday night was 
 a novel one. The strangest thing about it was how 
 we should all be so cool in such exciting and dan- 
 gerous circumstances. 
 
 The first notice was the passing of the fii*e-engines 
 in the street below. Of course we got out of bed 
 for that. A policeman on a bicycle immediately 
 followed, wearing on his body a "take cover" sign 
 and sounding his bicycle-bell. Within a few min- 
 utes we heard four explosions which might liave been 
 right around the corner. Bombs were falling a dis- 
 tance of nearly four miles, and exploding as they 
 struck the earth. My flat is on the fifth floor of 
 a six-story building, and has a big bay-window that 
 commands a fine view. I stood there for a few 
 minutes watching the search-lights and trying to 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AT BAY 261 
 
 make out the Gothas, the droning of which was dis- 
 tinctly audible, and otherwise see something of the 
 show; but was finally obliged to yield to feminine 
 insistence, and repaired to an inside hall on the 
 third floor, where the occupants of the building had 
 taken refuge. 
 
 This hall had no windows, and as the building is 
 of concrete, was comparatively safe; but I might 
 as well have been in America for seeing or hearing 
 the air raid. We stayed there for three-quarters 
 of an hour, and then went back to the flat and 
 watched the search-lights from the bay-window for 
 a few minutes. The "all-clear" policeman had n't 
 come along, but it looked as if the raid was over. 
 Traffic in the street below seemed normal, and the 
 only evidence that something unusual had happened 
 was the presence of groups of people, including a 
 party of childi'en, staring up into the heavens. 
 There was a brilliant moon, but the light, low-lying 
 clouds floated about in the sky. Some one in my 
 party remarked that they "sinned against the 
 moon." 
 
 I decided to go to bed, but before I went to sleep 
 there were further explosions. I stayed in my flat 
 this time. I telephoned several newspaper offices 
 to find out what was going on. From one came the 
 answer: "Something is going on, and we rather 
 think it is serious, but we have no reports yet." I 
 wish I were permitted to specify localities : it would 
 
262 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 make the answer from that newspaper office very 
 interesting for its proximity to damage and loss of 
 life. 
 
 The second visit of the Germans was brief, and 
 I went to bed and to sleep without knowing the 
 nearness and extent of the danger. The next 
 morning when I visited some of the places where 
 the forty bombs had exploded, I realized that I had 
 been immediately in the path of the German planes, 
 and that a bomb exploding at my corner would 
 probably have killed everybody who happened to 
 be standing at a window in the vicinity. The ex- 
 plosion carries with it a shower of shrapnel, which 
 smashes window-panes, and the broken bits of glass 
 are as fatal as the shrapnel itself. The bomb that 
 fell at the hospital entrance broke every window- 
 pane in the block, and there were literally hundreds 
 of shrapnel-scars on the stone and brick walls, pits 
 ranging from an inch to six inches in depth and 
 diameter. 
 
 London, September 7. The claim made by Ad- 
 miral von Scheer that any child could take a pencil 
 and a piece of paper and reckon the destruction of 
 England through the submarine, and the general 
 belief in Germany that Hindenburg has only to hold 
 things level while the submarine defeats the Allies, 
 have caused fresh discussion of this all-important 
 question in England, though with intelligible figures 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AT BAY 263 
 
 lacking and only the jargon of sinkings by ship to 
 go on. 
 
 It is a discussion in an intellectual vacuum. The 
 figures published by "The New York Times" on 
 July 19, showing an average monthly loss of six 
 hundred thousand tons, constitute the only real in- 
 formation that has reached the public for six 
 months. The figures quoted by the prime minister 
 in answer to questions by Kennedy Jones dealt 
 with British shipping only, and in such a way as 
 to be very confusing. I am able to state that since 
 the period dealt with by the figures published in 
 "The New York Times" on July 19, — namely, the 
 first six months of the present year, — there has been 
 a reduction in the losses at the rate of nearly one 
 hundred and fifty thousand tons a month. 
 
 A number of different elements have entered into 
 this reduction, but undoubtedly efiicient American 
 cooperation has been the chief single element in it. 
 The convoy system is working as well as can be 
 expected in view of the shortage in escorting vessels. 
 
 The absurd reports published in several New 
 York newspapers on August 19, quoting Admirals 
 Jellicoe and Sims as authority for the warning, that 
 the German high-seas fleet may elude the British 
 cordon and strike with all its strength in American 
 waters, and that a submarine offensive will be in- 
 stituted by Germany on the American side of the 
 Atlantic, are believed here to come from German 
 
264 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 sources, and to be put out for the purpose of pre- 
 venting the dispatch from America of the escorting 
 vessels, which are necessary to perfect the convoy- 
 system. 
 
 Admu'als Jelhcoe and Sims are both known to 
 hold views absolutely opposed to any such theory 
 as that attributed to them in the publication of 
 August 19. All respectable naval authority here 
 is in agi'eement with the opinion that the appear- 
 ance of any kind of German fleet in American 
 waters, or that a serious attack of any sort or de- 
 scription, is utterly out of the question. 
 
 Whether such reports emanate from Germany or 
 whether Germany's pui'poses are unwittingly served 
 by the incompetent in America, the fact remains 
 that all naval activities are now centered in the sub- 
 marine zone in European waters. It is there that 
 the Allied naval effort must be concentrated. It 
 would be a mistake to draw too much encourage- 
 ment from the reduction in the tonnage sunk by 
 German submarines in July and August. The fa- 
 vorable showing is partly due to the great effort 
 put forth by Germany in the month of April, when 
 the figm'es were roundly eight hundred thousand 
 tons in four weeks, which established an artificial 
 basis of comparison. In the first six months there 
 were also raider losses aggregating 151,000 tons. 
 The total figures for the six months, including 
 raider losses, was slightly in excess of 3,600,000 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AT BAY 265 
 
 tons, not including steamers damaged or beached, 
 but not sunk. Of these losses in the first six months 
 of the year about fifty-eight per cent, were British, 
 twenty-five per cent, neutral, and seventeen per 
 cent. Allied. 
 
 When the losses are six hundred thousand tons 
 a month and construction is two hundred thousand 
 tons a month, there is a resultant net-loss of four 
 hundi-ed thousand tons a month, and if this went 
 on long enough. Admiral von Scheer would be jus- 
 tified in his statement. We cannot be sure, but we 
 can fairly hope, that the reduction shown in July 
 and August will be maintained; but even so the 
 Allies would still be taking an enormous gambler's 
 risk unless the situation were greatly improved both 
 in respect to reduction in tonnage sunk and con- 
 struction of new tonnage. 
 
 The next six months will be extremely trying, 
 and it is of the highest importance, that every nerve 
 be strained to strengthen convoy protection along 
 the lines laid down by the Allied naval authorities. 
 The difference between strenuous concentration of 
 effort for providing adequate escort and a division 
 of resources for a pm-ely imaginary submarine or 
 raider attack by Germany in American waters 
 might prove to be decisive in the success or defeat 
 of Germany's supreme effort with the U-boats. 
 
 America has done well in the submarine cam- 
 paign, but effort should be constantly increased. 
 
266 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 To deal with big realities appeals to the American 
 spirit and the submarine campaign is the very heart 
 of the European War situation. Everything that 
 I have heard in Switzerland, France, and England 
 confii'ms my belief that Germany is building her 
 hopes on the submarine, and the very moment that 
 destruction of shipping is reduced to a point any- 
 where near construction, Berhn will beg for peace 
 unless victories on land should make a radical 
 change in Germany's position. 
 
 London, November 17. The message sent out 
 by the Associated Press, giving the opinion of an 
 English journalist now in America to the effect 
 that last week's showing marked the definite and 
 conclusive defeat of the submarine is much depre- 
 cated in circles here which understand the realities 
 of submarine warfare. It is regretted that such 
 importance should be attached to a single week's 
 return. Those who understand the subject best 
 state that there is just as much reason to generalize 
 in the reverse direction. "^lore likely they are 
 spitting on their hands for the next go," said an 
 American to-day. While there is general grat- 
 ification at the unique figure, the event is being cele- 
 brated as isolated and casual rather than as mark- 
 ing final victory over the submarine. 
 
 The common sense of the situation clearly is that 
 while distinct progress has been made in fighting 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AT BAY 267 
 
 the submarine, we are still far from safe. In the 
 month of October the rate of destruction was con- 
 siderably higher than in September, a fact that dis- 
 poses of the ill-founded view that the submarine 
 chapter of the war is closed. The under-sea op- 
 erations have a pendulum-like movement. August 
 was comparatively heavy, September showed a big 
 drop, the actual figures for four weeks being even 
 lower than the estimate I cabled to the "Times" 
 from Paris on October 9. The Germans must have 
 become alarmed and made extra efforts, for toward 
 the end of October the English and American de- 
 fenders observed a greater number of submarines 
 at work on the Atlantic than had ever before been 
 known, though owing to the organized defense the 
 aggregate sinkings totaled only one half the high 
 mark of April. 
 
 The Germans evidently exhausted themselves in 
 the October effort, as the low returns in the early 
 part of November clearly indicate. The boats 
 broke down, the crews were worn out, and the effect 
 of the strain was otherwise shown. The delicate 
 machinery constantly needs repair, and crews to 
 man the submarines are increasingly difficult to 
 obtain. We are experiencing a similar difficulty 
 in America, where, despite the inexhaustible amount 
 of raw man-power, men for the new destroyers com- 
 ing out shortly are hard to get. 
 
 The best opinion here is that such optimism as 
 
268 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 is displayed in the despatch above referred to will 
 have a mischievous effect. If America accepted 
 that dictum, it would certainly turn out to be the 
 reverse of true. The submarine is not only not 
 yet unbeaten, but can be defeated only by the most 
 strenuous sort of effort, with America and England 
 working shoulder to shoulder. 
 
 The men who have been sent here to study the 
 subject and cooperate with England are doing fine 
 work to that end. They bring the American point 
 of view to London and impress it on the British, 
 and they will take home a full understanding of the 
 most important single subject of the war, and will 
 be prepared to enlighten Washington's efforts. 
 None of those making this study minimizes the 
 seriousness of the situation or attaches more than 
 casual insignificance to one week's figures. I can 
 state as the general impression of many experts that 
 if England and America stick right to it strenuously 
 and sleeplessly, and a fair average of luck attends 
 their efforts, we shall put the submarine danger be- 
 hind us about the middle of 1918. We must always 
 reckon with the possibility of Germany's springing 
 some kind of surprise, but there has been oppor- 
 tunity to take the measure of the new submarine 
 cruiser, the forerunner of the craft which Berlin 
 intimated was to be let loose on the high seas in 
 great number as successors to the Seeadlers and 
 Moewes. One of these craft has been actually 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AT BAY 269 
 
 cruising for sixty days on the high Atlantic, and 
 its entire bag totals five ships, two of them small 
 Brazilians. They cannot duplicate the Seeadler's 
 feats, because they cannot have both a large cruising 
 radius and speed, and as the designers considered 
 the cruising radius primarily essential, the sub- 
 marine sent out as a demonstrator found the sea 
 too big for good hunting at slow speed. 
 
 The Germans probably keep closer to realities 
 in the submarine campaign than we do. They are 
 undoubtedly having much difficulty in sustaining 
 their activities. They are aware that Italy and 
 Russia cannot save them if their submarine power 
 is broken. Thej^ know that in eight or ten months 
 the Allies' building programme of airplanes, de- 
 stroyers, and cargo-ships will put the submarines 
 out of business as a determining factor. Hence 
 their activity on all fronts, and especially the present 
 desperate effort to win the war game by taking the 
 ball round the end in Italy. 
 
 September 9. London is packed and jammed 
 with people. No such crowds have ever been seen 
 here before. In business hom-s I think that Oxford 
 Street, between Oxford Circus and the Marble 
 Arch, shows the greatest congestion. At night and 
 on holidays the press of humanity centers in the 
 Strand between Trafalgar Square and the law 
 courts. In this latter region the soldiers fore- 
 
270 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 gather. Frequently each laddie has his lassie. 
 The Strand is often so crowded that the pedestrian 
 traffic overflows to the roadway. 
 
 One interesting feature of the crowd is the great 
 number of women carrying babies, usually very 
 small ones. It seems to me that I can notice a 
 different expression from what the young mother 
 used to wear when seen carrjdng a child in public. 
 Instead of looking gloomy or depressed, she seems 
 radiant. This is a change which, if it has actually 
 taken place on a sufficient scale to authorize gen- 
 eralization, must be attributable in some subtle way 
 to the psychology of the war. 
 
 London, September 17. In France, where one 
 comes into contact with the army chiefly, an im- 
 pression lodges in the mind that this war might be 
 brought to an end if only the Allied navies would 
 "go to it." In London the atmosphere is distinctly 
 naval. I did not get a chance to advance the char- 
 acteristic land-lubber point of view more than about 
 a minute before the argument was taken up in vig- 
 orous sailorman fashion. "Why don't the English 
 and American ships go in and clean them up? If 
 success or failure right now hinges on the U-boat, 
 why not send naval forces to batter to bits the bases 
 on the channel coast? Expensive, yes, but what 
 are ships for but to be risked and lost?" 
 
 The counter-attack was so sudden and sharp that 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AT BAY '211 
 
 I am afraid I i)ut rather more of the onus upon 
 the absent army critic than was altogether fair, 
 whereat a navy man who does n't think meanly of 
 his own literary accomplishments undertook to pre- 
 pare for my signature a letter stating the case in 
 such simple terms as would leave no room for mis- 
 understanding, and here is what he wrote : 
 
 Since my return from Switzerland a few weeks ago I have 
 been looking into the submarine situation again. You may 
 have seen in "The Times" some of my articles concerning the 
 present shipping situation, which is, as you doubtless know, 
 still so serious that no effort should be spared to diminish the 
 loss and increase the amount of tonnage. 
 
 I intend to pound away at this until its significance is more 
 generally understood in America, where the political speeches 
 of Mr. Lloyd George tend to create a dangerous optimism. 
 
 In the meantime there is another feature of this business 
 which exercises no inconsiderable influence upon public opin- 
 ion, and that is the influence of the inevitable mob strategy, 
 which manifests itself in all cases of prolonged and serious 
 war operations. 
 
 Few persons refrain from expressing opinions as to how 
 the enemy could be routed. All respectable newspaper ed- 
 itors must supply their readers with such opinions, and with 
 criticism of the responsible military leaders. 
 
 Many suggestions as to how to end the war are published, 
 and thousands are submitted to the authorities. These are 
 variations of schemes indicated by various catch-phrases. Of 
 these Winston Churchill's "Digging the rats out of their holes" 
 is the chief. Another very seductive one is, "Why not stop 
 up the hole in the nest instead of chasing the wasps after they 
 are out?" 
 
272 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 The influence of these and similar phrases is such tliat even 
 educated men do not hesitate to criticize the strategy, and 
 even the common sense and courage, of the Allies, and as this 
 tends to diminish efforts already under way, I made up my 
 mind to obtain some facts and authoritative opinions on the 
 subject. These have proved so very illuminating and are so 
 readily comprehended, even by the civilian mind, that I am 
 sure that they will interest you. 
 
 1. — In order to "dig the rats out" or "stop up the hole in 
 the wasp's nest," the German bases of their fleet and sub- 
 marines must be taken by attack from the sea. 
 
 2. — This can be done only by reducing by bombardment the 
 fortifications that protect the bases. 
 
 3. — The guns of modern land defenses are not visible from 
 the sea. Many of them are powerful mortars at the bottom 
 of pits. Ships, of course, are clearly visible from shore bat- 
 teries and their captive balloons and airplanes. 
 
 4. — The effective range of these guns is over twenty-three 
 miles. This has been shown by actual shooting at ships in 
 this war. 
 
 5. — No man-of-war's gun has a range of more than seven- 
 teen miles, and the enemy target is invisible. 
 
 6. — It is therefore apparent that a naval attack from the 
 sea would be even more suicidal now than in Nelson's day. 
 
 7. — It might be compared to a blind pugilist with arms two 
 feet long, trying to fight one with good eyesight and with arras 
 three feet long. 
 
 8. — Coast positions, large areas (like Bruges and Zee- 
 brugge), are bombarded from time to time; but this can be 
 done only at very infrequent intervals when the wind is in the 
 right direction for screens to be laid to mask the bombarding 
 vessels. 
 
 9. — Few civilians know the above facts, which have been 
 developed during this war, but I have yet to meet a single 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AT BAY 273 
 
 responsible officer who believes that it is possible to reduce 
 land defenses by a sea attack. All competent naval historians 
 express the same opinion. 
 
 10. — But even assuming that this vrere possible, a glance 
 at the map .will show that the German fleet and submarine 
 bases could not be approached by shipping unless the powerful 
 defenses of Heligoland were destroyed and the island captured 
 and held, 
 
 11. — But even assuming that this island were turned over 
 to the Allies with all its defenses intact, it would not be held 
 as a base by them, because, being only a few miles from the 
 German bases, it could be attacked every night and all night 
 by numerous airplanes carrying bombs of over two hundred 
 pounds. Heligoland is one mile long by one-half mile wide. 
 
 12. — There is practically no defense against such night 
 raids. In the recent midnight raid on London only two of 
 the numerous anti-aircraft guns even saw the planes. 
 
 13. — Moreover, the island could be successfully bombed by 
 daylight, because the Allies could not bring to bear enough 
 fighting-planes to resist the .overwhelmingly greater number 
 that could be sent from the near-by German bases to protect 
 the bombing-planes. 
 
 14. — There has been a recent naval conference in London 
 in which all the principal Allied countries were represented. 
 Their conclusions have not been published, but there can be no 
 doubt that no member present believed that "the rats could be 
 dug out of their holes." 
 
 15. — Many schemes have been proposed for building a mine 
 or net barrage, or both, to prevent the German submarines 
 from coming out of or going into their bases. Many attempts 
 have been made, but up to the present time it has not been 
 found possible to prevent submarines from passing through 
 the narrow strip of water between Calais and Dover, yet it 
 has seriously been proposed by all sorts and conditions of 
 
274 FLASHES FROINI THE FRONT 
 
 people to build a barrage from Scotland to Norwa}'^, over a 
 distance of about 230 miles, in very deep water and across a 
 strong tide. 
 
 It is, of course, unnecessary to state that the assumptions of 
 sufficient knowledge to decide how the naval war should be 
 conducted on this side presuppose a condition of mind that I 
 cannot well understand. The Allied nations have been fight- 
 ing three years for their very existence. When the civilian 
 sees that his particular task of the strategy of the situation 
 has not been carried out, ought he not naturally to assume 
 that there must be impelling reasons why this is so? 
 
 But the civilian critic makes the opposite assumption. He 
 is absolutely convinced that his ideas are right. They could 
 be right only on the assumption, that the combined military 
 experience of all the Allies was not sufficient to comprehend 
 what seems so apparent to him, or else that seeing the situa- 
 tion as he does, they lack the energy and courage to carry out 
 the appropriate measures. No other condition would appear 
 possible to a man who knows anything about history. 
 
 In view of the divergence of opinion between the 
 two services, to say notliing of the irrepressible con- 
 flict of theory within the navy, the foregoing state- 
 ment of the ideas upon which present poUcy is 
 grounded should be interesting. 
 
 The other day I had a chance for personal obser- 
 vation of the wave of domestic economy sweeping 
 over England. I went with Lord Northcliffe to 
 see the lord chief -justice bid adieu to the bench and 
 bar. On the way we were to stop at the North- 
 cliffe home, and instead of going to St. James's 
 Place, as of old, the driver was told to go to Number 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AT BAY 275 
 
 8, Buckingham Street. We passed in front of 
 Buckingham Palace turning to the left near the 
 Hotel Rubens, and then left again into a street that 
 was more alley than street. We drew up in front 
 of a row of small tenement houses, and Lord North- 
 cliffe got out, saying, "This is my home, and the 
 next door but one is Lord Lytton's." I was ex- 
 tremely interested and went inside to see more of 
 this change of state as compared with St. James's 
 Place. 
 
 On the first floor there was a room about eighteen 
 feet square, which was the dining-room, furnished 
 neatly and plainly; in the rear was a "den," and 
 then a largish hall with a stairway. The house 
 fronts about twenty-five feet and has three stories. 
 I should say that a hundred dollars a month would 
 be pretty stiff rent for it. 
 
 "What did you do with the fine house in St. 
 James's Place?" I asked. 
 
 "We let it to a man who had spent five million 
 dollars building a magnificent house. It was too 
 expensive to maintain in war-time, so the owner 
 closed it up and came down to what he regarded 
 as contraction and economj^ in St. James's Place. 
 We, in turn, moved to this little house, displacing 
 people who find a flat good enough, and their pred- 
 ecessors in the flat doubtless occupy lodgings. We 
 keep three servants here when we can get them. 
 With the money saved by hving in Buckingham 
 
276 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 Street instead of St. James's Place, Lady North- 
 cliffe is able to keep and support a hospital of her 
 own. So, far from finding it a deprivation, my 
 wife and I like it. It is less trouble, and there are 
 fewer complications." 
 
 December 31. Private control of railroads in 
 England is a thing of the past. Government con- 
 trol was adopted as a war measure in August, 1914. 
 It has worked so well that the principle will be re- 
 tained when peace returns. So much is certain. 
 Wlien the war broke out, the Government had to 
 get immediate control of the carriers in order fully 
 to command facilities for transporting troops, arms, 
 and supplies. There was not time for elaborating 
 a plan, so the roads were just taken over in the 
 simplest way. 
 
 The net earnings of the previous year (1913) 
 were guaranteed, with certain minor deductions, for 
 the whole period of government control, and the 
 ten general managers of the larger systems were 
 constituted an executive committee with entire 
 managerial charge. 
 
 The whole scheme falls under the department of 
 commerce and transportation, known here as the 
 Board of Trade; but that body names a member 
 of the committee of ten — Sir Herbert Walker — as 
 its representative, holding for itself only reserve 
 powers of control. 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AT BAY 277 
 
 When the new order set up in the hurry and con- 
 fusion of that fateful August shook down to some- 
 thing hke permanency, the managers were sur- 
 prised to find what a good arrangement it was. 
 Now, after well over two years of trying out, there 
 is a practical unanimity in the opinion that the old 
 conditions will never be entirely restored. 
 
 Those railroad heads in America who do not need 
 Dr. Vanderlip's prescription for hardened arteries 
 and who, like the doctor himself, are ever scanning 
 far horizons for signs of the times, have been watch- 
 ing the experience of England for such light as it 
 may throw upon the serious problems which con- 
 front the carriers on that side of the Atlantic. 
 
 It happens that there is one man in the railroad 
 service in this country who can speak comparatively 
 and with authority of railroads in America and in 
 England. He is the general manager of the Great 
 Eastern, Henry W. Thornton, a product of the 
 Pennsylvania Railroad school, and, before coming 
 here two and a half years ago, for some time general 
 superintendent of the Long Island Railroad. As 
 general manager of the Great Eastern his position 
 corresponds to that of a railway president in Amer- 
 ica, his responsibility being directly to the board of 
 directors. 
 
 Mr. Thornton is one of the Executive Committee 
 operating the roads, each member of which has the 
 military rank of lieutenant-colonel. I may add 
 
278 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 that Colonel Thornton has won the regard and 
 confidence not only of the Great Eastern interests, 
 but of the British public. He brings with him the 
 American push and go, but fits into his new environ- 
 ment as if to the mamier born. 
 
 "The arrangement between the Government and 
 the railroad companies," said Mr. Thornton, in re- 
 ply to my inquiries, "has proved a good bargain for 
 everybody. Under it stockholders receive the same 
 return, with some minor deductions, that they had 
 in 1913, upon which year the bargain was based. 
 The Govermiient in turn fares well, because the 
 hauling done for it, if it had been paid for at the 
 regular rates, would have amounted to a great deal 
 more than the difference between the present earn- 
 ings and what it costs to run the railroads and pay 
 the stockholders." 
 
 "Will the old condition ever be restored?" 
 "Never," replied Mr. Thornton, with emphasis. 
 *'The position will be different after the war, but 
 exactly what it will be nobody can tell. It will 
 probably be something like semi-nationalization or 
 government partnership. I do not think that either 
 railroad shareholders or the Government need be 
 anxious about the future condition. It will be 
 better than the old relation, because we have had 
 an opportunity to develop the subject under con- 
 ditions which were peculiarly favorable to this pur- 
 pose. We ought to work out something that has 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AT BAY 279 
 
 all the advantages and none of the disadvantages 
 of government ownership." 
 
 When asked to comment on the situation in 
 America, Mr. Thornton said that, disregarding the 
 position in England, and looking at it only as ap- 
 plicable to the United States, the Interstate Com- 
 merce Commission seemed to him to labor under 
 the disadvantage that it was too far away from its 
 subject. It was like a judge on the bench: it did 
 not share in the consequences of its acts; its re- 
 sponsibility was an academic one. 
 
 The railroad interest, according to Mr. Thornton, 
 divides itself into four distinct parts. 
 
 1. — The interest of the shippers. 
 
 2. — The railway staff, including labor and all 
 employees. 
 
 3. — The proprietors, including the shareholders 
 and bondholders, and the general financing. 
 
 4. — The Government, which in Europe already 
 has, and in America will come to have, a military 
 interest. 
 
 The various interests are diverse and often in 
 sharp opposition. The shippers always want low 
 rates and care nothing about the other interests; 
 the shareholders look to dividends; the employees 
 want more wages, and do not worry themselves 
 about the other points of view; the Government 
 had a many-sided interest, which may be one thing 
 to-day and quite another thing to-morrow. Its 
 
280 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 main interest, of course, is to represent the general 
 public, from, which all railway revenue must be de- 
 rived. 
 
 "The problem is to bring all these factors to- 
 gether," said Mr. Thornton, "so that they will ap- 
 preciate the different points of view instead of al- 
 ways standing each for its own. My study of the 
 American problem has carried me almost to the 
 conviction that instead of the Interstate Commerce 
 Commission there should be a body composed of 
 men representing the four interests to which I have 
 referred. 
 
 "It might be well to carry the scheme even nearer 
 to government control. Assummg some form of 
 financial participation on the part of the Govern- 
 ment, there is at once a stabihzing of railway se- 
 curities. They are taken out of the field of spec- 
 ulation. The raising of capital becomes easy and 
 its hire cheap. The Goverimient has then a stake 
 in the proposition. Moreover, each of the interests 
 involved watches the other, and sees that no interest 
 gets more than its share." 
 
 "What about the general pubhc in this scheme 
 of control and management?" Mr. Thornton was 
 asked. 
 
 "The public is represented by the Government, 
 and that ought to be adequate in a democracy. 
 What I have outlined in the way of a possible 
 solution of the railway problem in America may 
 
GREAT BRITAIN AT BAY 281 
 
 not jfit when laid down on the ground, but it seems 
 to me that you have got to devise some scheme 
 of automatic justice in a railway management, or 
 else you will have a breakdown somewhere that 
 will be very serious in its effects on the whole 
 country. 
 
 "Our problem in England is much easier, be- 
 cause it is simpler here than it is in America to con- 
 centrate authority. I have no doubt that if the 
 reorganization of the Interstate Commerce Com- 
 mission were attempted, there would be a general 
 demand to have local bodies with subordinate au- 
 thority in the various sections. That would have 
 its advantages, but it would interfere with concen- 
 tration of authority and ease of control. 
 
 "The big thing, it seems to me, is that the Inter- 
 state Commerce Commission should have a real and 
 practical interest in the administration. For ex- 
 ample, in the labor fight recently neither the Pres- 
 ident nor Congress was directly interested in what 
 happened after the settlement was secured; what 
 they wanted was to get from under the difficulty. 
 A continuing body, charged with permanent re- 
 sponsibility, would have an entirely different out- 
 look on the question. 
 
 "A body composed of the best available men, 
 appointed for life and adequatelj^ paid, would be 
 in a position to get the best results. For example, 
 a labor leader (and there are many good ones in 
 
282 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 America) might go into this body prejudiced, but 
 his association with the others would broaden and 
 mellow him. Precisely the same thing could be said 
 of the representative of capital. 
 
 "It has worked that way in England. Never 
 anywhere has there existed such severe competition 
 as there was here among the railroads, and yet the 
 ten general managers, when brought together to 
 operate the railroads of England, have all come 
 to see one another's point of view, and as a matter 
 of practical experience, every decision reached by 
 them has been unanimous." 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 THE NIVELLE OFFENSIVE 
 
 Paris, February 27. The article entitled "The 
 Battle of 1917," which appears in "Collier's" of 
 January 5, just received in France, purporting to 
 give a true account of General Nivelle's offensive 
 on April 16, 1917, may cause considerable mischief 
 unless corrected. Aside from the injustice to the 
 Ribot Ministry, and M. Painleve in particular, 
 against which M. Painleve has already entered his 
 protest, the article puts the French Government in 
 a false position. 
 
 The main contention of the writer is that the 
 French Government stopped the whole offensive, 
 despite the British Government, because of a panic 
 into which members of the French parliament pres- 
 ent at the Chemin des Dames on April 16 and see- 
 ing war slaughter for the first time in their lives 
 were thrown. Collier's story says that these pol- 
 iticians returned to Paris that night, and that their 
 alarmist pressure subsequently induced Painleve, 
 then minister of war, to call off the offensive move- 
 ment when the Germans were about to retreat to the 
 
 Meuse. 
 
 283 
 
284 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 I have investigated this statement carefully and 
 found it untrue. With the collapse of this claim, 
 the whole structure of the story falls to the ground. 
 The main contention being disproved, the rest of 
 the article becomes mere gossip, some of it having 
 elements of truth, but much of it imaginary and 
 inaccurate. 
 
 The only excuse for going back to Nivelle's 
 offensive would be the righting of some wrong so 
 great that, if unrighted, it would interfere with 
 Allied success. As the Paris government did not 
 order the Nivelle offensive stopped, no such wrong 
 could have been committed. The discussion is, 
 therefore, purely a discussion of why Nivelle failed, 
 and is simply raking over the dead embers of the 
 past without good purpose and, indeed, with very 
 pernicious possibilities. 
 
 If Nivelle or his friends have permitted disap- 
 pointment and chagi'in to drive him into fomenting 
 a controversy, that fact brings new justification of 
 the action of the French Government when for the 
 best of reasons it removed him from command as 
 not being a big enough man for the job. The 
 greatest opportunity which any general has had 
 in this war was given to him. He asked for power 
 to organize and execute a tremendous attaque 
 brusque as a climax and finale of all the secondary 
 and preparatory movements. That power he re- 
 ceived. He had the limit prescribed by himself. 
 
THE NIVELLE OFFENSIVE 285 
 
 His offensive failed. There was no order from 
 Paris that it should be stopped. It was stopped by- 
 its own failure. 
 
 Various elements that enter into this failure could 
 be the subject of interesting discussion, but once 
 it is admitted, as it must be, that the war office did 
 not interfere, the matter loses all color of scandal, 
 and discussion can proceed in an entirely different 
 vein. If Nivelle's generals were doubtful of the 
 soundness of his plans, he cannot blame others for 
 it. Actually, he set out on a path that only a 
 genius might dare to tread, and fell. The effort 
 to shift its blame to other shoulders cannot be made 
 good. 
 
 In the appended parallel columns I have con- 
 trasted the facts with various statements made in 
 the article in "Colher's." 
 
 First column gives statements made in "Col- 
 lier's"; the second column gives the facts of the 
 case. 
 
 1 . This ofFensive was really 
 a great French victory. 
 
 2. On Jan. 15, 1917, there 
 was an allied council in 
 
 1. It was not a great 
 victory, but a succes d'es- 
 time, creditable to the courage 
 of the French soldiers, but 
 costing dear in men, and it 
 fell far short of the ambitious 
 hopes with which the plan of 
 operations was conceived. 
 
 2, This is the initial gross 
 error by which the value of 
 
286 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 London^ attended by Lloyd 
 George, Bonar Law, Generals 
 Haig and Nivelle, Premier 
 Ribot, and the French War 
 Minister, M. Painleve. 
 
 S. (Missing from the cable 
 dispatch, supplied from the 
 published article.) Follow- 
 ing is his (Nivelle's) plan: 
 The chief French attack . . . 
 was shifted to the Valley of 
 the Aisne over east of Sois- 
 isons. . . . While this front 
 was, therefore, to be the chief 
 French offensive sector, the 
 other main point of the battle 
 was to be conducted far to the 
 north by the English troops 
 before Lens and stretching 
 down to Arras. 
 
 There was to be a second- 
 ary English attack before 
 Bapaume; further to the 
 south, and just below that, a 
 secondary French attack was 
 planned, under General 
 
 the wliole story can be meas- 
 ured. At that time M. Ribot 
 was not premier, but M. Bri- 
 and. M. Painleve was not 
 even a member of the French 
 Government. M. Lyautey 
 was war minister. M. Pain- 
 leve only became war minister 
 on March 20. M. Painleve 
 did not enter the Briand gov- 
 ernment of December, 1916, 
 because his views on military 
 questions were different. 
 
 3. The important point is 
 that Nivelle's Aisne attack 
 was a definite, deliberate at- 
 tempt to break the German 
 lines. He was trying to re- 
 peat on a seventy-five-mile 
 front — at a point where the 
 broken nature of the ground 
 rendered the German posi- 
 tions exceptionally strong — 
 what had been done on a six- 
 mile front at Verdun. He 
 proposed to burst right 
 through, capture the German 
 heavy artillery, and fight an 
 open battle. According to 
 the plan, the French cavalry 
 ought to be at Laon on the 
 evening of the first day and 
 the infantry reach the line of 
 the Oise — a forty-mile ad- 
 
THE NIVELLE OFFENSIVE 287 
 
 Franchet d'Esperey, between 
 Roye and the Oise. Thus it 
 is easy to follow the gigantic 
 conception of this battle. It 
 was to be so big it could 
 never be known by a single 
 name. In fact, it was called 
 by Nivelle "The Battle of 
 1917." It was to be the 
 battle of decision that would 
 end the war. 
 
 Far north the hammer was 
 to strike first. The English 
 were to lead ofF; then the 
 secondary blows, both English 
 and French, were to follow on 
 succeeding days, with the last 
 move to be made by the main 
 French forces in the east. It 
 was the belief of Haig and 
 Nivelle that by these great 
 converging attacks the centre 
 of the German line must re- 
 tire. But the conception of 
 Nivelle was even bigger than 
 all this, for it included a third 
 phase of the English attack, 
 which was to spread further 
 north into Flanders. This 
 actually did happen — but 
 three months late. 
 
 vance — on the fourth day. 
 The success of the operation 
 depended on the violence and 
 rapidity of the attack. If the 
 rupture was not obtained in 
 twenty-four, or at most forty- 
 eight hours, the attack was to 
 be abandoned as involving 
 heavy losses without useful 
 results. Such was Nivelle's 
 plan. If this rupture of- 
 fensive did not succeed, it 
 ought, according to General 
 Nivelle, to be abandoned at 
 the end of the second day. 
 The grand attack failed and 
 was spontaneously abandoned 
 — through sheer impossibility 
 to continue it — by Nivelle 
 himself on April 18. 
 
 Another important point is 
 that in the original plan one 
 of the essential conditions for 
 the success of the rupture of- 
 fensive had been simultane- 
 ous attacks by the Russian 
 and Italian armies. This 
 condition was not fulfilled. 
 On the contrary, the Germans 
 brought troops from Russia 
 until at the moment the battle 
 began they had one hundred 
 and fifty-three divisions in 
 line, thirty more than at the 
 
288 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 4. Why did not these two 
 French armies pierce and 
 even smash the German line? 
 The answer to the question is 
 this: By nightfall of April 
 16 the French armies were 
 no longer under military 
 authority, but were in a do- 
 main purely political. 
 
 battle of the Somme. Thus 
 Nivelle's plan from the out- 
 set was facing circumstances 
 which diminished the chance 
 of success. 
 
 4. The French armies did 
 not pierce the German line for 
 the following reasons: 
 
 A. — It was impossible to 
 concentrate sufficient artillery 
 on such a wide front to insure 
 adequate destruction of the 
 defense system. 
 
 B. — Broken ground, nu- 
 merous steep ravines, deep 
 grottos, and masked clumps 
 of trees afforded ideal shelter 
 for the German gun and mi- 
 trailleuse positions. 
 
 C. — Lack of dominant "ob- 
 servatories" on the French 
 side made it necessary to de- 
 pend solely on airplanes for 
 artillery observation, and the 
 bad weather which prevailed 
 at the time of the attack 
 rendered what chance of 
 success the effort might have 
 had infinitely smaller. 
 
 D. As M. Herve stated 
 in "La Victoire" of April 5, 
 the Germans captured a non- 
 commissioned officer near 
 Sapigneul and they found on 
 
THE NIVELLE OFFENSIVE 289 
 
 5. Over a dozen members 
 of the French Senate and 
 Chamber of Deputies . . . 
 came out from Paris to take 
 in the spectacle of the attack. 
 . . . But I do know that by 
 nightfall, as a result of what 
 they saw for the first time in 
 their lives — a real battle of 
 blood and steel — they were 
 all in a mad panic. Through- 
 out the day they had fran- 
 
 him a detailed plan for the 
 attack of the French right 
 north of Rheims. 
 
 Nevertheless Nivelle did 
 not modify his plans in this 
 sector, and the Germans, 
 knowing the French scheme, 
 were able to take counter- 
 measures and concentrate a 
 disastrous cross-fire on the 
 advancing troops. In fact, 
 through this incident, the 
 French were here led into a 
 regular death-trap. The at- 
 tack before Craonne and the 
 Chemin des Dames began at 
 6 A. M. By 7:30 it was al- 
 ready clear that success was 
 impossible. The attack was 
 not stopped by political inter- 
 ferences, but by its own 
 failure. 
 
 5. The party included M. 
 Clemenceau, the present 
 prime minister, whose cour- 
 age and coolness at the 
 front are notorious. They 
 were in an observation post 
 near Juvincourt, and the 
 comparatively little they saw 
 of the battle appeared to 
 be progressing satisfactorily. 
 They had no panic. None 
 of them telephoned to Paris 
 
290 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 tically telephoned to the Gov- 
 ernment in Paris that the 
 French armies were being 
 slauglitered and demanded 
 that the offensive just under 
 way be ordered stopped. 
 
 6. The offensive did not 
 actually cease at once, but 
 from that first day it was so 
 hampered by political inter- 
 ference that it could never 
 again get into its stride. 
 Yet, despite the German 
 order to resist to the death 
 in the first line, the French 
 had by nightfall that first day 
 taken the first and second 
 German lines. 
 
 during the day. The only 
 ones who returned feeling 
 anxious were those Avho saw 
 Nivelle's face that evening 
 and drew ominous conclu- 
 sions from it. No pressure 
 was exerted on the Paris 
 government, and there was 
 no order from Paris to stop 
 the offensive. 
 
 6. According to Nivelle's 
 own plan, the offensive must 
 succeed in the first day or 
 not at all. According to 
 the program, the cavalry 
 should have reached Laon the 
 first evening, but no rupture 
 took place — the attaque 
 brusque had failed. The 
 question of political inter- 
 ference never even arose, be- 
 cause it was obvious by the 
 first night that the rupture 
 was impossible. The attack 
 was stopped in the sense that 
 a man is stopped when he 
 charges a concrete wall. 
 The French did not take the 
 first and second German lines. 
 Along two-thirds of the front 
 of attack they took only the 
 first line, demolished by artil- 
 lery preparation, and were 
 checked by the German fire 
 
THE NIVELLE OFFENSIVE 291 
 
 7. [Missing; apparently 
 elided by censor.] 
 
 8. [Missing; apparently 
 elided by censor.] 
 
 9. These figures (of the 
 losses) were 54,000 wounded 
 and 15,000 dead for the en- 
 tire period of nine days from 
 the beginning of the attack. 
 . . . These heads of the 
 French Nation went back to 
 their argument for stopping 
 the offensive to the figures of 
 Godart — 95,000 wounded and 
 25,000 dead, an exaggeration 
 of over 70 per cent. 
 
 from the second line, the 
 strength of which had been 
 little impaired. To continue 
 the attack would have been 
 nothing short of suicidal. 
 On April 17 the "offensive of 
 rupture" conceived by Gen- 
 eral Nivelle was stopped 
 deliberately by himself. 
 Henceforth he could not 
 hope to try operations the 
 object of which was to break 
 the German line. That plan 
 was abandoned in favor of the 
 local operations of the usual 
 offensive, and the dream of 
 breaking through to the 
 Meuse had vanished. 
 
 7. [Missing; apparently 
 elided by censor.] 
 
 8. [Missing; apparently 
 elided by censor.] 
 
 9. This was all thrashed 
 out before Parliamentary 
 committees and in secret ses- 
 sions of the Chamber and 
 Senate, where M. Painleve 
 won almost unanimous ap- 
 probation, Tlie proceedings 
 are a matter of record, and 
 will be publislied after the 
 war. Sufiice it to say that 
 the official figures were not 
 underestimated. Regarding 
 
292 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 10. [Missing; apparently 
 elided by censor.] 
 
 11. On April 29, Paul 
 Painleve, minister of war, 
 sent a telegram to General 
 Nivelle, ordering that the en- 
 tire offensive be immediately 
 stopped. 
 
 12. It is now a matter 
 of definite knowledge — and 
 
 the killed, the author of the 
 article only reread the docu- 
 ments and reports that have 
 been indiscreetly shown him. 
 He will see that there has 
 been cunningly hidden from 
 him [apparent elision by cen- 
 sor] out of the column of 
 "missing," the total of which 
 was out of proportion to the 
 small number of prisoners. 
 
 10. [Missing; apparently 
 elided by censor.] 
 
 11. No such telegram was 
 sent. So far from stopping 
 the offensive action, the facts 
 on record show that on April 
 30 began the brilliant attacks 
 of Mont Moronvilliers and 
 Mont Cornillet, which con- 
 tinued successfully for six 
 days. On May 4 began the 
 attacks on Craonne and the 
 Chemin des Dames, which 
 also lasted six days and won 
 for France Craonne and a 
 great part of the Chemin des 
 Dames along an eighteen- 
 mile front. No order was re- 
 quired or given to stop the 
 attempt at rupture, as it had 
 already failed. 
 
 12. This assertion is pure 
 fantasy. There is not the 
 
:■ ^r ;'>\ 
 
 ^"^^ '■ 
 
 CAPTAIN GUYNEMER 
 
THE NIVELLE OFFENSIVE 293 
 
 proof — that on that day the 
 German general army order 
 was to prepare immediately 
 for a quick retreat to the line 
 of tlie River Meuse. 
 
 13. Lloyd George created 
 what may be called a scene 
 in his remarks to the French 
 Government. 
 
 14. Before this April 16 
 offensive began^ the Minister 
 of War invited nearly all 
 French group commanders to 
 Paris to discuss and criticise 
 the plans of offensive. 
 
 15, The Minister of War 
 sent the telegram to Nivelle 
 ordering the offensive to cease 
 after Haig and England had 
 
 least ground for supposing or 
 suggesting anything of the 
 kini 
 
 13. Nothing of the kind oc- 
 curred. This conference was 
 indispensable for the pur- 
 pose of readjusting plans, in 
 view of the failure of Ni- 
 velle's attempt at rupture. 
 
 14. An ingenious perver- 
 sion of the truth! At the 
 moment of assuming office on 
 March 20, M. Painleve nat- 
 urally consulted the French 
 war chiefs — Nivelle first of 
 all — with regard to the plans 
 formulated during the min- 
 istry of his predecessor, 
 Lyautey. Not to do so would 
 have been a gross dereliction 
 of duty on the part of the 
 new minister. The differ- 
 ences of opinion between 
 Nivelle and the Generals 
 commanding groups were al- 
 ready known to insiders be- 
 fore M. Painleve's accession 
 to the ministry of war. 
 
 15. No such order was ever 
 given, and the offensive did 
 not cease at all. 
 
294 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 been assured that it would 
 be continued. 
 
 16. The Minister of War 
 stated in public session of the 
 Chamber of Deputies of July 
 7 that "henceforth the French 
 armies would seek only lim- 
 ited objectives" . . . and so, 
 it is charged, he thus gave 
 public and official notice to 
 Germany that from that date 
 she need fear nothing of im- 
 portance from France. 
 
 17. When Paris papers of 
 
 16. Reference to the min- 
 ister's speech kills this state- 
 ment. M. Painleve did say 
 there would be no more wild 
 and costly attempts to break 
 the German line. He did say 
 that General Petain was a 
 wise and prudent commander. 
 His declaration was that 
 henceforth the activity of the 
 French armies under Petain 
 would be as energetic as 
 possible, and directed by 
 methods that would be sure 
 to be fruitful and sparing of 
 human lives. Results justify 
 his assertion, notably the re- 
 pulse of the German attack 
 on the Chemin des Dames in 
 July, the successful partici- 
 pation in the British opera- 
 tions in the Flanders victory, 
 the operations at Verdun in 
 August, which retook the fa- 
 mous Mort Homme and Hill 
 304, and, lastly, the splendid 
 success on the Aisne Canal 
 in October, where the total 
 losses in killed, wounded, and 
 missing were inferior to those 
 of April 18. 
 
 17. The public can judge 
 
THE NIVELLE OFFENSIVE 295 
 
 April 18 reached Berlin, the 
 Germans discovered, to their 
 amazement, that panic existed 
 in France. 
 
 18. The conclusions (of 
 the court-martial) were favor- 
 able to Generals Nivelle and 
 Mangin. 
 
 by the facts the exactness of 
 the writer's assertions. It is 
 enough to read, no matter 
 what French paper you see, 
 that the operations were 
 everywhere regarded until 
 the end of April as a brilliant 
 victory. One could offer a 
 prize to any reader who would 
 find any sign of panic in the 
 French newspapers of this 
 period. 
 
 18. The military court did 
 not wish to be hard on fel- 
 low-soldiers, who had tried a 
 big enterprise and failed, but 
 the result of their inquiry was 
 that Nivelle, instead of be- 
 ing generalissimo, now holds 
 a secondary post in Africa, 
 and General Mangin, who in 
 April commanded an army of 
 four hundred and fifty thou- 
 sand men, no longer com- 
 mands any army. 
 
 The following note from M. Paul Painleve, for- 
 mer Prime Minister of France, was received by 
 "The New York Times" by cable on February 4 
 last and transmitted, as requested, to the editor of 
 "Corner's": 
 
296 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 Paris, Feb. 3, 1918. 
 To the Editor of "Collier's Weekly:" 
 
 Having read your article about the 1917 offensive, pub- 
 lished Jan. 5, I desire to make to you the most indignant 
 protest. In it there is not one statement regarding me, 
 there is not one figure, which is not contrary to the truth. 
 When it will be possible for me to give a public explanation 
 I will prove by official documents the vast gulf which sepa- 
 rates the real facts from the monstrous legend which your 
 misplaced confidence has accepted. I count now on your 
 sense of honor to publish this protest. 
 
 Paul Painleve. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 IN CONCLUSION 
 
 This war is an enormous business. It needs to 
 be studied as ordinary big businesses are. Henry- 
 Ford once told me that one of the problems in the 
 Detroit factory to which he gave a large share of 
 his personal attention was that of individualized ca- 
 pacity. He had a pretty theory which, as stated 
 by him, lodged in my mind and stayed there, that 
 every man was peculiarly fitted for some given 
 task. His job as an employer was to find what a 
 man could do and get the doing out of him. Men 
 are not different from the lower animals. Instincts 
 or abilities are specialized in each breed and even 
 in the individual members of a breed. A bird-dog 
 that performs ideally in the field would be a sad 
 failure trying to herd sheep. 
 
 If there were a score of Henry Fords studying 
 the millions of men in the field and seeing to it that 
 they were drawn out on the side of their bent, the 
 Fords aforesaid would each and every one earn the 
 money that the Detroit member of the family 
 makes. Nowhere else is this problem quite so im- 
 portant as in the air service. This service attracts 
 
 297 
 
298 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 the venturing, but that process of selection is too 
 rough to stop at ; there should be a second comb-out 
 which would restore to other services all except 
 those with true flying instinct. As the war takes 
 on permanent form its processes are standardized. 
 The air -man becomes more and more true to type, 
 but there is still a haphazard mixture of big, strong 
 infantrymen with the air forces, and high-strung, 
 race-horse types in the trenches. The six-foot, two- 
 hundred pounder, who as an infantry -man would, 
 if lost, find his way home with a Boclie under each 
 arm, perhaps lacks the nervous organization for 
 quick perception and action. On the other hand, 
 the sensitive, feminine-looking man, who could make 
 his fifty record in the air, might die of nervous 
 agony in the funk-holes and on the firing-step. 
 
 Let me illustrate with Georges Guynemer. I 
 have heard soldiers say that so far Guynemer is the 
 greatest soldier of the war, perhaps of any war. I 
 never saw him face to face, much to my regret. 
 But I saw his performance on the fourth of July 
 when he was flying in a car, chic in its new paint and 
 gaudy in its French colors. He was cutting capers 
 over the Place de la Concorde as the newly arrived 
 American troops marched. It was a beautiful and 
 historic sight. Look at the photograph of the boy 
 who performed marvels in air-fighting. His girlish 
 face, on which he was unable to raise a moustache, 
 does n't at all suggest the soldier in the old sense, 
 
IN CONCLUSION 299 
 
 "bearded like the pard." What if such genius had 
 been sacrificed in the mud of trench warfare. And 
 yet the like thing is being done every day through 
 lack of that kind of knowledge which only long ex- 
 perience and high expertness make possible. 
 
 I have recently heard a story that sounds like 
 fiction, but it came from a good source. Some 
 people at Compiegne, the family home, told me that 
 Guynemer was carefully examined when a lad 
 for an abnormal heart, and the doctor found that 
 that organ was singularly like a bird's. If there 
 be such a thing as "bird-heart," it is a good disease 
 for air -men to have. 
 
 Paris, September 1, 1917. In to-day's paper the 
 new Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Kuehl- 
 mann, is quoted as urging the Reichstag to study 
 the "psycholog}^ of our enemies." In Switzerland 
 I was told that this is a subject on every lip in 
 Germany. When two or three people meet on a 
 street corner in Berlin, if they are political Olym- 
 pians, the talk is apt to drift that way. They dis- 
 cuss it as "analytical psychology" and approach the 
 subject as they would chemistry or physics. 
 
 Of course the proper psychology has little of 
 the analytical or intellectual in it. It is largely a 
 matter of instinct. Most things of that sort in 
 this life are felt rather than heard, seen, or thought 
 out. We detect psychological considerations as 
 
300 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 cats in the dark detect things with their whiskers. 
 We use something that corresponds to antennae a 
 great deal more than we use our wits or our brains. 
 Who would ever think of resorting to analysis to 
 determine whether a certain person was a gentle- 
 man? I might mention a hundred parallels. In 
 two-thirds of all our activities we are with the cat 
 in the use of our antennae. 
 
 But the German is bare of this delicate hirsute 
 mechanism. He is obliged to refer to the mind all 
 those questions which with human beings — and cats 
 — are answered almost subconsciously. Perhaps it 
 is a vague sense of his own deficiency that has pro- 
 voked the German into an absurd affectation on 
 the subject. His helplessness in the field of psy- 
 chology has led him into blunder after blunder in 
 all his dealings with the world. I remember asking 
 Ambassador Gerard why Germany always seemed 
 so clumsy and gauche in these relations. He re- 
 plied, "They overanalyze." 
 
 Their psychology, however, is all right where only 
 they themselves are concerned. Nobody there goes 
 by feel. All through the trying times of the last 
 three years the leaders, or bosses, have set out the 
 food for the thought of the Germans precisely as 
 if their minds were their stomachs. The kaiser, 
 Bethmann, Hindenburg, and Ludendorfif have reg- 
 ulated the whole matter by laborious prearrange- 
 ment. The press is controlled with meticulous 
 
IN CONCLUSION 301 
 
 care. A committee which, I understand, is com- 
 posed of a navy man, an army man, and a civilian, 
 meets daily and prescribes policy by the dose. 
 There is also a large program, covering a month at 
 a time, that is made up by the higher authorities. 
 
 For example, it might have been decreed that in 
 July the press should only soft-pedal on submarine 
 sinkings, playing up instead the Russian collapse 
 and assurance of future food supply through the 
 conquest of Bessarabia. "Let 's keep the U-boat 
 until August or September, when the public may 
 stand in greater need of buoying up," might be the 
 line of the policy laid down. They utilize every- 
 thing in psychology, as in the recovery of fats from 
 the gruesome offal of battle-fields. In the present 
 Government Ivuehlmann is the high priest of the 
 school of philosophy which I have here expounded. 
 It may be remarked that his unctuously pious 
 phrases have produced shouts of derision among his 
 old associates in diplomacy in London and else- 
 where. His choice of a role is quite the funniest 
 incident in the whole opera bouffe performance of 
 [Berlin diplomacy. 
 
 From Munich come reports of acute reaction 
 against Pan-Germanism. It is said that talk of 
 prosecuting the war with a view of annexation, in- 
 demnity, and world-conquest, if indulged in by any 
 one, is bitterly resented. Prevailing opinion in 
 Munich is for peace with a whole skin. In fact, 
 
302 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 even a slight loss of epidermis could be borne with 
 patience in the Bavarian capital. 
 
 It is said that the great university of democracy 
 of Germany is in the trenches. All sources of in- 
 formation agree as to the democratization of the 
 German Army. When the common soldier is no 
 longer in the strait- jacket of military discipline he 
 is going to be a convinced antagonist of the brutal 
 system of putting millions of men face to face with 
 suffering and death through no wish of their own 
 and for purposes which, as far as they understand, 
 do not even remotely concern them. I have an 
 echo of this idea in a letter from a clear-thinking 
 American. 
 
 It is a terrible discredit to the intelligence of this genera- 
 tion that a war such as the present one must be continued at 
 such cost. Still, I suppose it is necessary and must be con- 
 tinued until each of the nations involved has put itself in 
 such a position that it can speak effectively as a nation con- 
 cerning its foreign relations. This, of course, is already 
 possible in the United States, France, and England, and, I 
 assume, in Italy. I fancy it would be a very simple matter 
 to make it so in fact in Austria and Hungary, but apparently 
 the German people as a nation still have no determining 
 voice concerning their foreign policy. 
 
 It seems strange, and is criminal, that a small group of 
 people in a nation like Germany should be responsible for 
 the continuation of the war, because, as I view the matter, 
 if Germany should put itself in a position where the Gov- 
 ernment was responsible to the Reichstag, there would be 
 no real obstacle in the way of peace. Possibly, if that 
 
IN CONCLUSION 303 
 
 matter could be brought home to the German people, it might 
 help bring about an early understanding. In the meantime, 
 of course, there is only one thing to do, and in the foot-ball 
 parlance it is "to stoop low and hit the center hard," and 
 that is what we are trying to do over here at the present 
 time. I believe that every one feels that the harder we 
 hit, the sooner will the war be over. 
 
 I read the above paragraph to one of the best- 
 informed men in Paris, and he said : 
 
 "It is curious what a center shot your cor- 
 respondent makes in quoting the foot-ball phrase. 
 That is precisely what Haig is doing in Flanders, 
 Petain at Verdun, and Cadorna around Trieste, 
 stooping low and hitting the center hard. That is 
 precisely what America should do. There is, no 
 doubt, a particular center which would feel the im- 
 pact of her blow, and she has a titanic striking 
 power. If we hammer hard and all together we 
 will make Germany reel." 
 
 Paris, March 16. I have received inside in- 
 formation calling renewed attention to the sub- 
 marine situation. There has been too much op- 
 timistic generalizing on this subject. I am urged 
 by expert authorities to point out to America con- 
 stantly how useless will be all her strength and how 
 utterly hopeless all her plans for defeating Ger- 
 many unless the submarine is mastered. And it 
 is not mastered yet. For eight months I have been 
 digging out, and by hook or crook getting censors 
 
304 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 to pass to America, tonnage figures on submarine 
 sinkings. Public appreciation there of the serious- 
 ness of this phase of the war has constituted a 
 driving force to increase the effort in building de- 
 stroyers and shipping. But twice as much tonnage 
 was sunk in 1917 as was built. The year 1918 
 therefore opened with an accumulated deficit. It 
 is safe to say that if we had twice the tonnage actu- 
 ally possessed by the Allies to-day we should still 
 be far short of supplying Europe's needs and trans- 
 porting the American army. 
 
 All estimates about the future are vitiated by the 
 element of speculation. After a year of sinking 
 twice the tonnage that was constructed we are still 
 losing more than we are building. Optimists 
 sharpen their pencils and figure on a certainty of 
 construction overtaking the destruction by next 
 June, and then unexpectedly British labor develops 
 some strange distemper that slows down results in 
 the shipyards. I am reliably informed that the 
 hours necessar}'- to produce a given unit have in- 
 creased since the war in the proportion of eight to 
 thirteen. There are so many possibilities in the 
 submarine field that all estimates should have a 
 liberal margin of safety. The Germans may up- 
 set the present naval balance by transferring their 
 [Baltic forces, released by the Russian collapse, to 
 the North Sea and the Atlantic, thus crippling the 
 convoy system and increasing the loss by subma- 
 
IN CONCLUSION 305 
 
 rines. Or they may make their U-boats larger and 
 more of them. The field of invention is as open to 
 them as it is to us. 
 
 The submarine situation should be opened up 
 and dealt with frankly on both sides of the ocean. 
 Much of the trouble now experienced in England 
 with labor and war weariness is due to ill-advised 
 concealment about the submarine. Democracies 
 can fight best when they know the worst. Political 
 coddling produces enfeeblement. For months 
 London has been more concerned about stopping 
 the air raids than beating the submarines. Remiss- 
 ness with the Government is a more potent force 
 than righteous indignation against Germany or the 
 firm resolve to win at all hazards. In a word, we 
 deny in practice the very principle of publicity that 
 we are fighting this war to vindicate and establish. 
 
 The leaders here who are bearing the burden of 
 this war are anxious for America to understand 
 and keep steadily in mind that, whatever may hap- 
 pen in any arena, the submarine remains the bull's- 
 eye at which allied effort must be aimed. As- 
 suming that the western front can be held for the 
 time being, as asserted by General Foch and other 
 authorities, Germany can be defeated militarily, 
 despite her eastern conquests, by swift and effective 
 measures against the submarine. Germany's 
 strategy is conceived with a view to diverting pop- 
 ular interest to other and comparatively irrelevant 
 
306 FLASHES FROM THE FRONT 
 
 matters, like air raiding, while the silent U-boats 
 cut the allied jugular. With the western line hold- 
 ing intact, the problem chiefly is one of sustaining 
 the life of the European Allies and transporting an 
 American army strong enough to deal the death- 
 blow to Prussia. The extent to which America is 
 relied on for the extinction of the submarine may 
 be judged from the expectation generally enter- 
 tained that the United States from now on will con- 
 tribute nearly three-fourths of the new construction. 
 Until now preliminary preparations have largely 
 absorbed American effort, but henceforth shipping 
 is expected in such quantity from the American 
 yards as to restore normal conditions within six 
 months, and assured transport thereafter. 
 
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