show the thoroughness with which the British soldiers were ready to
fight in Belgium. Now the Germans have shot down many British aviators
and on one of these men they found a book. It had the same brown paper
cover as the road and river reports. It was of the same convenient
pocket size. It had the same serial letter A for army, and it was
numbered 1775. I saw this book in the General Staff. It is "A report on
Belgium south of the line Charleroi, Namur, Liége and Brussels for
aviators." I photographed pages 3, 6 and 20 of this book. Page 3 which
began the information gave some interesting generalizations on the whole
district. On page 6, dealing with Namur, I read that English aviators
were told that the glaces of Fort d'Emine provided unlimited open
cultivated ground suitable for landing purposes. In other words they
were advised by the English War Office that it would be safe to land
under the very guns of this Belgian fort. If they were flying in the
Liége district they would read on page 20 that five miles out on the
east of the Aywaille road they could prepare a very good landing place
on grass by the simple removal of some wire fences. They were assured
that from the south they would be completely covered by the Belgian guns
of Fort d'Emibourg. In other words the British War Office was so well
prepared, knew so exactly what it was doing that in July of 1914 it
issued a book advising its aviators how to land in places where they
would be covered by Belgian forts.
A map accompanied this aviation book. Let us see how this map was used.
Examine this map around Liége. You will see numbers running from 89 to
94. An aviator flying over Liége consulting his map knows that each of
these numbers has to do with a landing place. Let us suppose he selects
92.
Opening his book, until he finds the index number 92 he reads that "To
the southwest towards Neuville and Rotheux the country is very broken
and wooded. There is a good level cultivated landing place, however,
about 1500 yards south of the Fort de Boucelles.... Where communication
with Liége exists." To use this map a British aviator flying over the
section south of the line Charleroi, Namur, Liége and Brussels, would
see what point he was over and would then look it up by the index number
on the map and in the book he would read whether it was wise to make a
landing there and just what conditions he would meet.
Here are some bits verbatim from the book.
"In many cases the woods are so stunted and straggling that during
winter, aerial observation of troops actually in them would probably be
possible.... Somewhat soft after rain. Difficult for a landing.... The
spa race course on the Francorchamps road is useless."
In this and other ways were the British aviators cautioned about using
their aeroplanes in Belgium.
For the last few years we have all been hearing about the wonderful maps
and information that Germany had of all the countries in Europe. No one,
however, has ever seen any of these books; and no one has ever publicly
quoted any of their contents. I believe they exist. I think, however,
that the photographs printed here are the first permanent public records
of the most confidential books in use by the army of a world power. I
think they have a certain historical significance. At any rate, that
England should possess them is amazing--England whom everybody but
Germany thought was the least prepared of all.
XVI
THE FUTURE--PEACE OR WAR
_Impressions gained during my talk with the 1914 choice for the Nobel
Peace Prize--Professor Ludwig Stein_
In The Hague the Temple of Peace is empty; all over the world ordnance
factories are full. Since the day of that first convention in Geneva
educated men have organized and pushed the international movement, which
is called world peace. Is it a success or a failure?
At his home in Berlin, early in February, I talked with one of the
leading men of this movement concerning these things. I asked Professor
Ludwig Stein,--whose activities for world peace are well known in
America, he having been chosen for the Nobel Peace prize of 1914 which
was never awarded, he being formerly one of the three permanent members
of the Bern Bureau for International Peace, he having been selected to
present the famous declaration of peace to the late Edward the Seventh,
whom the peace people called Edward the Peacemaker, he having worked
side by side with Andrew Carnegie for the "ideal"--I asked him, could
peace soon be made in this war? A deliberate man is Professor Stein,
and he thought so long without replying that his personality impressed
itself upon you before he had uttered a word--a strange combination of
the dreamer and the man of to-day, a contrast of gentle eyes and grim
jaw.
"At this time," he said, tapping his finger on the copper-topped smoking
table in his study, "peace is impossible. President Wilson's endeavors
are futile. Before a decisive result has been reached, peace cannot be
thought of. Once Warsaw is captured, it is likely that Russia will make
peace; or if not Warsaw, if a large really decisive battle is fought."
It seemed significant that such an apostle of peace as Professor Stein
should have so completely given up all faith in the immediate efficacy
of his movement. I asked him therefore if he considered it a failure.
"The peace movement," he said, "is like a fire department. If a few
houses burn, or the conflagration spreads even over a number of blocks,
the fire fighters are effective, but if a whole city burns, like the big
Chicago fire, the fire department can do nothing. And if the whole world
burns, what can the workers for peace do? Our movement is not strong
enough; it is not big enough. For the Balkan war, the firemen were
effective, they could confine the burning within that limited area, but
when all Europe sprang up in flames, we failed." I mentioned to the
Professor that this was a new conception to the peace movement in
America, the first admission from a peace-man that the power of the
movement was to-day limited. I asked Professor Stein then if we were to
think of the movement as being a limited success or was there any chance
of it ever attaining something bigger?
"The task of the nineteenth century," he replied, "was to let national
feeling grow subconsciously. In Prussia, Fichte, the first rector of the
new Berlin University, made his famous 'Speeches for the German Nation.'
Jahn preached 'German Unity.' Achim von Arnim collected German songs and
war songs of German warriors. Even Schiller wrote in his later years of
Germany as the heart and center of Europe, and began to feel more
national than Goethe ever did. The idea grew and produced united Italy
and united Germany. But this process of attaining national consciousness
is not yet achieved. In America it is not nearly finished. It is a
sociological, unconsciously pedagogical process. The time will come when
nationalism will be thoroughly saturated in each country. When it does
and not until then, states will see that it is impossible to produce and
consume everything. That will be the beginning of international
consciousness. Then the national spirit will become secondary to
conscious internationalism. When that time comes, world peace will be
possible."
I was going to ask Professor Stein how far off that day was but thought
it best first to take up his point, the thorough establishment of the
national idea being the beginning of world peace.
"As the national feeling grows," I asked him, "will not the goal for
peace become always more remote? It seems to me that international
consciousness is dependent upon the people of one country knowing the
people of another. How can, for instance, the Russian peasant ever
understand the customs and personality of say, the poor man in England?
Because of geographical reasons they can never get into touch with one
another; how then are the masses of the states of the world ever going
to understand each other, and how without this understanding can there
ever be world peace?"
Professor Stein believes that this barrier can be overcome.
"Modern science and fast steamers," he replied, "the wireless, and
better international trade understanding are constantly bringing
together all states. Through journalists, merchants, diplomats and
extensive traveling on the part of the people of all countries, the
inhabitants of all different parts of the world begin to know each
other. A hundred years ago the Roumanian peasant did not know possibly
that there was an Argentine. To-day, though, the Roumanian knows that
the price he gets for his wheat depends upon what the Argentine farmers
get for theirs. I believe that as science progresses and culture spreads
over the world, that the geographical barrier to peace can be broken
down. Consider Switzerland, it is the ideal. Three races, French, German
and Italian, live within its walls, but they are held together by
culture."
I pointed out that Switzerland was so small that the French, Germans and
Italians had a chance to know and understand their different customs
and personalities, and asked Professor Stein if culture was also holding
together Austria-Hungary?
"Austria," he said, "is an exception. Politically it is necessary to
have the monarchial symbol there, because only in a military state would
it be possible for so many different races to live at peace with
themselves. Austria is different from Switzerland because it is a crazy
quilt of many different, uncultured, mostly illiterate, to some extent
nomadic races."
The Professor, who is a great admirer of Herbert Spencer and whom
Spencer said understood him better than any Continental thinker,
thereupon mentioned the point that the famous Englishman had made.
"Spencer," he said, "wrote that instead of war, a competition in traffic
and industry would take place between nations."
"But, Professor," I asked, "does not traffic and industry breed war;
what caused this war? Was not commercial jealousy between England and
Germany one of the vital causes of the war?"
He admitted that it was, and went on to say:
"After this war, the Englishman will look at his books, he will take his
pencil in his hand and he will begin figuring. He will get up a balance
sheet, and he will find that war does not pay. England is rational to
excess. For years she has been the political clearing house of the
world. She could in this way rule five hundred million people as long as
these people were not striving for nationalism. But Germany attains its
conscious nationalism, and asks herself, Why should I allow the
thirty-eight million people of Great Britain, through their political
clearing house, to have such a dominate influence on the affairs of the
world? Wherefore in the last analysis, this war was caused by the
thorough gaining of national consciousness that English diplomacy has no
longer been able to retard. And under the industrial system of to-day,
things are not done with papers passing through a clearing house, but
with blood.
"I regard this war as an expression of the solidarity of the world on
the minus side. It is an underground solidarity, but is having, for the
moment, a negative influence because commerce is stopped. The United
States is feeling it, it is holding up your country. It is holding up
China which cannot get money for necessary improvements. But all this is
working towards the conscious solidarity of the future, which will be
expressed in a positive war; when fighting will be done not with cannons
but with contracts; when not blood but ink will be wasted."
"You believe then, Professor," I asked, "that the day will come when
there will be no war, when fighting actually will be done with ink?
Suppose that day comes, will it be a good thing? Do you consider
international peace a friend or an enemy to robust normal manhood? Do
you think that war cleans out degenerate tendencies of peaceful
civilization?"
Deciding that this was a metaphysical question, Professor Stein
preferred not to answer it. He did though say this:
"In the Bible it says that the holy fire must be kept burning on the
altar. It is a good thing for the world that there are idealists to keep
the fire going. Men like Carnegie, Rockefeller, and the puritan and
quaker elements, they do their service to the world in this way. The
world must have ideals. International peace is an ideal. It is like the
point of a compass, the north star that the mariner sees, or the star of
the desert. It points the way for those who want to go toward a certain
goal. I say, that as an ideal, it is impossible of achievement, because
the very way to it shows the people where they really want to go."
"But, Professor," I suggested, "if a nation has only ideals, it is going
to get into trouble. I have heard it expressed that the peace movement
has done the United States more harm than good. Will you, as one of its
hardest workers, give some message to the people of America, on the
status of international peace to-day and in the future?"
"Your country," he said, "has not yet attained its nationalism, but it
is most wonderful, because it is not formed like Austria, of half
civilized, uncultured races held together by the monarchical system, but
because it is welding itself together from material, a large part of
which was composed of the scum of Europe. I wonder that it has been able
to make the strides towards nationalism, that it already has. No state
in the world has progressed so far by comparison towards national
consciousness as has America in so short a time. Up to now, America has
been the student of Europe, but from now on, America will be the
teacher. To-day doubly so; with the Panama Canal you are the forepost of
the white race against the yellow. The geographical and moral position
that your country holds, imposes upon it a great duty. It is to hold
back the East. Your country cannot step aside from the yellow races. You
must be prepared to cope with them."
"What, Professor! You are suggesting armament for the United States.
Why! that is against every teaching of the peace propagandist in our
country."
"If the people of the United States," stated Professor Stein
deliberately, "believe that the peace movement is bound to save them
from war, they have either totally misconstrued it, or they have been
grossly misinformed. A nation must be prepared for war. If the rulers of
a nation leave their country unprepared, they are guilty of criminal
neglect. In China its four hundred millions of people are unprepared,
and are therefore at the mercy of a few million Japanese who are
prepared. That is because in this generation might is right, and all
that we workers for peace can do, without injuring our states, is to
face the facts of this generation, be prepared for war, if war there is
to be, and keep on working for our ideal. Anything else is a dream."
"But, Professor," I remarked, "that is not the peace idea as it has been
spread broadcast in America. Those who believe in the movement, think
that the peace societies of our country can keep us out of war. What you
have just said disagrees with Andrew Carnegie's peace utterances in the
United States. Would you mind telling me the difference between your
viewpoint and Mr. Carnegie's?"
"I shall be glad to do so," replied Professor Stein. "Mr. Carnegie looks
at the peace movement from a puritanical viewpoint. He has interpreted
the biblical text of turning the sword into a plow-share literally as
applying to the present day. I believe that swords will be turned into
plow shares, but not in our generation. That will come to pass, not
because it is in the Bible, but because the imminent logic of history
will bring it about. Eventually the imminent logic of history will
create international peace. The puritanical workers for peace believe
that because it is written in the Bible that all men are born equal,
they should try to equalize mankind to-day. It will take about a hundred
years to educate and solidify the white race alone. It will take about
ten thousand years, let us say, to educate all the races of the world
and achieve a world brotherhood. The great mistake that is made is in
thinking that the ideals of the Bible are possible to-day. They are
utterly impossible."
I then asked Professor Stein to summarize his opinions for me. "I have
read your paper," I said, "written before the war, on Cosmopolitism,
National, State and International Compromise. There is one point I want
to ask you about. You wrote--these are not your exact words,
Professor--'What poets and philosophers have dreamed of, and what the
Catholic Church has in some respects already realized: One shepherd and
one herd! that will be the state of Europe in times coming'--What did
you mean, Professor, by that phrase 'One shepherd and one herd'? Did you
mean to convey that one state powerfully armed would be a sort of
international policeman, strong enough to keep the peace among other
nations? Did you have in mind a Germany whose mission would be to
shepherd the people of the world?"
"Absolutely not," replied Professor Stein; "by one shepherd I meant the
imperialism of the white race. White imperialism will divide the world
between the white states. The Western European and American cultural
systems will rule. My idea is not the United States of Europe, but the
united cultural system of the white race."
"And when will that be possible, Professor?"
"As soon as nationalism has been thoroughly saturated, and conscious
internationalism has been achieved, and that will probably be within a
hundred years."
"And meanwhile?" I asked.
"ALAS! THE WORLD OF TO-DAY CANNOT BE RULED WITH OIL OF ROSES, BUT ONLY
WITH BLOOD."
THE END
Transcriber's Notes
Obvious punctuation errors repaired.
Errors in German phrases and the diacritic of "Liége" were not
corrected.
The following words appear both with and without hyphens and have not
been changed: "candle[-]light", "co[-]operation", "make[-]shift",
"semi[-]circle", "sign[-]board", "track[-]side".
P. 48: "couse" changed to "course" (Of course, I suggested going with
him).
P. 107: "soshes" changed to "sloshes" (the liquid ground sloshes).
P. 140: "have" changed to "leave" (the soldiers leave pits here).
P. 145: "repeal" changed to "repel" (We only use machine guns to repel).
P. 158: "chipping" changed to "clipping" (clipping their hair to the
scalp).
P. 175: "Coloned" changed to "Colonel" (the Lieutenant Colonel
confirmed).
P. 190: "Turkos" changed to "Turcos" (Here were the Turcos).
P. 211: "to" changed to "with" (We went with Von Stietencron).
P. 225: "center" changed to "canter" (A Uhlan on patrol passed at a
canter).
P. 325: "Profesosr" changed to "Professor" (such an apostle of peace as
Professor Stein).