America's War for Humanity Part 75

A Paris correspondent just from the front says--The spirit of American soldiers pa.s.sing through casualty stations is admirable. One "doughboy"

from Kansas, hobbling up to an American Red Cross canteen on one leg and crutches, shouted, "Here I come. I'm only hitting on three cylinders, but still able to get about."

Another boasted of his luck because he had only three shrapnel wounds, one in his hand, one in his shoulder and one in the back.

An American Red Cross canteen at a receiving station often offers men their first chance to talk over their experiences. They stand round with a cup of chocolate in one hand, a doughnut in the other, and fight their fights over again until officers drive them to the dressing rooms.

BOY SCOUTS PLAY THEIR PART WELL

"Boys will be men" is a new version of an old saying. It is justified by the record of the Boy Scouts of America, for a better formation of upright, manly character never was achieved by any other means. That Scout training makes good men and fine soldiers has been amply proven on a broad scale.

November 1, 1918, The Boy Scouts of America had a registered membership of over 350,000, and applications for membership were coming in at the rate of a thousand a day. April 9, 1917, three days after this country entered the war, the National Council of the organization formally resolved "To co-operate with the Red Cross through its local chapters in meeting their responsibilities occasioned by the state of war." The members have n.o.bly followed out that resolution.

BOYS HELP MOST WONDERFUL

They have sold liberty bonds in the amount of $206,179,150, to 1,349, individual subscribers. As "dispatch bearers of the government" they have distributed over 15,000,000 war pamphlets. They have been sedulous and invaluable in checking enemy propaganda. They have served on innumerable public occasions as police aids and as ushers at great meetings. They performed one feat that might to many have appeared impossible, in searching out for the war department enough black walnut trees to furnish 14,038,560 feet of board lumber that was urgently needed for gunstocks and plane propellors. They have been tireless in supplementing the service of other organizations. And they never make any display of their work--they just do it, and keep on doing it, without any talk. They are useful; and every man who was a boy scout is a better man for having been one.

THIRTY-THREE Y.M.C.A. WORKERS GIVE LIVES IN WAR

From the time the United States entered the war up to the signing of the armistice, thirty-three Y.M.C.A. workers, twenty-nine men and four women, have given up their lives in the service abroad.

British air forces kept pace with the German armies across the Rhine.

In the last five months, in which occurred some of the heaviest air fighting in the war, Germany lost in aerial combats with the British alone 1,837 machines. It is estimated that something like 2,700 machines were accounted for by the British since June 1, and to this total may be added the heavy destruction wrought by French and American aviators.

GREATEST MAIL SERVICE IN THE WORLD

The mail service of the American armies in France and Belgium was one of the most remarkably original features of the war. Mail was handled by postal experts from home in such manner as sent millions of letters by the straightest course to every point in the United States, from the great cities down to the smallest hamlet.

"SAG" RELIEVED POISON GAS VICTIMS

American soldiers in the fighting lines were furnished with tubes of medicinal paste to cure mustard gas burns. It was simply smeared over the burned patches, or rubbed on the skin to prevent burning. It was called "sag," which is the reverse spelling of "gas."

GERMANS ABANDONED MUCH EQUIPMENT

While they were chasing the Germans after they had broken the Hindenburg line, American soldiers salvaged enormous quant.i.ties of equipment thrown away or abandoned by the boches in their haste to get out of the Americans' way.

CHAPTER x.x.xIII.

TERMS OF THE ARMISTICE

On the memorable afternoon of Monday, November 11, 1918. President Wilson convened the Senate and the House of Representatives in the capitol at Washington, and there read out the terms of the armistice which Germany had accepted, and to the observance of which Germany was pledged with guaranties so strict that evasion was made impossible. The President is an unemotional man, but in that hour he must have felt deep satisfaction in the fact that the doc.u.ment in his hand had been made possible by the will and the action of the great nation whose chief magistrate he was, and is--the nation that with generous hand and prompt compliance had backed him at every step of the difficult road to triumph over the dark forces of evil that had plagued the whole earth and imperilled the very life of civilization.

His audience (the legislative arm of our government and the co-ordinate judiciary arm as represented by Justices of the Supreme Court; the members of the President's cabinet, the diplomatic corps; and high officers of the army and navy) was less repressed. As the strongest points were reached, all present joined in mighty applause.

THE NATION LISTENS AND APPLAUDS

The whole country was listening, for while the President's voice was being heard in that place, the wires were carrying the words to every city and hamlet in all the broad land.

The armistice had been signed by the German envoys in the very last hour of the seventy-two that Marshal Foch had granted them. Long before daylight, the news came by cable, the sirens and factory whistles were thrown wide open, and the whole population of the United States, men, women and children, roused out of bed, swarmed the streets and highways, and gave themselves over to such a jubilation as no country ever before had seen--nor any previous day in the story of the human race had called for. It is not to be forgotten; for by reason of the magnificent and final victory of right over might, another such day need never dawn.

PRESIDENT MAKES ARMISTICE PUBLIC

President Wilson in making public the armistice terms addressed the governing bodies of our country as follows:

"Gentlemen of the Congress: In these anxious times of rapid and stupendous change it will in some degree lighten my sense of responsibility to perform in person the duty of communicating to you some of the larger circ.u.mstances of the situation with which it is necessary to deal.

"The German authorities who have, at the invitation of the supreme war council, been in communication with Marshal Foch, have accepted and signed the terms of armistice which he was authorized and instructed to communicate to them.

TERMS OF THE ARMISTICE

One--Cessation of operations by land and in the air six hours after the signature of the armistice.

Two--Immediate evacuation of invaded countries; Belgium, France, Alsace-Lorraine, Luxemburg, so ordered as to be completed within fifteen days from the signature of the armistice. German troops which have not left the above mentioned territories within the period fixed will become prisoners of war. Occupation by the allied and United States forces jointly will keep pace with evacuation in these areas. All movements of evacuation and occupation will be regulated in accordance with a note annexed to the stated terms.

Three--Repatriation, beginning at once and to be completed within fifteen days, of all inhabitants of the countries above mentioned, including hostages and persons under trial or convicted.

MUST SURRENDER MILITARY SUPPLIES

Four--Surrender in good condition by the German armies of the following equipment: Five thousand guns (2,500 heavy, 2,500 field), 25,000 machine guns, 3,000 minenwerfer (mine throwers), 1,700 aeroplanes (fighters, bombers, firstly D-73 Js and night bombing machines). The above to be delivered in situ to the allies and the United States troops in accordance with the detailed conditions laid down in the annexed note.

Five--Evacuation by the German armies of the countries on the left bank of the Rhine. These countries on the left bank of the Rhine shall be administered by the local troops of occupation under the control of the allied and United States armies of occupation. The occupation of these territories will be carried out by allied and United States garrisons holding the princ.i.p.al crossings of the Rhine--Mayence, Coblenz, Cologne--together with bridgeheads at these points in thirty kilometer radius on the right bank and by garrisons similarly holding the strategic points of the regions. A neutral zone shall be reserved on the right of the Rhine between the stream and a line drawn parallel to it, forty kilometers to the east from the frontier of Holland to the parallel of Gernsheim and as far as practicable a distance of thirty kilometers from the east of the stream from this parallel upon the Swiss frontier. Evacuation by the enemy of the Rhine lands shall be so ordered as to be completed within a further period of eleven days, in all nineteen days after the signature of the armistice. All movements of evacuation and occupation will be regulated according to the note annexed.

Six--In all territory evacuated by the enemy there shall be no evacuation of inhabitants; no damage or harm shall be done to the persons or property of the inhabitants; no person shall be prosecuted for partic.i.p.ation in war measures prior to the signing of this armistice. No destruction of any kind to be committed. Military establishments of all kinds shall be delivered intact, as well as military stores of food, munitions, equipment not removed during the periods fixed for evacuation. Stores of food of all kinds for the civil population, cattle, etc., shall be left in situ. Industrial establishments shall not be impaired in any way and their personnel shall not be moved. Roads and means of communication of every kind, railroad, waterways, main roads, bridges, telegraphs, telephones, shall be in no manner impaired.

Seven--All civil and military personnel at present employed on them shall remain. Five thousand locomotives, 150,000 wagons and 5,000 motor lorries in good working order, with all necessary spare parts and fittings, shall be delivered to the a.s.sociated powers within the period fixed for the evacuation of Belgium and Luxemburg. The railways of Alsace-Lorraine shall be handed over within the same period, together with all pre-war personnel and material. Further material necessary for the working of railways in the country on the left bank of the Rhine shall be left in situ. All stores of coal and material for upkeep of permanent ways, signals and repair shops left entire in situ and kept in an efficient state by Germany during the whole period of armistice. All barges taken from the allies shall be restored to them. A note appended regulates the details of these measures.

MUST REVEAL ALL MINES

Eight--The German command shall be responsible for revealing within forty-eight hours all mines or delay-acting fuses deposed on territory evacuated by the German troops, and shall a.s.sist in their discovery and destruction. The German command shall also reveal all destructive measures that may have been taken (such as poisoning or polluting of springs, wells, etc.), under penalty of reprisals.

Nine--The right of requisition shall be exercised by the allies and the United States armies in all occupied territory. The upkeep of the troops of occupation in the Rhineland (excluding Alsace-Lorraine) shall be charged to the German government, subject to the regulation of accounts with those whom it may concern.

Ten--An immediate repatriation without reciprocity according to detailed conditions, which shall be fixed, of all allied and United States prisoners of war. The allied powers and the United States shall be able to dispose of these prisoners as they wish. This condition annuls the previous conventions on the subject of the exchange of prisoners of war, including the one of July, 1918, in course of ratification. However, the repatriation of German prisoners of war interned in Holland and Switzerland shall continue as before. The repatriation of German prisoners of war shall be regulated at the conclusion of the preliminaries of peace.

Eleven--Sick and wounded who cannot be removed from evacuated territory will be cared for by German personnel, who will be left on the spot with the medical material required.

Twelve--All German troops at present in any territory which before the war belonged to Roumania or Turkey shall withdraw within the frontiers of Germany as they existed on August 3, 1914. Territory which belonged to Austria-Hungary is added to that from which the Germans must withdraw immediately, and as to territory which belonged to Russia it is provided that the German troops now there shall withdraw within the frontiers of Germany as soon as the allies, taking into account the internal situation of those territories, shall decide that the time for this has come.

Thirteen--Evacuation by German troops to begin at once and all German instructors, prisoners, and civilian, as well as military agents, now on the territory of Russia (as defined before 1914) to be recalled.

Fourteen--German troops to cease at once all requisitions and seizures and any other undertaking with a view to obtaining supplies intended for Germany in Roumania and Russia (as defined on August 1, 1914).

Fifteen--Denunciation of the treaties of Bucharest and Brest-Litovsk and of the supplementary treaties. Sixteen--The allies shall have free access to the territories evacuated by the Germans on their eastern frontier, either through Danzig or by the Vistula, in order to convey supplies to the populations of those territories and for the purpose of maintaining order.

Seventeen--Evacuation by all German forces operating in East Africa within a period to be fixed by the allies.

REPATRIATION AND REPARATION