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Editor's Note 



The communication which follows was sent to Hardwood Record on October 1, hy the firm of M. & H. Wucstholl, 

 lumber and log importers, Duesseldorf. Germany. It gives the German view of the causes of the present unfortunate 

 war, and its progress up to the date of the letter. In addition to those matters. It contains information concerning 

 the business conditions in Germany which will be read with much interest by lumbermen and other business men in 



ttls country : 



Numbtr rt Wofili 



WEST 



CAB 



Send the followip^ Cablegram, subject to the term* 

 on back hereof, which are hereby agreed to 



Duesseldorf, Germany, Oct. 1. — As told in the German Whitebook 

 it has been proven already that the war was brought about by the mobili- 

 zation of the Russian army on the German frontier. Only after Eussia 

 - declined to stop this proceeding, the order for the mobilization of the 

 ■German armies was issued. At the same time war was declared 

 -with France and Russia. As our diplomats knew that Belgium had 

 a secret treaty with France and England to join those powers in 

 an eventual war with Germany, a part of the German armies was 

 ■ordered to invade France from the north side by the way of Bel- 

 gium. This was done only after an ultimatum had been sent to the 

 Belgium government. Later on during the war it turned out, that 

 French and even English troops had joined the Belgian forces two 

 to three weeks be- 

 fore the war was 

 declared, thus show- 

 ing that the allies 

 were fully deter- 

 mined to overpower 

 <3ermany by surpris- 

 ing it in the midst 

 of peace. The docu- 

 ments of proof re- 

 garding this matter 

 will be made public 

 in due time. Only 

 on account of tlieir 

 thoroughly worked- 

 oiit organization, the 

 Oerman armies were 

 ready much sooner 

 than those of the al- 

 lies and therefore 

 were in condition to 

 take the offensive. 



Already in the 

 first three weeks af- 

 ter the beginning of 

 the war it was shown 

 that the German ar- 

 tillery was far su- 

 perior and that no 

 fortress ever so 

 strong could with- 

 stand the bombardment of the new heavy 16 Mi" siege guns. While 

 the German forces in the southern Alsace confined themselves to pro- 

 tecting the borders, the other German forces marched through Bel- 

 gium and northern France, defeating the allied troops everywhere, 

 occupying entire Belgium with the exception of Antwerp and Ostend 

 and marching close to Paris. At the present moment a decisive 

 battle is raging between Verdun, Reims and Paris, and according to 

 the latest reports the allies have been compelled into a defensive 

 position and the German forces have every possibility to win this 

 battle. 



Since September 24 the bombardment of Antwerp has begun, and 

 there is no doubt whatever that we can expect its surrender any 

 day, especially since this city is overcrowded with fugitives who are 

 apt to cause trouble. Entire Belgium is now under German admin- 

 istration. The destruction of I.ouvain was simply caused by noncom- 

 batants trying to shoot the Germans from hiding places. The Bel- 

 gian citizens have in the whole caused the war to become very cruel 

 because they tried to kill the Germans, even the wounded, wherever 

 they could. The French people, however, have known that the Ger- 



UNION 

 RAM 



THEO. N. VAIU PRESIDENT 



Berlin, Oct. 30, 1914, 



mans do not hurt anybody who keeps within the restriction of the 

 law and, therefore, hardly any trouble has been encountered on the 

 French soil. 



The last days, a big uproar has been created by shooting and partly 

 destroying of the cathedral at Reims. The German general staff 

 issues now a statement to the effect that the French mounted machine 

 guns on ' the top of the cathedral and also placed part of their 

 artillery behind this building. For this reason the German artUlery 

 was compelled to bombard the cathedral, but as is shown now, the 

 principal and most valuable part of it is still unharmed. 



In the East the German army evacuated a part of East Prussia, 

 thus causing the Russians to invade this territory. This was done 



for good reasons as 

 it was the object of 

 the general staff to 

 squeeze in the Rus- 

 sians between the 

 Nasurian swamps. 

 The result is known 

 now. At Tannen- 

 berg the Russians 

 lost over 100,000 

 pi'isoners, and more 

 than 150,000 Rus- 

 sians were killed, or 

 drowned in the 

 swamps. Another 

 part of the Russian 

 army a few days la- 

 ir was fuUy defeat- 

 ed near Lyck and 

 lost more than 30,- 

 000 prisoners and 

 about 20,000 dead 

 and wounded. Alto- 

 gether the Germans 

 have now made 400,- 

 000 prisoners and 

 have taken more 

 than 2,000 field 

 guns. 



A few days ago, 

 one German subma- 

 rine succeeded in sinking three English cruisers with a total tonnage 

 of 37,000 tons. Up till today the Germans have destroyed approxi- 

 mately 80,000 tons of the English war fleet, besides sinking a large 

 number of English merchant ships. When the time comes the Ger- 

 man armies will invade England and after the stupendous success 

 which has been with the German armies up to now there is no doubt 

 that England will get her penalty for trying to betray us. . 



Now to the economical situation: From the Americans who in the 

 meantime have returned from Germany to your country, you ■wiU have 

 heard that the war caused no internal disturbances in Germany what- 

 ever. On the contrary there was never more order and safety. 

 All different political parties, including the socialist democrats joined 

 hands and all parties voted unanimously for the big war loan of 

 5,000 milUon marks. The first 1,000 milUon were issued the other 

 day, but on this part of the loan more than 4,500 million marks 

 were subscribed for. This shows that the German finances were in 

 an excellent state. All our banks have plenty of money. There 

 have been no failures whatever, and the course of the German state 

 bonds has risen considerably since the beginning of the war. Many 



—29— 



LATE.=iT :raiS FROi.! THE FROHT. 

 Liniaok Luiroer Oorrpary, 



O'niOigo, 111. 



The GKHMAtlS have taken PILf!KltEH ■and are now aurroundiag 



DBLICATESSEH .ihare the WURST la expected. The BSLCIIAH HARES have 



had a falling out ilth the WELSH RABBITS and the 3WI33 CHEE8R Ib Bhot 



full of holes. ThlB nill itake the IRISH 3TE» and the EUOLISH MUSTARD 



hot, and If the RUS.SIAII CAVIARES and FHOCH PASTRY it may atart a. 



SWISS MOVKtEHT. The SPAIIISH OHIOHS are ntrong for a mlx-up and if 



the HOIIE PRESERVES are called out and spread over the GERUAIT NOODLES, 



they ir.ay KETCHUP '»lth the IJAVT BEAIIS, thereby oauBiiig an upriaing of 



the BRnSSlELS SPROUTS. 



Wlllian 



