by Richard van Pelt, WWI Correspondent

The headlines from the Capital Journal:

FIGHTING FIERCEST ON RIGHT
Contest Is Prolonged By Assembling Strong Forces of German Cavalry
THE FRENCH ADVANCE CANNOT BE CHECKED
Fighting Is Violent But Neither Side Has Made Any Real Gains

MOHAMMEDANS ARE KILLING CHRISTIANS
Son of Ex-Sultan, King of Albania Sealing Fate of the Turks in Europe

ACTION INDICATES GERMAN POSITION IS GETTING CRITICAL
Large Body of German Cavalry Hastily Assembled Near Lille
MOTORCAR ARTILLERY ACTS WITH CAVALRY
Move Made to Prevent Allies Massing Troops on Belgian Frontier

KAISER WILHELM MAY LOSE GARTER
Only Has One and English Boss of the Garter Counter Would Swipe That

 Garters? When you go to war with Britain, they’ll have your guts for garters. Wilhelm was a Knight of the Garter (KCMG), appointed by his grandmother, Queen Victoria. Removal from the order was not arbitrary and could only be for treason, fleeing the battlefield, or taking up arms against the sovereign. He was removed in 1915, along with the Austrian emperor, Franz Joseph.

Responding to the Capital Journal editorial of October 5th, A. Davies Fleet corrects the paper regarding the grounds for boarding neutral shipping:

An editorial in The Capital Journal headed “Great Britain Should Be Careful,” betrays in its tone a readiness to take offense without cause and a looseness of knowledge regarding the rights of belligerents that, in the interests of peace and harmony, would be corrected. In both this editorial and in a previous one similar in tone, The Capital Journal severely criticizes the actions of British naval officers in searching and detaining the neutral vessels of Holland, and then proceeds to say

[in] very positive tones that if British naval officers attempt to do any such thing to American vessels Great Britain will get herself into immediate trouble with the United States.

The writer proceeds to educate the paper on the causes of the War of 1812 and the proper rôle of neutrals and then concludes:

. . . [S]ince the British government up to the present time has given no grounds for the American people to take offense, would it not be well for the editor of the Capital Journal to refrain from proclaiming so loudly what the United States might possibly do under certain improbable circumstance. Let us go on our way with courage, doing that which is right, keeping our own conduct void of offense, and not crossing imaginary bridges until we come to them. By so doing we shall better insure that the spirit of neutrality urged upon us by President Wilson, than by letting our imaginations and speech run away with us.

The Statesman reports a letter from Gavnel Baldwin, written from Switzerland to her parents in Salem. The letter was sent from Berlin shortly after the outbreak of war:

“We spent nearly a day in Stuttgart. The city was interesting for they were bringing the French captives back, and also the wounded German soldiers. We wore our American flags, otherwise it would have been hard for us; for they hate the English terribly. As it was, they watched our every move, and always looked us over from head to foot.

“On our train the next morning they brought back 400 German generals (sic) who couldn’t walk, and also many soldiers with their arms in slings and bandages all over their bodies. They told us all about the terrible things that happened, for they had just returned from the field. It was terrible, but intensely interesting. In Nürnberg we had to change trains, and there was such commotion. We reached Berlin at 8:45 o’clock Monday night.

“So I am here now, and everything is in such a commotion. Mr. Staessel, Mr. Wilson, and the men at the American consul’s, advise me to go home. All the Americans are coming to Berlin and are going from here to Holland and from there to London and sailing from Liverpool. Many are sailing from Holland, but the ships are crowded and small affairs. We are ready to leave at any moment, but it seems so uncertain that I can’t bear to think of it.

“Willjek is here and thinks that such a terrible hurry is unnecessary. I can still go on with my lessons, and just now, when I was getting along so well, it seems a pity to have to stop.

“So far the Germans are winning on all sides and no one believes that they will fail. The Hoch Schule will be open, and all the operas are going on just the same. Of course there are not so many concerts. People expect everything to be cleared up within three months.

“Americans are safe here and are treated well. I have decided to stay at least until I know exactly what is to be done when I start out.

“There is always a big excitement here now, but not rough. They are always waiting for papers with the extra news of all the battles. It excites every one. It is terrible that there are so many poor people who had to flee, and then have no home, money or don’t even know here their relatives are. But the Germans are wonderful fighters and I am sure they will win.

“In the morning the train leaves with Edna, her grandmother and cousins, and Mrs. Wilson and Beatrice. They think I am foolish not to go, but I have absolutely no fear, and with my friends gone I can study hard, for I have so much to accomplish in seven months.

“The Germans have beaten the Russians and French badly, and at this time the German cavalry is before the forts of Paris. The English are doing little and the Germans think them afraid. The Germans say they have millions of men in reserve which may never have to be called out. I know so many people like Herr Markes, Herr Sherer, Herr Wischover, and many others, and feel that the enemy will never reach Berlin soloing as there is a German alive.

On the editorial page of the Capital Journal is an editorial piece entitled, “The Jew And the War:”

A movement has been started by local Jews for raising funds to aid their fellow Jews in Europe. It is indeed a worthy object and one that in the broadest way appeals to all humanity. The condition of the poor in the warring countries is now no doubt bad enough, but it is luxurious compared to what it will be when the war is over an crippled nations again take up their usual pursuits and start the struggle to rehabilitate farm and factory and lift the enormous burden of debt the war has fastened upon them.

The condition of the citizen will be bad enough, but that of the Jew will be infinitely worse. For centuries he has been the Pariah in every country. For him there has been no rights, no freedom, no law. He has been made to live within certain prescribed limits in cities, and within those limits to maintain himself and rear his family. It is a high tribute to his manliness, indomitable will and tireless energy that he has been able to do this and at the same time maintain his race and his religion. He has done this without a country and without a flag. He has maintained his race in its purity, and sent it an undefiled stream that, like the great gulf current, flows resistless through the broad ocean of humanity.

Not only has he done this, but out of his oppression he has furnished the world its greatest financiers, its most splendid poets, its most wonderful painters, and musicians that have searched and laid bare the soul of Harmony. In every branch of learning the despised Jew has left his impress indelibly. down-trodden and oppressed, he has furnished the world’s greatest philanthropists.

It is this magnificent race that will suffer most, as it always has suffered, and it is its people the people of Salem will be asked to aid.

Most of Europe’s Jewish population was in the area of what had been Poland. Throughout much of Middle Europe and the Balkans, irredentist populations lived as subjects rather than citizens. The concerns raised by the editor were prescient given events that would unfold within twenty five years. The Balkans and central Europe would come to be referred to as a cauldron, which continues to simmer to this day in Ukraine. Readers wishing to read further into this area should read Timothy Snyder’s Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin. The issue the editor addresses would result in November of 1917 with the Balfour Declaration which set out British support of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

Bringing the war closer to home, the paper reported the sounds of naval warfare off the coast near Eureka:

San Francisco, Oct. 6 – Heavy firing off the California coast in the vicinity of Eureka about 10 a.m. was reported by the keeper of the government light at Trinidad Head to the chamber of commerce’s marine department today.

The message said the booming was heard for about 20 minutes but that it was impossible to distinguish ships on the horizon.

 

What war vessels might be off the Humboldt shore was not known. It was thought possible the Japanese cruiser Idama or the British cruiser Newcastle had attacked a German merchantman but it was not thought any other fighting craft were so far north.