Don Martin diary entry for Monday,
March 4, 1918:
The busiest and
most annoying day I have had. Got a note from the Censor that a letter he enclosed
from Helene showed I had sent a letter back to U.S. by a boat passenger – which
I had, but with no intention of dodging the censor. However he called my
attention to the fact that I violated the law – which I did. I wrote a letter
of apology and promise and then began worrying which I am still doing. Champion
eased my mind (?) by telling me all the cases he knew where men had been ruined
by clashing with the law in this way. With Baird went to American and French
consuls and got my passports vised. With [Mel] Draper of [New York] Tribune went to Burberrys’
and ordered a war outfit and a fine trench coat - $110.00! [$1,940 today, using CPI ratio Oct 2017/Jan 1918 = 17.6] However I want to be
ready if the French front thing goes through. Wired Commodore authorization
must come from Washington but perhaps I better get to Paris to complete
arrangements. Called [Joseph] Tumulty, President’s secretary to get busy for me.
Weather cool and windy.
In a letter to his
daughter Dorothy, written in London on March 4, 1918, Don Martin showed growing
excitement about going over to France and the war front, as this excerpt
indicates.
Dorothy :
It is just possible that you will have to address your
letters to me in France after a bit. It may not come out that way but if it is
possible to get permission to go with the American Army – that is at its
headquarters – I shall go to Paris and then on to wherever the Americans may be
in France. I got a telegram from Mr. Bennett yesterday telling me to prepare to
go to the front and asking what arrangements would have to be made. I made
inquiries today and learned that the only way one can get to the front is to
get permission from the authorities in Washington. That is not easy to get, but
only because there is room for but a few correspondents and the space is
generally filled up. However I have started the thing going and if I succeed
you will get a cable from me long before this reaches you. I went to the
American and French consuls today and got my passports vised so if I get word
that everything is all right I shall be able to start without delay.
Then
again it may all fall through. I hope it doesn’t though because I would of
course like to get up as near the front as possible so I could write some
stories of the battle scenes etc. You may be sure I will be too far back to be
in any danger. I sent a cablegram to Joe Tumulty, President Wilson’s secretary
today, asking him to see if he could do anything in Washington. He is a very
intimate friend of mine and no doubt will bring the matter to the attention of
the President. Then if the war department has room I may get through all right.
Mr. Bennett has no doubt cabled Washington also and there ought to be some
developments of one kind or another before a great while.
During the next few weeks the front will be a lively
place, if all the predictions come true. You have probably read in the
newspapers about the great “offensive” the Germans intend to make. I have an
idea – but it is of course just my own opinion – that there will be no
offensive. I really hope there will because the Germans will probably lose a
large part of their army and about the surest way to lick them good is to kill
all their soldiers! ...
Dad
Don Martin got a scoop with the first newspaper interview with Arthur Henderson, head of British labor, on February 28.His writeup was published in the New York
Herald on Tuesday, March 5, 1918.
British Labor Is Opposed to a German Peace, Says Mr.
Henderson to Herald
In
First Newspaper Interview Says Policy of English Socialists Is to Awaken German
Nation to Designs of Conquest Pursued by Hollenzollerns and Hapsburgs
[Special Despatch to the
Herald via Commercial Cable Company’s System]
Herald
Bureau, No. 130 Fleet Street, London, Monday
 |
| Arthur Henderson, Head, Labor Party |
Mr. Henderson hurls a bold challenge at
imperialism and says:--
“A great deal of misunderstanding exists
regarding the policy of the Inter-allied Labor and Socialist Conference. The
policy adopted is in no wise a surrender to the aims of imperialistic Germany
and does not mean the hoisting of the white flag. The policy is based on
international justice.”
“Has any word come from the Germans saying
they are willing to make a peace which will end the militarism of Germany?”
German Workers Awakening
“No. No direct interchanges. There are
many indications, though, that the German workers are beginning to awaken to a
true understanding of the position of their imperialistic have led them into.
“It is clear that the leaders of the
German social democracy are taking an attitude in opposition to their
government and that they are no party to the infamous conditions which the
Austrian and German governments seek to impose. The purpose of the international
conference is to get all the organizations represented to put in precise form
by public declaration their peace terms in conformity with the principles of no
annexations or punitive indemnities and the right of all peoples to
self-government. We also require evidence that they are working with all their
power to obtain from their governments the necessary guarantees to apply these
principles honestly and unreservedly to all questions.”
“What is your opinion of the allegation
that overtures from German labor men and socialists are inspired by the German
government to trick the Allies, through labor, into a German peace?”
Not Tricked By Huns
“Such a suggestion that the working
parties of the allied countries could be tricked into a German peace does less
than justice to their intelligence. It is no part of the business of the
International Socialistic Conference to imitate the methods of official
diplomatists and initiate a policy of bargaining in the supposed interest of
any country. What socialism can do is to proclaim the doctrine of international
life and insist that no political or territorial adjustment shall be made to
perpetuate historic wrongs or sow the seed of future war.”
“What attitude does British labor take on
the question that there can be no peace negotiations with Germany until the
people have repudiated the Hohenzollerns and the Hapsburgs?”
“The adhesion of the German social
democracy to the policy formulated in our war aims memorandum would be
equivalent to a repudiation of the German autocratic rulers. British labor
holds that it is for the German people to decide, as President Wilson says,
what form of government they will live under. We have no desire to interfere in
the internal affairs of Germany, but we must obtain a peace that will give
scope and security for democracy and progress. We are convinced, however, that
the policy we have formulated implies the complete democratization of all
countries who become parties to it. The inevitable result, we believe, will be
that the system of militaristic imperialism, which hitherto has masqueraded as
a government in Germany, will be repudiated by the German people.”
Russia No Longer a Menace
“Is it not a fair assumption that but for
the wholehearted support of the millions of German wage earners Germany’s war
party would have been defeated and the war ended long ago?”
“It is perfectly true that the German people
have supported their government in what was represented to them as a war of
national defence. Such an argument holds no longer. Whatever shadow of
justification it may have appeared to have had at the outbreak of the war came
from fear of the designs of Tsaristic Russia. Russia now is a free democracy
and no longer a menace to any country. That fact is beginning to be appreciated
by the German people.”
“Does the invasion of Russia by Germany
change the attitude of labor toward a discontinuance of the war?”
“The whole course of the negotiations with
the Russian revolutionaries must have convinced the working classes that their
German rulers will cherish aims of conquest and aggression. A reaction will
come and our aim, through the proposed conference, is to put the case fairly
before the German nation and invite the Germans to choose between the policy of
international peace, founded on international socialistic principles, and the
policy of imperialistic conquest pursued by the Hohenzollerns and the
Hapsburgs.”
“What comment have you to make on Samuel
Gompers’ statement that Germany must get out of Belgium forthwith and go back
home before American labor will listen to her?”
Mr. Gompers’ Suggestion.
“The
leaders of allied democracy realize the importance of procuring the cooperation
of American labor in carrying out their policy. I believe Mr. Gompers’ attitude
is base on a complete misapprehension. It is true that allied labor now is
engaged in carrying out Mr. Gompers’s suggestion, made before America entered
the war. It must not be understood, though, that the workers of the allied
countries are prepared to accept peace nor that it means an immediate opening
of negotiations for peace with the German government. It means only the opening
of a great moral offensive to make clear to the German people the real issues
involved in this war.”
“In view of the methods of warfare used by
the Germans and concurred in by her people, why does labor insist on a peace to
give the same protection to the working classes of Germany as to the wage
earners of the other nations that Germany would destroy?”
“Do you want to see the world divided into two hostile camps after the
war? Would you treat Germany as a wild beast or promote the speediest resumption
of international intercourse, realizing that you cannot destroy a nation of
seventy million people not permanently outlaw it? Our objective after the war
is international order. To guarantee the freedom and security of mankind, we
want, with President Wilson, to make the world safe for democracy.”
In mid-February Don Martin reported on a discussion of post-war business. He mailed this to New York and it was published in New York Herald on Monday, March 4, 1918.
RAW MATERIALS GO TO ALLIES FIRST AFTER THE WAR
[Special to the Herald]
Herald
Bureau, No. 130 Fleet Street, London, Feb [xx]
“This altruistic talk of an equal
distribution of the raw materials to the nations of the world, Germany
included, when the war is over may be mentally beautiful, but I want to make
clear that we are going to see that the Allies first of all get the materials
they need, and if after that there are raw materials left then we will take
Germany into consideration.”
 |
| George Henry Roberts |
“Demobilization after the war is going to
be very difficult for us and for our allies,” Mr. Roberts continued. Our troops
are all over the world and far from home. Demobilization for Germany is most a
matter of a day. Her men are home when the war ends. Are we to let Germany go
unpunished for the ruination of the trade of the world she, by her wantonness, has caused? Are we
to let Germany have a flying start in the race for world’s trade after the
war? After the war it will not be
smart to be swayed by sentiment. We certainly
shall stand for ourselves and for our allies.”
Echoed in France
Thus is the attitude, once charitably
generous, toward the Hun changing and changing irrevocably. The crowd which Mr.
Roberts addressed applauded furiously. He very obviously echoed sentiment which
had been moving through for a long time, but which had been submerged because
of the semi-official agreement of the world that after the war there would be
no discrimination against Germany.
It caused much
comment in Great Britain that Mr. Clementel, French Minister of Commerce,
concurrently with Mr. Roberts, said:-
“Germany more than any other country is
dependent on foreign countries exports of materials and foodstuffs. We do not
think of creating an economic league, but rather desire to remain masters of
our own markets and to reserve our raw materials for ourselves, our allies and
friendly nations. If we close our ports to Germany, it will have been her own
fault. We wish a peace durable, fruitful and beneficial to humanity.”
Mr. Roberts, who corresponds in status to
John Mitchell, one-time president of the American Mine Workers’ Union, is one
of the live wires in the British government, and he made it very clear in a
recent speech and in earlier speeches that he is determined that scramble for trade when the war ends Germany
must shift for herself with no helping hand and no charity from England. “If
she suffers,” he said, “it is an expiation of the greatest sin ever committed
against humanity and civilization.”
A prominent British official very recently
said that Germany is beginning to realize that she can expect nothing whatever
from the rest of the world when the war is ended. And he declared that this
realization, belated though it is, will either drive Germany to make peace or
to fight till her last drop of blood is spilled and she is confronted by
revolution at home. A year ago Germany could have have made peace and become
one member of a friendly league of nations pledged to bring about an equitable
distribution of the materials and the foodstuffs of the world. Now the feeling
is it is too late for thoughts of this kind.
England’s Eyes on Future
England’s eyes are on the
future-commercial future. Her trade has been practically paralyzed. Ships leave
her ports empty. Her factories are making war materials. The beehives which
formerly turned out a large proportion of the manufactured products of the
world are now working on “essentials,” and the captains of industry frankly say
that it will be a man’s task to
reorganize trade and resume again the place of preeminence she had before the
war.
When the war is over Germany will have a
big merchant marine ready for business at a moment’s notice. Many of her ships
were in enemy territory when war was declared in 1914, but the greater majority
were in home ports and this fleet, it is said, has been almost doubled during
the last three years and a half. According to reliable information, it is
Germany’s intention to start using her fleet the day war ends to bring into
Germany the cream of the raw materials of the world, to dump into factories
which can be transformed quickly from munitions into industrial manufactories.
The returning soldiers will be at their benches and lathes within a week and
the rehabilitation of German commence will be momentarily reestablished!
Such is the Teuton dream, in the minds of
the British.
From the statements made by Mr. Roberts
and Mr. Clementel, coupled as they are with the recent action of the Chamber of
Commerce of the United States, it is apparent that the big nations whose
extermination was sought by Germany do not intend that this roseate dream shall
become true.
On the sea the Teuton is likely also to
experience difficulties. The British men’s Union has adopted ironclad rules
forbidding any Briton from working on a ship which has a single German or
Austrian in its crew. Tens of thousands of seamen have been killed like rats as
a result of the submarine war, and the feeling of hatred for the German among
seafaring men is something hard to describe.
In fact, from whatever angle one surveys
the world war it appears that Germany has been sowing not only the wind but a
cyclone.
Comments
Post a Comment