Orders had been issued forbidding any demonstration and these instructions were obeyed to the letter. There was complete silence as the submarines surrendered and as the crews were transferred.
On November 21st, the German High Seas fleet that had been protected by the submarines surrendered to the combined fleet consisting of British, American and French battleships. The British admiralty's terse statement concerning the historic spectacle follows:
The commander-in-chief of the Grand Fleet has reported that at 9.30 o'clock this morning he met the first and main installment of the German high seas fleet, which is surrendering for internment. Admiral Sir David Beatty is Commander-in-chief of the Grand Fleet.
On the same day another flotilla of German U-boats also was surrendered to a British squadron. There were nineteen submarines in all; the twentieth broke down on the way.
The Grand Fleet, accompanied by five American battleships and three French cruisers, steamed out at 3 o'clock on the morning of November 21st, from its Scottish base to accept the surrender. The vessels moved in two long columns.
The German fleet which surrendered consisted of nine battleships, five cruisers, seven light cruisers and fifty destroyers, Seventy-one vessels in all. There remained to be surrendered two battleships, which were under repair, and fifty modern torpedo-boat destroyers.
One German destroyer while on its way across the North Sea with the other ships of the German High Seas fleet to surrender struck a mine. It was so badly damaged that it sank.
Describing the surrender of the German warships to Sir David Beatty, the Commander-in-Chief of the grand fleet, correspondents said that after all the German ships had been taken over, the British admiral went through the line on the Queen Elizabeth, every Allied vessel being manned and greeting the admiral and the flagship with loud and ringing cheers.
[Illustration: Painting]
GERMAN PIRACY ON THE HIGH SEAS
After torpedoing their ship the submarine shelled the lifeboats and
jeered at the struggles of the helpless crew.
[Illustration: Painting]
Courtesy of Joseph A. Steinmetz, Phila.
THE EYE OF THE SUBMARINE
Diagram of a periscope, showing how, when its tip is lifted out of
water, a picture of the sea's surface is reflected downward from a
prism, through lenses, and then a lower prism, hence to the officer's
eye. It turns in any direction.
The British grand fleet put to sea in two single lines six miles apart, and so formed as to enable the surrendering fleet to come up the center. The leading ship of the German line was sighted between 9 and 10 o'clock in the morning. It was the Seydlitz, flying the German naval ensign.
A telegram received in Amsterdam from Berlin gave this list of surrendered warships, which includes one more battleship than later reports showed:
Battleships—Kaiser, 24,113 tons; Kaiserin, 24,113 tons; Koenig Albert, 24,113 tons; Kronprinz Wilhelm, 25,000 tons; Prinzregent Luitpold, 24,113 tons; Markgraf, 25,293 tons; Grosser Kurfuerst, 25,293 tons; Bayern, 28,000 tons; Koenig, 25,293 tons, and Friedrich der Grosse, 24,113.
Battle Cruisers—Hindenburg, 27,000 tons; Derflinger, 28,000 tons; Seydlitz, 25,000 tons; Moltke, 23,000 tons, and Van Der Tann, 18,800 tons.
Light Cruisers—Bremen, 4,000 tons; Brummer, 4,000 tons; Frankfurt, 5,400 tons; Koeln, tonnage uncertain; Dresden, tonnage uncertain, and Emden, 5,400 tons.
CHAPTER LI
APPROACHING THE FINAL STAGE
The might and pride of Germany were smashed and humbled by Foch in frontal attacks divided roughly into three great sectors. The first of these attacks was delivered by the French and Americans in the southern sector which included Verdun and the Argonne. The second smash was delivered by British, French and Americans in the Cambrai sector. The third was delivered by British, Belgians, French and Americans in the Belgian sector on the north of the great battle line.
The Cambrai operation had as its first objectives the possession of the strategic railways both of which ran from Valenciennes, one to the huge distribution center at Douai; the other to Cambrai itself. To reach these objectives the Allies were obliged to cross the Sensee and the Escaut canals under infantry and artillery fire. Besides these natural obstacles, there was the famous Hunding line of fortifications erected by the Germans between the Scarpe and the Oise River.
The attack was opened in force on September 18, 1918, by the Fourth British army under General Rawlinson and the First French army under General Debeney. The assault was successful northwest of St. Quentin and determined German counter-attacks were broken down by French and British artillery fire.
The Third British army under General Byng and the Thirtieth American division co-operating with the First British army under Sir Henry Horne, attacked furiously over a fourteen-mile front toward Cambrai. The net result of this operation was the possession of the Canal du Nord, the taking of several villages, and 6,000 prisoners. This was on September 27th. The following day the same forces captured Fontaine-Notre Dame, Marcoing, Noyelles, and Cantaing. More than 200 guns were captured and 10,000 prisoners. On September 29th the Americans took Bellecourt and Nauroy, and invested the suburbs of Cambrai. The British crossed the Escaut canal and the Canadians penetrated some of the environs of Cambrai.
The resolution and ferocity of the attack thoroughly dismayed the Germans, and the salient produced by the smash forced the Teutons to evacuate the greatly prized Lens coal fields on October 3d. Horne and Byng continued their advance, the former occupying Biache-St. Vaast southwest of Douai, and the latter reaching a position five miles northwest of Cambrai.
Caught between the jaws of the pincers, the German forces occupying Cambrai made haste to escape outright capture. The city that had been the objective of British hopes and thrusts for two years, fell into the hands of the Allies. The German retreat extended over a thirty-mile front and included both St. Quentin and Cambrai. Simultaneously the German forces between Arras and St. Quentin fell steadily backward. Le Cateau and Zazeuel fell into the hands of the British October 17th, three thousand prisoners and a quantity of war material being included in the bag.
In the meantime General Mangin attacking in the Laon sector, drove the Germans from the strategic Chemin des Dames and with General Berthelot captured Berry-au-Bac, the St. Gobain massif and completed contact with Generals Pershing and Gouraud on the right and with Generals Rawlinson and Debeney on the left.
The Allied advance now became a huge steel broom, sweeping the Germans irresistibly before it. The operation extended from the Oise southeast to the Aisne, broadening thence until it included the entire front. The Hindenburg line, the Somme battle-field, the Hunding line, were all quickly overrun. The fortress of Maubeuge, fifty miles northeast of St. Quentin, which was connected with that city by a triple railway connection, was evacuated as a direct result of this operation.
When St. Quentin itself fell into the hands of Debeney, it was found that the Germans had deported the entire civilian population of 50,000.
This was the crux of the operations by Foch. Germans were given no rest; night and day the pressure continued. Every clash showed the increasing superiority of the Allies both in men and material and the corresponding deterioration of the German forces. This demoralization of the Germans extended from the High Command to the private soldier. Prisoners poured into the hands of the Allies. Evacuation of Lille was commenced on October 2d and Roubaix and Turcoing also fell.
It was the beginning of Germany's military debacle. The time was ripe for the coup-de-grace soon to be delivered by Americans co-operating with the Allies on a seventy-one mile front.
The Kaiser, Ludendorf and von Hindenburg abandoned hope. The command went forth from the German general headquarters to retreat, retreat, retreat, while Prince Maximilian of Baden appealed to America for an armistice. The sword in Germany's hand was broken. Autocracy, defeated in the eyes of its deluded subjects and discredited in the eyes of the world, was in headlong flight. Its only concern was to save as much as possible from the ruins of the ostentatious temple it had reared.
CHAPTER LII
LAST DAYS OF THE WAR
From November 1st until November 11th, the day when the armistice granting terms to Germany was signed, the collapse of the German defensive was complete. The army that under von Hindenburg and Ludendorf had smashed its way over Poland, Roumania, Serbia, Belgium, and into the heart of France, was now a military machine in full retreat. It is only justice to that machine to say that the great retreat at no place degenerated into a rout. Von Hindenburg and the German General Staff had planned a series of rear-guard actions that were effective in protecting the main bodies of infantry and artillery. Machine-gun nests and airplane attacks were the main reliance of the Germans in these maneuvers of delay, but the German field artillery also did its share.
Immense quantities of material and many thousands of prisoners were captured by the British, Canadians and Australians in the north, and by the French and Americans in the south. Simultaneously with this wide and savage drive upon the Germans along the Belgian and French fronts, came the heaviest Italian attack of the war. Before it the Austrians were swept in a torrent that was irresistible. French, English and American troops co-operated in this thrust that extended from the plains of the Piave into Trentino. The immediate effect of the Italian offensive was to force Austria to her knees in abject surrender. An armistice, humiliating in its terms, was signed by the Austrian representatives, and the back door to Germany was opened to the Allies.
Germany's frantic plea for an armistice followed. There were those in the Allied countries who maintained that nothing short of unconditional surrender should be permitted. Cooler counsel prevailed, and an armistice was offered to the German High Command through General Foch, the terms of which far exceeded in severity those granted to Turkey and Austria. These were read for the first time by Germany's representatives on Friday, November 8th. General Foch, when he gave the document to the German delegation, declared that Germany's decision must be made within seventy-two hours. Eleven o'clock on Monday, November 11th, was the time limit permitted to Germany. The armistice was signed by General Foch and the German representatives on the morning of November 11th, but fighting did not actually cease until eleven o'clock, several hours after the terms had been agreed to. This was in accordance with arrangement made between the signers.
Sedan, where Marshals McMahon and Bazaine, commanding the armies of Napoleon III, surrendered to the King of Prussia in 1870, marked the last notable victory of the American forces in France. The Sedan of 1870 marked the birth of German militarism. The Sedan of 1918 marked its death.
Preceding the advance of the Americans upon Sedan, came a cloud of aviators in pursuit and bombing planes, headed by the famous aces of the American forces. The First and Second divisions of the First army led the way. In the van of the Second division were the Marines, whose heroism in Belleau Wood marked the beginning of Germany's end. The famous Rainbow division made the most savage thrust of the action, pursuing the foe for ten miles and sweeping the Freya Hills clear of machine nests and German artillery.
The last action of the war for the Americans followed immediately on the heels of the battle of Sedan. It was the taking of the town of Stenay. The engagement was deliberately planned by the Americans as a sort of battle celebration of the end of the war. The order fixing eleven o'clock as the time for the conclusion of hostilities, had been sent from end to end of the American lines. Its text follows:
1. You are informed that hostilities will cease along the whole front at 11 o'clock A. M., November 11, 1918, Paris time.
2. No Allied troops will pass the line reached by them at that hour in date until further orders.
3. Division commanders will immediately sketch the location of their line. This sketch will be returned to headquarters by the courier bearing these orders.
4. All communication with the enemy, both before and after the termination of hostilities, is absolutely forbidden. In case of violation of this order severest disciplinary measures will be immediately taken. Any officer offending will be sent to headquarters under guard.
5. Every emphasis will be laid on the fact that the arrangement is an armistice only and not a peace.
6. There must not be the slightest relaxation of vigilance. Troops must be prepared at any moment for further operations.
7. Special steps will be taken by all commanders to insure strictest discipline and that all troops be held in readiness fully prepared for any eventuality.
8. Division and brigade commanders will personally communicate these orders to all organizations.
Signal corps wires, telephones and runners were used in carrying the orders and so well did the big machine work that even patrol commanders had received the orders well in advance of the hour. Apparently the Germans also had been equally diligent in getting the orders to the front line. Notwithstanding the hard fighting they did Sunday to hold back the Americans, the Germans were able to bring the firing to an abrupt end at the scheduled hour.
The staff and field officers of the American army were disposed early in the day to approach the hour of eleven with lessened activity. The day began with less firing and doubtless the fighting would have ended according to plan, had there not been a sharp resumption on the part of German batteries. The Americans looked upon this as wantonly useless. It was then that orders were sent to the battery commanders for increased fire.
Although there was no reason for it, German ruthlessness was still rampant Sunday, stirring the American artillery in the region of Dun-sur-Meuse and Mouzay to greater activity. Six hundred aged men and women and children were in Mouzay when the Germans attacked it with gas. There was only a small detachment of American troops there and the town no longer was of strategical value. However, it was made the direct target of shells filled with phosgene. Every street reeked with gas.
Poorly clad and showing plainly evidences of malnutrition, the inhabitants crowded about the Americans, kissing their hands and hailing them as deliverers. They declared they had had no meat for six weeks. They virtually had been prisoners of war for four years and were overwhelmed with joy when they learned that an armistice was probable.
The last French town to fall into American hands before the armistice went into effect was Stenay. Patrols reported they had found it empty not more than a quarter of an hour before eleven o'clock. American troops rushed through the town and in a few minutes Allied flags were beginning to appear from the windows. As the church bell solemnly tolled the hour of eleven, troops from the Ninetieth division were pouring into the town.
The inhabitants told the usual stories of German treatment. They were forced to work at all sorts of tasks from seven in the morning until six at night. In return they received paper bills with which they were unable to purchase milk and similar necessities. The majority, however, were so overjoyed at their deliverance that they were almost incoherent in discussing the enemy occupation.
The inhabitants of Stenay remained hiding in their cellars even after the Americans had entered the town. They came out hesitatingly and in small groups.
Hostilities along the American front ended with a crash of cannon.
The early forenoon had been marked by a falling off in fire all along the line, but an increasing bombardment from the retreating Germans at certain points stimulated the Americans to a quick retort. From their positions north of Stenay to southeast of the town the Americans began to bombard fixed targets. The firing reached a volume at times almost equivalent to a barrage.
Two minutes before eleven o'clock the firing dwindled, the last shells shrieking over No Man's Land precisely on time.
There was little celebration on the front line, where American routine was scarcely disturbed over the cessation of fighting. In the areas behind the battle zone there were celebrations on all sides. Here and there there were little outbursts of cheering, but even those instances were not on the immediate front.
Many of the French soldiers went about singing.
"Well, I don't know," drawled a lieutenant from Texas while the artillery was sending its last challenge to the Germans, "but somehow I can't help wondering if we have licked them enough."
The Germans were manifestly so glad over the cessation of hostilities that they could not conceal their pleasure. Prisoners taken at Stenay grinned with satisfaction. Their demeanor was in sharp contrast to that of the American doughboys who took the matter philosophically and went about their appointed tasks.
In the front line it was the same. The Americans were happy, but quiet. They made no demonstrations. The Germans, on the other hand, were in a regular hysteria of joy. They waited only until nightfall to set off every rocket in their possession. In the evening the sky was ablaze with red, green, blue and yellow flares all along the line.
Flags appeared like magic over the shell-torn buildings of Verdun,
French and American colors flying side by side.
In every village, even those from which the Germans had been driven, there were flags and decorations which were brought up to the front by the soldiers. In the villages back of the line there were impromptu celebrations and the civilians in holiday spirit saluted the Americans, shouting "the war is finished."
Northeast of Verdun, just before 11 o'clock, American artillery-men in loading a six-inch howitzer, wrote "good-luck" on a ninety-pound shell and "let 'er go." The shot was aimed at the crossroad at Ornas, just ahead of the American lines.
While the bells of the ancient Verdun Cathedral were ringing the news of peace the fortress city was illuminated and a military procession headed by the drum corps of the Twenty-sixth American division swung along the crowded streets accompanied by a French detachment of buglers representing the famed defenders of Verdun.
Only a half hour before the Germans had thrown large shells within the city walls, apparently as a reminder that Verdun was still within the range of their guns to the hills to the northeast.
Monday afternoon and night virtually was the first time that Verdun had not been shelled in many hours almost since the war began.
CHAPTER LIII
THE DRASTIC TERMS OF SURRENDER
The end of the war came with almost the dramatic suddenness of its beginning. Bulgaria, hemmed in by armies through which no relief could penetrate, asked for terms. The reply came in two words, "Unconditional Surrender."
Turkey, witnessing the rout of her army in Palestine by the great strategist, General Allenby, and a British army, asked for an armistice. The Porte signed without hesitation an agreement comprising twenty-five severe requirements.
The surrender of Bulgaria and Turkey forced Austria's hand. The terms under which it was permitted to capitulate were even harder than those granted to Turkey. They comprised eighteen requirements divided into military and naval clauses.
Germany, proud, imperial Germany, met the greatest humiliation of all the Teutonic allies when the Kaiser and the German High Command were brought to their knees. Thirty-five clauses, the most severe and drastic ever demanded from a great power, were included in the armistice agreement. Only the imminent menace of an invasion of Germany would have sufficed to compel the German representatives to sign such a document. Following are the drafts of the Turkish, Austrian and German armistice agreements.
THE TURKISH AGREEMENT
1. The opening of the Dardanelles and the Bosporus and access to the Black Sea. Allied occupation of the Dardanelles and Bosporus forts.
2. The positions of all mine fields, torpedo tubes and other obstructions in Turkish waters are to be indicated, and assistance given to sweep or remove them, as may be required.
3. All available information concerning mines in the Black Sea is to be communicated.
4. All Allied prisoners of war and Armenian interned persons and prisoners are to be collected in Constantinople and handed over unconditionally to the Allies.
5. Immediate demobilization of the Turkish army, except such troops as are required for surveillance on the frontiers and for the maintenance of internal order. The number of effectives and their disposition to be determined later by the Allies.
6. The surrender of all war vessels in Turkish waters or waters occupied by Turkey. These ships will be interned in such Turkish port or ports as may be directed, except such small vessels as are required for police and similar purposes in Turkish territorial waters.
7. The Allies to have the right to occupy any strategic points in the event of any situation arising which threatens the security of the Allies.
8. Use by Allied ships of all ports and anchorages now in Turkish occupation and denial of their use by the enemy. Similar conditions are to apply to Turkish mercantile shipping in Turkish waters for the purposes of trade and the demobilization of the army.
9. Allied occupation of the Taurus Tunnel system.
10. Immediate withdrawal of Turkish troops from Northern Persia to behind the pre-war frontier already has been ordered and will be carried out.
11. A part of Transcaucasia already has been ordered to be evacuated by Turkish troops. The remainder to be evacuated, if required by the Allies, after they have studied the situation.
12. Wireless, telegraph and cable stations to be controlled by the Allies. Turkish Government messages to be excepted.
13. Prohibition against the destruction of any naval, military or commercial material.
14. Facilities are to be given for the purchase of coal, oil, fuel and naval material from Turkish sources, after the requirements of the country have been met. None of the above materials are to be exported.
15. The surrender of all Turkish offices in Tripolitania and Cyrenaica to the nearest Italian garrison. Turkey agrees to stop supplies and communication with these officers if they do not obey the order to surrender.
16. The surrender of all garrisons in Hedjaz, Assir, Yemen, Syria and Mesopotamia to the nearest Allied commander, and withdrawal of Turkish troops from Cilicia, except those necessary to maintain order, as will be determined under Clause 6.
17. The use of all ships and repair facilities at all Turkish ports and arsenals.
18. The surrender of all ports occupied in Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, including Mizurata, to the nearest Allied garrison.
19. All Germans and Austrians, naval, military or civilian, to be evacuated within one month from Turkish dominions, and those in remote districts as soon after that time as may be possible.
20. Compliance with such orders as may be conveyed for the disposal of equipment, arms and ammunition, including the transport of that portion of the Turkish army which is demobilized under Clause 5.
21. An Allied representative to be attached to the Turkish Ministry of Supplies in order to safeguard Allied interests. This representative to be furnished with all aid necessary for this purpose.
22. Turkish prisoners are to be kept at the disposal of the Allied Powers. The release of Turkish civilian prisoners and prisoners over military age is to be considered.
23. An obligation on the part of Turkey to cease all relations with the Central Powers.
24. In case of disorder in the six Armenian vilayets the Allies reserve to themselves the right to occupy any part of them.
25. Hostilities between the Allies and Turkey shall cease from noon, local time, Thursday, the 31st of October, 1918.
THE AUSTRIAN AGREEMENT
Military Clauses
1. The immediate cessation of hostilities by land, sea and air.
2. Total demobilization of the Austro-Hungarian army and immediate withdrawal of all Austro-Hungarian forces operating on the front from the North Sea to Switzerland. Within Austro-Hungarian territory, limited as in Clause 3 below, there shall only be maintained as an organized military force reduced to pre-war effectiveness. Half the divisional, corps and army artillery and equipment shall be collected at points to be indicated by the Allies and United States of America for delivery to them, beginning with all such material as exists in the territories to be evacuated by the Austro-Hungarian forces.
3. Evacuation of all territories invaded by Austro-Hungary since the beginning of the war. Withdrawal within such periods as shall be determined by the commander-in-chief of the Allied forces on each front of the Austro-Hungarian armies behind a line fixed as follows:—
From Pic Umbrail to the north of the Stelivo it will follow the crest of the Rhetian Alps up to the sources of the Adige and the Eisaeh, passing thence by Mounts Reschen and Brenner and the heights of Oetz and Zoaller. The line thence turns south, crossing Mount Toblach and meeting the present frontier Carnic Alps. It follows this frontier up to Mount Tarvis and after Mount Tarvis the watershed of the Julian Alps by the Col of Predil, Mount Mangart, the Terglou and the watershed of the Cols di Podberdo, Podlaniscam and Idria. From this point the line turns southeast towards the Schneeberg, excludes the whole basin of the Save and its tributaries. From Schneeberg it goes down towards the coast in such a way as to include Castua, Mattuglia and Volosca in the evacuated territories.
It will also follow the administrative limits of the present province of Dalmatia, including the north Lisarica and Trivania and, to the south, territory limited by a line from the Semigrand of Cape Planca to the summits of the watersheds eastwards, so as to include in the evacuated area all the valleys and water course flowing towards Sebenaco, such as the Cicola, Kerka, Butisnica and their tributaries. It will also include all the islands in the north and west of Dalmatia from Premuda, Selve, Ulbo, Scherda, Maon, Paga and Puntadura in the north up to Meleda in the south, embracing Santandrea, Busi, Lisa, Lesina, Tercola, Curzola, Cazza and Lagosta, as well as the neighboring rocks and islets and passages, only excepting the islands of Great and Small Zirona, Bua, Solta and Brazza. All territory thus evacuated shall be occupied by the forces of the Allies and of the United States of America.
All military and railway equipment of all kinds, including coal belonging or within those territories, to be left in situ and surrendered to the Allies, according to special orders given by the commander-in-chief of the forces of the associated Powers on the different fronts. No new destruction, pillage or requisition to be done by enemy troops in the territories to be evacuated by them and occupied by the forces of the associated Powers.
4. The Allies shall have the right of free movement over all road and rail and waterways in Austro-Hungarian territory and of the use of the necessary Austrian and Hungarian means of transportation. The armies of the associated Powers shall occupy such strategic points in Austria-Hungary at times as they may deem necessary to enable them to conduct military operations or to maintain order. They shall have the right of requisition on payment for the troops of the associated Powers whatever they may be.
5. Complete evacuation of all German troops within fifteen days not only from the Italian and Balkan fronts, but from all Austro-Hungarian territory. Internment of all German troops which have not left Austro-Hungary within the date.
6. The administration of the evacuated territories of Austria-Hungary will be entrusted to the local authorities under the control of the Allied and associated armies of occupation.
7. The immediate repatriation without reciprocity of all Allied prisoners of war and internal subjects and of civil populations evacuated from their homes on conditions to be laid down by the commander-in-chief of the forces of the associated Powers on the various fronts. Sick and wounded who cannot be removed from evacuated territory will be cared for by Austria-Hungary personnel, who will be left on the spot with the medical material required.
Naval Clauses
1. Immediate cessation of all hostilities at sea and definite information to be given as to the location and movements of all Austro-Hungarian ships. Notification to be made to neutrals that freedom of navigation in all territorial waters is given to the naval and mercantile marine of the Allied and associated Powers, all questions of neutrality being waived.
2. Surrender to Allies and the United States of fifteen Austro-Hungarian submarines completed between the years 1910 and 1918 and of all German submarines which are in or may hereafter enter Austro-Hungarian territorial waters. All other Austro-Hungarian submarines to be paid off and completely disarmed and to remain under the supervision of the Allies and United States.
3. Surrender to Allies and United States with their complete armament and equipment of three battleships, three light cruisers, nine destroyers, twelve torpedo boats, one mine layer, six Danube monitors, to be designated by the Allies and United States of America. All other surface warships, including river craft, are to be concentrated in Austro-Hungarian naval bases to be designated by the Allies and United States of America and are to be paid off and completely disarmed and placed under the supervision of Allies and United States of America.
4. Freedom of navigation to all warships and merchant ships of Allied and associated Powers to be given in the Adriatic and up the River Danube and its tributaries in the territorial waters and territory of Austria-Hungary. The Allies and associated Powers shall have the right to sweep up all mine fields and obstructions, and the positions of these are to be indicated. In order to insure the freedom of navigation on the Danube, the Allies and the United States of America shall be empowered to occupy or to dismantle all fortifications or defense work.
5. The existing blockade conditions set up by the Allied and associated Powers are to remain unchanged and all Austro-Hungarian merchant ships found at sea are to remain liable to capture, save exceptions may be made by a commission nominated by the Allies and the United States of America.
6. All naval aircraft are to be concentrated and impactionized in Austro-Hungarian bases to be designated by the Allies and United States of America.
7. Evacuation of all the Italian coasts and of all ports occupied by Austria-Hungary outside their national territory and the abandonment of all floating craft, naval materials, equipment and materials for inland navigation of all kinds.
8. Occupation by the Allies and the United States of America of the land and sea fortifications and the islands which form the defenses and of the dockyards and arsenal at Pola.
9. All merchant vessels held by Austria-Hungary belonging to the Allies and associated Powers to be returned.
10. No destruction of ships or of materials to be permitted before evacuation, surrender or restoration.
11. All naval and mercantile marine prisoners of the Allied and associated Powers in Austro-Hungarian hands to be returned without reciprocity.
THE GERMAN AGREEMENT
1. Cessation of operations by land and in the air six hours after the signature of the armistice.
2. Immediate evacuation of invaded countries: Belgium, France, Alsace-Lorraine, Luxemburg, so ordered as to be completed within fourteen 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.
3. 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.
4. Surrender in good condition by the German armies of the following equipment: Five thousand guns (two thousand five hundred heavy, two thousand five hundred field), twenty-five thousand machine guns, three thousand minenwerfers, seventeen hundred airplanes. 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.
5. 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 principal 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 (twenty-six miles) to the east from the frontier of Holland to the parallel of Gernsheim and as far as practicable a distance of thirty kilometers (twenty miles) from the east of stream from this parallel upon Swiss frontier. Evacuation by the enemy of the Rhine lands shall be so ordered as to be completed within a further period of sixteen days, in all thirty-one days after the signature of the armistice. All movements of evacuation and occupation will be regulated according to the note annexed.
6. 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 destruction of any kind to be committed. Military establishments of all kinds shall be delivered 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. No person shall be prosecuted for offenses of participation in war measures prior to the signing of the armistice.
7. All civil and military personnel at present employed on them shall remain. Five thousand locomotives, one hundred fifty thousand wagons and five thousand motor lorries in good working order with all necessary spare parts and fittings shall be delivered to the associated Powers within the period fixed for the evacuation of Belgium and Luxemburg. The railways of Alsace-Lorraine shall be handed over within thirty-six days, 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 the 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. All civil and military personnel at present employed on such means of communication and transporting including waterways shall remain.
8. The German command shall be responsible for revealing within forty-eight hours all mines or delay acting fuses disposed on territory evacuated by the German troops and shall assist 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.
9. The right of requisition shall be exercised by the Allies and the United States armies in all occupied territory, "subject to regulation of accounts with those whom it may concern." The upkeep of the troops of occupation in the Rhine land (excluding Alsace-Lorraine) shall be charged to the German Government.
10. 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 in Switzerland shall continue as before. The repatriation of German prisoners of war shall be regulated at the conclusion of the preliminaries of peace.
11. 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.
12. All German troops at present in any territory which before the war belonged to Roumania, Turkey or Austria-Hungary shall immediately withdraw within the frontiers of Germany as they existed on August 1, 1914. German troops now in Russian territory 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.
13. 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.
[Illustration: Photograph]
French Official Photograph.
DRAFTING THE DRASTIC TERMS OF SURRENDER
The above French official photograph is the first received in this
country showing the statesmen of the Allied Powers at Versailles
drafting the armistice terms, which later were accepted by the German
plenipotentiaries, and virtually brought the World War to an end. The
men in the photograph are: Left side of table, left to right—General
di Robilant of Italy; Baron Sidney Sonnino, Italian Foreign Minister;
Vittorio Orlando, Italian Premier; Colonel E. M. House, representative
of President Wilson; General Tasker H. Bliss, U. S. A.; (next man
unknown); Eleutherios Venizelos, Greek Premier; Vesnitch, Serbian
Premier. Right, side of table, left to right—Admiral Wemyss, R. N.
(with back turned); General Sir Henry Wilson; Field Marshal Sir
Douglas Haig; General Sackville-West; Andrew Bonar Law, British
Chancellor of the Exchequer; David Lloyd George, British Premier;
Georges Clemenceau, French Premier; Stephen Pichon, French Foreign
Minister.
[Illustration: Photograph]
Copyright Press Illustrating Service.
GERMANS FLEEING BEFORE ALLIED ADVANCE
To speed their retreat the German engineers built a temporary bridge
using a British tank as a foundation.
[Illustration: Photograph] Copyright Press Illustrating Service. THE GERMAN GOOSE-STEP The Kaiser reviews his troops marching with the goose-step. This photograph shows the pick of the German army. Most of these men were killed by the end of the first year of the war.
14. German troops to cease at once all requisitions and seizures and any other undertakings with a view to obtaining supplies intended for Germany in Roumania and Russia (as defined on August 1, 1914).
15. Renunciation of the treaties of Bucharest and Brest-Litovsk and of the supplementary treaties.
16. 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.
17. Evacuation by all German forces operating in East Africa within a period to be fixed by the Allies.
18. Repatriation, without reciprocity, within maximum period of one month, in accordance with detailed conditions hereafter to be fixed, of all civilians interned or deported who may be citizens of other Allied or associated states than those mentioned in clause three, paragraph nineteen.
19. The following financial conditions are required: Reparation for damage done. While such armistice lasts no public securities shall be removed by the enemy which can serve as a pledge to the Allies for the recovery or repatriation of the cash deposit, in the National Bank of Belgium, and in general immediate return of all documents, specie, stocks, shares, paper money together with plant for the issue thereof, touching public or private interests in the invaded countries. Restitution of the Russian and Roumanian gold yielded to Germany or taken by that Power. This gold to be delivered in trust to the Allies until the signature of peace.
20. Immediate cessation of all hostilities at sea and definite information to be given as to the location and movements of all German ships. Notification to be given to neutrals that freedom of navigation in all territorial waters is given to the naval and merchant marines of the Allied and associate Powers, all questions of neutrality being waived.
21. All naval and mercantile marine prisoners of war of the Allied and associated Powers in German hands to be returned without reciprocity.
22. Surrender to the Allies and the United States of America of all German submarines now existing (including all submarine cruisers and mine-laying submarines), with their complete armament and equipment, in ports which will be specified by the Allies and the United States of America. Those which cannot take the sea shall be disarmed of the material and personnel and shall remain under the supervision of the Allies and the United States. All the conditions of the article shall be carried into effect within fourteen days. Submarines ready for sea shall be prepared to leave German ports immediately upon orders by wireless, and the remainder at the earliest possible moment.
23. The following German surface warships which shall be designated by the Allies and the United States of America shall forthwith be disarmed and thereafter interned in neutral ports, to be designated by the Allies and the United States of America and placed under the surveillance of the Allies and the United States of America, only caretakers being left on board, namely:
Six battle cruisers, ten battleships, eight light cruisers, including two mine layers, fifty destroyers of the most modern type. All other surface warships (including river craft) are to be concentrated in naval bases to be designated by the Allies and the United States of America, and are to be paid off and completely disarmed and placed under the supervision of the Allies and the United States of America. All vessels of the auxiliary fleet (trawlers, motor vessels, etc.) are to [be] disarmed. Vessels designated for internment, shall be ready to leave German ports within seven days upon directions by wireless, and the military armament of all vessels of the auxiliary fleet shall be put on shore.
24. The Allies and the United States of America shall have the right to sweep all mine fields and obstructions laid by Germany outside German territorial waters, and the positions of these are to be indicated.
25. Freedom of access to and from the Baltic to be given to the naval and mercantile marine of the Allied and associated Powers. To secure this Allies and the United States of America shall be empowered to occupy all German forts, fortifications, batteries and defense works of all kinds in all the entrances from the Cattegat into the Baltic, and to sweep up all mines and obstructions within and without German territorial waters without any question of neutrality being raised, and the positions of all such mines and obstructions are to be indicated.
26. The existing blockade conditions set up by the Allies and associated Powers are to remain unchanged and all German merchant ships found at sea are to remain liable to capture. The Allies and the United States shall give consideration to the provisioning of Germany during the armistice to the extent recognized as necessary.
27. All naval aircraft are to be concentrated and immobilized in German bases to be specified by the Allies and the United States.
28. In evacuating the Belgian coasts and ports, Germany shall abandon all merchant ships, tugs, lighters, cranes and all other harbor materials, all materials for inland navigation, all aircraft and all materials and stores, all arms and armaments, and all stores and apparatus of all kinds.
29. All Black Sea ports are to be evacuated by Germany, all Russian war vessels of all descriptions seized by Germany in the Black Sea are to be handed over to the Allies and the United States of America; all neutral merchant vessels seized are to be released; all warlike and other materials of all kinds seized in those parts are to be returned and German materials as specified in clause twenty-eight are to be abandoned.
30. All merchant vessels in German hands belonging to the Allied and associated Powers are to be restored in ports to be specified by the Allies and the United States of America without reciprocity.
31. No destruction of ships or materials to be permitted before evacuation, surrender or restoration.
32. The German Government will notify neutral governments of the world, and particularly the governments of Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Holland, that all restrictions placed on the trading of their vessels with the Allied and associated countries, whether by the German Government or by private German interests, and whether in return for specific concessions such as the export of shipbuilding materials or not, are immediately canceled.
33. No transfers of German merchant shipping of any description to any neutral flag are to take place after signature of the armistice.
34. The duration of the armistice is to be thirty days, with option to extend. During this period, on failure of execution of any of the above clauses, the armistice may be denounced by one of the contracting parties on forty-eight hours' previous notice. It is understood that the execution of Articles 3 and 18 shall not warrant the denunciation of the armistice on the ground of insufficient execution within a period fixed, except in the case of bad faith in carrying them into execution. In order to assume the execution of this convention under the best conditions, the principle of a Permanent International Armistice Commission is admitted. This commission shall act under authority of the Allied military and naval commanders-in-chief.
35. This armistice to be accepted or refused by Germany within seventy-two hours of notification.
CHAPTER LIV
PEACE AT LAST
War came upon the world in August, 1914, with a suddenness and an impact that dazed the world. When it seemed, in 1918, that mankind had habituated himself to war and that the bloody struggle would continue until the actual exhaustion and extinction of the nations involved, peace suddenly appeared. The debacle of the Teutonic alliance was both dramatic and unexpected, except to those who knew how desperate were the conditions in the nations that were battling for autocracy. Bulgaria was first to crumble, then Turkey fell, and Austria-Hungary deserted Germany. The Kaiser and his military advisers, left alone, appealed to the Allies through President Wilson, for an armistice during which peace terms might be negotiated. Prince Maximilian of Baden, a statesman whose liberal ideas were rumored rather than demonstrated, was chosen to open negotiations. President Wilson, acting in concert with the Allies, referred Prince Maximilian to Marshal Foch.
While negotiations were pending, a cabled message was received on November 7th to the effect that the armistice had been signed and that all soldiers would cease fighting on two o'clock of that afternoon. It was a false report, but it spread with incredible speed throughout the country. Celebrations which included virtually every American, made the country a gala place for twenty-four hours. The American people with characteristic good nature laughed at the hoax next day and settled down in patience to await the inevitable declaration of an armistice.
The true report arrived about three o'clock, Eastern time, in the morning of November 11th. Shrieks of whistles, the booming of cannon, and the clangor of bells, awoke millions of sleeping persons, many of whom trooped into the streets to mingle their rejoicings with those of their neighbors. For a day there was high carnival in town and country throughout the land, then the nation settled down to face the imminent problems of reconstruction.
One of these had to do with the immediate reduction of governmental expenditures during the approaching year. President Wilson had appealed to the voters to elect a Democratic Congress as an evidence of approval for his administration. The reply was a Republican House of Representatives and a Republican Senate.
The Congress that had been in continuous session since America entered the war, ended its labors in mid-November.
For length, bulk of appropriations for the war and the number and importance of legislative measures passed, the session was unprecedented.
Appropriations passed aggregated $36,298,000,000, making the total for this Congress more than $45,000,000,000, of which $19,412,000,000 was appropriated at the first (an extra) session, at which war was declared on Germany.
Legislation passed included bills authorizing billions of Liberty bonds; creation of the War Finance Corporation; government control of telegraphs, telephones and cables; executive reorganization of government agencies, and extensions of the espionage act and the army draft law by which men between eighteen and forty-five years of age were required to register.
Prohibition and woman suffrage furnished sharp controversies throughout the session. The war-time "dry" measure was completed, but after the woman suffrage constitutional amendment resolution had been adopted, January 10th, by the House, it was defeated in the Senate by two votes.
Every man, woman and child in the belligerent nations owed almost seven times as much money when peace came as he did at the beginning of the war.
Figures of the war's cost to the world compiled by the Federal Reserve Board were summarized in the statement that the approximate public debt per capita had increased from $60 before the war to almost $400 at the end of July, 1918. To this was added the cost since July, which is at the highest rate of the entire period.
The direct cost of the war was calculated by the board at somewhere between $170,000,000,000 and $180,000,000,000, not taking into account the authorization of the debt or the cost of indemnities.
Four-fifths of the huge burden fell upon the shoulders of the future, only Great Britain and America absorbing a considerable amount by taxation.
The total debt of the seven principal belligerents before the war did not exceed $25,000,000,000.
The board contrasted these figures with the total value of the gold and silver extracted from the earth since the beginning of the world, which, it said, hardly exceeded $30,000,000,000.
The belligerent nations, therefore, owed about six times the amount of all the gold and silver produced in all time.
Prices rose to three times the average of what they were at the beginning of the war.
Great Britain's debt increased almost ten times over in the period of the war, or from $3,580,000,000 to $32,450,000,000 down to June, 1918. These figures do not include the debts of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa, British colonies.
France's debt was quadrupled by the beginning of 1918, increasing from $6,833,000,000 to $25,410,000,000.
Italy's debt rose from $2,929,000,000 to $6,918,000,000.
Figures for Russia were brought up only to September, 1917, but they showed that at that time she owed $26,287,000,000, as compared with $5,234,000,000 at the beginning of the war.
The public debt of the United States was calculated to January 1, 1918, in order to be in line with those of other countries, increasing by that date to over $8,000,000,000 from a pre-war figure of a billion and a quarter. Since that time $11,500,000,000 have been subscribed to the Liberty Loans, thus increasing the national debt about sixteen fold.
The most extraordinary increase of all was that of Germany, rising from $1,208,000,000 to $26,332,000,000.
Austria owed $2,736,000,000 at the beginning of the war, which was increased by June, 1917, to $11,573,000,000.
Hungary increased her debt from $1,392,000,000 to $5,910,000,000 by
December, 1917.
The neutrals, Denmark, Spain, Holland, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland together owed $2,871,000,000 when war began and increased their debts only to $3,710,000,000.
Existing war obligations of the United States at the close of 1918 matured as follows:
First Liberty Loan, $2,000,000,000, redeemable at the option of the Treasury after 1932 and payable not later than 1947; Second Liberty Loan, $3,808,000,000, redeemable after 1927, payable in 1942; Third Liberty Loan, $4,176,000,000, redeemable and payable without option in 1928; Fourth Liberty Loan, $6,989,047,000, redeemable after 1933, payable in 1938; War Savings, $879,300,000 up to November, 1918, payable in 1923.
With this program of maturity, the Treasury by exercising its option could call in the nation's war debt for redemption in installments every five years until 1947.
Secretary of the Treasury, William Gibbs McAdoo, who was also Director General of Transportation, created a sensation when he resigned both offices in November, 1918, the resignation to take effect January 1, 1919. Coming upon the eve of the peace conference in Paris and the announcement that President Wilson intended to head the American delegates to the conference, the resignation caused widespread surprise. The reasons given by Mr. McAdoo were ill-health and a serious depreciation of his private fortune during his incumbency of governmental positions.
Following the armistice, steps were immediately taken for the repatriation of a considerable portion of the American forces in France and the return to their homes of the men in American training camps. The Third Army of the United States, commanded by General Dickman, was ordered to the western shore of the Rhine, there to co-operate with the troops of the Allies until the conclusion of peace negotiations.
The country was amazed on November 23d when General March announced that the casualties of the American forces which had been anticipated as being less than 100,000, had in reality exceeded 236,000. Explanation for this lay in the fierce on-rush of the American forces during the last month of the war.
A forecast that many thousands of American boys would remain in France was given by Andre Tardieu, General Commissioner for Franco-American affairs, when addressing the Association of Foreign Correspondents in New York City, after the armistice had been signed.
M. Tardieu appealed for permission to retain American soldiers in
France. He said:
"We want first an immediate assistance in the matter of labor. We hope that, during the preparation and the carrying out of the transportation of your troops back to America your technical units as well as other units with their equipment will be able to co-operate in that effort. We soon will have to carry out a colossal work of transportation in view of the supplying of the regions evacuated by the enemy, of the recovering of the railroads in Northern and Eastern France and in Alsace-Lorraine. We will have to clean the reconquered ground of the ruins accumulated by the German hordes. Your army will help us in this work while our population will restore her cities and villages.
"Again in reference, not to all purchases—as a large part of our needs will be supplied outside of the United States—but in reference to those purchases which will be made in America, we are in need of credits in dollars covering about fifty per cent of our total purchases for reconstruction. The assurance of that financial help will bring to every one in France, government and private enterprise, the courage and faith necessary to apply to peace reconstruction the energy and the spirit of enterprise she has so prominently shown during the war.
"We will exact from Germany the restitution of each part of the material taken away from us as can be recovered. But, besides that restitution, we must bear in mind that speed is a primary condition in the reconstruction of France, and that America, on account of her immense capacities for production, ought to give us the first help. We need ships, chartered ships as well as ships transferred to our flag; the speedy reconstruction of the country is strictly depending on the revival of our mercantile fleet.
"The colossal effort put up by the United States in the building of her fleet for war purposes will not be diverted from this sacred end if it, in part, helps France to recover on the seas, for the revival of her forces in peace, the means of transportation which were lost to her on account of the war.
"In reference to these four items—labor; credit, raw materials, ships—I have explained in detail our needs to your administration, by whose welcome I have been deeply moved. What I told them, what I asked for, I am telling it to you again, because a policy of secrecy does not befit our day.
"We have lost two million and a half men; some are dead, some maimed, some have returned sick and incapacitated from German prisons. Whether they be lost altogether, or whether their working capacity be permanently reduced, they will not participate in this reconstruction. The fifteenth part of our people is missing at the very time we need all our material and moral forces in order to build up our life again. The younger part, yea, the stronger part of our nation, the flower of France, has died away on the battle-fields. Our country has been bereft of its most precious resources.
"Our war expenses, on the other side, 120,000,000,000 francs, are weighing heavily on our shoulders. To payoff this debt there are at hand only such limited resources as invasion has left us. The territories which have been under German occupation for four years were the wealthiest part of France. Their area did not exceed six per cent of the whole country. They paid, however, twenty-five per cent of the sum total of our taxes.
"These territories which have been, for the last three months, occupied again by us at the cost of our own blood and of the blood of our allies, are now in a state of ruin even worse than we had anticipated. Of the cities and villages nothing remains but ruins; 350,000 homes have been destroyed. To build them up again—I am referring to the building proper, without the furnishings—600 million days' of work will be necessary, involving, together with building material, an outlay of 10,000,000,000 francs. As regards personal property of every description either destroyed by battle, or stolen by the Germans, there stands an additional loss of at least 4,000,000,000 francs.
"This valuation of lost personal property does not include—as definite figures are lacking as yet—the countless war contributions and fines by the enemy, amounting also to billions. I need hardly say that, in those wealthy lands, practically no agricultural resources are left.
"The losses in horses and in cattle, bovine and ovine species, hogs, goats, amount to 1,510,000 head—in agricultural equipment to 454,000 machines or carts—the two items worth together 6,000,000,000 francs.
"Now as regards industries, the disaster is even more complete. These districts occupied by the Germans and whose machinery has been methodically destroyed or taken away by the enemy, were, industrially speaking, the very heart of France. They were the very backbone of our production, as shown in the following startling figures:
"In 1913 the wool output of our invaded regions amounted to 94 per cent of the total. French production and corresponding figures were: For flax from the spinning mills, 90 per cent; iron ore, 90 per cent; pig iron, 83 per cent; steel, 70 per cent; sugar, 70 per cent; cotton, 60 per cent; coal 55 per cent; electric power, 45 per cent. Of all that, plants, machinery, mines, nothing is left. Everything has been carried away or destroyed by the enemy. So complete is the destruction that, in the case of our great coal mines in the north, two years of work will be needed before a single ton of coal can be extracted and ten years before the output is brought back to the figures of 1913.
"All that must be rebuilt, and to carry out that kind of reconstruction only, there will be a need of over 2,000,000 tons of pig iron, nearly 4,000,000 tons of steel—not to mention the replenishing of stocks and of raw materials which must of necessity be supplied to the plants during the first year of resumed activity. If we take into account these different items we reach as regards industrial needs a total of 25,000,000,000 francs.
"To resurrect these regions, to reconstruct these factories, raw materials are not now sufficient; we need means of transportation. Now the enemy has destroyed our railroad tracks, our railroad equipment, and our rolling stock, which in the first month of the war, in 1914, was reduced by 50,000 cars, has undergone the wear and tear of fifty months of war.
"Our merchant fleet, on the other hand, has lost more than a million tons through submarine warfare. Our shipyards during the last four years have not built any ships. For they have produced for us and for our allies cannon, ammunition, and tanks. Here, again, for this item alone of means of transportation we must figure on an expense of 2,500,000,000 francs.
"This makes, if I sum up these different items, a need of raw material which represents in cost, at the present rate of prices in France, not less than 50,000,000,000 francs.
"And this formidable figure, gentlemen, does not cover everything. I have not taken into account the loss represented for the future production of France by the transformation of so many factories which for four years were exclusively devoted to war munitions. I have not taken into account foreign markets lost to us as a result of the destruction of one-fourth of our productive capital and the almost total collapse of our trade. I have not taken into account the economic weakening that we will suffer tomorrow owing to that loss, to which I referred a while ago, of 2,500,000 young an vigorous men."
This was one of the great by-products of the war. Thousands of young Americans, vigorous evangels of democratic thought, remained in Europe to bring American ideals and American force into the affairs of the old world.
Those who returned were formidable factors in re-shaping the affairs of the nation. Grave injustices were done in some instances to young men who had volunteered in the early days of the war through patriotic motives and who returned to find their places in industry taken by others. In the main, however, the process of absorption went forward steadily and without serious incident.
One factor making for satisfactory adjustment was the insurance system put into effect by the United States Government, affecting its war forces. Immediately following the armistice, the following announcement was made:
Preparations by the government for re-insuring the lives of soldiers and sailors on their return have been hastened by the signing of the armistice. Although regulations have not yet been fully drafted, it is certain that each of the 4,250,000 men in the military or naval service now holding voluntary government insurance will be permitted within five years after peace is declared to convert it without further medical examination into ordinary life, twenty-pay life, endowment maturing at the age of sixty-two, or other prescribed forms of insurance.
This insurance will be arranged by the government, not by private companies, and the cost is expected to be at least one-fourth less than similar forms offered by private agencies. The low cost will result from the fact that the government will pay all overhead administration expenses, which, for private companies, amount to about seventeen per cent of premium receipts; will save the usual solicitation fees and, in addition, bear the risk resulting from the wounding or weakening of men while in the service. Private companies would not write insurance on many wounded men, or their rates would be unusually high.
The government will arrange to collect premiums monthly, if men wish to pay that way, or for longer periods in advance. This may be done through post-offices. The minimum amount of insurance to be issued probably will be $1,000, and the maximum $10,000, with any amount between those sums in multiple of $500. There will be provision for payments in case of disability as well as death, according to the tentative plan.
Thus will be created out of the government's emergency war insurance bureau the greatest life insurance institution in the world for peace times, with more policyholders and greater aggregate risks than a half dozen of the world's biggest private companies combined. Out of the experience gained may eventually develop expansion of government insurance to old age, industrial and other forms of insurance, in the opinion of officials who have studied the subject.
Regulations for reinsuring returning soldiers and sailors are being framed by an advisory board to the military and naval section of the war risk bureau, consisting of Arthur Hunter, actuary of the New York Life Insurance Company; W. A. Fraser, Omaha, of the Woodmen of the World, and F. Robertson Jones, of the Workmen's Compensation Publicity Bureau, New York.
Plans also are under consideration for allowing beneficiaries of men who have died or been killed in the service to choose between taking monthly payments over a period of twenty years or to commute these payments in a lump sum.