Show I GERMANY MUST PAY Important Commercial Centers Destroyed Beyond Repair PEOPLE ARE LEFT HOMELESS I II I Country Should Be Forced to Pay for Ruthless Destruction as Far as Within the Power of Its People By WRIGHT A A. PATTERSON In August 1914 1314 the city of Lens In northern France was a prosperous community of close to OOOO people It was known as the Pittsburgh of France and Its coal fields were the theone theone theone one great source of supply of fuel for forthe forthe forthe the nation Its steel and iron mills supplied much of the material for French railroads shipbuilding and other industries Its people were Industrious Industrious industrious In In- and thrifty living HyIng In comfortable comfortable comfortable com com- homes surrounded by the modest luxuries of an Industrial com com- All that Is left of Lens today is a crumbling pile of debris No single wall of the city Is still standing and hardly a piece of a n wall as much as asten asten asten ten feet square can be seen amid the terrible ruins Both the buildings and the machinery of Its factories are gone completely Its coal mines are flooded and the machinery with which they were operated has been destroyed And all aU this because Germany started started started start start- ed a war for the purpose of conquest a war In which no principle other than that of selfishness was Involved Today Today Today To To- day Germany Is a crushed nation Her plans for world domination miscarried her armies have been defeated but before these things happened the city of Lens had been destroyed I stood amid the ruins of what had once been the attractive and prosperous prosper prosper- ous ons industrial community of Lens and watched hundreds of her people who had returned after the Germans had been driven en back as they searched for forthe forthe forthe the spots on which their homes had once stood as they dug into the debris in an effort to rescue from it some one thing some memento of that home they had loved as much or even more than we Americans love our homes I saw the teats tears on the cheeks of many as s they toiled I saw an nn old woman carrying carrying carrying car car- away as the only tiling she could find a piece of a broken chair and I thought who shall pay for this devastation tl this s misery There Is But One Answer Are the broken en homeless people of Lens to pay Are the people of France to pay Are the people of England or America or Belgium to pay Or are C the Germans to pay To o be sure the city of Lens was destro destroyed destroyed de de- de- de ell by shells fired largely from British guns But they were fired into the city because the invading In Germans Germans Germans Ger Ger- mans in the city must be driven out that not only France but the world might be freed of the menace of German domination and the debris that once was Lens stands today aRn as aR asa asa a n striking monument to German greed and ond to the accuracy and efficiency of British artillery Could the people of America have seen the people searching those ruins as I saw them could they have haye seen the tears as I saw them they would have e said sah as I said Germany must pay and she sho must continue to pay until this fair fall city and many many others like Uke it have been restored until these people and their descendants descendants descendants descend descend- ants are again the happy prosperous contented people they were before the hell of ot German wantonness and s selfish selfishness I sh- sh ness was let loose In 1914 1014 What happened in Lens has Ims happened happened hap hap- ened In many other cities and towns in France In Belgium In Ital Italy In Serbia In ha Roumania In Poland and for tor all of them Germany German and her al allIes allies ullies ul- ul lies should pay and pay and pay Cruel Fate of Ypres Another example of the hellishness of this German war of conquest Is seen In what was once the beautiful and anel historic city of ot Ypres In Belgium This town is today but one mass of ot ruins Its wonderful Cloth Hull Hall and St. St Martins Martin's church both considered among the marvels of ot Europe and both dating doting back to the thirteenth century are gone never to be restored There is no way by which the Germans can canI give back to the world these beautiful beautiful I ful tul monuments of ot past centuries but T they can be made to pay for tor them so far tor as os dollars can pay I And with the passing of this city there passed away many thousand lives of British soldiers who today lie I burled buried around the place they so bravely bravely brave brave- ly defended One possibly better realizes realizes re re- re- re here the tile terrors of this war than at nt any other ono one spot Here Hero the Germans Germans Germans Ger Ger- mans held the hills hUls to the east cast of the city and the British defenders occupIed occupied occupied pied the lying low-lying fields between the hills and the city For them dugouts or deep trenches were out of the question question question ques ques- tion as the land Is but little above sea level And here In what Is almost a n marsh the British Tommies lay month after month through winter and summer a fair fall target for the Boche guns on the nearby Hills When I was In Ypres late In October October Octo Octo- October ber many of the people to whom it had bad been home were there digging hopelessly In the rubbish in a n vain effort effort effort ef ef- ef- ef fort to find tind some small thing that could be associated with the homes that the Germans had destroyed In their effort to secure world domination by a n war of conquest City of Walls Only The city of In Belgium was not shelled by either army and yet itis ItIs it itIs Is a city that Germany should pay for The walls of are arc standing but It Is a city of walls only The floors the roofs the joists the doors and windows windows windows win win- dows and the door and window casings are arc gone all torn out by the invading Boche Boelle with the result that the people of are as homeless as the people people people peo peo- of Lens and Ypres and hundreds of other cities and towns In the invaded countries I rode through devastated Armen- Armen Bailleul La Bassee Douai DonaI Cambria Roisel Peronne Albert Arras Arras Arras Ar Ar- ras St St. Quentin Guiscard Noyon Chauny Thiaucourt Vigneulles and hundreds of smaller towns and the story of devastation was always the same with but little variation n devastation devastation devas devas- tation caused by the Boche and for which the Boche should pay and for which the price assessed will never be high enough In many ways the hellishness of the Boche has been demonstrated The city of Arras has not suffered such complete destruction as has lias fallen upon uvon many other cities Here the German German German Ger Ger- man gunners centered their fire upon in 2 t 8 4 tsA k F 4 As the City of Looks Today the cathedral and day after day week after week and month after month they continued to pour a n rain of metal upon this beautiful old church until today it Is nothing but a mass of powdered powdered powdered pow pow- dered stone Germany cannot give back that cathedral of Arras but she can pay and should pay for the needless needless needless need need- I less senseless destruction And the fair fall cities and towns that have been so ruthlessly destroyed are but Incidents In the devastation caused by this war var and for all aU of which Germany Germany Germany Ger Ger- many and her allies and they alone are C responsible and for all aU of which they should pay |