Crushed!

Professor Quidde, German pacifist, wrote a letter to Hans von Seecht, Commander-in-Chief of the Reichswehr. He deplored the fact that young Germans were being given military training. He pointed out that the Versailles Treaty was thereby being flagrantly and dangerously defied. He explained that the French were angered. He prophesied that enemies of the Fatherland would one day make "these military preparations" an excuse for invasion.

Replied the hard, harsh, bellicose von Seecht: "The ideas of peace are in themselves difficult of comprehension for a people so maltreated as the German nation, but when, after the experiences Germany has had in the invasion of the Ruhr, and at a time when France daily stamps on the Treaty of Versailles, a man devotes himself to the execution of this Treaty in the interests of France, I can only describe such action as the limit of self-abasement. Furthermore, I should like to remind you that in the event of any public discussion of the questions mentioned in your letter I shall proceed against you with every means under the state of siege quite apart from any proceedings for treason."