of
our adversaries being successful. Russia, England, and Japan would
remain masters of the field. Is this a consummation any thinking
American can wish for?

These are the considerations I wished to lay before you, and I ask your
assistance to bring them before the American people. I ask for no reply,
no manifestation of feelings or opinion from you. What I ask you is to
publish this letter as an open letter addressed by me to you, signed
with my full name. How to do this I leave entirely to you. It goes
without saying that your private reply, if you favor me with one, will
be treated as such.

Hoping to meet you in better times, and sending our kindest regards to
Mrs. Roosevelt, believe me, yours most sincerely,

BARON L. HENGELMULLER.

Abbazia, Sept. 25, 1914.

Russian Atrocities

By George Haven Putnam.

Publisher, Director of the Knickerbocker Press, Secretary
American Copyright League; decorated with the Cross of the
Legion of Honor, France.

_To the Editor of The New York Times:_

It is possible that the letter presented herewith from a German neighbor
(who is a stranger to me) may be of interest to your readers as an
example of a curious confusion of thought into which have fallen Germans
on both sides of the Atlantic in regard to the issues of the present
struggle and the conduct and the actions of the German Army. I am
inclosing a copy of my reply to Mr. Thienes.

GEORGE HAVEN PUTNAM.

New York, Nov. 4, 1914.

THE LETTER.

NEW YORK, Oct. 28, 1914.

Mr. George Haven Putnam.

DEAR SIR: Now that you have shown your "true" spirit of neutrality
toward Germany, would you not be kind enough to give us a similar piece
of your wisdom and describe in detail the way the Russians acted in East
Prussia during their short stay there, and how they murdered, tortured,
and assaulted women and girls, and cut children and infants to pieces
without even the provocation of "sniping"?

This, your new article in THE TIMES, I anticipate with the greatest
interest.

RUDOLF F. THIENES.

THE REPLY.

Rudolf F. Thienes, Esq.

MY DEAR SIR: Your letter of the 28th inst., intended as a rejoinder to a
letter recently printed by me in THE TIMES, is written under a
misapprehension in regard to one important matter.

The Americans, who are in a position to judge impartially in regard to
the issues of the war, have criticised the official acts which have
attended the devastation of Belgiu