to send out
their products with the familiar hall-mark of "Gott strafe
England," or "Best wishes for King George." It is the kind of
Socialism that wants more money, more votes, less work, but has no
objection to plenty of war. It is a common-sense Socialism, which
knows that without war Essen might shrink to its pre-war dimensions.

Essen is very jealous of the great Skoda works near Pilsen in
Austria. My hotel manager spoke with some acerbity of the amount
of advertising the Austrian siege howitzers were receiving. "You
can accept my assurance," he said, "that the guns for the
bombardment of Dover were made here, and not at the Skoda works, as
the Austrians claim."

Every German in Essen seems to feel a personal pride in the
importance of the works to the Empire at the fateful hour. The
43-centimetre gun "which conquered Belgium"--as the native puts
it--is almost deified. Everybody struts about in the consciousness
that he or she has had directly or indirectly something to do with
the murderous weapon which has wrought such death and glory in
Germany's name. "The Empire has the men, Essen has the
armour-plate, the torpedoes, the shells, the guns. It is the
combination which must win." That is the spirit in Kruppville.

CHAPTER XXI

TOMMY IN GERMANY

One day the world will be flooded with some of the most dramatic,
horrible, and romantic of narratives--the life-stories of the
British soldiers captured in the early days of the war, their gross
ill-treatment, their escapes, and attempts at escape. I claim to
be the only unofficial neutral with any large amount of
eye-witness, hand-to-hand knowledge of those poor men in Germany.

One of the most difficult tasks I assumed during the war was the
personal and unconducted investigation of British prisoners of war.
The visitor is only allowed to talk with prisoners when visiting
camps under the supervision of a guide. My tramps on foot all over
Germany gave me valuable information on this as on other matters.

My task was facilitated by the Germany policy of showing the hated
British captives to as many people as possible; thus the 30,000 men
have been scattered into at least 600 prison camps. In the
depleted state of the German Army it is not easy to find efficient
guards for so many establishments. Prisoners are constantly being
moved about. They are conveyed ostentatiously and shown at railway
stations en route, where until recently they were