bill affirming the right of the illegitimate children of soldiers
fallen in battle to the same pension as if their parents had been
legally married. And the Reichstag passed the bill unanimously.

This solicitude about little things is most saliently in evidence in
the military domain. Here nothing is neglected that can contribute to
the fighting value of the units. Hence the care shown for the
nourishment and comfort of the soldiers. Ruthlessly though they are
sacrificed in battle, they are well looked after in the trenches, and
their career is followed with interest and recorded with accuracy by
their superiors. I was struck with the completeness of the information
which the German War Office possesses and can produce at a moment's
notice about any individual soldier. It was brought home to me in this
way. The Chief of the Berlin police had a grandson in the war who had
been missed for several weeks. Desirous of obtaining particulars about
his capture or death, he asked a neutral friend to obtain information
from the Russians. And by way of furnishing a description he sent a
printed card, which I read. It contained the name and age of the
soldier, the regiment to which he belonged, the hamlet in which he was
last seen, the distances that separated that hamlet from the next town
and the next large city, the day, the hour and _the minute_ when the
man together with his comrades were attacked, and the number of
Russians who attacked them. And all these printed particulars refer to
a private soldier! Is there anything comparable to this to be found in
any of the allied countries?

The scene of another characteristic fact that struck me was Brussels.
Princess L. requested permission from the German authorities to repair
to France to visit her mother, who, she explained, was ill. At the
Kommandantur her request was met with the cutting remark that many
persons had been applying for permits to visit their mothers, sisters
and other relations abroad, who all appeared to be victims of some
mysterious epidemic. Still, the official added, he would not
definitively refuse the request, but would accord it as soon as he had
proof that the lady's mother was really ill. "We shall have inquiries
made." "But you cannot have inquiries made in France during the war,"
she objected. "Just as quickly as in peace time," he retorted.
Sceptical and sad the petitioner returned home. But in a day or two
she was summoned to the Kommandantur and