DIY History | Transcribe | World War I Diaries and Letters | Conger Reynolds correspondence, August 1918 | 1918-08-28 Conger Reynolds to Daphne Reynolds Page 2

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Conger Reynolds correspondence, August 1918

1918-08-28 Conger Reynolds to Daphne Reynolds Page 2

anytime during the day.  All the excitement at present is north of Paris where the British continue to advance gradually day by day.  The situation is very good for our side.  If we keep on hammering Fritzie there is no telling but he might get discouraged and quit along about December.  However, I fear our peace terms are going to be so destructive of Germany's imperialistic dreams that the junkers will make the nation fight to the bloody finish of its strength before they give in.  In that case nothing short of a revolt in Germany against the junkers will prevent the drawing out of the war through another year. 
I was interested in your description of the loyalty celebration in Adrian.  That stunt of burning the kaiser in effigy was, I think, expressive of a very deplorable short-sightedness in America that extends far beyond Adrian.  Too many people have the delusion that we are fighting the kaiser only, and that if he could only be put out of the way the world would have nothing more to fear from Germany.  They do not seem to see the fact that we are fighting against a great madness that possesses a whole, powerful people.  With the upper classes it is a kind of religion, belief in German superiority and German destination to rule the world; with the lower classes it is something less well understood but rigidly adhered to as the result of forty years of education and discipline.

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anytime during the day. All the excitement at present is north of Paris where the British continue to advance gradually day by day. The situation is very good for our side. If we keep on hammering Fritzie there is no telling but he might get discouraged and quit along about December. However, I fear our peace terms are going to be so destructive of Germany's imperialistic dreams that the junkers will make the nation fight to the bloody finish of its strength before they give in. In that case nothing short of a revolt in Germany against the junkers will prevent the drawing out of the war through another year. I was interested in your description of the loyalty celebration in Adrian. That stunt of burning the kaiser in effigy was, I think, expressive of a very deplorable short-sightedness in America that extends far beyond Adrian. Too many people have the delusion that we are fighting the kaiser only, and that if he could only be put out of the way the world would have nothing more to fear from Germany. They do not seem to see the fact that we are fighting against a great madness that possesses a whole, powerful people. With the upper classes it is a kind of religion, belief in German superiority and German destination to rule the world; with the lower classes it is something less well understood but rigidly adhered to as the result of forty years of education and discipline.