army officers are the first to be influenced.
It is the same in Switzerland as with the officers of many armies,
solely because of the past reputation of the German military machine.

We and the civil authorities of South America must not forget
that Japan copied German military methods, that the armies of
Argentina and Chili have been trained, for years, by German
officers sent there on temporary leave of absence from the German
army.

Von Below, a German officer in Berlin who had been in the
Argentine, used to make merry over the Argentine soldiers and
said that they objected to drilling when it rained. I do not
believe this officer, but I should like to have the brave
Argentine officers hear his jokes and gibes.

We left, after three or four days in Berne, on the evening train,
for the French frontier. In the train corridors, outside the
compartments, spies stood staring at us, spies pretending to read
newspapers came into each compartment; police spies, betrayed by
heavy boots; general staff spies, betrayed by a military
stiffness; women spies; spies assorted and special. And these
gentry had followed me all over Berne--for in the neutral
countries of Europe as well as the belligerents are we constantly
reminded of the insidious methods of Kaiserism.

CHAPTER XVIII

A GLIMPSE OF FRANCE

At Pontarlier, on the French frontier, a special train was
waiting for my party and into this train a German-American
inserted himself after first mixing his baggage with mine. I went
through the train and this enterprising gentleman and another
German-American were detained for some days at Pontarlier. One of
them, later, on reaching Spain, reported immediately to the head
of the German secret service there, thus justifying my suspicions.
Fortunately when he subsequently arrived in Spain we had already
sailed, so that if he bore any sinister message from Berlin to
the German agents in Spain to hinder our voyage, he was too late.

The night trip to Paris was uneventful. At the Gare St. Lazare we
were met by our Ambassador, Mr. Sharp, with several of his staff
and a representative of the French Foreign Office.

Paris was indeed a changed Paris since I had last seen it in
October of 1913. The pavement in the Place Vendome, in front of
the Hotel Ritz, where we stopped, was full of holes, but
taxicabs, almost as extinct as the dodo in Berlin, rushed merrily
through the crowded streets. The boulevards were lively, ful