Germany’s War Machine

Published Aug. 20, 1914

Aylmer Express Newspaper

Kaiser Would Have Had Far Larger Army Next Year.

That Kaiser William would have 5,400,000 trained soldiers to turn loose upon mankind by the end of 1915 had the present crisis not been precipitated is one of the startling facts which military authorities state. And although German’s ruler even now has 4,000,000 men in arms, the rest of the world may taken some comfort that his new army organization scheme had not been in operation a little longer.

The remarkable military activity of Germany which has been worrying the rest of Europe for the past few years culminated in the law of 1913, of which the main principle was to largely increase the number of recruits joining yearly by lowering the age standard. … mobilization would be enormously expedited thereby and a huge army of trained men thrown in to the field at a moment’s notice. Sinister and significant on top of this, to all but those who blindly refused to see, was the gathering together of gold and silver by Germany during the past two years. The war chest – cash immediately available for mobilization – was doubled in gold, increased from $30,000,000 to $60,000,000, while no less than $30,000,000 in silver had been hoarded up.