The Washington herald., 1914-11-01

tiations could not fail, suddenly like the
trump Of doom came the tidings that the
mobilization had become general, that
like the lOosened avalanche 1t had, by
| its own impetus suddenly swept beyond
control.
III you will turn to the White papers
and read the last two letters exchanged
on July 30 and 81 between the Kaiser and
the Gar, you will find that the Gar
practically admits that the mobilization
had gone beyond his control.
In reply to the Kaiset's protest against
what he called the 'menacing character
II the Russian mobilization which the
Kaiser demanded must cease within
twelve hours, the Gar replied (still using
the familiar second person Of friends:
- thank thee from my heart for the
CattempteD mediation, which leaves a
gleam of hope that even now all may end
peacefully. But it is technically impos-
sible to discontinue our military opera
tons, which are rendered necessary by
Austria's mobilization
Shifting the Blame.
Here we find the Car deploring his
inability to check his own avalanche,
and laying the blame in turn upon the
, mobilization Of Austria-while the preteXt
Of Austria was-the necessity for dIscip-
lining Servia for the assassination of the
Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Yet what in
fluence, we may ask, is behind Austria
to draw her to such perilous extremes
an extreme which, as every statesman
knew, directly threa atened the peace Of
Europe? The spirit of the war-party'
is the answer-the war party, not of one
country only. but of n group-a group
recognized as the most militant, whose
general stan in each instance, backed
by an army of ambitious officers, were,
as We now know, anxious and eager for
the fray-determined to accept no COM
promise. AS expressed in the letter OF
one Of these officers to his wife (who
was taking his holiday near US in Switzer-
land and translated his message), 'if
We don't pull of the war this time II
will be rotten"'-Fancy! Rotten to keep
the peace. Rotten to protect lives and
property--to safeguard humanity and civ
ilization!
I can't express to you the shock
that sentence gave me, nor the food of
light II shed, in those first awful days,
upon the evil influence Of the war party.
/ therefore feel II both just and neces-
sary to keep ever to the front this one
great fact, namely, that the war, parties
OF the nations, more than their rulers
and unknown to the majority OF their
pSOplGS were determined 10 pTeClplIdle
the conflict and had laid their wires and
planned their campaign for this very
result"
A WOman's Complaint.
At this point Miss Richards read a let
ter received from a German member of
her Baltimore lecture class in which the
writer complained that Miss Richards had
not mentioned a book entitled THE Truth
About Germany" although she had re-
ferred to the book of ''The lingo Bern
hardi." The letter concluded with the
words: "It seems a short time since
heard you speak with admiration Of Der
Kaiser as the great peacemaker Of Eu-
rope. Can you believe that one who has
been an ardent advocate Of peace for so
many years is suddenly transformed into
one who could possibly have wished for
this war, had there been any honorable
way to avoid it?'
In reply Miss Richards stated that per-
sonaIly she was still of the opinion that
the Kaiser did not himself desire war