Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-11-03
Germany CrNiny Pencp

Germany Crying Peace
IT is difficult to follow Germany's various
pleas OF confession and avoidance that she
offers i'll defense OF her departures from the
laws OF war and the ordinary dictates OF
humanity. Her submarine attacks on mer-
chant shipping. delivered without warning
and her Zeppelin raids on London and other
English cities and towns AT enc moment are
mere developments of modern warfare com
p2;ely justified in themselves and at the next
are reprisals for Britains barbarity in block
aiding German coasts. The reader of these
ingenious documents selects the argumeu.
that appeals to him. or when he is blessed
with a typical Teutonic mind. combines their
seemingly contradictory clements into one
agreeable whole.
BE that as il may be. there is another inter
est in the latest emanation from the German
Foreign Office. in which the note OF rcprisa |
again becomes uppcrmost. Therein the state
ment is made that. mot hundreds OF thou
sands but millions of human beings i'll Ger
many must limit their consumption OF food
and make not inconsidcrable sacrifices be-
cause Britain has cut off the empires food
supplies
This hardly accords with the statements
that there is no scarcity in GERMANY which
from time to time are industrously circu-
latcl. 1t agrees rather with the stories OF
1000 riots in Berlin and other cities. OF attacks
by desperate women on the stores of provision
sellers with the announcement of new rcsu-
lations for conserving food and the establish
ment Of new maximum prices
Nothing is more foolish than the theory
that nation in arms can devote itself TO
WaeihS war and TO the production OF instru-
ments of destruction while cut OF absolutely
from outside sources Of supply. and at the
same time produce the necessities OF life on
normal scale. 1t cannot be done Ger
many gradually is bleeding herself white"
as the South did in the War Between The
States. Every victory by her gallant
armies. every extension of her battle lines
every invasion OF new territory. but increases
her exhaustion and makes more difficult the
problem OF supplies.
Wars cruel hand clutches the throat OF
Europe. but it is in Germany. rather than
france or England, that pressure is fercest
ana most relentless. II evidence OF this fact
were needed il is supplied by the circum-
stance that il is in Germany that all the talk
of peace originates. OF course il is pooca
with Qualifications peace ''triumphant,"
or glorious" or Eat the expense of orr
enemies, or "a peace that Will insure the
happiness OF Europe" or ''provide for the
normal expansion OF our boundaries or
cripple France and Russia, or humble
England" or that combines all Of these de-
sira5e attributes; but il is peace. neverthe-
less. and almost all the time
The German government is suffering all
inns discussion TO go on in the public press
Who can doubt there is a purpose i'm il. or
that that purpose is TO revive the droopinr
spirits OF the German millions who hear so
much OF triumph and see and feel naught but
privation and suffering?
Germany wants peace, but there is no talk
OF that sort in any Of the allied countries
lhey are determined, so far as appcaranccs
go TO heht TO the last man and TO spend their
last penny in the cause. Ii their detcrmina-
tloh endures, the end is certain They have
the men. they have the ships. they have The
money. too" Germany's wonderful orranizo-
tloh. her skillful military chieitains her brave
soldiers her patriotic and self-sacrihcing poo-
ple.may defer. but cannot avoid. the incvi,a-
BILE result.