The Washington herald., 1916-10-09
Feeling IN Germany.
By JOHN ID. BARRY.

The young soldier that / talked with in a
cafe yesterday came from Schleswig- -Holstein
and he bore Danish name; but he thor
oughly German in spirit and he expressed the
German point of view. He had been among
those who walked tl-ugh Belgium during the
first few weeks of the war. When / asked what
he thought of entering neutral country in that
way he replied: "I didn't think anything about
it. I did what my government told me to do.
1t was explained to us that if we didn't go
through Belgium should be attacked by Bel
GUM and that was enough"
There was another German, a young in
the diplomatic service, that l discussed the same
subject with. He had been student in Eng
land and he spoke English like cultivated
Englshman. He said: when your house is on
FIRE, and you doing all you can to save it,
you don't hesitate to send men through your
neighbors house even if you know you are going
to cause that house some damage. We believed
that we were to be attacked from several sides.
We had to save ourselves"
1t would be easy to say that both the German
soldier and the diplomat were wrong and to con-
denim them ruthlessly. But the easy way is not
always, it is not in fact, usually the right way.
If people are to be judged at all they must have
some allowance made for their point of view.
And if such allowance Is not made, who of US,
Those who deal severely with children, ex-
pecting them to behave like grown-ups show
that they are unfit to have the care of children.
But are nations to be considered as if they were
children, the great nations of the world? The
answer would seem to be Yes" The nations,
notably the great nations act like children; they
show the same determination to have their own
way, the willfulness in their relations with
one another Their standards are much lower
than those of individuals, much more frankly
selfish and tyrannical. If individuals did what
great nations often do, they would be regarded
as criminals and subjected to the odium of pun
ishment.
The powers at war are behaving curiously
like children. They are generating themselves
and putting the blame elsewhere. Their self
justihcations leading them to amazing ex-
tremes. Killing understand on account
of its long association with warfare; but there
are meannesses and pettinesses coming out of
the war that if they could be fastened on indi-
viduals, would be regarded as lamentable express
sions of character. What individual, with any
self-respect, would think of rfing his neighbor's
private letters2 And yet private letters of people
belonging to neutral countries are contin-
ually riAed.
The truth is that when nations 60 to war they
enter the realm of madness. No longer are they
responsible. Their justihcations are mere be-
trayals of the extremes to which they are car
ried by their feelings To blame them, to try
to weigh responsibility, is mainly waste of time.
Essentially they are all alike The most impor-
tant task for the world in this matter Of warfare
is to limit as far as it can the opportunities for
the nations to amuck. But work cannot be
done in wartime. 1t belongs to the time OF
peace. When a man is mad the doctors try to
cure him; when he has recovered they try to
show him those ways of living that are most
likely to keep him from a boring relapse
Just now it is plain enough that Germany
wants peace. But will she be allowed to have it?
Surely not! What is the reason? The main
reason is that England will not have peace, save
at the price of victory. ITS great pity YOU
didn't let England give you laundering good
beating at Skagarrak," said New York Journal
lst to one OF the German diplomats here in Ber-
lin recently. Then England might have been
ready to consider peace"
Meanwhile, the Germans keep saying: "All we
want is to be let alone" There is an annexation
party here to be sure determined to hold Bel
GUM and the occupied parts of France and to
make Poland either German dependency or an
independent kingdom under Germany's protec-
tlon' buffer state. But this party is in the
minority. There is general feeling that Poland
must not be returned to Russias control and it
looks now if it would not be and as If its
long hoped-for independence would come at last:
but there is no strong feeling in favor of holding
any part of France or Belgium
"