Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1916-06-01
GERMANY WANTS PEACE;
WILLING TO FIGHT FOR IT
Spirit Not Broken, and Food, for
Time Being, Is Removed
as Dictator.
MANY FALSE REPORTS HEARD
Belief in Them Is Serious Obstacle,
Because False Hopes Are Raised,
and Efforts May Be Delayed Until
Illusions Are Dispelled.
DY A. BEACH.
An International News Service Cor
| respondent. Who has Just Returned

respondent, Who has Just Returned
From berlin.
NEW YORK. May s1.-Germany is
ready for peace. Germany is eager
for peace.
II Germany could do to-day wha,
the nation most wishes to do. the war
would stop. guns would be stacked,
swords would be sheathed and pens
drawn.
Recent reports from London, Paris
and Berlin indicate as much. and they
should be believed.
But frequently these reports. or ut
least those emanating from London and
Paris, either stop with the bare fact
that Germany wishes peace, or add that
the German spirit is broken. and that
the wish Is fathered by economic con-
ditions which must soon force the en-
pire. through stomach cravings, to bend
the knee In supplication. Such rcports
should not be believed, for the facts
do not sustain them. Belief in such re-
ports is serious obstacle in the path
OF peace. because false hopcs are raised.
and any or all peace efforts may he de-
layed until the illusion is again dis
PEELED by the spectacle of GERMANY
intact and fighting.
or extreme Importance In this con.
nectton Is the fact that there are 4.ooo.-
600 men in uniform in Germany who
nave not yet seen any front-which
Tor a long time to come insures tn.
country against shortage OF men.
AS for food. the German is satisfied
mat ne VIII eat his way through an
other winter. with as much nourish-
ment as he absorbed the past winter.
which, for the time being at least, re-
moves food as a peace dictator
LETT Berlin three weeks ago after
stay IN Germany of six months. dur
lns which time ! visited every one OF
the central alliance powers, spent time
at the two principal fronts. and had
more than ordinary facilities of oh
serving what German officials are do.
ing and what German people nra him
ing.
GERMAN EAGER ENOUGH
FOR PEACE To FIGHT FOR 1T
In the first place. the German spirit
is In no wise broken. The German is
suniciently eager for peace to fight
for IT. But he Will not ask for #.
Tho German firmly believes that he
is hghting war OF self-defense. In
the beginning 1t was said that Ger
many was wagins a war OF conquest.
year ago, when / was in Germany,
the German did not believe this. nor
does he believe ii now
The fact is important. because his
enemies attribute motives of conquest
10 the German. and fight him accord
lngiE. HIS enemies go further and
declare his empire must be conquered
TO preclude another attempt at con-
quest
Whereat the German in the field and
the German back nome says, "all right
come ahead. But YOU must first drive
US out or your territory and then whip
us In our own"
Probably no single fact has done as
much to keep this feeling alive in the
German as the repeated declarations of
PSemier Asquith that the British
sword Will never be sheathed until
Prussian mtlitarism is destroyed and
the smaller nations are secured against
destruction by their bigger brothers.
This determination makes no impress
sion on the German mind and only
stimulates his heart. For Prussian
mllitarism is himself, and he SCOTS at
nations as the rankest sort of hypo-
cricy.
Furthermore. the German has been
told by his Chancellor that Germany
is not fighting for more territory. and
he believes It,
heard Won Bcthman HoIlweC,
speaking in the Reichstag, put all the
vigor. and his big frame and his bass
voice. into the assurance that Germany
was fighting for nothing but national
safety. The Chancellor has likewise
expounded the same policy to me In
private conversation, as have other
German statesmen.
The fact Is that the German believes
he Is lighting for no cause whatever
other than their own safety.
And in this belief, and the fighting
stamina which backs 1t is to be found
| the essence OF the German peace pro-
gram as It shapes Itself at present
| In the German mind
The reader may study these German
peace ideas, balance them with the
aims Of the entente powers. and reckon
for himself the prospects of an actual
peace.
BELGIUM AND POLAND
ARE FOREMOST PROBLEMS
Belgium and Poland are at once the
problems foremost in the German mind
| that thinks of peace
The German declares that he will
not under any circumstances evacuate
Belgium until he is given sufficient
guarantees that Belgium is not to be-
! come vassal state to England, or
an active or passive ally Of England.
he also declares that he will never