Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-07-24
OPTIMISTS WHO
NEED OPTICIANS
Survey of Remarkable Instances
Of War Foresight Manifested
by Some Astigmatic
Prophets

| PSYCHOLOGISTS OF the future will
4 have chapter that does not appear
In contemporary works. They must tell
about the notable outbreak of "optl-
mania" that accompanied the Great War.
That will sound very much like some
thing to do with the eyes, and won't be
far wrong at that, for It Is the misfor.
tune Of many Of the contemporary super.
optlmists that they cannot see clearly
what Is In front OF their noses. The opti.
lists referred to are those who spread re-
1orts OF prompt end of the war because
of--well. a varied assortment of be-
causes.
One OF these is that the Allies have
ordered from American firms a number Of
steel bridges to be put over the Rhine to
facilitate the invasion Of Germany. This
must be cheerful reading for men in the
trenches, who know the cost Of every ad-
vance The correspondent in his pleasant
room in Paris breezily strides into Ger
many with sevenleague boots; but the SOL
der counts his progress by the yard.
Paris itself, the dlsillusioned, has little
time for such optimism, as a recent car
toon in lie Rire shows-two srimy and
wounded soldiers are lurking In the black
pit of a deep trench with she's bursting
overhead, cynically grinning over a news
paper which tells of dashlng heroism at
| the front.
In the same vein of fancy as the vision.
ary bridges over the Rhine is another
story in which there is probably more
truth-that the Belgian Cabinet is busy
at Havre drawing up plans for the recon.
I.A,. n r,-t
anticipation of tho speedy withdrawal Of
the Germans" In view of the tremendous
task ahead of those who actually have to
undertake the dislodging OF the Germans
from Belgium, this news" comes as a
grim joke. 1t would seem that these
would be plenty of time to consider the
reconstruction of Belgium after there
was some assurance of the construction
on Belgian soil of a native government.
Equaled only by their faith In the
starvation of Germany is the touching
confidence of the superoptimists in the
German revolution" So persistent have
been the predictions of a general rev.
olution in the Fatherland to stop the war
that there are actually large number
Of reasoners who take that revolution as
bread riots as the first events in the
great revolt. Yet IL the lesson of history
teaches anything It is that there is very
little of the revolutionary spirit in the
German blood. The only timS the Ger
mans rose against their rulers was in
1S48, when revolt was in the air all over
Europe but the Teutons' uprising was
feeble. 1t Is only in military nations like
France that revolutions are bred; the
Germans are not military people; they
are only a militaristic people.
A Pipe Dream From Greece
In the way OF dreams a la pipe few
equal for fantastic detail the story which
a professional writer conceived in the
days when the isles OF Greece were Just
beginning to show what the wiles of
Greece could be. Venizelos had been re-
turned by the election, but Constantine
refused to grant him the premierSsspA
thereby denying the democratic character
of the Greek constitution. Regardless of
the animosity which this writer knew to
exist between the Greek Crown Prince
and Venizelos, he told the story of an
impending revolution. In which the Crown
Prince was to march upon the Imperial
Palace capture and dethrone the King,
make himself King, with Venizelos as
Premier. and throw the Greek army in
with the Entente. There wasn't a reason
in the world why this shouldn't have hap
pened, except that 1t couldn't have hap
pened. But II made one pro-Ally happy
for two days-and he never printed the
story
In another vein was the story of
French bombardment OF Nuremberg two
days before war vas actually declared.
Official reports have come. recently, from
German sources. denying that this hap
pened, and a German publicist has made
public apology to France. That was
pretty serious dream, because II was
made part of the Official reason for the
war. Less serious Is the notion OF a cers
tain widely known Philadelphian. even
now abroad, who reported emphatically
several months ago that the windows on
the Champs Elysees were already being
sold at a premium for watchers of the
grand triumphant parade of the Allies
at the end OF the war. Apparently, this
story has been heard In Germany because
a recent issue OF a humorous periodical
showed renter insisting that even IL
the parade didn't come OF, the Germans
might be watched In their entry over
the same ground.
Well. Hungary was supposed TO revolt
against Austria the very moment the war
was declared. and that was taken in all
sobriety as part of the weakness OF the
Central Empires The corresponding
weakness of Britain, with its Irish ques.
ton. was a little more realistic. But
we have still TO hear OF Albert being
King of France and Belgium. a
heroic bit of imaginative work which
was reported long ago. He was to have
been King as a sop to Belgium. and to
be without power as sop 10 French
democracy It was ideal, but II hasn't
happened. and there was no billion dollars
paid TO Germany for evaeuating Belgium.
and the boys weren't out of the trenches
BY Christmas.