The Washington times., 1916-07-21
GERMANY PREPARING TO PRE-
PARE


Germany was all ready for war;
she had been preparing q long time.
But Germany is not ready for
peace; she has not been thinking
much about II till very recently.
Just as the enemies Of Germany
had to prepare for war in tremen-
dous haste, so Germany must begin,
in time Of war, to prepare It's public
mind for peace. The country is torn
between factions; broadly, those
which are still certain that Germany
is going to make the hardest terms
that a conqueror could impose, and
who demand the last pound Of flesh;
and on the other hand those who re-
alize that the conqueror's terms
will not be imposed or enforced.
The other day IL was announced
that the German national commit
tee. which Is trying to organize a
public sentiment in favor Of more
reasonable peace terms than the ex-
tremist Prussian junkers are ready
to accept, would start a campaign
Of oratory to educate the people to
feasonableness. One of the curiously
Germanic details given was, that on
a given Sunday forty speakers. in
forty cities, would deliver uniform
address on the subject, setting forth
the moderate view. This means, Of
cc~Rsa, that an approved presenta-
tion OF nigh authority's view will
be given, with authoritative con-
sent. Police authorization and pro-
lection have been granted for the
meetings.
The extreme militarists are deter
mined that no peace must be made
that shall not include the German
ization Of large share of the terri
tory that has been conquered and is
now held by German arms. This is
especially insisted upon as to Ant
werp and a large part Of Belgium,
which Germany wants for the mani
fest reason that it would be Of vast
commercial and industrial value to
the empire. Likewise the industrial
section Of northern France is in
sisted upon; it must be held. partly
because 1t contains iron and coal
that Germany wants, partly because
to lop it off from France would re-
duce that country to a second rate
power and decrease the menace of
its enmity to German designs in
future.
For these very same reasons, the
enemies of Germany are determined
to fight the war to an end that will
make such terms absolutely impos-
sible. For Germany to get such
peace would mean that German mill
tarism must be accepted as sound.
ing the dominating note in all Euro
pean policy for another generation.
II would mean more German ag-
gression before many years. Once
consolidated into secure and profit
able control Of its new territories,
the same German megalomania that
made this war and demands such
peace, would begin preparing for the
next war and still greater conGuests.
The rulers in Germany know that
such terms are not possibly to be
had. They know that, on the con-
trary, there is grave danger that in
sistencc on so much may prolong the
war to the point Of German exhaus.
tion and decisive defeat. ..
Germany, thus exhausted and de-
featcd, while still possessed with the
idea that it was destined to make
the peace Of a conqueror, would be
II shocked and Mortified Germany. It
would turn to find a scapegoat; and
the natural one would be the gov
ernment that had made the war,
failed to win it, and accepted humili-
ating terms. There might be revo-
luton against the Hohenzollern dy-
nasty; there would very surely be a
characterization of the monarchy, if
the monarchy should survive.
It is apparent that the heads of
the German government realize this
danger. They are giving consent to
The propaganda for possible peace
terms, because they know that Ger
man public opinion must be prepared
foc the inevitable. They have kept
Germany in ignorance of the real
causes, objects, circumstances, de-
velopments, and outlook of the war
so long that it is going to be n
strenuous and difficult task to turn
thoughts into new channels, to make
the country recognize the facts that
leadership now begins to appreciate.
There has been no development,
from the wars beginning, that more
clearly pointed the certainty of some
kind of a revolution toward democ-
racy and away from absoiutism, in
Germany itself, than this one. There
will be a new Germany, dating from