Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1917-12-07
GERMANY REALLY
MUCH WORSE OFF
,staralized American Tells Inside
Facts He Learned Before Escap-
Ing Over Into Switzerland.

,brouqboat the war, worked In Ger
nan seaport cities. passing for or be-
Inc considered a German subject, min
Ling not only with the common peo-
Be but having occasional access to
fbe councils OF the high. /
In DIS opinion Germany is suffering
,-rts,r now aha dissatisfaction and !
worse reign in certain strata of her
.,my and navy. Recent mutinous up
.sirra have had to be sternly re-
,-essrI and ths mutineers shot. |
rbopgarirl Germany, he thinks, com
rratHr men Of the Balm type, Is des-
1prsnw anxious for peace and Sc
l-c1v lHzious TO end The war before
America has been utterly alienated.
This man left Germany early in
October. because he had reason TO
fear that be- was going to be i'm
presspI for military service. The
garuan government had refused to
rpcoqnIze the validity OF his Ameri-
Gan naturalization since he failed to
rompiv with the law existing In 1913
and died NOT seek the consent Of the
German government to his step To
ral ont De had 10 induce the Spanish
embassy tu bring pressure to bear on
tbe German government On reach
inc Switzerland one of his first steps
was t8 sock the Associated Press corr
frgp1nIgut, 90 whom he FIRST proved
satisfactorily hits American citizenship
then volunteered such information as
ro possessed about Germany as the
Fgt. nr patriotic American citizen.
STRANGELY enough. at the very moment
En was telling his story with details
about nutuies iu the German navy
the German minister Of marine, Ad-
m.8i Won Capelle. was announcing
the naval mutinies to the reichstag.
"rHa economic situation IN Ger
many Dee says lis far worse thar
anyone on the outside realizes, is. 81
critical that I for onf look for break
a collapse next spring or late IN thu
winter Nor are the good crops tina
ore hears boasts about every once il
no often going to change the situation
materially
throughout the German peopl
there 81 what amounts to a haJret
Ok America, and this hatred has beel
carefully concentrated on Presiden
Wls1n because IL IS easier TO hate
man than a nation, especially natio
thst is ihe home Of pretty nearly ey
rv0ne's relative.
'Hut the big men Of Germany, tn
men vino have TO look ahead an
guide The empire after the war, do nc
hate America They feel too keenl
jhat they need America, and the
would like to stem the tide Of hat
before IL becomes mutual and tn
United states are alienated, perhaE
for all time.
They know that after the war thel
is ONLY one country in the worl
whore they can get the money the
shall need, America and they are wol
wing a plenty nowadays. They an
an Germany. want increasingly
peace that shall specify. among oth'
Kings. the right to purchase raw
we'll as finished materials anyWhe
10 the world, on the same terms
any other nation
Every indication points TO pro
able confiscation of property and T
nudistion Of perhaps half the W
loan totals after the war. Even Z
percentage of property to be conf
Gated rs being talked Of, and 1t sect
4 probable that the government W
take 20 per cent of everything.
"On the other hand it seems pro
able from all ! hear that an ev
half of all outstanding war loans "
he nuIlded The seventh will suf
exactly as The first and the first
the seventh Fifty per cent will
repaid and the other so per cent "
either he cancelled or will merely cS
tlnue to pay iuterest-will be a 81
of perpetual investment the CAPT
for which cannot be realized,
As surely as anything can be .
d5cted there will be in the cent
powers a series Of laws forbidd
emigration. And in anticipation
them countless Germans today
talking about ways and means OF G
ting away after the war South
North America, and peculiarly eno'
New Zealand and Australia, are
ravens to which they speak OF flee
The first German ship that LANDS
America after hostilities will leave
per cent Of its crew behind,
"It is becoming clearer and clea
to- Germans every day that all the
that has gone the rounds about
central Europe" after the model
Professor Naumann and others
d be out Of the question.
l Contrary to the belief that Sc
TO be almost universal outside OF
many 1 really believe that pant
mauism is on the decrease rather
1 the increase among the masses OF
n people. and this despite the mere;
IL noise about it everywhere in Germ
i and the intensive way in which
/ being encouraged The reason
this is that more and more the
maa people are coming to realize
catastrophe It will be for them
i the war is over If they are hate
all the world Pan-Germanism,
are coming 10 feel, Is likely to
II ttnsifv the feeling against them,
thereby make their economic 81
ale in the future more difficult,
He then touched briefly on Au
German relations and cauti
against any hope that Austria
II IAN away from her big ally, FOL
explained. she is too dependent 4
gially and miitarily, to be apl
II thake loose. much as she might
10 do so. The German military
thorities see to it that German
diers are intermingled with Aus
troops not only to spur them 9
lighting but also to prevent
lquitting.