The Washington times., 1917-01-13
FOR THE GERMAN PEOPLE TO
DECIDE

The statement of the purposes for
which the entente powers are fight
ing in the present war is good deal
more than a presentation of the
terms on which they would be willing
to make peace. There is conscious
assumption Of authority in behalf Of
humanity, which the German people
may be unable to understand. The
measure of their understanding will
to a large degree determine the atti-
tude they will assume, the effect that
this document will have on the
course of the struggle and the condi-
tions of peace.
Before the war, Germany present
ed a curious sort Of national double
personality, which made. students Of
its people and institutions marvel.
Side by side, Germany built up So
cialistic political movement, and a
huge military machine. The same
people seemed equally inbued with
the humanitarian idealism of Marx
and the militaristic purposes of the
general staff. For many years the
Socialists had rather academically
protested against the burdens Of the
military establishment; but they al
ways bent the neck, for added
weights on the yoke. Their social
ism, it is true, was rather diluted;
most of the things for which they
were making their stand had been
granted in Anglo-Saxon countries so
long ago that they had become fun
damentals. When the war started,
nationalism submerged socialism.
Germany united for the tasb of the
moment, which was to win.
Yet it is very certain, if the Ger
man people shall be privileged to
read and frankly to discuss the peace
proposals of the entente, that those
proposals will cause many German
mind to revert to the discussions of
before-the-war. There will be a
familiar. sound in the ringing insist
.ence on the rights of humanity, the
guarantee Of future peace, the privi-
lege Of peoples to live their own lives
in security. The German nation, as
a whole, was never a follower of Pan
German megalomaniac leadership.
Pan-Germanism is what set Ger
many crazy; but it affected only a
comparatively small proportion of
the people; unfortunately, that pro-
portion which was postured to give
direction to the national develop
ment. It looked like a rather harm
less mania; its utter lack of logic or
of specific program made it appear
a bit silly, like the patriotism of the
American who was wont to proclaim
he is not so much in the proclaim
ing business, nowadays-that we
could lick creation.
The German people will at length
decide Gennany's attitude toward
peace, which must be largely deter
mined by their underlying sentiment
for the humanitarian program that
inspired their socialistic movement.
It may we'll enough be believed that
the war has not dislodged from their
national mind all thought of the
things that engrossed them prior to
July, 1914. The German people will
be the most effective allies of the
entente, in forcing conditions of a
permanent peace and a stable Euro
pean system, if at the crisis they
shall cast their weight in the scale
for a just and possible settlement.
The war may last yet "a very long
time, if the German people remain
docile and complaisant. 1t will end
whenever the German people decide
that it ought to end. The rulers of
Germany will insist on nothing less
than a crushing defeat or a conclu-
sive victory. If the people stand with
them to either finish, peace is yet
far away. There are signs that the
people begin to understand the view
point of the wider humanity.