The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1917-09-15
Deeds, Not Words,
Will Prove the Reality
of German Reforms

Impudence reached its climax, when
the kaiser's socialist" tool, Scheide-
mann, gave out a statement which prac-
ticaIly demanded that the allies lay down
their arms on the promise that the DEM
ocratic forces Of Germany after the war
will clip the claws of kaiserism.
The best reason why the allies VIII
do no such thing is Scheidemann himself,
and creatures Of his sort. who have bulk
ed so large in what has passed for Ger
man democracy.
On his own showing Scheidemann IS
either a poltroon or a crook-perhaps
both.
Before the war he and his fellow jab-
berers talked much Of democracy and m
ternationalism, but they always ducked
for cover when the miltarsts ratified
their sabers.
After the war began, they crawled on
their hands and knees TO the foot OF the
throne to lick the kaiser's boots
They applauded the ruin Of Belgium
and practically every act Of frightfli-
ness.
They echoed the boasts Of German
efficiency" and kultur.
In the Reichstag they voted the money
to pay the assasins of Belgium and
northern France.
Later on, when the militaristic game
had reached its losing stage and peace
was necessary, it was Scheidemann and
his crowd of sleek, well fed socialists
the counterparts of our own fat Ber-
gers and unctious Hillquits-who were
employed to spread the nets of the Stock
holm conference and the kindred peace
traps, all fashioned in the workshops OF
Germany or her neutral tools, Holland,
Sweden, or Denmark.
e1fD the REAL socialists OF Germany,
the small remnant of real democracy re-
manning in the country, Scheidemann and
his clique are kaiser socialists, and
have been denounced as such to the en-
tire world by Haase, Ledebour and Lleb-
knecht.
If German democracy Is to be achieved
either during or after the war it will have
to be achieved by other hands than the
fatted paws of Scheidemann and his kind.
If German democracy depends on such
people, it's cause is indeed desperate.
Never before the war did their opposition
to autocracy amount to more than windy
harangues in the powerless debating So
ciety called the Reichstag.
After the war began it never amounted
TO more than feeble squeak of protest
ut some particularly revolving phase Of
frightfulness, and whenever the kaiser
called them to the task they obediently
undertook the work of trying to get a
German peace by hoodwinking the lib
eral forces of the allied world.
Can anyone imagine German democ-
racy led by such creatures as Scheide-
mann overthrowing kaiserism after war
which ends in a successful peace for the
kaiser7
No; if the German people want peace
they can get it by paying the price, which
Is the overthrow of autocracy.
But they must deliver the goods first
Their record requires payment in adj
vance. for they never showed that they
could rule themselves before the war, and
by allowing themselves to be ruled by ati.
tocracy and led into war they have cost
the world millions Of lives and billions OF
property, and heartbreak Unreasonable.
They proved unfaithful to the world
once-they cannot be trusted again until
they prove by DEEDS. not WORDS. that
they mean to rule themselves.