The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1918-12-13
GERMAN SPIRIT
IS NOT CHANGED
No Less Inscriptions Be-
cause Defeated in
Military Way =
NO REGRET FOR
COLOSSAL CRIMES
AT Least They Have Given No Sign of
it, Says Writer in New York Times
Guardians of Civilization Must Use
Iron Heel.

Guardians of Civilization Must Use
Iron Heel.
Germany is crushed for the time be- |
ing as a military power; we have de-
feated her nefarious scheme of world
conquest, but if we think we have
| changed her spirit or made her humble
and repentant-any less sclf-seeking,
or cruel, or INSCRIPTIONS, or treacher
Gus, or ambitious-wc deceive our
selves. Not one sign have her people
| or her rulers yet given that they re-
greet their colossal crimes. There are
nearly or quite seventy million people
there yet with vast resources of land
and money and economic power IN
| tfenehed in manufacturers, III mining, in
trade in agriculture, and in all man
/ ner of industries, cherishing their
kultnr, invoking their tribal gods, and
! nursing theig wrath toward the nations
I that defeated their schemes. II is
/ highly probable that on the surface
! they are now deliberately working up
a state Of apparent chaos and disorgan-
ization, hoping by the disappearance
of any responsible government and by
the setting up OF n number of small
independent states to escape the pay
ment of the huge war ndemnities
which they know are due and will be
cxacted.
The world is waiting for some sign
of German contrition MOI one au.
thoritative voice has vet renowned or
rcpudiated their rohbcr schemes. At the
beginning of the war nearly hundred
of their leading minds-phvsician di-
vines, authors, college professors
signed a paper indorsine the course of
! their Emperor in bringing on the war.
Later, in 1916, over thirteen hundred,
comprising the leading men of all
classes, put their names to q petition
10 their Chancellor setting forth their
demands upon their enemies for lands
and money; declaring that France
must be impoverished; that Belgium
must he Ietancd; the Channel ports
occupied; the African colonies greatly
enlarged, and 80 ON. Let these same
men now come forth and sign petit
ton begging forgiveness and ac
knowledgug their Sins. We want to
be convinced that they have met with
4 change of heart. At about the same
time the German business men, en-
bracing the League Of AgrieulturistS,
the German Peasant league, the West
phaliaH Peasant society. the Central
Association of German lnduStrialsts
the Lcague of Industrialists, and the
German Middle Glass association. took
action together in Il petition 10 the
imperial chancellor setting forth the
rich harvest of territory, mines, (iron
and coal.) colonies. harbors, coast
lines, and SO on, which the war must
yield Germany. Germany must hest
tate at nothing that would increase
her political maritime, and economic
power, and secure her against danger
Of pressure from outside nations. They
must not only seize French territory.
lut all ''the large and medium sized
properties must be placed in German
hands, and their owners driven out Z
France must receive and indemnify
the original owners In fact the cool
and matteroffact course mir with
which they enumerate the territories
adjacent to their own which they
must have in order that Germany NAV
play her role which the Teutonic God
has laid out for her is ono OF the most
stupendous pieces OF effrontery in all
history. They must extend their from
tiers east and west. and then add more
land to protect their exposed frontiers.
just where they would stop does not
appear.
1T is time there came a dav of humil-
ation aud prayer in the land Of the
Hun. Let tho people clotho themselves
IN sackcloth and ashes; let Enekcn be
heard; let ilacckei weep for invoking
destruction upon the land of Darwin to
whom he owed 50 much; let their
| clergy take back their bOastful and un-
christian utterances; let their editors
and lawyers acknowledge the existence
and binding force Of international law
let their generals renounce miiitariSm,
| and Won Tirpitz swear he is filled with
remorsc over his piratical subarinc
: warfare. Some such manifestation of
sorrow and repentance from her lead
ing men would become Germany at
this time.
Let Us waste no sytqpathy on the
lower and middle classes among the
German people; they were body and
! soul with their kaiser as long as he
'sN.f NAtihAAiS tut r-tlbiI, Niiill ht bG-
I gan to lose, they turned against him.
| Their instinct Of self-preservation
caused the revolt. They were badly
scared. Was there any protest as long
rs their armies were victorious! Had
they won the war and crushed and
impoverished France and England for
= hundred years. would they not have
poeketcd the spoils and glorifed their
kaiser and his henchmen?
Germany was one unit when the war
Logan; every voice, high and low, OF
people and autocracy was for it; there
Is division and discord now, because
the war was a failure, and instead OF
huge spoils TO divide, there are huge
bills to pay. The changed conditions
awaken all classes to a. sense of ter
rihle realities
Germany's ethical development has
Jagged far behind her intellectual /