New-York tribune., 1918-06-16

Ao femarkaDle III this war how
often the tension of the nerves
-A Of large part of the German
public produces haIlucinations
In Berlin people have been saying quits
openly to one another everywhere, In
the Reichstag they say our losses were
enormous. In the Reichstag they say
the offensive in the West has stuck. Tn
the Reichstag they say the enemy is
much stronger than the High Command
had assumed at the beginning Of the Of
fensive. In the Reichstag they say we
had no horses left, and therefore could
not continue the offensive. In the Reichs-
tag they say the whole country round
Ypres is a great lake and therefore i'm
passable. TN the Reichstag they say
all the country between Amiens and
Paris is mined and would be blown up.
There is great deal more which is said
to have been said lin the Reichstag' and
is being believed. People have begun to
lose their nerve. One asks whyI How
is this? One puzzles ones head, but
cannot understand it. The War Minis
ter, in answer to question in the Reichs-
tag, spoke to this effect: of course
heavy losses are unavoidable in such a
battle. They were very heavy at one
part Of the front; in many regiments
two-thirds of the company commanders
have fallen The story is now told of
certain Deputy that he said to his elect
ors in northeast German town with ref
erence to this: The War Minister has
publicly stated that our losses are SO
heavy that the offensive must be aban-
doned,' This is how they talk of the
Reichstag in Berlin.
81 do not for a moment doubt that the
fearless and upright Deputies will indig-
nantly relegate all these stories to the
realm of fable. The Reichstag was al
ways proud, and has a strong backbone
and claims that fear has never entered
its marrow. 1t always acted from the
noblest motives only. No one doubts
this. How comes it, however, that when
ever lull takes place in the operations
it is always said, on the authority of
Deputies, that they have spread the most
incredible rumors? Something must be
wrong somewhere. Let these gentlemen
themselves think what a responsibility
they have to the Fatherland and the
morals of the whole people--they whose
first duty it is to maintain it. Criticism
is very easy. It is more difficult to take
up fearless attitude for improvements
ones self. Facts always carry conviction.
The events which show the facts have
happened. Is the capture of Mont Kem-
mel not fact? Is our offensive checked!
Did the English and French in Paris
prophesy correctly when they said that
the Flanders front was not iniexible,
that the English were unbeaten and
everything was in the best order!
think we have no reason to hang our
heads and look gloomily on the future.
1t is time to admit little confidence
into our hearts once more We cannot
hold out with poor courage. If man
cannot set his teeth firmly, Jet him at
least keep his mouth shut and not weak
en- the will of others by his pusilanimous
talk. Now is no time for whining. A
quaking heart is half lost. He who does
not believe in good issue and victory
will not find favor with the Goddess OF
Victory. Does any one think that men
who could capture the formidable posi-
ton on Mont KENNEL cannot achieve
even greater things?
People should not allow themselves to
be frightened by old wives tales. Is
there anything that the German soldier
cannot do? The man in the steel helmet
can do everything; there is no doubt Of
this. He has proved himself superior to
the enemy wherever he has met him, and
has overthrown worlds. We shall see
even greater things done by cur
countrymen out there. If any
one can get away from the present and
think of the future Of our Fatherland, he
must say to himself that all these events
are links in one great chain. Hinden-
burg and Ludendorff are forging ID link
by link; the one fits into the other until
the chain lies completed and unbreak~
able and the work is finished. Certainly
this work costs blood-noble, precious
German blood, the blood Of the best sons
Of the Fatherland. But the blood has
not flowed in vain. It can never havs
flowed in vain. 1t is creating the basis
upon which we shall build. Heroic cour-
age and daring are the moral irnponders-