New Britain herald., 1918-02-09
Henry CZeu's
Weekly Letter
Especial to the Herald.)

blow of the war has been received by
the United States in the sinking of
the Tuscania and the loss Of many
American soldiers. This was the first
positive reminder Of what war is; 1t
will carry sorrow to many homes; and
1t will immensely strengthen the
nation in it's determinatio ton to crush
such ruthless nilitarism. America
has been the least bitter of all Of
Germany's enemies, and might have
been ustful to Germany at the peace
table; but Germany's ruthlessness has
fool1shly destroyed any spirit of con-
sheraton that once might have been
of advantage to her, and has accom-
plished nothing but solidifying the
bonds between us and our Allies and
confirming the resolution for victory.
Aside from this event there has
been subsistence of peace rumors
this week and a consequent decline of
optimism. That distress and inter
nal discomfort are widespread in
Germany, Fastening the termination
of the war, is we'll known over here;
but it is unwise to underrate the en-
durance Of Germany's military ma
chine, which has a firm grip upon the
home situation and will suppress all
uprisings with relentless hand.
What with an unbroken military gov
eminent on the one hand, and the
characteristic ready submission of the
German people to authority and
system at all times, the Immediate
outlook for any internal uprising that
would quickly terminate the war, is
not overencouraging 1t is true that
political dissensions in Germany are
growing very rapidly, and that con-
ditions in Russia and Austria are
highly confusing; but it must be re-
membered that in Germany the
people have no means of expressing
their will, such as exists in the
United States, France or England.
For all practical purposes the political
power Of Germany is entirely in the
hands of the emperor and his military
advisers, who have nothing to gain
by peace, unless on their own terms,
which as every nation but Germany
knows are impossible. The war must,
therefore, be one of exhaustion or at
triton; victory coming only to the
side which can do the greatest kill
ing. Such is the horrible, yet per-
fectIy logical, outcome of the crime
of nilitarisn1.
Initiative of all kinds is almost en-
tirely concentrated at Washington
whittier it has drifted from nearly all
the great industrial and financial
centers. Whether it is a question of
fuel food, clothing, transp ortation, fl
nance or manufacture, all these great
divisions of business endeavor have
fallen more or less completely under
the spell of Government control; and
the process is still going on. At first
our business leaders were summoned
to Washington for advice; then they
volunteered for service; then for vari-
Gus reasons many returned, and final
ly the Administration assumed closer
and closer control over various indus
tries; until in some cases. notably in
transportation, it has gone about as
far as possible without actual Gov
eminent ownership; and in the case
of ships in foreign trade ownership is
already an actual fact. OF course
these revolutionary steps were pro-
posed and accepted as purely war
measures, because the necessary con-
centration and cooperation on vast
and intensive scale could be accom-
plished in no other fashion. Such a
wholesale readjustment OF our bust
ness machinery at a time when indus
tries most affected by the war were
under intense pressure, meant a large
degree of confusion and demoraliza-
ton. The sweeping changes thus
made necessary seriously impaired the
morale of large industries in rank and
file and among the higher officials, Sc
riously delaying production and ma
tor oil "a
speeding up. Full efficiency, therefore,
has too often been more a matter Of
talk than accomplishment, and the
Administration has had to face some
hostile criticism, which had the de-
sired effect Of stimulating effort and
it is to be hoped will result in elimin-
alton of any inefficiency. AS a matter
of justice it must be said: that the
Administration has on it's hands q
herculean job; that it's short comings,
if any, were no worse than might have
been expected; that after all great
things had been accomplished, and
that when the new administrators
have become accustomed to the new
order of things the working of the
Government and the industries under
its control would become more salts
factory.
One of the most important propos-
ais from Washington is for the crea~
ton of a $500, 100000 financial insti-
tuition to aid and finance the essen
tial war industries and regulate new
security issues. A bill for this pur-
pose is now before Congress, and its
propriety will no doubt be thoroughly
discussed. Some time ago it was pro-
posed that a sub committee of Fed
eral Reserve\ Board aided by an ad-
visory committee of banks and bank
ers, should supervise all new issues
and this method was favorably re-
ceived; similar plan in Great Brit
ain having worked very satisfactorily.
This would seem to be a more desr-
able scheme than the control Of such