Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-04-23


his outspoken opinions to what
length the spirit of unrest has gone
beyond the Rhine. Among other
things DR.. Dernburg said:
It is against the foe within as
the foe without that we must
fight. The whole power of the
Fatherland party is in the hands
of reactionary despots, the very
men who uphold despotic govern
ment, unequal suffrage and class
privilege.
This party has developed into a
powerful weapon against pro-
gress. with the press of the land
owners and the great interests as
it's organ. Witness the saying of
the notorious Herr Won Olden-
urg-Janushau-"If we get equal
suffrage in Prussia. then we have
lost the war"
We demand more liberty. If in
ternational trade is not re-estab-
lished, we shall have hunger
peace, for you can take away ter
ritory from a state. but you can't
compel it to exchange goods with
us. A dictated peace, according
to the Fatherland model, would
make the entente alliance perma-
nent. Then the whole world would
stand in arms against us ana we
should have to meet the expense
of ever-increasing armaments in
Volving annually some 10000 mill
lion marks. 1t would not then
take two years, as in this war
for England and America TO nave
an army ready. Even now our ar
service is costing us more than
our entire army did in peace time.
A war-indemnity is not TO De
thought of. Let US put 1t out OF
our heads.
Evidently, the ruling party was
forced to make its supreme EFFORT
this spring as much in fear of the
growing strength of the enemy be-
hind as he unquestionably was, and
is, of the increasing power OF the
enemy in front. These opponents
of the Kaiser in Germany are just
as much our allies as the French
They fight as we do for democracy.
But they will not be powerful
enough to make their weight felt
effectively in Berlin until we are able
by superior strength in France to
make the case of the Kaiser hopeless
on the field of war. Perhaps then
we shall be able to treat with these
Germans for the
freedom of Germany rather than sit
at a peace table at which the mill
itary party of Germany continues
10 have some voice. Let us hope so.
That the revolutionary spirit in
Germany is not dead but that it
has been reawakened, IL in fact it
has ever slept. by the failure of
to make good his prom
se to be in Paris April 1, is shown
by recent editorial in the Berlin
Kilfe, which contains these striking
Despite all the lessons that the
war has taught us, we have not
well proved by the discussions in
the Prussian Diet. We still have
n House of Lords, or rather, of
clans struggle for their existence
one against the other. and this
primitive turmoil we dignity with
the term parliamentarism;
The great majority of the Ger
man people do not desire revolu-
tion If it can be avoided by timely
measures. 1t would be fatal,
however, to believe that the revo-
lutionary wave from the east can
be stopped either by the police,
the censor, or the pressure OF tne
is beginning to bubble over there
is no means of stilling 1t except
by quenching the fires which are
the sources of its agitation, and
they can not be .quenched by
Observation-Disclosures which would
only add to their fuel until the
whole system is ablaze.
Even the Berlin Vorwarts. which
in recent months has shown lean
ngs away from its former out-and-
out Socialism, warns against at
tempts to make strong German
peace" in an editorial written in
the midst of the German advance,
saying:
While the fighting at present is
inclining in Germany's favor. none
the less after this fight we shall
neither be in a position nor shall
we have the moral right to treat
the enemly on the princlple OIL
"hands on the throat and knees on
The necessity for a political un-
derstanding lies behind even the
greatest military decision. Such
UNDERSTANDINGS WIN
be all the easier for us once the
poisoned cloud of Pan-German
war-lies has disappeared. After
this war the German people can
only exist if they live as peace
full, self-governing nation.
Utterances such as these provide
reading of a most encouraging ma
ture. but we must not be led by
them to the conclusion that peace
may be had by other than force of
arms. Rather, it should spur us on to
greater efforts than ever, in the hope
that once we begin to push the Ger
mans back out of France, as we
shall do when the American tide of
battle begins to roll high along the
western front, the break will come
within Germany and a much longer,
bloodier war be thus averted. 1t
would be a happy day, indeed, when
that occurred, for it would mean the
salvation of Germany as well as
permanent peace for the world. and
such an end of the war is by no
means beyond the pale of possibility.
Washington is now seeing the light.
Goethals and Schwab and other great
are being called to the
colors. 1t is regrettable that they
were not summoned earlier to the
places where practical and proved eff