The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-02-12

W WdIlII dlIu 1lSAlG IAAO "uI w OOA
winter they have experienced 1
Victories no longer arouse any gen.
uine enthusiasm among these people,
who have celebrated too many vaunt-
ed successes in the field, only to find
themselves more destitute and hope
less as a consequence.
The promised offensive in the West
is the cause of nothing but apprehen-
sion, the relatives of the soldiers open
ly prophesying another "blood-batn
of Verdun.'
Faith in the submarine campaign
has given way to loudly expressed
fears of the ultimate consequences OF
frightfulness at sea upon Germany's
economic relations with the outside
world.
More important still, the German
public has at last realized that the
entry of America into the war is no
mere bluff, as they have so often
been assured.
The fact that millions of American
soldiers will be poured into the war
zone before the summer has reached
its prime is generally recognized, and
misgivings have turned to a profound
pesSimiSm.
Wave of Crime
Self-restraint and respect for the
law have given way under the strain,
and crimes against property have in
creased abnormally. Many young wo-
men have figured in the courts charg-
ed with forgery, ENFORCEMENT, and
e;,, of on6 all To ad-
vance the same plea.
Money will still buy necessities and
luxuries in Germany, though the
prices are infinitely higher. These girl
thieves all declare they stole to buy
food for themselves and dependents.
One girl who had paid SIS for
ham and $4,000 for goose, to fur
nish a dinner with other accessories
at proportionate prices was sentenced
to twelve months imprisonment. Her
case was so common that it escaped
comment in the German press.
Political Chaos
The downfall of Hertling and Kuhl-
man, like that of HollWeg.
represents the failure of the kaiser's
attempts to adjust this popular dis
content and Decentralization to the
aims and objects of the War party.
The fall of Michaelis represented
the failure of an attempt to ignore the
collapse of the fighting spirit in CT
william Germany.
All the portents point to another
attempt to ignore the spirit of the
people, and the insisten cry of Ger
many's Allies for peace. But popular
feeling flows much more strongly
than at the time of the last reaction,
and the experiment may prove a haz-
ardous one.
The Crown Prince returned to Ber-
lin the other day to accomplish. the
fall of Hertling, the Chancellor, just as
he had previously acted as the open
instrument in the down fall of Beth
mann Hollweg. The great crisis of the
war finds Germany in the throes of
a political convulsion.
With Hertling, it is extremely like
ly that Kuhlmann will also be cast
from office, and that the old breach
between the German and the Aus
TRAN Emperor will be re-opened.
The reconstruction of the Ministry
has again been brought about by the
military party, backed by the whole
strength of pan-Germanism, and the
money power of the great munition
kings.
Willy Bolshevik
Hertling, no less than Kuhlmann,
allowed himself to be misled by the
apparent simplicity of Trotsky and
his Bolshevik coadjutors, and the pair
found themselves in a cleft-stick.
On the one side the German Social
lists called upon the two Ministers to
live up to their professions; on the
other side Kuhl7nann's military col
leagues at the peace table insisted
on the prosecution of Germany's mill
tary aims.
Encouraged by Austria, and espec-
tally Count Czernin, Kuhlmann per-
severed in his scheme for extending
sideration of general European
peace.
Ludendorff, following the example
of General Stein, the Prussian Wal
Minister in the Bethmann crisis;
threatened his resignation, and
brought Baron Won Kuhlmann up with
| a round turn.
Nations Dismay
1t has been impossible to concea
from the German people the grave
danger of the peace negotiations with
Russia proving futile. No attempt ha:
yet been made to describe the disma1
of the masses at the alternative
continuation of war on all sides.
The hopes aroused were more san.
guine than those excited by the Kais
er's peace "offer" of a year before
In that case the enemy countries were
saddled with the odium due for thu
continuation of the war, but for tn,
!almost inevitable breach with Rus
STA the masses openly blame the Wa
Party.
| "A great popular outcry was only re
pressed by wholesale arrests of loca
Socialist leaders, with whom the pris
ons of the big cities and industrial
centres are crowded. These measures
as usual. were accompanied by a Ger