Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-11-12
WITHOUT TRACEl
So, Under the Terms Of Armistice, Passes the
Germany We Have known

imagination has vanished utterly for
ever. The old order and all its works
and everything by which it might be
remembered sink into the past, as the
Germans themselves used to say of
defenseless passenger ships, without
trace"
The Allies found themselves in the
strange position Of making war upon a
Government that vanished suddenly into
thin air at the moment of final account
ing. So they proceeded systematically
and relentlessly to wipe out every sign
and stain and vestige which that Govern
ment had left behind il upon the earth.
The work was completely done. Ger
many is turned back forty years and
given into the state which she knew
before the days of Bismarck, Wilhelm,
Neitzsche, Bernhard. the Krupps and
the Pan-Germaniacs and general devil
ment.
Germany is disarmed. Virtually all of
her war machinery aside from artillery,
all the stores and implements necessary
to warfare, are in France, Belgium,
Alsace and Lorraine. These are seized
under the terms imposed by Marshal
Foch. The air fleets are to be impounded.
The major part of the navy must be
and Lorraine unquestionably go to
France. In the provision by which the
fullest restitution must be made for dam
ages done in invaded territory there is
the promise Of retribution bitter and
long for the German people themselves,
who now must accept the weight of re-
sponsibility for their barbaric Govern
ment of yesterday.
BY the document Of armistice Germany
vanishes out of Africa, out of China, out
of Russia and out Of the adjacent States.
All that the half-mad Emperor accom-
plished by decades of laborious intrigue,
by infiltration, by costly villainous propa
ganda in the outer world, all that elabo-
rate machinery of Germanization that at
once frightened and amused the rest of
mankind, is obliterated at stroke.
Germany is to be invaded. She must
give over a thirty-mie strip on the right
side of the Rhine to be administered by
Allied military forces pending the final
settlement. She must feed her con-
querors when they appear peacefully
upon her territory.
With that cutting sentence Marshal
Foch paused. There was no talk of
IL
tions. This unexpected restraint may be
explainable in various ways. Do the
Allies feel at this time that they might
be even less efficient as instruments of
vengeance than the German people them
selves? Or have they been aware of
the minor notes that sounded insistently
yesterday under the storms of song and
triumph when the voice of submerged
Germany made itself heard at last ?
While the victorious nations were giving
themselves up to jubilation the people
were marching in Berlin. They, too,
wept and sang and cheered. In the hour
of pain and defeat and loss they were
accaiming what a few brave voices
dInOHR ItltIl IllCll uaS VI ' IL
tory!'
What part of Germany it is that has
found victory in loss and defeat-as
great victories often have been found
before-we do not know. 1t remains to
be seen. On their knees men have seen
many a new light So the Allies may
have refrained because of the very laws
of humanity for which they fought. In
this analysis it is essential to remember
the utter folly of those who wished war
to annihilation. If Belgium and France
are ever to receive restitution for their
unforgettable wrongs there must be a
stable government in Germany and there
must be a people left free to work and
produce wealth wherewith to pay.
From this time on, whatever happens
| it is necessary to think of Germany in
other than the familiar terms. The old
! Germany is gone. The new one, what.
ever it may be like, will be felt as q
| factor of Importance in Europe-foi
good or i'll. Opinions may differ about
the degree of responsibility that should
be charged against the German people
individually President Wilson, in hi'
address to Congress yesterday, presented
another revelation of inspiring faitl
when he said in effect that civilization
must now help broken Germany to he
feet. The President doubtless had il
mind the driven and misguided millions
who compose the greater part of th'
German nation. 1t is apparent that tn
President does not regard Germany a
merely subjugated. He sees German,
free.
B. F. Kospoth, the correspondent il
Switzerland for this newspaper, wrot
last summer after his interview with Dl
Wilhelm Muehlon, the former Krup
director, that the German Governmen
would vanish in a fash. Muehlon,
friend Of the Kaiser before he rebelle
in adherence against the practices @