Evening star., 1918-08-10
WHEN SCALES. FALL FROM EYES
GERMANS WILL REND DECEIVERS

cent of the German foreign trade was
with Anglo-Saxon nations. must have
been at a loss to understand what was
meant by the freedom of the seas
which Germany was SO anxious to se-
cure. -
But whether they saw through their
| governments pretenses or not, practi-
cally every German in the country
went wen. into the war With @ VIII detsrs nd
establish. the. national principle of
| Deutschland uber allesp'
| 1t was confidently expected by all
that the war would be over within
ninety days at the outside. and there
i program had been carried out to a
successful conclusion the position OF
the Hohenzollerns would have been
secure for many generations to come.
Victory would have SO reinforced the
foundations of the empire that IT
cal agitators. I believe. for hundreds
| of years. Democracy would be
| crushed the world over and all that
has been accomplished in the past
1000 years would go for naught.
| But the German plan did not sue
deed. 1t went wrong right from the
start. Belgium proved an unexpected
obstacle. the English came in. Paris
refused to fall, the French held their
own. the Russian hordes proved a
real menace. and after the great, lum-
bering German machine had travelled
| a certain distance on it's original i'm
petus. it was brought to an unfore-
| seen halt. 1t was very awkward for
| different from what the people had
been promised, and it wouldn't do to
| shake their confidence.
To keep the facts from the public,
the press was put under rigorous su-
! pervision, and none OF the reverses
i n q ovfo - nn a
\ of the political mistakes which they
| were constantly making. none of the
| unforeseen difficulties which were de-
l veloptng, was ever published until
the people had been gradually and
skillfully prepared to receive the bad
| news. while general Information con-
cerning some Of the misfortunes was
suppressed entirely.
Second Year Of War.
In this way the second year Of the
| war found the German people with
1 their faith in their leaders compara-
lively unshaken. Disasters had been
SO skillfully concealed or minimized
| and victories had been so widely cir
| were. IL possible. more solidly behind
| the war and keener for it's vigorous
| prosecution in 1916 than they were
| when it started two years before.
/ oH May uay, 1910. the SOcldllSt l>leD-
| knecht addressed crowd in the Pots
damer Platz and his diatribes against
! the kaiser were so distasteful even to
his own supporters that they unani-
| mously turned against him when he
| was arrested. The criticism was made
| that as he was member of the
reichstag It was undignified for him
| to speak openly against the govern
ment from a barrel on the public
| square, and many socialists with
whom I afterward talked said his
| arrest served him right
| Then Scheidman became the most
conspicuous socialist in the public
eye, but he has developed into a most
| conservative advocate of socialistic
! principles, and. indeed. the whole
| party has been torn to pieces by dis
sensions and internal differences. The
| socialists were never less of a prob
lem to the government than during
| the early years of the war.
When. however. the food shortage
began to grow to serious proportions
and the people were put on such
hunger and the ravages Of disease
hunger and the ravages of diseast
became a constant reminder of the
war and its consequences. a spirit Of
seemed to care very much that the
war which was to be over by Christ
mas. 1914. was still very far from
over by Christmas. 1915, SO long al
every one had plenty to eat and the
triumphant. But when the ordinary
mode of life was being constantly
changed by one military restriction
after another and the pinch of hum
ger and deprivation began to be felt
throughout the empire. then the peo-
pie began to ask questions.
Germany Becomes Curious.
! why haven't the U-boats subjugat-
! ed the English fleet and opened the
German ports, and together with the
, Zeppelins brought England to her
knees? why does the war. which
was to be over in three months, now
/, enter its third year? Why are we
territory IL our only object is to de-
fend our borders? Why are we suffer-.
, ing for lack Of food and clothing, IL
we are winning in the field?
By the time America came into the
war. in April. 1917, conditions had
standpoint and the murmuring of the
people was becoming more pronounc-
ed. People were now not only ask
ing questions: they were beginning
to insist upon answers. Strikes were
breaking out all over the country.
Robbery and bribery were never so
rampant in the history of the nation.
The birth rate had declined to an
alarming rate and the death rate
among civilians was rapidly climb
ing.
Poor food and insufficient nourish-
ment were beginning to make them
selves felt and seen. The nation was
being slowly but surely starved to
death and the people were beginning
to realize it Ersatz-substitute-
physical requirements. They might
deceive the eye but they couldn't de-
ceive the blood.
The suffering that the people had
to endure began to undermine their
faith in their rulers. I heard muir
street cars. and patients who came
into my Office were not hesitant IN
expressing themselves freely about
the outlook.
In October. 1917. through the infiu-
ence of q prominent German officer.
Warnemunde, from which port she
was to sail for Copenhagen.
On the way back to Berlin all the
available seats in the first and second
class compartments were taken and
had to occupy a third-class compart-
ment in the train. Although this was
somewhat less comfortable. was
rather glad of the experience because
it enabled me to overhear an extreme
the seven or eight passengers who
shared the compartment with me.
They were of the common people
the backbone Of the empire-and their
point of view was well worth consid-
GRAFTON.
Discomfort Given Voice.
As soon as L'realized the drift Of
their remarks I sank down in my cor
ner seat and pretended to be asleep
for fear they would be more guarded
| in their utterances II they realized or
bof forefOpar 1ietap.