The Washington times., 1918-04-20

every few weeks a prediction OF peace
ION the word OF high official or OF
"a great bankIE- who knows" Spreads
throughout the capital. Germans be-
lieve IT each time, and it's failure TO
eventuate never dims their faith in
the next peace rdmor. / assumed that
these predictions OF early peace were
set going by the German imperial gov
ernment.
But peace on what terms2 AnneKa-
tions? Indemnities? No one -pretends
to say. 1t Is the business OF the Ger
man imperial government to Gettle
that. The people have no voice. Or
Is II to be = peace based on terms
dictated by the enemy? II 30, what
specifically would the victorious allies
do TO a prostrate Germany? Split Sup
the empire into small states and thus
break German world power beyond
i the chance OF fits recovery? Rarely
did hear a German definitely express
that fear. While believing that some
horrible doom would overtake the en-
pire, the average German was unable
to figure to himself the precise nature
Of IT.
Believe Germany Can Last Long.
When quilted German soil in jan
uary. 1918. it was pretty generally
believed in Germany that II necessary
the German military forces could hold
out for a long. time. In the army
storehouses. so I heard, there was
food enough to last seven years.
Then, too, food would soon be arriv-
ing from Russia. But Germans of
my acquaintance recalled that the
huge quantities Of -four captured in
Roumania never found its way into
the stomachs of the German masses.
Peace, not the looting OF Russia, is
what, Germans count on as q relief
from semi-stArvaton. and at that
stage peace was Honly a few months
away" The great German drive In.
the west would bring II, a good many
Germans assured me, and advised my
keeping cool and waiting. and not be-
ing in such a great hurry to get home
1t Is q strange spectacle. this Of a
4 huge nation fighting desperately at
\ the command Of q government Il
/ hates, and for objects II cannot prop
erIy understand. and hoping against
! hope for, peace, and convinced that,
victorious or vanquiahed. Il will Buf-
4 fer. What Il win suffer as a nation
Il will compfehend, but what every
German viii suffer personally is in
at least one particular only too clear.
4 How often heard Germans say. AZ
ter the war we shall /be shut mp In
our own country. 40 more trips
abroad. No more froiics in Paris.
Even in neutral countries we are Bit
terly detested. This will continue. We
shall never outlive It"
Coming To America After War.
To be sure. Germans will be able
TO trot about all they like in the CEN
tral empires, but no German especial
ly wants to. and imagine how Ger
mans would be received in LondOni
Rome, or Paris! They begin to imag-
inc pretty vividly themselves, though
nov and then q German plans to off
set the stigma OF his nationality by
becoming an American Citizen How
Innocently a artless German said to
me, my dream IS to go 10 America
after the war and get naturaliZed.
Then can have an apartment in
Paris" As IL that would qualify the
French to tolerate him!
Curiously, the Germans still imag-
Inc that Americans will again de-
light to visit Germany after the war.
Hotelkeepers, shopkeepers, and
boarding housekeepers often say.
'It'a hard shedding at present, but
we shall make up for 1t when the
Americans get back"
VIII they, thought And will Amer
leans again be in haste to matricu-
late at German universities? The
mere mention Of a German univer-
sity makes Germans mourn. They
are not considering the institutions
future when they mourn: they are
considering the future OF innumerable
German boys who, instead OF COM
I g.
| It will take years for Germany TO
regain anything at all like the in
tellsctual standards prevalent before
the war. Germans know It.
These human, personal, intimate as
poets OF Germany's future impress
/ them tremendously. Germany will
not only be poor and perhaps op-
| pressed as never before; Germany
will be pent UP at home, and TO
shocking extent deprived OF kultur-
kultur, that is, IN its best sense. But
there is another thing bound to hap
pen-a thing Germans seem prone to
overlook. mean the Limitation OF
families. No one in Germany speaks
1 Of that Yet II IL destined to rank
among the most notable results OF this
war. Perhaps silence on that point
sometimes masks q very gloomy ap-
| prehension.
Never again VIII population In
| crease in Germany as II increased be
| tween 1871 and 1914. While war has
terribly oppressed German women. II
| has given them for the frst time in
| their lives a thrill OF Independence.
| They are doing mems work. From
one point OF view Il IL awful From
another point OF view Il Is maRnih-
| cent. After that experience they will
| be most unlikely to become again
| their husbands slaves and rear count.
! less children.
] In their vague, helpless efforts TO
| look ahead, the German masses may
we'll consider that. So may the rest
| OF US. The rise OF German might has |
been largely due to q tremendous
| growth in numbers. Victorious or
| vanquished, German might will not
| 60 on gaining at the old rate after
! the war. Once downed by the tri- |
/ umph OF democracy over armed dsa- |
4 potism. It will stay down.
THE END.
| CCOryriEht. 1915. by the Tribune Company.) |