The Washington herald., 1919-09-01

brought about and favored the new
era. What, they ask, has the much
Vaunted democracy. yea or even So
cialism, profited you? You are
growing poorer and poorer, you
have nothing to eat and in addition
must feed an army OF daylight
thieves: employees. housemaids.
workers no longer obey, streets and
houses are growing dirtier. the gov
ernment costs even more than be-
fore. your glorious flag is dishon-
ored and abolished. and tomorrow
the rabble which mimics a govern.
ment will take the last away from
you.
That is what is printed in a thou
sand newspapers. in a hundred thou
sand hendbills, which often are dis
tribUted by uniformed officers on
the public streets. And from print
ed word and speech ever there rings
the alluring cry: Come to US:
strengthen the shock power OF our
party. the only national party, Ger
man to the core; then we shall bring
back the old glory"
How. the stranger will ask. cen
this call have effect. when those
who call are the very ones most to
blame for Germany's misfortune?
Here the foot strikes the root OF the
evil This fault is still unknown to
the greatly overwhelming majority
OF the citizenry; and naturally the
fault is denied by those interested
and implicated with INSCRIPTIONS
violence
Defeat UnreaIi,ed.
We have not been beaten. con-
quored: we have only been Iamed
and forced to lay down our arms
by the cowardly lack Of courage OF
the Social Democrats. the slacker.,
bolshevists. and the country mis-
guided by Jews at home and
abroad"
This slogan has proved service
able: it could do so in nation
which for five years had heard only
OF victory and advance. of the
bleeding to death of the enemy,
which a hundred times hung out
the flags. and which was spared the
horrors of invasion and from which
until today all reports of defeat.
retreat. loss OF ships and sub
marines was concealed.
Even out of the mouths OF radi-
cal workers one still often hears.
We've really never been beaten"
And because this slogan proved
serviceable its proclamation became
louder month after month. In the
writings OF the highest officer un-
der Ludendorff one reads that the
German army in September. 1918,
was only the length OF nose"
from victory. The returning troops
received not alone the thanks ow-
ing them for their colossal per-
formance of endurance, but were
hailed as triumphant conquerors
Germans Strut.
Tho phrase about the "unLcsten
army" grew rigid and became A na-
tional dogma Of faith. Many n gem
eral may strut as If he had conquered
the earth. Old Field Marshal Hin
denburE. who a'f-r all. at Tannen-
berg himself merely with firm nerves
assured the execution of the Luden-
dorfflan plans and under whose firm
name the war was so criininally.
cruelty lost. experienced trlumphaI en-
tries. receptions, gifts of honor as
Joffre and Foch. Douglas Haig and
PershinG had not to record, and he
scatters promulgations and admoni-
tions. reminiscent of the epoch and
~ - iNiAiAA Va NlAt SOllAutlblS Vi Allt
Persians.
In all secrecy and stiffness the
legend has grown complete:
I'm the war forced upon us we have
been victorious over a world in arms;
we could never be beaten with the
sword, but through treachery at home
we were forced to offer an armistice.
which the enemy's treacherous breach
OF his word forged into the shame OF
this peace. The chiefs OF the 'ac-
cursed republic signed It because
honor and fatherland are empty
shadows to them, and because, too
late, they recognized that the revolu-
tion had hurled us from the pinnacle
of justified pride into impotence and
chaos. So long as the Kaiser throned
amid the circle of his paladins, his
Incompatible army leaders, everything
was good, great, beautiful. Since the
mutineers, fertiliZed with Russian
gold. tore the power from him by the
grace of God. everything is bad, petty.
detestsb ble."
Every one of these sentences is a
lie. The army leadership, not home.
lost the war. The wretchedly led and
fed army, which for years had hated
Its own officers more grlmly than the
enemy. was demoralized long before
anybody could figure on revolution.
The same militaristic delusion that
wanted the Vienna ultimatum. and
which forced through the declaration
of war on Russia and France. and the
break into Belgium, and which eN-
torted from incompetent governors the
decision in favor OF the ruthless sub
marine war, is likewise responsible for
all mistakes and sins that followed.
The generals, elevated by hero wor-
ship to the rank of gods. waged the
war in the belief that las Marshal
Hindenburg wrote even in September.
lslO in view of our military position
compensations (material and morsD
never could come into consideration.
They introduced the Bolsheviks in
to Russia, enforced the incredibly fool
ish, untenable treaties of Brest-
Litovsk and Bucharest, with all means
of deception swept the nation into a
mad whirl of victory, characterized
Belgium's neutrality as "a phantom
with which in practice one cannot
reckon" prevented every word sin
cereiy assuring the restoration Of this