The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-02-20

The measure of German defeat lies
-. tty~e@r . -, ,>s--S--s, ~ ~
western front, but In fhe liberation
or the subject najonalities of Austria,
Hungary and in the destruction of the
German dream to dominate the east
through the erstwhile German vassals
'he Hapshurgs. and the clique OF no.
bil'ty ana milItarists which surround
ed the dynasty. Austria Hungary was
iGermany's bridge to the east
Through her she hoped to reach Asia
and also permanently TO dominate
Russia A leading British publication.
lat the outbreak Of the war. declared
that the International position of Bo-
hemta at the close of the struggle
would be the test of victory or de-
feat The Czecho- Slovaks are indie
pendent today, and by that token the
associated civilized governments and
peoples have won H. decisive victory.
Yet good deal still remains TO be
done, and the German has not given
up hope OF saving much from the
wreck. Only the other day the press
/ carried a dispatch informing us that
1.-THE new German foreign secretary de-
clarcd Germany would not submit to
any aort of peace conditions the allies
| may seek to impose. 4 change of
government does not necessarily mean
z change OF heart, a change of mental
attitude or this we fail to see any
real evidence. The German revolu-
ton, SO called, occurred not because
the majority of Germans appreciate
+ that the original German aims were
| ubiquitous. immoral. IL not wholly bar
harous. but because the German gov
ernment was unsuccessful In achiev-
| ing these aims. In other words, be-
cause II failed to conquer. Most OF
J the men now in power IN Berlin be-
! longed to the group which In August,
I1s14, supported the Hohenzo1lerns
and the war lords of Berlin by vot-
| ing for the war budget. The Eberts,
the Scheidemanns. the Davids. the
Cunows, were quite vociferous In
claiming that the small nations had
! lost thor right to exist and that this
! is an age Of only large nations. They
! have not retracted; we see no signs OF
repentance. On the contrary, proof
| is adducible that the leopard has not
changed his spots.
/ The same is true of the eccom plices
OF Berlin in Vienna and Budapest.
. The Nacyars Of Hungary were as
niuLn responsible for the confiagra-
ton rs the other Hohenzoliern satel-
F., lites The present minister OF ma
| tiouai defense. Samuel Hazat. OF the
/ Budapest government. as long ago
as January, 1916, presented to the
/ then existing Magyar government
! memoraGdum which shows that the
criminal gang which for so long a
time terrorized Europe was well
aware thai tho conflict may develop
into q world war. and that IL vic
tory was To he achieved ii would
have to be accomplished by what was
called rapid offensive
Count karoiyn, VINO Is In the public
eye as one who opposed the war from
the very beginning. had knowledge OF
this HaZai memorandum. and went
over 10 the alleged opposition only
after y had dawned on him that COM
plete victory was impossible for the
central powers and that someone
must attemr' to beguile the entente
and the United States into belief
that not all Msgyars. not all Ger
mans, were in favor of The war.
Even now the Magy3rs are seeking
70 preserve their domination over the
Slovah3 and the ansylvanian Ruma-
mans They went so far AS to create
"A national army, into which they at
tempted 10 conscJipt Czecho-Siovaks.
otto Bauer, The foreign secretary OF
The vienna government, figures very
much in the press with claims Of self
de examination fer the Austrian Ger
! mans. But II Is only natural that
bic gentleman has failed to inform
the world that the newly projected
constitution NJ German Austria in no
fashion even pretends 10 protect the
rights of mtnorities among these Ger
maus. These mnorties are quite
large, II being estimated that only OF
the Czech Slovaks there is over half
"A million In vienna. Otto Rauer has
long been prominent IN German social
democratic circles. and The very fact
that he claims to BE- IN International
i@t shows that, a. a general PROPOSE
tio1t, a German Is "a German, with all
the mental and moral tributes, no
matter in what political guise he may
happen TO masquerade.
The duplicity of German methods,
even following The arm,Stice, Is best
illustrated by the fact that only n
~ hilc ago the Vienna government.
through Or. otto Bauer. complained
that the Czecho Slov3k ks failed to sup
ply Vienna with fooGstufs and coal.
That Vienna haG been piunGcring the
Czecho- Siovak lands for the first four
years Of the war was not mentioned.
" now aiso appears that the Czecho-
SluvakS furnished Vienna with the
quantity of coal asked fov. AZ the
same time that this coal was being
delivered in Vienna the German Aus
trian government wa sending arms
into Bohemia 20 the German minority
the very mines from which this coal
came and to enable this German mi
nuyity TO create trouble md disturb
auce.
In other words We are sun deal
ing with subtle enemy propaganda,
one that lis designed TO SOW dstrust
iamong the allies. great and small. Ann
1t behooves us TO he on our guard, not
10 trust reports from sources which
SAVIOR 40 much of the methods of Won
Berns.ot II, Dernburg, Won Papen and
Boy~E We must especially no on
oar guard against stories that the rev
nations of RI d Europa in any fashion
seek 10 Cypress the minoriiies which
ursvoidab bly,. will be Included In the
new states. For instance. there rs no
anti Semi ism in Bohemia certain re-
ports TO the contrary notwithRtan djng.
Two rneiu bers of the present govern
ment, DR. Winter and Dr. Stransky,
are Jews, ana there are jews in tho
national assembly.
TIL object of all stories ia. of
course. very obvious. They are in
tended 10 convince the public that
these new nations of middle Europe
are incapabl of governing themselves,
and OF orderly government. and 1t is
la consideration Of prime inheritance