The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1919-05-02
MILITARY DEFEAT HAS WROUGHT
NO CHANCE OF HEART IN GERMANY
Or lonzO Nor Investigates Conditions Land Of HuSame Old
eanun Government 0tCesTake Attitude That They Are
Much Abused Nation - Believe Themselves
Guilty Of No Mlsdeeds

Vs.
German people would have taken the
snoIls ana admit that they would have
levied terrible peace terms on their
vsnouished enemies. Now they are
defeated they refuse to shoulder any
~ tbe blame for the situation. And
thew are going to believe that they are
abused II Alsnce-Lorraine is given to
France.
Believe selves 0uIltless.
The widespread belief that the Ger
mans themselves are guilty Of no mis-
deeds is being emphasized by new
school of writer's who Arst came into
nrnmipence about the time President
Wilson gave the world the covenant OF
the league of nations at Paris. What
nstounded Americans In Germany in
those days was the fact that these
very writer's admitted with perfect
caudor that Germany intended keep
ing Belgium permanently, had Ger
many won the war.
Topics such as these occupied the
German mind when the peace confer.
ence was making its preliminary sur
yey OF European affairs. White Ger
man papers printed columns about the
nrobable outcome OF the peace con-
ference there were 2SS,OO0 men in Ber-
lin without Jobs drawing a pension OF
six marks a day from the govern
pIent. In Hamburg the pension ron
mounted to $4,000. Both figures rep
resent a state Of unemployment sew
eral times greater than the worst
periods of industrial depression Ger
many ever knew before the war.
The men were being paid just
enough to live on, and as a conse-
Quence would not work.
Hate for Kaiser.
Among the intellectual circles In
Germany the blame for the silent re-
bellion of the wOrkmen, their refusal
to work, was placed on the military
party-on old Won Tirpltz, and on Lu-
dendorf, and some more OF the war
lords. The kaiser and his son, the
crown prince, were generally despised.
Both ran away when trouble started
and were hated for that. But the peO-
pie of Germany were not disposed to
blame either the crown prince or the
kaiser for starting the war.
Both of them lack the brains to
plan war;" was the common express
lion heard on the streets and reflected
{, 4 a number of the newspapers. D.
DGctSi' Taylor had aBe general ex-
PLANTATION for Germany's strangely per-
verted state of mind.
Germany today is suffering from
an intense moral disintegratfon," he
declared. "You see it in a dozen diff
ferent phases of German life. Men
who served In the army and are now
demobilized, though still in uniform,
will leave their families for days ut
tlme-simply wander off without
warning. They seem to have lost their
sense Of responsibility toward their
families.
"There are comparatively few pro-
ducers in the population, most of the
people being spenders; Spenders OF
the governments printed money.
in the Berlin playhouses shows are
running which are of such low moral
level that no American postal author
ity would permit eVan private letters
to describe some of the scenes. Be
fore the war such shows were not per-
mitted.
"Robberies have increased greatly.
The people blame the bolsheviki, but
know in their own minds that these
crimes might we'll enough be commit
ted by anyons-because the increase
In crime is one of the notable phases
of life in Germany today"
Are Still Same Swine.
In all Germany there Is no danger
of rehabilitation Of the military ma
chine, according TO Doctor Taylor.
This view is verified by other Amerl-
cans competent to judge, who have
Just returned from the other side OF
the Rhine.
Without desiring in any way to an
tagonize the French, who are carry
ing on an active campaign preaching
the possibility of Germany coming
back" Doctor Taylor and his associ-
ates believe firmly that the German is
finished in a military way; that the
German people are disguised with the
military idea, which has brought them
nothing but misery and hunger, and
that above all other things the French,
and of course the other allied nations
and America, are not in any danger
Of resumption of the war.
This does not mean that any ami
able feeling is growing among the
American officials here in Paris to-
ward the Germans, and 1t does not
mean that an nnfrlendliness toward
the French psople is developing. The
Americans who have been in Germany
and who know the Germans from long
experience before as we'll as during
the war, are convinced that the Ger
man today is the same swine he was
in and before 1914.
Doctor Taylor and DR.. Vernon Kes-
logg, also OF the Hoover staff and com-
petent to speak of the situation il
Germany, are both Of me opinion that
Germany has no great amount OF