The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-04-07
GERMANY DOOMED BY
U. s. WAR ENTRY WAS
PREDICTION OF BALLIN

Londno. April 6.-The following
interesting letter from the late Herr
Rallin is reprinted from the Register.
Of Adelaide. South Australia:
The death of Herr Balm. the great
German sh,powner. who committed
suicide, upon the signing of the ar
mistice. might almost have been fore
told by those who were .aware Of a.
letter written by him, a copy Of
which was recently received in Sgd
ney. 1t is dated December A, 1917.
and was addressed ito my dear Herr
Geheimrat" Understood TO NEAR
Privy Councillor Or. Rathenau, of
Berlin). 1t proceeds,
"WhatAsorry lies have been dished
up to our people on the subject of
shipping. One reads of resounding
strokes of riveters as they work at
the creation of new leviathans for our
overscass commerce. Our yards are
only working for the navy, and AS
for other ships. we have not material
or accommodation, n above all. We
have not the necessary labor, skilled
and unskilled. | almost despair when
I think how different 1t all might have
Seen.
You n I were never advocates
of this fatal policy of Unrestricted
submarine warfare. You will remen-
Der how / went to Berlin TO seek to
stay the hand of the authorities. !
begged them to reflect. and they told
ne the country insisted on 1t. This
was mot trra-
II pointed out how 1t would newt
ably draw America into the conflict.
and they pooh-poohed me, smiled at
America. and scorned her threat. DO
they smile now?
let me tell you that it ia my opin-
ion the entry Of the I>>ad States into
this struggle may spell absolute dis
aster for us; hut IL / am concerned
bout u relations with the United
States, / am still more anxious abou
our relations with Great Britain. I
realize as never before that all the in
in our wealth, all the success
which attended our enterprises in the
years before the war, was owing to
our intercourse with the British en-
pire. Her home ports, her Domin<
ions and Colonies, were freely opened
to u shippers and traders. Some
times / wondered at this generosity.
and even called it folly. Is 1t to be
imagined for a moment that these old
relations will return?
Il am not to be supposed as saying
one WoFu III IdNoF Oh bfltllu : pollCy
in his war. I believe hat she en-
tered 1t from some base motives; but
| am now only dealing with the fact
that by our conduct of this war. by
the insensate folly Of our pan-Ger-
mans and our unspeakabIe press. we
have turned her Unborn dislike OF III
into loathing. so cold n fierce and
lasting. as sometimes to maxi me
tremhle. for the whole future of our
economic existence.
with a hostile British empire
CALLED and fretted with our military
success, raging at its losses, hope
lessiy a1ienated, how are we to pro-
cure the raw material which that
empire alone can supply? That grea,
empire Is seif-contained, and we are
not; and all the military victories and
all the will-o'-the-wisps about Ham,
burg to Bagdad will not helm us.
IS THIS DEMOCRACY:
One young woman who had nobly
served 9th srs during her brief APP
premiership in unselishness one day
came out OF the kitchen where she
had gone to give an order to a ser
want and said to her mother. "What
do you think. mother" l found Lieu
B-delivering our groceries!
He said he had worked part way
through college before he enlisted for
the officers training camp. and he
tool the first job he could find. 7 in
vited him to come 10 dinner mex
Sunday"
You must not do that! the mother
said sharply, GO barx and excuse
Yourself from such an invitation. He
is not in IL set"
But we had him here several times,
mother. He is in every way worthy"
at is not the same aid the
mother. =
you mean mother, that the over
alls are not al good as the uniform? ?"
Alas for our boasted American de-
mocracy, The boy in oyeralls did
not dine mex Sunday with the Ameri-
can family. OF what use is all this
talk about making the world safe for
democracy If we have none OF it our
cleveland Plain Dealer.A
From the black eye Yale and
Princeton have given the classic
you'd hin Greek and Latin
We're the languages of our alien che