Estancia news-herald. [volume] (Estancia, Torrance County, N.M.) 1912-19??, 1919-01-16
THE GERMANS IN VICTORY
AND DEFEAT

I
Through four long years we have
mad an opportunity to study the Ger
man character as it revealed itself in
victory or in the hope of victory. The
conclusions that we reached were not
complimentary. Now for two months
we have watched the bearing of Ger
mans in defeat, and we cannot revise
those conclusions. Germany in de-
feat is the reverse of the medal of
which Germany in victory is the face f.;
the qualities that are stamped on the
one determine those that are dis
played on the other, in appropriately
reversed form.
The arrogance that tore up the
most solemn treaties and that struck
blow after blow at smaller and weak
er nations finds its complement in the
hasty readiness to make an abject sur
render when the tables at last are
turned. The savage cruelty shown to
those who were temporarily in the
power of the Germans is replaced by
a whimpering plea to be spared the
hardships and sufferings that must
follow invasion. AS the Germans
fought without chivalry in victory, so
they fight without spirit in defeat.
Like their Bulgarian allies, they
would not defend their own soil; when
aggression failed they were ready to
quit. Their navy surrendered with
out striking blow. The Kaiser ran
away in panic from his own army
and his own people.
1t is all explicable enough when you
get the keyword-materialism. The
Germans would fight for loot, for
conquest, for material gain; they
would not fight for anything else.
When it began to appear that it
would cost a good deal more to fight
than thew could hope to make by
they were only too willing
to stop. That may be businesslike,
but is also despicable.
The case would be different if
there were any reason to believe that
Germany surrendered because it re-
cognized the evil it had done and the
falseness of its wartime ideals.
There is no such reason. There is
not the slightest disposition on the
part Of the new German leaders to be |
repentant or contrite in heart. They |
merely recognize that Germany made
l miscalculation, and that it would
nave paid better to keep out of the
war. There are few honorable ex-
,eptions, but the lie still remains
powerful between the Rhine and the
Vistula. The people do not look the
'acts of Belgium, of the submarine
var, of their Eastern policy, in the
ace and say, eve have sinned"
They do not even admit that their
lrmy was whipped. They lie to one
just as the imperial govern
nent again and again during the war
led to them. Having avoided the fl
lal military catastrophe by begging
or peace, they boldly welcome home
heir "unbeaten" soldiers. The Prus-
ian philosophy, which teaches arro-1
,ance in prosperity, subservience in
diversity, materialism and deceit al
Ways, has marked this people so deep
y that no political revolution can al
er their habit of mind.
1t is even questionable whether a
genuine revolution is yet possible in
1ermany. The material disturbance
md loss that accompany such occa-
ions frighten the German. His in
,rained disposition to obey some one
Use unfits him for the job of the
evolutionary. 1t is dangerous to
predict in such times as these, but