The Washington times., 1919-05-25
NEITHER WON
NOR LOST, IS
FOEATTITUDE
ABOUT WAR
BY Lieut.. X. L. AMES, Jr.'
IIde-de-caup to General Harries.

Aide-de-camp TO General haEnes'
The fact that the German military
machine was broken up by the allied
armies at the Mouse river, and not on
the other side of the Rhine, is one OF
the reasons why it will take the allies
= long time 10 convince the people OF
{ the German nation that they nave
, been thoroughly beaten in this war.
Because Of the strict censorship I'M
( posed upon the newspapers by the I'M
perial German government, by means
81 Witch the actual number of casual
ties that occurred in the army during
the four wears of the war have been
kent from the German masses. and be-
cause there are no people in Germany
high minded enough to disclose to the
German public the true facts regard
ing the atrocities that they have been
accused Of committing, and have COM
mitted. as time goes on, people VIII
see the necessity of convincing each
and every German OF the fact that he
is a native Of a country that has been
given about a severe a licking as any
nation could receive.
At present you hear throughout
Germany the song which runs: The
war is over now. VIC are at peace; let
US forget. comrade," and each and
every German that you talk to says,
I've didn't win and we didn't lose, but
why worry about that, for the war is
over"
A certain group. OF Germans main
tain that the war ended because or
the fact that President Wilson sub
mitted peace terms to the Germans in
the early part OF November, 1918.
which were agreeable to the allies.
and which the Germans decided to ac-
cept, because they found them agree
able as we'll
II you ask a German il he thinks
they won the war. he says: 1--WE
would have defeated France If Eng
land hadn't come in. and we would
have defeated England and France If
America hadn't interfered." None of
them are willing to confess the fact
that the British embargo had more to
do with the abrupt ending Of the war
than anything else.
FOeh Ready for Mighty Blow.
It really is pathetic that Marshal
Foch was not allowed to strike an
other blow between Metz and Strass-
burg on the 14th Of November with
twenty-six French and American divi-
sions, as he had planned, for had the
war gone on there is not the slightest
doubt but what this attack would
have been successful, and as a result
more than 6O0, 900 Germans would
have been taken prisoners. and this
fact alone would have helped consid-
srably in convincing the Germans Of
the fact that they were at least not
victorious.
suppose that even after the peace
terms are made known to all the peo-
pie OF Germany through the press. IL
will be possible to find a great many
more Germans who will admit that
Germany did not win the war. l am
not at all certain that all Germans
know these terms even yet.
An incident that occurred in Ber-
lin during my stay there will give
you an insight into the attitude that
the Germans are taking toward the
allies since the armistice. An English
correspondent, whom l knew. got into
an argument with a German officer
IN a hotel in Berlin one night. which
came very near resulting in a free
for-alI fight
Fortunately violence was averted.
but here is the argument with which
the German tried to justify his rude
actions toward this correspondent. 1t
was unfortunate. he said. but the al
lied officers in Berlin must expect TO
receive the same treatment that any
of the Germans would receive were
they on a similar mission in Paris or
London. The correspondent vetnured
to state that he was not receiving
one-tenth as bad treatment as Ger
man officer would receive if he went
TO Paris or London. and added that
he expected the same treatment
from the Germans upon his entry into
Berlin as the Germans received upon
their entry into Brussels in the early
part Of the war. This was what
nearly caused the argument to pre-
cipitate into a free-for-all fight.
Expect to Go TO America.
Another peculiar German idea is
that as soon a. the peace terms are
signed at Versailles Germans will be
able to get passports and 90 to
America. II the German people as q
whole realized that they have been
beaten, they would no doubt see the
Impossibility Of their being allowed
TO come 70 America. France. or Eng
land for a long time to come.
One way TO teach the German that
ne did not win the war is to treat him
ss an infectious disease would be
treated and keep him segregated.
There is not the slightest doubt but
what the phaRtoms Of our dead at the
peace table demand that this atti-