The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-11-13

confidence III ourselves.
 of nations" and so on. on the peaceful and unpolitical German people. It was only too ready to follow. in conscious 1 or unconscious sef-deception. this at-
 tractive but deceptive phantasm
 In this connection the propagandi~ts' | story that the peace of the world had
 been disturbed by German plans of
 world dominion fell. too. fruitful 1 soil.
 Tn plain fact the German govern
 ment in the post Bismarck period had l had no great political aim whatever 1 beyond the maintenance of peace, save perhaps that it aimed a increasing the l colonial possessions of the country. It scarcely thought of world politics or policy it had no clear conception why | it made its way to Ba glad
 Living as we have done since 1S7o-71
 a life of constant preference of the apparent over the real. of judging by 1 externais. we have no doubt overesti- l mated our own strength, and thought | too little of the forces that were work 1 ing against us. We extended over the l world. without having firm footing in
 Europe. After gaining Alsace LOT
 Lorraine. and establishing the empire,
 the Germans were satisfied in Europe.
 HURT BY CLUMSY POLITICS | Increase of our colonial posse.sions.
 and the securing of better position in the world by the widening of our mar
 kets, had become n necessity for us
 ms was' however. only to be obtained l by force.
 Our people. on the other hand. aimed at an equal place in peaceful competi- | ton, Preoccupied with business and
 political doctrines it did not know that | other peoples would find it difficult to distinguish this peaceful aim from the desire for world mastery
 | The maintenance of peace was a great object, Just as we could only
 Win a war of defence by attacking so
 We could only keep peace by clear and strong policy carried on ~on well-de- fined principles
 This our politics did not succeed in doing. It expressed itself unexpectedIy. c.umsiiy. The peoples who were ill.,
 uisposed to LIS took advantage of this
 to form combine agafmst us. even
 'hose who had hitherto been opposed
 10 one another combined against us.
 Tn other ways We showed ourselves un-
 certain and irresOlute. and this too | brought no friends
 Many Germans felt grave anxiety in l tnls position. and gave sharp express
 sion to their fears in all directions. Tn contract to their government, they had | llel-seelhS Ideas. These utterances
 were however. mererly those of pri-
 Vate persons and had no more import
 ance or meaning for us than corre- spending statements had in other countries This habit of speaking out
 was not changed during the war. The l war aims of the governments and peo
 ples of the entente were always more
 far-reaching than the dreams of indi-
 vidual Germans. We know this now to
 our sorrow
 COME INTO WORLD TOO SOON 1 Plans for world dominion demand a
 strong national feeling. This. in spite l or the foundation of the empire in ! lSf1. we have never achieved. Our government in the post -Pismarclx
 period did nothing to cultivate it: on the contrary. we lost it as we lost our ] strength of will. In our political | thought we have remained too fed
 eral," and have retained too deep in
 ternal political divisions
 We came into the world too soon ! without any national sentiment. md
 In our sense of worlH- -cItixenshfp, born of foreign influences we have never found the true level ~etween thinking | nationally and thinking internatfon
 ally. between our domestic and our ex- tcrnal interests.
 Contrary to the arguments of tbe enemy propaganda. no dreams of world mastery. no "nationalism" of the Ger man government. endangered the peace nefore 1914 or have prevented it's con clusion during the war After all propasanda did not set out to tell the truth. but merely to break down the determination and the fighting snirit or the German peopYe and to spread views that would serve its own ends At last 1t found the catchword of tho rlgnt or self-determination." A prob- l lem seemingly based on a most accent ahle truism. but. in truth. not to be soiVed without oppression, when. as is so often the case. nationalities ara mixed The phrase fitted the case of Austria Hungary better than it fitted us. but 1t also had its effect on Ger
 many. and in the long run. in the in- terpretation given to it by fear and hatred. It was destined to work us grave injury through the construc ton o'ven to if hv Germans
 WORK ED FOR THE REVOLUTION
 In the last stages of the war and nuite openly from the beginning of 1918 onward, propaganda worked ever more clearly for the social revolution. side bv side with the political revolu- ton. The war was painted as being waged by the upper ten thousand at the expense of the workers, and the victory of Germany as the workers misfortune.
 The enemy propaganda. and boIshe- vism. which aimed at n world revoIu- thoD. were working for the same ends in Germany. England gave China opium, our enemies gave us the revo- lution. and we accepted the poison and distributed it. the Chinese distribute opium.
 While the enemy propaganda was doing increasing harm to the German people and the army and navy o1s1 succeeded in maintaining the determi- nation to fight in it's own countries and armies and in working against us in neutral countries
 Responsibility for the war. the Bel Eium atrocities. the ill-treatment of prisoners. our mendacity and brutal ity. the arbitrary government of Prus- | sianized~Germany. the enslavement of | the German people. were. all these re- 1 nraachas cle1.ari,x 4aa