New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-10-05
Leaderless Germany
By William c. Dreher
Berlin Correspondent of The Tribune

things that the stayat-home Germans have
not yet comprchended talked very
freely and unreservcdly with me about this
matter and about the immediate political
prospects Of his country The leit motif Of
all his talk was tHat the Germans are
"welt-trcmd, are political misiits in this
great world. They are not able to take
the measure OF political forces in the out
side world; and that fact, in his view.
caused Germany to bungle into this hor-
rlbie war without even intending it,
Officers Not Wanted
And he makes no optimistic forecast of
political developments within Germany it.
self at any nearby time. He is deeply
impressed b. that same lack of leadership
of which have been speaking He holds,
however, that The genius for political lead
ership is right here in Germany if it could
but come forward and find recognition
Among the retired officers OF the old
army, he assured me, there are plenty Of
men Of broad liberal principles who would
be able to lead Germany out of its pres
ent wanderings in the Wilderness but, he
added, in a tone of sad resignation. "they
have no prospect whatever of obtaining
political preferment; the mere fact that
they were officers bars them out" Which
brings me around again to what | said
above about the refusal of the Germans to
be impressed politically with military pres
tIge My friend dilated further upon the
sheer waste of human capacity wrought by
this attitude of mind and the position Of
the cx-oficefs in question called forth
some pathetic remarks as to the rrevo-
cable wrongs upon individuals caused by
the war
CnknOlrn Leaders
This failure of Germany to develop
political leaders of statesmanlike calibre
has become favorite topic Of discussion
IN the press and in private conversation
l sat at dinner recently with a company OF
Germans, among them a we'll known pub
Usher who diated at length upon what
might call the blight of Bismarck The
Iron Chancellor, he complained, crushed
out. everything like an independent spirit,
like initiative, in his assistants; what he
demanded was unquestioning subservi-
ency. And men who dared to oppose him
in the Reichstag were treated as public
enemies. The burden of much of this dis
cussion in the press is that the whole sys-
tenn of selecting Cabinet officials under the
old empire prevented the development of
the qualities of craftsmanship among men
elected to the Rechstag. Membership in
that body was treated practically as a bar
rer to higher promotion, while the Cabinet
places were assigned to dipomatists. gem
erals and administrative officials There
was no vital connection, therefore, between
the thin current of German political life
and the governmental machinery. That is
why men have to be showed now into re-
sponsibe positions who appear to the pub
lie nobodies
Any observer Of German politics during
the last two years must have been i'm
pressed by the lack of leadership. When
Michaelis made Chancellor in July.
1917, l could not recall when people in
Washington asked me who was Mchaelis,
that had ever heard of the man, although
had been here in Berlin as newspaper
correspondent for years. 1t now turns
out, by the way, that he was put in at the
instance Of Hindenburg and Ludendorf
evidently because they knew they would be
able to control him without difficulty That
opinion Of him is amply reflected in a re-
markabe memorial by Hindenburg which
has just been made public here.
Who Is Mueller?
The making of successive German cabi-
nets since Michaeis has only emphasized
the dearth Of stntcsmanlike timber. and the
emphasis became tremendous thump
"hen the present government was con-
structed in n hurry skurry at Weimar in
June. The least prominent Socialist in the
ola Cabinet was selected as head Of tho
ne" one, and ms Secretary of Foreign At
lars new and untred man-Hcr-
man Muller set about several weeks
ago TO gather some materials to write
sketch Of him for The Tribune. and
had n characteristic experience. | was
n otr1