New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-01-03
Chagrined, but Not
Sorry

10 the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: In your issue of December 81 W
Reginald Goode calls attention to the fac.
that the Huns are still to be considered
a menace to human society. II Is \ noin+
OF view upon which too much stress can
not be laid. What with eloquent FIGHTS
into the regions of pure metaphysics with
luminous inroads into the domain of nhilo-
sophie ethics and similar incursions into
districts that profit much the soul bu.
which leave the body suspended between
heaven and earth. we are too apt to loso
sight of the realities of situation that i
1raught with much danger. A military nm
success is hardly sufficient to bear in unon
q people the hideousness of its crime nc
little as the non-success on the part Of an
individual criminal can take the place of
the prison house or the reformatory. And
1t must forever be remembered that the
Germans do not yet concede that they have
done anything that is morally wrong. They
may be ashamed that they have not been
successful There is a vast difference be
tween the two positions. difference that
means everything to those among US who
look with concern upon the future. To-day
Prince Karl of Hohenzollern, a lieutenant
general IN the war, is reported to have said
that personally he disapproved of subma-
rlne warfare; but he is quick to add that
Germany should not have started her
submarine warfare without being absolute
ly certain it would succeed" The ethical
consideration is entirely lost in the prac-
ticali
10 i,
practical view is the one held by those
many societies and associations that have
built up modern Germany and that. all
through the war, have stood back of the
Kaiser and his various ministers
League of Agriculturalists. the German
Peasants League, the Christian German
Peasants Unions, the Central Association
of German Manufacturers, the Manufact-
urers' League and the League of Middle
Class Citizens of the German Empire. 1t
IS also held by the so-called "Intelectualsn
who in 1915 forwarded manifesto to the
imperial Chancellor that made demands as
1arreaching and ridiculous as any that any
50-cent orator could make on the hustings.
And this manifesto was signed by 1871
persons, among whom were, I say it re
~
and colleges and 1853 schoolmasters and
clergymen. They spoke expressing the
firm determination Of the German people''
the "resolute popular determination" and
they were certain that popular feeling
had attained an intensity and unanimitv
which were never known in Germany i'm
the past and viii not so easily recur in the
future The Germans were to "have no
mercy upon France" On Belgium they
were to keep firm hold. political. mill
tary and economic" From Russia they
were to acquire those territorial acquisi-
tons which Germany needs" Germany
must have the freedom of the seas and
destroy Englands monopoly of the cable
service and press agencies striking at
England's purse above all else and with
out any consideration whatever"
Now, l submit that whole people that
starts out with a programme like this
cannot be cured of its insanity by the
simple process of its first non-success. It
can try agan-n ten years time or In
twenty-five. The German people has not
repudiated its lust of empire Its associa-
tons and its intellectuals have. it is true.
withdrawn into the shadow of convenient
hiding places. SO far as l have seen they
have not retraced their steps or confessed
that they had looked at life at the life
of nations and peoples from the wrong
angle. And long as they have not done
SO the first duty of the peace congress
that is about to sit in Paris is to make it
impossible for them to try again This
may seem to be merely practical con
sderation; it may not be elevated in con
ception. But it is absolutely necessary
And Monsieur Clemenceau seems to think
too. RICHARD GOTTHEiL
Columbia University. Jan /. 1919