The Washington herald., 1919-05-04

kOANeAANyB 81 yOo AAAo" WA1N " -
pect. When to this state of affairs
Is added the effect upon her military
power of the surrender of war ma
terial which has been forced upon her
by the terms of the armistice and OF
the positions now occupied by the
allied troops along the Rhine. 1t Is
Idle to talk Of Germany's military
power as still formidable. Germany
Is militarily helpless.
Let US, however, be under no de-
lusions in this matter. Though Ger
many Is utterly war weary and ex-
hausted to an extent which is hardly
yet appreciated by us, she Is not in
the least penitent She is impotent
in comparison with our strength, but
she will only carry out the terms i'm
posed upon her because she must;
there will be no voluntary effort on
her part to make good the effect OF
her CT mes. Therefore we cannot af-
ford to do away with our armies Of
occupation until there is no doubt
whatever that Germany will pay up
to the limit of her capacity. Travel
ing along the Rhine soon after our
forces had reached the river, 1 found
that there was no question but that
most of the German soldiers and civ
ilians whom I met believed that the
German armies had not been beaten
in the field. They held that it was
the collapse of the government in
face of revolution which had COM
pelled Germany to yield. That this
should be so Is not very surprising
when one reflects that the German
people were never told the truth
when things began to go wrong for
fhann I'm tho and the nfff-
cial communiques and the reports of
press correspondents with armies all
stated that the German troops were
resisting manfully in face of ever
whelming odds: that the line had
been pressed back. but that the re-
tirement really put the German
armies in better positions: that they
were not broken and would not
break. The belief of the Germans in
the truth OF the views served out to
them by authority. in spite of repeat
ed deceptions. lis very remarkable. I
found intelligent men In Mainz who
assured me that there was no doubt
whatever but that we British had
been the first to use poison gas. and
that they had been forced to use this
weapon regretfully in self-defense.
You cannot, however. fool all the
people all the time and as the troops
have been dispersed to their homes
and mingled with the population the
true state of affairs has become
known. I found quite a different
tone prevailing in February to that
which I had heard in the previous
November. In February there ap-
wNAa a. kA
amongst the Germans with whom I
came in contact that they had been
really and completely beaten in the
field. They spoke very bitterly OF the
Kaiser. of the militarists and of the
general staff, to whom they said they
had trusted everything and given all
that they were asked to give. The
impression left on my mind was that
the average German citizen considered
that his affairs had been grossly mis-
managed by his rulers. that the war
had been a political blunder and had
been badly conducted by their gen.
erals. For these reasons do not
think that there is any immediate
danger of a reaction in favor of the
Kaiser and the militarists. If Ger
many is forced into revolution there
might possibly be a rally round the
old authorities in order 70 escape from
a worse thing. AS far as have bee n
able to gather the feeling in Germany
is. except in Berlin, in one or two Of
the coast towns AMI in part of the
Industrial districts of WestphaIia, still
very strongly On the side of law and
order. Desperation may drive Ger
many to Bolshevism as IL drove the
people Of Paris to the Commune in
lsn, but I do not believe that Bolshe-
vtsm would have a long reign
There would almost certainly be a
reaction and that reaction might give
the Kaisers friends the chance for
which they are watching.
On the other hand have not been
able to find any evidence that the
German people recognize that Ger
many was responsible for the war
or that the methods employed in its
conduct were morally wrong. Their
preoccupation at the present time
is to escape as lightly as possible
from the consequences of the mis-
takes. which they consider the inn
perial party committed. MANY of
the threats of resistance to our
terms are. ! believe. partly propa-
ganda designed for that purpose
There is nothing behind them and
l believe that il there Is an estab-
lished government In Germany the
allied and associated powers will
OBTAIN from her such terms as they
decide to impose. The danger is
that delay in the settlement may
drive Germany to desperation and
that ordered government would be
upset This would mean destruc-
tion to Germany and her authori-
ties know II, but II would also i'm.
pose a great burden upon us and
delay indefinitely the fulfllment of
our Just demands. The two most
factors in Germany to-
day. apart from general war wea-
riness and that unrest, which has
been the aftermath of war in al
most every country OF Europe, are
shortage of raw materials and of
food. There is a great zeal of un-
employment because the factories
have not the means Of restastinr
work and to diminish unemploy-
ment large numbers of soldiers are
kept in uniform, hanging around
the barracks. doing little or no
work in order that they may receive
military pay and rations.
This Is obviously a very undesirable
element. As to the food situation, the
reports are, as have said, very con-
Trajectory. After careful inyestiga-