Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-04-06

the Prussian Holy Ghost. In the FORM
of the German imperial eagle, IN the
smiling heavens ),
II the words were not set down in cold
print. proof read and revised by this
verv representative Prussian general,
one could not be made to believe that
such arrogance. such an admitted dis
regard of the ideals of Christianity and
modern progress could exist in the mind
of any intellectual man; that Luden-
dorff is man of very high mental ability,
unmodifed, however, by sense OF hui
NOR, is quite evident.
Since 1870, even to the remotest con-
fines Of Germany, to the frontiers of her
smallest colony, the idea of Prussian
superiority and national solidarity, of
world domination as an outlet TO sur
plus population, have been most strenu-
ously ground into the German tempera-
ment; and vet LudeDdorff is constantly
filled with regret that the German sys-
tenn of education WAS not moro national
more imperial, more impregnated with
the hatred of those ideas which dis
place narrow nationality and support
the belief in the brotherhood of man.
Yet one cannot help sympathiz,ng with
him in his dislike of an internationalism
which would logically lead to chaos snd
with that love of the well-ordered life
and stable government which in the
past exhorted unwilling admiration even
from the enemies of the increasing power
Of Germany.
SOCIALISM 70 BLAME.
In his opinion, if the German nation
had been untainted with socialism, 1t II
had been willing, to the bitter end, TO
hold to the emperor and his military
coterie in the spirit IN which the French
people accepted the despotism Of Louis
XIV, all would have been WE'LL
The defeat of Imperial Germany he at
tributes to the weakness of German ed
ucation, 10 the lack Of unity in the ideas
Of unflinching conquest, and to the de-
plorable weakness of the ohancellors
and the foreign office. He does not
conceal his .corn of Prince Max, and
reading between the lines one sees that
If all civil liberty and every male civihan
had been muzzled, the German nation,
under unshaken imperial guidance,
would have marched on to victory. The
breakdown of imperial Germany, tho
wretchedness of the present condition OF
the German people, is due entirely, IN his
opinion, not TO the superior skill or force
OF the Allies, but to that weakness in the
German character which prevented the
ItfSnlitSS anu ASS Vi
power until the final and favorable peace
was assured.
In the opinion of Ludendorff, the fate
Of Germany was bound up IN the pres
ervation of the imperial power, and IN
the opinion of growing class OF con-
servative Germans, frightened by the
example of Russia, and the weak the
ories of the radicals, this opinion still
exists as fundamental to the process
Of reconstruction.
AMERICAN ASSISTANCE"
Ludendorff seems TO think that the
force given by Americans to the Allies
was merely in the nature OF assist
ance" He Is astounded by the ease
with which the American troops were
transported across the Atlantic, IN spite
Of all prophecies TO the contrary. be
Is amazed at the failure of the I-boat
war TO prevent this almost mirsculously
rapid transportation. He was informed
that U-boat war is q commercial war;
he assured himself that, carried out
remorselessly, IL must mean the end OF
the war, because England must starve
and Atlantic tonnage be limited. He is
as greatly astonIshed as some OF our
French marines men were IN the begin
ming of the war, by the fact that Amer
lea, Scttu Nll0 Sutli i
efficiency. in spite of its hesitation and
iapparent lack of preparation Ruthless
ness and frightfulness did not seem 10
affect the Americans; the crime of the
Lusitsnia, which ought TO have intimi-
dated them-for what can one expect of
nation of ''iee cream eaters seemed
only to infuriate them. He, like most of
his coterie, found it impossible 10 believe
that country like America would attempt
a revanche for the loss OF the lives of 500
or 600 of 1.-The common people. In the
opinion of Ludendorff and the other
patricians Of the late reign OF "the Ger
man Augustus, all men who we're not
military were of the bourgeoisie.
At Chateau-Thierry Americans won
had been a long time In France had brahor
lv attacked our thinly held fronts. bve
thev were unskillfully led. attacked iu-
dense masses and failed. Here, too, out
men felt themselves superior, our tactics
had proved sound in every way our losses
with those OF the nemy and
the large number of prisoners, though in
themselves distressing, had been very
slight. Again, the attack did not take
place early enough at all points. Here and
there IL was continued where defense was
indicated. With few exceptions,
th6 kIoopS ilAQ ever NLtit uIspldytq Soou
conduct and endurance.
The group Of ''the German Crown |
Prince had gained a great tactical vic
tory in the offensive; Paris felt once |
more that the war was lost and that even !
the use of the French Reserves could not !
save Chateau-Thierry
American attacks in the south in the |
direction of Chateau-Thierry, broke down
on July 10, but August s WAS" he adj
mits, "the black day in the German army
In the history OF the war"
This was the worst experience had TO /
go through, except for the events that
from September 10 onward, took place on
the Bulgarian front and sealed the fate of
the Quadruple Alliance.
Ludendorff admits that the attitude OF
the United States was the prime factor in
the ending of the war; but he felt that, if
President Wilson's power TO apply his
fourteen points had been looked on by the
German authorities as practical, an armis-
tice might have been proposed sooner.
Ludendorff, with q curious naivete,
writes constantly of the destructive in
'entions of the Allies, and actually seems