The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1921-01-22

War. Fails to Jar Conceit of
Teuton, Says Observer of
Long Experience.
MENTAL isolation ABSOLUTE
Unable to Understand How They Ars
Detested-The German of Today
Is to All lntents and Purposes
the Same as in 1918.

London. Although Berlin has
changed since 1914, the German mind
remains unchanged. Neither the holo-
caust Of dead nor the crash of thrones
has shaken Germany out of her self
conceit, according to what G. Valen-
tine Williams, formerly correspondent
Of Reuters Agency in Berlin, tells the
London Daily Mail.
'"The German mind" he says, "does
not seem to have altered.
albeit sadly puzzled to account for
the utter breakdown of the entire
German system, in his outlook on life
the German of 1920 is to most intents
and purposes the German Of 1913. In
a world which to British eyes is
strangely changed by five years of
World war the mental isolation of the
German is absolute. To talk to him
makes you feel that the German of
today is the loneliest creature on Gods
earth.
"Yet with heavy elaboration he is
communing with himself to ascertain
the causes of his defeat. But he is
not examining his conscience.
"Any Berlin bookshop will show you
the chaos prevailing in the German
mind.
Nothing Of the Present.
Professor Steinach's rejuvenation
experiments, Einstein's theory of light,
Maynard Keynes and Norman Angel
on the Versailles Peace-both books
in German TRANSACTIONS and prominent
ly Observation-Disclosures on spiritualism,
atheism, free love- and the like-works
of this description stand side by side
with a. mass Of frankly pornographic
literature. Here will you find reasoned
explanations for the past, complicated
schemes for the future, but nothing
practical to deal with the problems Of
the present. And above all, no con-
+ triton for Germany's crime against
mankind.
'"The German surveyed the world
from his castle of militarism. Now
that it has collapsed he is left floun-
dering in sea Of doubts and fears.
The. Germans with whom have spOk-
en- expect us to hold them guiltless of
the past because, they say, they have
rid Germany of her military caste.
'They have, it is true, expelled the
bloody-minded blunderers surrounding
that eminent nonentity, William tne
Second-rater, because they failed to
keep their promise to establish Ger
man ;world-domination. But the Ger
man people is governed by the herd
instinct, and the expulsion Of the Old
Gang in the circumstances of mill
tary defeat and home panic in which
the Hohenzollerns were sent away re-
qufres weightier evidence Of a change
Of heart that is forthcoming in Ger
many today, if it is to be accepted as
proof of the death of German mill
tarism.
Blank Indifference.
'Talk to Frenchman Of any class,
and you will, sooner or later, come
upon well-banked but fercely smoul-
dering Republican ardor. Talk to a
German about his government and you
will find, at the best, lukewarm inter-
est; at the worst, resentful ridicule
towards the German Republic.
'The average attitude is one Of
blank Indifference. The German man
in the street never thought for him
self. He does not do so today. The
question of the future is, what party
will emerge from the present chaos to
do his thinking for him?
"The Germans are perfectly willing
to forgive us for the war. They talk
glibly about this unhappy war with
the air of a man making perfunctory
excuses for some social lapse. In
some may be detected in addition a
little air Of condescension in speaking
Of the late unpleasantness as though
to draw attention to their magnanimi-
ty in accepting the war as an inevita-
BILE catastrophe, AN act Of God,' as the
insurance policies say. And even to-
day I find that the great majority Of
Germans have no idea Of the abhor-
renee in which the very name German
is held in the Anglo Saxon countries
and in France and Belgium"