The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram., 1922-10-23
BY WILHELM HoHENzoLLERN


Thus the trend Of the German policy
Of maintaining the peace was deter
mined by political insight, personal
inclination, the legacies of two great
men, Bismarck and Moltke, and the
desire of the German people to devote
itself TO peaceful labors and not to
plunge into adventures.
Whatever has been said in maievo-
lent circles about the existence Of a
German party favoring war is con-
scious or unconscious untruth In
every land there are elements which,
in serious situations, either from hon.
est convictions or less lofty motives,
favor the appeal to the sword, but
never have such elements influenced
the course of German policy.
The accusations, especially those
which have been made against the
general staff to the effect that it
worked for war, are utterly untenable.
The Prussian general staff served its
king and fatherland by hard, faithful
work, and maintained Germany's abil-
ity to defend herself by labors extend
ing over many years of peace, as was
its duty, but it exerted absolutely no
political influence whatsoever Inter
est in politics, as is well known, was
never particularly strong in the Prus-
sian-German army Looking back
ward, one might almost say, in fact,
that it would have been better for US
if those in leading military circles had
concerned themselves a bit more with
foreign policy.
Therefore, how the Peace of Yer
sailles. in view of this perfectly clear
state of affairs, could have been found
ed upon Germanys guilt in having
caused the World War, would seem an
tnsoluble riddle if it were not pos
sible to trace the tremendous effect
of a new war weapon-viz.: the poll
tical propaganda of England against
Germany-planned on a large scale
and applied with audacity and unscru-
palousness. | cannot bring myself to
dismiss this propaganda by branding
It with catchwords such as "a piece or
rascality," etc, since it constitutes an
achievement which. in spite of its re-
pugnant nature, cannot be ignored; it
did us more harm than the arms in
the hands of our opponents.
To us Germans. such an instrument
Of insincerity. distortion and hypocrisy
is not pleasing; it is something that is
Incompatible with the German char
acter; we try. to convince our oppon-
ents with the weapon of truth as well
as with other weapons. But war is
cruel thing and what matters in ii
is to win; after all, to fire heavy guns
at civilized beings is not a pleasant
matter, nor to lombard beautiful old
towns, yet this had to be done by both
sides in the war.
Moreover. we could not have de.
Ior lo
like that of our enemies during the
war for the very reason that they had
no foes in their rear, whereas we were
surrounded. In addition, most Ger
mans have not the gift to fit a scheme
of propaganda to the different nation
alities of the nations upon which it is
supposed to work. But, just as the
English were more than our match
with that terrible weapon of theirs
the tank, against which we could bring
nothing of equal efficiency, so also
were they superior to US with theiI
very effective weapon sof propaganda
And this weapon still continues its
work and we are compelled still tc
defend ourselves against it over anC
over again. For there can be no doub
that the unjust Peace of Versatile:
could not have been founded upor
Germany's war guilt unless propagan
da had previously accomplished it
task and, partly with the support 0
German pacifists. instilled into thu
brains OF 100000 human beings th
belief in Germany's guilt, so that tn
unjust Peace of Versailles seemed t
many justified.
Hopes for Versailles Reaction
Meanwhile, things have changed
the barriers between nations have ia
len and gradually they are awakenin
TO the realization Of how their conf
dence was imposed upon. The re
action will be crushing to the maker
of the Versailles Peace, but helpful t
Germany. 1t goes without saying tina
among the statesmen. politicians an
publicists of the Entente who reall
know. not single one is really cor
WINGED of Germany's guilt in havin