Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-12-19
Marx Mistaken in Indictine
French and Russians for War

namely, Russia and France. Thus he
would seek, while insisting that the
indictment of the German people as
criminals is unfair, to commit the
same stupidity with respect to the
French and Russian people.
The trouble with all such arguments
is, of course, that they must rest
upon partial statement of facts
You give all the facts on your side
and you suppress those on the other
side, not perhaps deliberately, for
Marx is an honest man and he is
telling what he believes. But once
you are launched on the course any
thing is possible; all depends upon
where you begin. And to begin fairly
is just as impossible as to answer the
old question Of which came first, the
hen or the egg.
There was change of French feel
ing between 1905 and 1914. AS Marx
notes, that change led to a different
attitude of France toward Germany
and toward Russia. But why was
the change? Precisely because of the
French reaction to the German ac-
tons at Tangier and Agadir. France
extended her period of military serv-
ice from two to three years. Did this
show aggressive purposes? Yes, if
you believe Marx, but in reality Ger
many expanded her army and France
responded.
Russian Mobilization.
Take the aIl-essential problem of
the last days before the deluge. The
cause of the war, the precipitating
cause, says Marx, say all Germans,
was the Russian mobilization, the
general mobilization. But this did
not come until Austria had issued its
ultimatum to Serbia and bombarded
Belgrade. And the Russian mobiliza-
ton was not d cause of war in itself.
but solely because the German gen
eral staff had formed a plan for Ger
man defense which depended for sue
cess upon crushing France before
Russia got her troops concentrated.
1t wasn't Russian mobilization per
Sc which provoked the war; the mobi-
liZation of France would not have had
a similar effect. But the German gen
erals had sat down in full peace and
made a plan for war, which envisaGed
the invasion OF neutral Belgium and
the smashing of France Whine Russia
was completing mobilization. Every
thing thus depended upon finishing
with France before Russia was ready.
That was what poor Bethmann-Holl-
veg blurted out when he explained
l0dI GERMANY COuIQ not walt.
All the evidence shows that Moltke
was scrupulously careful not to move
until there was no more doubt of the
fact of Russian mobilization. He sent
frantic messages to Allenstein, in East
Prussia, to get hold of a copy of the
Russian mobilization proclamation.
The record absolveS him of trying to
procure the war. But when Russia
modified he had to go to a trembling
,nlI
tun which meant war, because all his
plans went for naught if Russia armed
before France was crushed.
Paints Clever Trap.
If you believe what Marx believes.
what many Germans believe. you will
see the entente statesmen as clever,
superhumanly clever, villains, arranG
ing a trap which only fools could fall
into, foreseeing all the mistakes the
Germans were going to make and ar
ranging to act when these mistakes
were made. But this conception is
just as infantile as that of the super
humanity criminal Germans.
The best thing that could happen to-
day is for all hands to adjourn the
discussion of war guilt, because the
decision now will rest with another
generation. Sensible people have per
celNeu lIdC enemies ana ailleS hdNt
got to live together and that this ne
cessity imposes certain other conSe-
quences. And not the least of these
consequences is the tacit adjournment
of debates upon war guilt"
Appear as Fools.
The men of July, 1914. the statesmen
of the years Immediately preceding.
whether German or what was later
described as allied, are, with no eX-
ception going to have a hard time
in history. But very little of their
trouble will arise from any notion of
their enormous and wicked cleverness.
Already they appear more as fools
than knaves, far more the victims of
forces which they neither understood
nor could control, than monsters and
masters Ut the most diabolical of all
conspiracies.
AS for Marx and his current article,
when he argues against the Versailles
indictment Of the German people for
exclusive and inherent criminality, he
is preaching to the converted. When
he undertakes to establish the same
sort of thesis with respect of the OPP
ponents of Germany, he does no more
than demonstrate that he has not yet
emerged from precisely the state of
mind against which he is protesting.
M. Titulescu, the very clever Ru-
manian Minister. who has been max
ing the debt settlement in Washing
ton, once observed to me that the
people who had no psychology lost the
war. Marx is an example OF the &C
curacy of this pronouncem0nt