Evening star., 1944-12-31

imposed.
London in March, 1910. HE said to me-"
Welles recounted, that he was now
sitting in the same otice in which he
had sat Is years before. confronted by
exactly the same situation. This was
because British governments during the
past 20 years had refused to follow q
realistic policy toward Germany. The
objectives Of the German people had
not changed and would not change.
These were world supremacy and mill
tary conquest, objectives which endan-
gered the security Of the United States
as much as they imperiled the safety Of
the British Empire"
Welles' views on International affairs
are highly respected; not even a whisper
of either anti-German or pro-German
bias has been attached to his name. Yet
the most telling indictments of the
Germanic military spirit. Throughout
the past 100 years." he states in part,
whether the rallying point for German
patriotism was the venerable figure of
William I, Bismarck, the superficial and
spectacular William II, the Marshal
President Hindenburg, or, in most recent
times, Hitler himself, public opinion in
this country has always been prone to
take the flgurehead as the reality. 1t
has overlooked the fact that German
policy during the past 80 years has been
inspired and directed, not by the chief
Of state. but by the German general
staff. 1t is this living, continuing, de-
structive force that must be extirpated
If the German people are ever to make a
constructive contribution to the stabil-
ity of Europe, and II any organized in
ternational society Is to be able to safe
guard the security of free peoples In
the years to come"
Vulnerable to Duplicity.
Welles and many other authors have
pointed out that after the last war we
lost sight Of German military history
and became fooIshly vulnerable to Ger
man duplicity. Shrewd propagandists
dwelt on the theme that Germans
wanted only to be dealt with on the basis
of equality with other nations, and that
If the determinations in the Treaty of
Versailles were abandoned they would
become decent citizens of the world So
ciety Meantime United States financial
and commercial interests lent hundreds
of millions Of dollars to German in
dustrialists, who in turn used it to re-
construct German economy and later
added their own and government funds
to embark on a policy of economic
penetration of other countries.
This latter conspiracy will again be
employed by the Germans If the Allies
fail to take adequate safeguards "The
German staff" says Welles, "is con-
vinced that over a period of years it can
gain controlling influence in labor un-
ions, in the banking world, in chambers
Of commerce. and through these chan
nels an indirect influence in the press.
1t believes that it can thus discourage
the growth of industrial systems dis
advantageous to Germany when Ger
many strikes again, and, when the
right time comes, stimulate internal
dissension sufficiently to destroy the
morale of the people in those countries
marked as victims"
Like most other American writers on
the subject today, Welles does not alb
solve the German masses of completely
in plots for world dominion. There
are sincere and articulate groups In this
country, notably the American Associa-
ton for Democratic Germany, which
believe fervently that tried and proved"
German democrats can be trusted to
lead the nation to decency, without m-
due outside interference. The Welles
school of thought, of which the highly
active Society sfor the Prevention of
World War III is part, grants that a
democratic Germany may emerge in
time, but insists that as now trained the
masses will continue to support militar-
ism-and during the re-education proc
ess it doesn't want to take any risks.
German Faith in Army.
whether the ostensible ruler is the
Kaiser, or Hindenburg or Adolf Hitler"
Welles states, "the continuing loyalty
of the bulk Of the population is given
to that military force controlled and
guided by the German general staff.
To the German people the army today,
as in the past, is the instrument by
which German domination will be
brought about. Generations of Germans
may pass. The nation may undergo de-
feat. But if the rest Of the world per-
mits it, the German general staff will
continue making its plans for the fu-
ture. The country as whole at this
very moment has confidence that even-
tually, whatever the outcome of the pres
ent war, its army will survive to be-
come the agency through which the
master race will ultimately triumph.
In the current descent of books about
Germany on bookstores and even on
newsstands in paper-bound form this
view seems to be the prevailing thought.
Typical is What to Do With Germany"
by q lawyer-author named Louis Nizer,
designated as must" reading by Eleant~
Roosevelt and indorsed also by sucI.
names as former War Production
Chairman Donald M. Nelson, Vice Pres
ident-elect Harry 8. Truman, Henry A.
Wallace. Maurice Maeterlinck, walter
!