Ominous Words
Maoriland Worker, Rōrahi 6, Putanga 204, 6 Kohitātea 1915, Page 1
Mō tēnei niupepa
Ominous Words
From a Danish Count
The latest comes from a correspondent who lias travelled through Germany for the last month and noted) the effect of the war on all classes. Eis report has appeared in several' of the New ■ York newspapers. That tho economic condition of the country must be terrible is only what might bo expected, and this corres-*--pondent declares that now tho pinch of war is being felt, the jingo outbursts have died down, and their place 'has been taken by calamitous forecasts and a decided revulsion against tho war. His remarks on the situation in Berlin in this respect are worth transcribing: "Apart from the gloom cast over Germany by tho loss of her men, tho spectre of famine and: complete economic disaster looms up before the people. Thousands upon thousands of German merchants are ruined, and will have to start life penniless again. The lesser commercial classes aro beginning to feel the pinch, and , their zeal for war wanes in proportion. Tho economic consequences aro just becoming plain to them, and their feelings are vastly different from the blatant optimism of four weeks ago. These classes were misled by the bombastic utterances of the Kaiser and by tho officially inspired press, and now they are-beginning to realise something of tho truth." Making all allowances for any possible exaggeration in tho above, it is on the whole what might be expected. The correspondent is evidently not a Socialist, neither tho London Standardi nor the New York Tribune being likely to employ such ( a person, while hie name, Count Rudolph Ehrenberg, and his position as a member of the Danish nobility, further precludes any such idea. But what he has to say of the Berlin Socialists is, however, still moro signi- signi-ficant and ominous. He continues, linking the lesser hourgeoisie of Germany with the Socialists in the near future: "When they know all this war will teach them, I-predict that they will be jn'tii'o forefront of tho revolutionary forces tlwU-..WILL SURELY MENACE IMPERIAL* nAUTOCRACY AFTER PEACE HAS BEEN RESTORED. Socialist workingmen through their newspapers reveal a strong undercurrent of
criticism amid apparently patriotio protestations. "Tlio Socialist journalists of Germany aro experts in implying t sedition iv cleverly written articles ;,*3£Mi, nevertheless, keep within, the limits of the law. In tbe last four weeks many of them liavo been writing anti-militarist articles under the guise of patriotio appeals." TJio aboTO puts a somewhat different aspect on the alleged surrender of tlie German Socialists that wo have-been ( hearing so much of lately. But it is when the correspondent deals with/the. very near fufruro that ho becomes moit significant. This is liis forecast of what will 'happen wihen the German "Johnny comes marching home": "When the German soldiers return home and tell the story <$f the war andi compare notes with / their comrades, there will bo a, terrific upheaval against the theory of "kanonenfutter" (cannon fodder), which really is the foundation of the whole military system of the country. Experts of the German General Staff regard the common as fodder for tho enemy's cannon, the phrase goes. The life 'of the f ful German private only exists to ruthlessly sacrificed to rendering into V practice the military theory of the lead- era. This has been clear enough in all j the battles of this campaign, and' the ] German troops, themselves must realise it by this time. "THE SURVIVORS ' WILL' BE BLOODTHIRSTY REVOLUTIONISTS WHEN THEY REACH HOME AGAIN, AND MANY OF US WHO KNOW THE LATENT STRENGTH OF THE SOCIALIST WILL NOT BE SURPRISED IF THjfl KAISER AND HIS VISERS ARE HANGED LAMP-POSTS OF UNTER DEN AT THE END OF FAIGN." Though wo have insisted that come of the war would be social tion, we have never projected so far as to see the Koicer aristocratic fire-eaters strung up to J lamp-posts. Probably that .warrior self sensed something of the when ho gave tli-o word' of "Victory or Exile." If ho r featedj the shadow of pwaits him; and' if no means certain that to tyrants will remain for victory, no matter " —and it certainly does that kind of victory will will do littlo or nothing maddened million's of tho pie to tho almost mic ruin of the country. This is the first word- reliable that wo have heard interior of Germany since tlio cd, and ns it comes from a en server who has travelled tho country and has visited heretofore industrial centres tiou, we sco no valid reason ing it, after allowing some perhaps, for the tho on the whole,, what tho forecast of this fulfilled to the utmost, we should not V bo surprised either. —"National Rip V Saw." , 1
