THROUGH GERMAN GLASSES.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 68, 20 March 1915, Page 6

THROUGH GERMAN GLASSES.

Venomous attack on the late king edward. American scorn. A prolonged study of the German Press still leaves many of its characteristics in the realm of unsolved problems. One of these characteristics is its peculiar venom. Humanly speaking, .in outburst of unusual violence arises from some powerful influence of the immediate moment, an event so far outside all reasonable calculations as temporarily to upset the mental centre of gravity. In the German newspapers, however, this venom, when jt is directed against England, seems to rise in a cold and calculated fashion from an inexhaustible spring of natural hatred. "THE GUILTY IN ENGLAND." Here, for instance, for no reason whatever except blind hatred of this country, is the -Government organ, the "Kolnische Zeitung," devoting a semi-philosophical article on the origin of the war to an acrid and, in some ways ■which we leave unquoted, disgusting attack on the memory of King Edward: — It is a very delicate matter to form on equitable judgment to-day in Germany as to the attitude of the English people and tbeir intelligence since the outbreak of the war. Neither wo nor the Engli3h themselves are truly informed about the actual happenings. In our case it is due to the fact that the English Press only manufactures opinions. Thus we learn one day that <T. K. Jerome or Bernard Shaw declare themselves pro-Germans, and on the following day express violently anti-German views. In England only the ruling classes ran form an honest opinion, a fact which prove* nothing for or against the English people, but illustrates the lying nature of the English Presi. According to our own opinion, the chief culprit in bringing about war with Germany was Edward VII. That Germany's success and "the increasing self-consciousness of the Germans in their external intercourse produced irritability, and touched the English pride, we can well understand; but no war would have resulted therefrom if the suppositious menace to English life interests had not been added. "Cheap and nasty" and "Made in Germany" were shibboleths invented to label successful German products as fraudulent and inferior* compared with the good old English article. In this -way Edwarfl VII., as Prince of Wales, undermined the ancient puritanical culture of the English nation, and as King secretly effected the political alliance with France and Belgium. The guilty in England were those who had abandoned the old English metnod, with its puritanical world outlook, and who had fallen away from God, and the chief culprit of them all was the godless Prince, with whose name will ever be connected the history of the decline of English greatness—in Milton's words: "The infernal serpent—lie It was whose gnile Stirred up with envy and revenge, deceived Tbe mother of mankind." , . No comment need be made here on this piece of infamy, but the fact may' be emphasised that its source is tbe official organ .of the.. German Government. "POLITICAL ALCOHOL." Under the expressive heading, "Pfui, England," a "distinguished professor," whose eminence is cloaked behind the initials "WJ.," writes as follows in the "Berliner Lokalanzeiger":— "In every one of our papers it should be pointed out daily in leading articles that the English, while playing football at home, and believing themselves secure, have their war carried on for them by paid mercenaries, and, further, that they lead other nations by the nose with untruthful claptrap, so that these people also risk their skins in this war, simply in order that England may rule the world all the more unhindered, and do better business -with other people's money. "If such an explanation were to appear day by day in our papers it would gradually have the effect of enabling people in neutral as well as in enemies' countries to regain their reason. "If the English have brought matters to such a pitch that even Canadian 'sheeps- . heads' consider it necessary to come over ; and free us from oar 'militarism,' then ordinary methods no longer suffice to destroy the political alcoholic vapours by which the English have blinded the nations dependent on them." THE CRIAfF. OF THE CHILDREN. Despairing of bringing the adult popu- i lation to a sense of its duty in respect to the economical use of bread, the "Kolnische Zeitung" secies to bring its influence to bear on the children. The appeal is not without its pathos. "Waste and extravagance show particularly in the fact that countless school children, who do not allow themselves enough time to breakfast properly at home, take along with them an unnecessarily large quantity of bread. "They leave remnants lying , about everywhere, and one can observe every day haw children, even on the way home from school at twelve or one o'clock, eat bread and butter. The mothers are then surprised that the children have no appetite for lunch, and scarcely touch the best vegetables. "This abuse can only be remedied effectively by an official order that bringing bread to. school and the sale of cakes and similar eatables to children for immediate consumption be completely forbidden, except, of course, as regards X bread, "Only in this way also can the healthy German youth relearn the old German moral appreciation of the daily bread and at the same, time have the desired opportunity of participating in the tasks of the great present." SECRETS OF THE GRILL. The watchwords of the "Vossische Zeitung" at the zenith of this domestic crisis in Germany are "Cook without fat." This, too, is not without ite pathetic side.. . "The dnty of economising in every kind of food fat applies particularly to the well-to-do and the highest classes,, among whom f at-eorisumption can be reduced considerably. "This uncomfortable, or let us say unusual, duty is mitigated by the fact that the loßg-dccaskmed by , the sacrifices finds a compensation ready at hand, even. though it be of unfamiliar shape. It is the grill apparatus. < "Many will be surprised to hear that 'grill , is not an English, but a French noun; the English-speaking people say 'grill, , educated Frenchmen, Italians and others say 'gri,' and we are now expected to say 'roasting apparatus or machine.' "Meat and poultry of every kind is placed on the machine withont-any addition of fat. and requires only-the«slightesfc attention—nay, more, fair-is actually given off, and- at times in considerable quantity, 'which.-.means not-only,-an,«fljectrw>-

gain, as these meate through their lose of fat, become of more-value to the countlew people. "Whether-it is that it suits the palate better, or that the stomach assimilates it without difficulty, there is no doubt that grilled meat is the most agreeable." Both these items are curiously childish fn their grave simplicity, but coming as they do from two of the most representative of German newspapers, they illustrate vividly the other side, the ingenious Bide, of the Teutonic mind.