GERMANY OUT OF BOUNDS.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 16848, 31 May 1920, Page 8

GERMANY OUT OF BOUNDS.

» A DYING DERELICT. (specially wnriTEx for "the it.ess."; (Br Mrs Jci.iak Gkande.) GENEVA, April o. Travelling on the Continent in pen era! is still very trying, but traveling in Germany requires not only physiea endurance but calm nerves and patience and no harm will bo done if a dash o humour be also thrown in. After a few clays the traveller learn that it is useless investing in -a first class ticket, raid that ho may just a: well buy a third-class ono, as he wil have to travel in whatever class com partment he can get into. Moreover he will learn much if he wanders abou the train from one compartment to an other, and from one class to another In whichever class he travels, ho wil be struck by the extraordinary amoun of bickering and squabbling which i going on amongst his' fellow-travellers and he will understand why the Frenc! speak of ''querelies d'allemands," o quarrels about nothing. Everyone i irascible, and abuses everyone else, an* in so doing makes use of those super latives in which the German language i so rich. And this everlasting abusing is not confined to one class of Germans aoparently everyone, even educated pen pie, university professors, indulge in ir In a long railway journey the tra veller may be obliged to sit and listei to abuse, as indiscriminate as it is ex travagant, of such dissimilar persons a the ex-German Emperor, the ex-A us trian Emperor, M. Ciemenceau, M Lloyd George, Herr _ .Krzbergcr, Prcsi dent the Social Democrats, th Poles, the French, the Alsatians, an< last, but apparently far from least, th Jews. All are, it would seem, "mean criminal, and rascally." In one car riage in which fifteen persons had tfind room, their conversation might hav been modelled on that of the famou i juryman in the Pilgrim's Progress I "He is a rogue, said Mr Liar. Hans ! iiig is too good for him, said M j Cruelty. Let us dispatch him out o | the way, said Mr Hate-Light. The; I said Mr Implacable, might I-have a! the world coukl give me, I could no be' reconciled to liim.'' Should South and West Germans b present, they will bo abusing the Prut ! sians as largely responsible for all tha they and Germany aro having to on dure at present. And in all this abus all of them go beyond all bounds: the; have apparently lost all sense of pro portion. Germany, in short, in man; ' respects presents the spectacle of I wholly dismembered people, torn asun | dor by conflicting feelings and pett; | personal spite, unable to lead itseli j and utiablo to agree upon a leadei [ Men constantly go about with thei j fists clenched, literally and metaphori I callv, and on the slightest provocatioi i one man will give another a bos on th i ear. j For Germany at present has got ou | of bounds, and is out of joint, and i I is difficult not to feel that the countr; must be on the eve of a real revolution I am not giving merely my own opin ion. but that of many Germans, whos wish is assuredly net father to thei thought, when I say that before Ger many can get better she must first ge worse. Before she can right herself she will have to' become much mor< wronsr, very much more out of joint and beyond bounds still. She will, ii fact, probably pass through a period o Bolshevism. I ho"e T may be mistaken but I fear not. Even now it seems t' me that numbers of the British publi aro not sufficiently alive to the ex trcme seriousness of the state of affair in Germany. What is most striking in comparing the Germany of to-day with that of befoi'Q the war is that local patriotism is assorting itself and Imperial patriotism seems declining. Perhaps because the Prussians suppressod tho local patriotism of tlie fckjuih and other Germans too much, of late when prisoners of wai have b-v.;i welcomed home the Baden main railway station, for instance, wa i doeoi ai&d uiUi tj.e jiaden coiours, anc. the Frankfurt railway station with the Frankfurt colours, not with ol Germany, cither imperial or republican JLn a sense, thweiort:, tiie Germans are at present a iiagless people. Tho old Junker clings to tho black, white, and red banner, and does so with a fidelity and a tenacity worthy of a hotter cause. The black, red, and gold banner, how ever, the present iicpubln-ait German flag, which by the way is that of 1848. has the support of the Republicans, o wiiom thero are not too maJiy, and many of what few there are swear bv the red colour only. 'i'lio traveller ui French occupied territory in Geimany is obliged to heaj ixio unusu ana ueu; and if lie wish to JU.ear or tne French, lie need only go 10 liiiuxti and American occupied uuritoiy. in general, however, w jioii tnu vierwan m occupied territory liiicls out tuut a stranger is hot a jC Jtenciiiiian, he uewaies tnat no wisiios tiH-y nad tno linusu or Americans ill occupation uisteati ox the I I roncn. one reu&ou generany alleged against French occupuLion is tiiat it Uiinga with it the erection of iii-iame uouboi near tue mam arteries ol trartic, aitiiougn, as tiie Geruimis tnemselves nave aamitted in post-vvai' puoncations, even in one by a writer of so mucii repute as I'roieafcfjr Iticliaid Ueiimei, they aid exactly tue same tiling tnemseivos in enemy couutiy, and do it now in trie enormous majority or tuoir own towns and cities. linouga of German degradation and misery is seen even in occupied territory—uutiuy and unkempt puolic buildings, tor exampio, and even oucn a beicre tlie war inconceivable si gat as a Gorman postman in a uniform not merely snaoby but ragged. In order to realise tne acuteness of tho sufferings being endured in some parts, and large pu.i La i/i Lne country, noHuver, it is necessary to visit tne rural andi remote districts. But here it is oniy recently that tho people could have iioen seen going about in' rags. Until quite a siiort time ago sewing thread was obtainable, and so long as it couid be had the poor women contrived to keop their chiiuren fairly tidy, even tiiougn their garments wero incredibly meniied and patched. Moreover, tho children here nave often only ono set of clothes, and when the mother washes theso tho children must go to bed. li&daing 3 cur,tuins 3 and even oid H&eko havo frequently been cut up for clothing, so that the people must sleep on straw. During tho last winter children often could not attend school for want or boots, and the touchers' universal complaint is how difficult it is to teach them because, owing to prolonged malnutrition, they cannot concentrate their atteution on their work, and after about twentj' minutes they are exhausted and fit for nothing. Older children, of eleven and twelve, frequently go to school without breakiastj. that is, without a piece of bread. At most thev may have had some potato soup. Owing to Lheir having far too much soup and liquid fo.od generally, many children iiitvu bladder complaints. Scrofula, anu-.-n:a. and, of course, the bad breath which iollows on semi-starvation, aro all common. Unemployment, owing to lack of raw material, frequently makes the distocss lar v/oise. 'lnus in a small town of 6000 people, mostly Methodists, who live by making furniture and kid gloves, there were last month. 1100 unemployed, and those who were able to get work could only get it durin" three uavs a week. " In another. of these small country places, a children's home takes in and looks after sixty children whoso parents are at work during the day. The children pay the trifle of 2 marks a week, and bring with them their food cards. With the help of supplies from England and America, they can be fed on a diet including soup, rolled oats,.

margarine, dried milk, and sugar, but only a little more than 31b of meat per week for the whole sixty. Owing to a long diet- chicflv of potato soup, witli a little bit of salt herring perhaps a fortnight, and a little inferior breau. the children are apt to be not much more thsin half as tall and well-grown as thov ought to no for their ng«>-% «ind cvt-n when sometimes they hare rosy cheeks, these are ntfrlv deceptive. l:ke tho bright colour of many consumptive. ( . The remote country pir.crs m <jerrvuiy. -.inlike the cities, are mosti.v clean and neat. and the bouses of the , pr.or inhabitants snick ann span. j i .Nimc help for thee M'fTcrins: people I i< comiuc in from Krfland and Amend. and also from Holland and from vvvitrorlnnd. but it is not enough, ami mi int-omationn! effort ne tmoo and heartily to heln Germany pick herself up nc.Ti'i, we S'wl have he: - j giving way to Russian Bolshevism. j