The Dominion SATURDAY, APRIL 10, 1915. HOW THE GERMAN PEOPLE ARE FOOLED

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2432, 10 April 1915, Page 6

The Dominion SATURDAY, APRIL 10, 1915. HOW THE GERMAN PEOPLE ARE FOOLED

A neutral correspondent has given the outside world some interesting information regarding the "honest beliefs" of the German people. According to a cable message which appeared in yesterday's issue there is a. widespread belief in Germany that an increasing gulf separates France and England, and that France will soon- desert her Allies and conclude peace on her own account. She will then, so the story goes, throw in her lot with Germany, and turn her guns on Britain. We are told that many of the Kaiser's subjects really believe this sort of thing. The Kaiser and his subordinates no doubt feel that something must be done to revive the drooping spirits of the people. The enormous German casualty lists must have had a most depressing effect, and it is impossible to conceal from the' nation the obvious fact that its Navy has been powerless to- prevent the annihilation of its overseas commerce. Then there is tbe increasing scarcity of food. This is a matter of direct personal knowledge, for the people nave been placed on short commons. At Schoneberg recently women and children were injured in a wild rush to secure cards authorising the holders to obtain potatoes, and severe restrictions have been placed on the sale of bread. This doling out of necessaries of life is enough to damp the ardour of the most inveterate optimist. In the face of these unpleasant experiences it' must be extremely difficult for intelligent Germans to feel that all is going well at the front. In the efforts of the military authorities to prove that their original plan of campaign has not been upset, the people know that the Kaiser's! armies have been thrown back from Paris, and they have at least. Boms hazy idea that the desperate attempt to capture Calais has failed; that the Russians are forcing their way into Hungary and are inflicting colossal losses on the Germans in Poland. It has become quite. evident to file outside world that the German military machine is not invulnerable, and though this fact may not have penetrated the minds of the great mass of the Kaiser's own people, there are a great many of the more intelligent of the-German population who are beginning to realise it. The cumulative effect of these adverse happenings must be very considerable, and the officials no doubt find it necessary to take steps to counteract- the spirit of pessimism which is liable to be engendered. _ Small German successes are magnified into great victories, and defeats are either minimised or explained away,-while the hearts of the people are buoyed iqi by assurances of approaching triumphs. They are told that Britain is being starved by the submarine- blockade, and that _ the inhabitants of the United Kingdom aro panic-stricken by the ever-present fear of invasion and _ the constant dread of Zeppelin raids. And the censorship of news from the outside world is so strict that it is quite probable that the muss of the German pfcople really believe moat of these fairy talcs.

Ever since the beginning of the war tho ICaisskr and his advisers have done their utmost to divide the Allies. They have endeavoured to create ill-feeling between Britain and France, and have offered to conclude a separate peace with Russia. Al) piuih fcrii'lt? have retullocl in icHomiuioiu failure. JJut the within'.

ities arc trying to make the outlook apjioar as bright as possible by assuring the people that these very overtures which have been rejected arc just on the verge of success. We arc now told that the bulk of, tho Germans are getting so fascinated with the "glorious hope" that France is about to botray her friends in order to save Germany from humiliation that "they almost love France." Their hatred of England is so overwhelming in its intensity that they seem to be losing their mental balance and to be ready to believe that anything is possible or probable that would enable them to smash the British Empire. It is only a frenzy of hate that could mako otherwise intelligent Germans imagine that there is even the remotest chancc of the French Government or people entertaining for a momont the slightest idea of making a separate peace with France's bitterest foe—a foe which deliberately planned the present war with the object of crushing her for ever, "li'randf," says Bernhardi, "must be so completely crushed that she can never again come across our path." The French people are well aware that they can expect no mercv, from Germany, and they ask for none. As late as February last the French Prime Minister (M. Viviani) said: "We are unanimously determined not to accept anything but a victorious poace, and all tho Allies are uuited on this matter. The pact of September d has France's signature, and for us a treaty is not a scrap paper. . .' . The Allies aro going to fight the war out to the bitter end." These words are sufficiently emphatic and uncompromising to shatter the _ "glorious hope" of an agreement with France to which many_ Germans are said to be still clinging, but the authorities at Berlin have no doubt taken good, care to prevent the Kaiser's subjects from reading M. Viviani's words, nor is it at all likely that the people will be permitted to know anything about the French Premier's statement that "the German torrent is checked, Germany is beaten on tho field, an implacable blockade is drawing ever more tightly about her, and, despite all tho precautions taken by her to conceal the truth, I can assure you that 1 her financial and economic rout is complete." M. Viviani's view of tho position may be a little more optimistic than is warranted by tho actual facts known to the general public, but it is undoubtedly true that the German hosts are being surely' beaten back, that Germany's economic condition is becoming extremely acute, and that she' is gradually, though perhaps slowly, nearing the end of her resources. Official ingenuity may bo able to conceal the truth from the people' for a time, but it is only a question of time. The confidence which has been founded on false hopes will eventually crumble away.