GERMAN EFFICIENCY

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3032, 20 March 1917, Page 6

GERMAN EFFICIENCY

A NEUTRAL'S OBSERVATIONS.

Everywhere in the war .zone publid officials are being rapidly multiplied.. In these days when we hear bo much: of German efficiency it is valuables to have the opinion of an observant neutral. Miss Madeline Doty, a trained democratio American woman, who has been doing Bed Cross work in Germany, has been giving some of her imr pressions on German efficiency. She sees disasterand suffering on all hands. Clothes as well as food, down to the smallest articles, have to be purchased by tickets, signed' and countersigned— to the busying of hordes of officials— ("Why cannot these officials-turn to and help to produce?" asks Miss Doty)—and the maddening of working mothers in dire need with never a moment to spare.' "These women, when spoken to, look wise and say: 'Wait till our men come back from the front, then you'll see." On all of which Miss Doty makes this important comment: — "The German Government is headed for disaster because it has failed .to distinguish between two kinds of efficiency—personal efficiency and industrial efficiency. Human beings cannot be treated like machines. It does not make them efficient. ... . Germany's attempt to apply her system to individuals is making havoc. "There is only ono real preparedness, and that is preparation for life. That is to be had not by drill and obedience, but by learning self-control through self-government. Only people who do their own thinking and steering have value." . : ,