BEBEL ON GERMAN ARMY

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 89, 11 October 1913, Page 12

BEBEL ON GERMAN ARMY

A new and in some respects an ■unexpected light is thrown upon the recent haste of Germany and France to increase their armaments by the publication of a letter written by the late Herr Bebel, the famous German Socialist. The letter, which appears in the' Pall Mall Gazette, was written to a correspondent whose name is not disclosed. It opens with a denial of the supposition that the German increase of armaments was directed against Franco. The writer thus continues: — " But what I am saying to you to-day, and which is from the best-informed nources, is this : The German Emperor has seen during the Balkan war that our army has completely gone to the dogs— that is, our officers arc incapable of commanding, and the material is absolutely impossible. If then the French had had the wish to attack us they would probably have been successful, for we were not strong enough at the frontier, as Kiderlen-Waechter, who formerly deaft with the French harshly, had to admit. If the French had guessed that we were not strong enough they would have begun." He then says that " Germany was to blame for the Turks' defeat," and "French arms helped the Bulgarians and Servians " for the first time. "The Emperor, being always practical, had to do something, and of course he caused the French to think that the German military preparations were being directed against them. I can assure you that the Emperor himself is glad that the Germans art; left in peace, for a long time will be required before these preparations are completed. Poinaore," he goes on to say, "is an enormous power, and his word in favour of war could bo a great danger, since his energy iB immeasurable."