TOPICS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 58, 5 September 1914, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY

People with average power of reasoning, not affected by nervA Time for ous fears, have not Common-sense, expected a sudden collapse of Germany's armies, nor are they dismayed by the enemy's penetration of France. The Germans are making huge sacrifices to ensure a maximum of moral effect, in accordance with the plans on which they have worked for years, but time may soon prove that the temporary gain of ground was not worth the. enormous cost. Yet some faint-hearted folk at the Antipodes apparently hope that the Germans will be miraculously dispersed like leaves before a tempest. Time will be needed by the Allies to wear down the energy of the invaders, and meanwhile the people of Australasia have good reason to be cheerful about the issue of the war. Britain holds the seas, and the. British and French armies, though retiring against superior numbers, are unbroken, and they are hitting the invaders hand while the lines of fighting change. On the East of Prussia the Russiaji colossus presses. The Germans are credited with one victory there this week, but the Russians were not routed. The stolid soldiers of the Tsar cannot be easily stampeded. They have a wonderful power of endurance and doggedness against odds, but in Prussia they have the advantage of armies which greatly outnumber the enemy. The factors point clearly to the ultimate downfall of Germany and the partition of the Kaiser's Empire. The German War Lords set themselves a hTore formidable task than any in history, ancient or modern, and any temporary success can only delay the inevitable smash, and make it more thorough when the Germans' resources have been used up. Why, then, should any timid New Zealanders—business people and others— distress themselves needlessly about the prospect? Naturally, a disturbance due to a great war, in these times of international trade and finance, must be felt in all parts of the world. Such a widespread disarrangement of the normal course of trade is a new experience, but why should it be an alarming one? "We are here in a land of plenty, within thousands of miles of which not a shot is likely to be fired," remarked the Sydney Daily Telegraph recently. "The war has not destroyed one penny's worth of property in Aubtralia, nor is there any visible probability that it will do so. The destruction that is being wreaked will cause an increased demand for Australian products at other people's expense when the damage has to be' made good." This indisputable line of reasoning has been developed in The Post and other journals of New Zealand. Business people and others who imagine that they are going to benefit themselves by giving way to baseless fear will merely make their plight worse. Restriction of enterprise, without cause, will necessarily react against the persons guilty of the shortsighted folly. Even selfishness, if, it has clear vision, should convince any person who pauses to take stock and to- think that there is no foundation whatever in New Zealand for gloom and dread. One of the factors contributing to the outbreak of war Austria's Instability was undoubtedly a Cause of War. the instability of Austria-Hun-gary. After the two Balkan campaigns, the course of which did not run happily for the Austro-German cause, the prospect of a dissolution of the racial mixture which is -called Austria-Hungary came to be widely discussed in Europe, Russians spoke confidently of the Austrian break-up as if it was a thing assured, and Germans began to fear that their estimate of the position was not far astray. Russia's naval and military programme had given rise to the demand in the German press for "a preventive war" to nip the Russian preparations in the bud, and some German jingoes suggested that if the Austrian ally was ever to be of use as a striking force, the time was now, before the disintegrating influences had further developed. Worse still, the widespread impression abroad of Austria's internal weakness produced an irritating effect on Austria herself; and the Vienna Government, which had inclined to a peaceful policy, began to ( f ear that its attitude of caution would be interpreted as one of timidity, thus diminishing Austria's military prestige and diplomatic influence. Having reached this disquieting "opinion, many powerful persons in Austrian official circles began to veer round towards an aggressive policy. Among these was Count Martinitz, an intimate friend of the late heir to the throne, the assassinated Archduke Francis Ferdinand. Writing prior to the events which led up to the present conflict, Dr. Dillon states that Count Martinitz would have preferred war (with Russia, if necessary) over the Servian and Albanian questions ; also that in Austria "military experts talk regretfully of this moment as a lost opportunity which will never return, because Russia's military strength will henceforward go on increasingly, and the adds in favour of Austria will diminish correspondingly." In such circumstances, the assassination of the Archduke would, of course, become a potent weapon in the hands of his friend Martinitz and of the militarists, and the ascendency of the war party in Vienna would easily be effected. It is not the first time t]»at nations have sought war abroad in order to stifle trouble within. It is a desperate remedy, and sometimes much worse than the disease, as the Lemberg disaster clearly proves. The industry and courage of tha German Ambassador at WashCount ington wring even from Bernstorff's an enemy much the Imagination, same kind of admiration which the poet of ancient Rome felt for the typical "die-hard" of the Civil War. All the world had fallen to the arms of Caesar, but they could not subdue the indomitable spirit of Cato. Even so, while the residue of a prosaic world acknowledges more or less cheerfully the dominion of the facts that are proceeding under its eyes, the proud soul of Count Bernstorff goes its own way rejoicing, ignoring the facts that are inconvenient for the Fatherland and ma.king others of a much more cheerful colour to take their place. One explanation of his singular success in this species of manufacture is perhaps to be sought in the stimulating effect which the air of Washington has long been known to exercise upon the imagination. The American politician has never been distinguished for too servile a love of truth, and Washington is the home of the American politician. And did not Mark Twain say that, though Shakespeare was credited with a very good imagination, the Washington correspondent of any A T ew York paper could "give him points" '/ Though Count Bernstorff is but a sojourner in the city which takes its name trom the man who never- told a lie, he need not shrink from comparison in the matter of imagination with the moßt hardened veteran among its journalists and politicians. One turns with a pleasing sense of relief from the chequered chronicle of the fortunes of the war which is supplied from other' sources to the paragraph in which the creative imagination of the Count supplies from day to day a. continuous record of brilliant successes for the Germans and disasters for the Allies. London and Paris he puts ruthlessly out of court as "lie factories." The history that is manufactured wholesale in Berlin or retailed from the German Embassy at Washington contains the true milk of the gospel of truth ; noha other in genuine. A recent item from Berlin v that, Australia and Canada, are

arming in order to wrest their independence from the embarrassment* of Great Britain. All that was wanted to complete this veracious history was to say that New Zealand had sent troops to Apia in order to keep the place warm for Germany till the end of the war. The very latest from Wasliipgton is that the German arms are winning extensive victories day by day over the Russians. /May the Count 'long continue to diversify the sad page of war with these cheap, glorious, and bloodless victories ! And may President Wilson" 1 have the goodness to exempt from his German poll-tax an imaginative artist who can give as many points to most Washington journalists as they caa give to poor William Shakespeare ! Had the Triple Alliance proved to be the instrument that What Italy's Germany thought Neutrality Coats it was, the plight Germany. of France by now would ha-ve been desperate. Germany appears to have expected active co-operation from Italy as well as from Austria, and it is an open secret that this co-operation involved vigorous offensive movements both on land and sea. On the north-west frontier (the French one) Italy was to operate with two armies, and she was also to send an army through Austria to the assistance of Germany. Her attitude of hetttraJity means not only that the Germans are without Italian aid in the line of battle, but they are also confronted with at least 200,000 French troops who would otherwise have been engaged in defending their Italian frontier. In total effect, this difference is enormous, and, as the Germans never forget, Italy, even if she does not side ' with the Triple Entente, need expect little quarter from a triumphant Germany. The provisions ot the Triple Alliance have t never "been 1 officially published, but it is understood that while Germany and Austria contract to help each other in all cases, Italy is only bound to fight if her allies are attacked by both France and Russia, not if her allies are the aggressors. If this is the nature of the compact, then Italy's attitude is morally sound, for Austria, with Germany's support, precipitated w^r with Servia, and the aggressive responsibility, in fact and in essence, rest* upon Berlin and Vienna.