PLANNING WAR?

Evening Post, Volume XCVIII, Issue 136, 6 December 1919, Page 19

PLANNING WAR?

A PERSISTENT RUMOUR

GERMANY'S DOUBTFUL MIND

"GOING TO TRY AGAIN."

SENSATIONAL PROPAGANDA,

This story is all over Europe. It is whispered, here in Switzerland, beside the League of Nations headquarters (writes Sterling Heilig, in a letter from Lausanne, Switzerland, to a New York paper). It is/ cried aloud besides the united Red Cross societies, engrossed in their work of love. It has heen read aloud to President AVilson Lloyd George, Clemence-u, and the others — both before and after the signing of the peace. Ifc has been solemnly presenj,ed a typewritten, to General Pershing. General Harbord, his chief-of-staff, knows all about it. He* could add largely to it from our intelligence ultra-secret reports. So, for the allied marshals and generals commanding armies. So, in all the allied countries, deputies, congressmen and senators have heard a confiden,tial version. And so, now, as the thing goes on, the entire public is to hear the story.

You can guess this, by the fact that I have it. It is an ungrateful story. We are told that it must be hammered into people. By the time these lines are printed, the first American speakers will have sailed from Europe, landed in New 1 York, and begun their campaign of .awakening. I can give you the name of one of them. He is a, man from St. Louis, Missouri, who fought throughout the war as _ French army surgeon. He is Julien H. Gehrung, medical aide major lere Classe, Medecin-Ohef and Inventor of the Voiture (Automobile) ophthahno-rhino-laryngologigue efc antigas No. 1; inventor of the treatment anti-gas for the eyes, nose, throat, and lungs. He also invented and put into routine the mobile auti-gas outfit. Men like these, who were in the hot of it, are hot about the whole bad subject THE OUTLINE OF THE STORY Here is the story:— iThey are going to try. itj again. Last February, yon Knhlmann, ex-Chancellor of the German Empire, said that Germany would take Paris before 1925. Soon after, Michaelis, who was his successor, said that when President Wilson had made the mistake of signing peace with this irresponsible makeshift Government, they would re-establish a monarchical dictatorship. It was demanded of Michaelis if the Hohenzollerns would be placed on the throne? He answered: "The moment is not opportune to answer that." Two days after this declaration, the French newspapers reproduced an interview with, the Crown Prince, in which he said: "I have not abdicated, nor have I been asked to abdicate." An unnamed Socialist leader said (and the !. papers _ repeated his words) that "Ger- | many is lost,. if .'she signs the peace or j not;_ and the only hope is to stir'up Bolshevism in the allied countries." THE KAISER'S THREAT Before America entered the war. the Kaiser declared to Mr Gerard, the American Ambassador to Germany, that he "had a great army in America-, and well trained, and that -after he had smashed France, England, aud Russia, he would attack America, and America would pay the expense of this war." In 1915, tiio Baron yon Wagenheim, German Ambassador to Turkey, speaking to Mr Morgenthau, American "Ambassador to Turkey, said : "We know that we can not win the war. We are, therefore, ready to quit Yes, we renounce ifc for the moment We need peace, in order to re-establish ourselves; and when •we are in shape, we will commence again.'' Mr -Morgenthau recently visit ed Germany, and found everywhere the same spirit—that hundreds of thousands of school children were being taught the same thing as above. So much for the past.

Naturally, it will he thought that we are painting the picture too black. But who would have thought, before the end of July, 1914, that we would have had such a terrible war for five years? In the actual state of affairs, considering the things which have happened in the last five years, no one can doubt the terrible things which can happen to the Allied, nations, even to far-off America, on the declaration of a new war. And, although one may take into consideration the fatigue and the sacrifices, one must also remember the German propaganda and the Bolshevism that is increasing and gaining each day DEFINITE PEACE AN ERROR? Are you sure (said these ally thinkers to the Peace Conference) that you are not committing- a most serious error in signing a, definite peace*' In so doing, we, the Allies, will have said our last word ; and it will be impossible to add any new conditions. We simply put our hands iv shackles, worse than prisoners, prisoners of our own promises! And our protests will be without any force. The Germans know this very well, and count on this miserable state of affairs. A declaration of war on the part of the Allies to enforce the peace conditionwill be very difficult . Therefore (it was said to the Peace Conference) it would be much better with a small present effort to prevent the future war than to wait until this calamity assails us, and then have to sacrifice everything in a possibly futile effort! One of the present remedies of this thing (says this story which I am quoting) is ilie intervention in Russia, which at once helps Russia against Germany and against Bolshevism The Bolsheviks have announced that their purpose is to spread their poison through all the other countries. Any interference we may make with them now will prevent- them from carrying out their dastardly purpose ; and as we know from terrible experience that the battlefield in another man's country is a whole lot better than in our own, it would pay to finish up the Bolshevik question on Russian territory rather than in Prance, England. Italy, and America, later on! It is perfectly agreed, in principle, that we ought not to interfere with other people's politics —but on condition, expressly, that they are not being moulded to blast our own' It is a beautiful sentiment to allow Rusians to settle their own affairs, and choose their own government as they like. All would subscribe to this, Dr Gehrung and the others will say to you—if we were sure to keep Germany from interfering in Russia and. establishing a pro-German government, and putting masses of German officers to the training of Russian troops, absolutely as they did in Turkey, to march them against us" It is well known that the majority of the Turks were not against the Allies, but only the government in power, and the German officers that forced Turkey against us. So, too, will it happen in Russia, if we do not prevent the ra-curreuce of the Turkish programme. Shall we hesitate on the point of delicacy? Wo may rest assured that Germany "will not hesitate for any such reason

ARE THE GERMANS AS DEEP AND SUBTLE AS THIS'

- The German soul recognises force only. They told us frankly they would; sign anything, but would not considor themselves bound to perform the covenants. They warned us frankly; and if

we are fools enough to accept their signature, it is our own fault. The Germans, in their "counter-propositions," said that they will not pay any money before seven years—in 1926. This may well be believed, because it is very sure that they expect to crush France and the Allied countries before that time! Our only safeguard against this menace (it was represented by this propaganda to the Peace Conference before peace -*',_ signed) would have been simply a prolongation of-the armistice, which in itself would have been only a suspension of with the threat of recommencing the war on 24 hours' notice, or to commence hostilitiea at once !

These things, I repeat, are being said I all over Europe. They are not my story ; but I have promised to do all I can to put them under the American eye. I continue the argument of these wellinformed people. In a few months, you may be astonished at the names It is a national and humane duty, they say, to put the_ whole truth before the public—to make it frankly known to all people that the Allies have tried, by every possible means and rules, to give the Germans a chance to show their honesty and good faith, and that we must now recognise the fact that they look upon this peace treaty as a joke, have resorted to time-wasting manoeuvres, and are putting themselves in a good position to recommence the war. They say cynically that they will not keep the peace conditions. They count on their propaganda and Bolshevism to separate the Allies, and even to excite combat between them Every day we see the fruits of their efforts multiply Consequently, that which we ought to have would be a prolonged armistice—or as near as we can get to it now We should have ordered their commission to quit Versailles and go home, because their signature, according to their own confession, was absolutely without value. Such dismissal would have impressed the Germans with the truth'that they'were conquered. To-day they do not seem to be able to comprehend it. THE GEE-RUN MENACE IN RUSSIA. This whole thing was put up to the Peace Conference : After having had to undergo this terrible war for five years, which the Germans forced on the Allies, because they considered then- treaties to be only scraps of paper, is was argued— will the Allies in signing this peace treaty in good faith, present the Germans with a new scrap of paper to be torn up ? In any case, it is now insk-ted, the Allied nations are now lost beyond all hope, if they permit the Germans to establish themselves in Russia. By doing so. irres pective of tho fact that the Socialists, even the French Socialists, seem to advocate it. we are playing absolutely into the Germans' hands. It is commonly known in Switzerland that great numbers of German officers who have been demobilised have gone to Russia They are already spreading dangerous propaganda and other works against the Allies. Immediate steps ought to be taken to have such_ German officers sent back from Russia; and it must be seen to, by com tnon consent, that they are not permitted to become Russian citizens! Any and all persons of German origin who have participated in any way in works against tho Allies, or against the Russian welfare, should be similarly treated.

If we are not eflicaciously in Russia before the Germans, they will lay hands on the raw materials found there, establish means of communication, railroads, etc., between Russia and Germany for the quick mobilisation of materials and men, create factories, etc., for the making of guns, munitions, and other war material, even under the guise of Russian citizenship —using cheap Russian labour for making ready to crush us. In j the peace treaty we have forbidden the manufacture of guns and ammunition in Germany; but we .cannot, at present, J forbidthem to do it in Russia, as Russian citizens, unless we take the proper measures. Before three years are up, «ay these memorials, the Germans will have _ amassed sufficient reserves and material to force a new war in France, then in England and America. j ANSWERS TO ALL OBJECTIONS. You may say that all this is exaggeration. The propaganda answers you. You may say (it says) that, in such a new war, the French and English fleets will destroy the German sea-coast cities ; but they won't care, because the Allies will be forced to reconstruct them _ little later. Yes, they say, the conquered Allies, we have limited the German army to 100,000 men. Yes: but the Germans have at least 8,000,000 guns, etc., and how many millions of well-trained men all ready to be reorganised? Though demobilised, these guns have been redistributed for " self protection " against their fake revolutions. And, again, th? Germans will, as they did in Turkey, train and arm millions of Russian soldiers. They will call back their agents, the Bolshevists, give Russia a German peace and prosperity and firmly seat a pro-German Government. With these soldiers German, Russian, Austrian, Hungarian, Turkish, Bulgarian, and perhaps the soldiers of some countries to-day neutral, together with war material made surreptitiously in Russia and in other countries, France will be crushed within five years, they say!