WHAT THE GERMANS REALLY ARE.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume VI, Issue 275, 6 November 1916, Page 3

WHAT THE GERMANS REALLY ARE.

CONDEMNED OUT OF THEIR OWN MOUTHS. Some people will not believe Sir Joseph Carruthers in a Sydney paper last week) that the German is a savage. These people deny that the atrocities committed by German soldiers are the evidence of the character of the Germans as a race. Well, the best way to convince such people is to read to them what the (termans says of himself. Take university professors first. Professor Oscar Bie says in the “Hamburger Fremdenblatt” : — There are not principles of humanity. Humanity is not a law of Nature; it is a child of circumstances. Professor Reinhold Seeberg. of the Berlin University, says: — Germany loves other nations. She punishes them by invading, killing, and burning solely for their uwu good. Take now the views of clergymen. The Protestant Bishop of Kiel piously Thanks God for His merciful support in allowing our submarines to sink American vessels and others quite regardless of how many and how impudent the Americans on board may be. Pastor Scheitler wrote a pamphlet for the troops, in which he said: — f'The German soldier must thrust his bayonet between the ribs of tinenemy and shatter the butt end ot his rifle on the enemies’ skulls. That is his holy duty, and thereby lie is serving God. In a second pamphlet the same pastor declared: —

The- slaughter of thousands upon thousands of Russian barbarians is a truly religious work; a service to Christ. Pastor Bobel, of Leipsic, wrote: — German submarines are instruments to execute Divine vengeance by sending to the bottom of the sea thousands of the non-elect who have, like the English, French and Russians, sold themselves to the devil. Says Pastor Philippi, of Berlin: — It is because we are pure that we have been chosen by the Almighty as His instrument to slay with the sword the sinful nations. German soldiers must therefore kill, burn, and destroy. Any half-measures would bo wicked. Hear now Pastor Koklon, of Berlin :— England is the worst enemy of God. She has betrayed and dishonoured the name of Christ. It is the task of Germany to destroy her. Listen to the schoolmasters!

In Prussian schools children are taught to recite verses in which these words occur: — Shoot all the Russians, knock down all the French, kick all the English, do the Serbs to death. In Hanover’s schools they teach this lovely poem:— Over there, in his cowardly trenche®. Lies the enemy. We attack him. Strike dead all who beg for mercy. Shoot them all like dogs. The more enemies the better is our prayer In this our hour for revenge. A German Socialist, in an address, says: — Honour is a purely bourgeois notion. Moritz Stern, an author, says:— Germany is Christ, the Saviour of the world. Brausewetter, another literary light, says: — In Christ everything was profoundly German. and The world will he healed of all evil by the German Saviour. Just how this will be done is shown by General von Dittfurt, who says: —■ The earth that covers the body of one of our men is more sacred to m than all the Cathedrals of the whole world. Another officer says: — The disappearance of all these old Cathedrals and other architectural monuments will only hasten the birth of new and astounding creatures of German genius.

The “Chemister Volke-Stumme” newspaper says:— The victory will come to the stronger. There is only one means to employ, the knee on the chest and the thumb in the eye. Another German newspaper says:— For a generation we must hold Belgium down by the sword. We must subject her to a regime of force. The Munich “Medical Journal” says: Peace is a catastrophe. We must have perpetual war. And, further, the same periodical says: — There should be education in hatred; organisation of hatred. We must not hesitate to declare blasphemously “that now abideth these three, faith, hope, and hatred, and the greatest of these is hatred.” All of the foregoing quotations are from men and writers of the last few months, and are typical of the German mind. They are not criminals who write thus ; ‘ they are representative men of all classes in Germany. No wonder there are atrocities, brutalities. massacres, rapes, and arson when the Germans invade a country. Such is but the natural result of their mentality. Let Australians ponder on these evidences from the mouths of Germans themselves. Realise what the world is up against. Can any Australian then shirk his obligations to send every available man to save the world from a reign of terror at the hands of the Huns ?