"HASTENING TO RUIN"

New Zealand Times, Volume XL, Issue 9171, 11 October 1915, Page 7

"HASTENING TO RUIN"

DISILLUSION IN GERMANY BERLIN MOURNING FOR ITS DEAD. LONDON, August 31. A personage .belonging to a neutral State lias given the Paris "Matin” impressions gathered during a recent visit to Berlin. “In the German capital,”' he remarks, “you sec chiefly women, old men, and children, and a , continual passing to and fro of woujxdod soldiers and men returning to the front after a visit to their families. But Berlin has the appearance of a, dissolute city, and there is more vice to he met with than there was in the, pleasure resort* of Paris before the war.- Up to 1 a.m. the cates and bars of Berlin remain open. Only the dancing halls are closed.” , , , Motor-cars are difficult tp find. There is a lack of petrol, for the Germans have not succeeded in , finding a substitute. There is also a lack of rubber. The harvest has been good, and food is- plentiful, though very dear. Germany has copper in abundance, procured from the Swedish mine*. The ore is treated in Sweden, and’ then imported'for the needs of the AustroGerman armies. The, moat reserves appear to bo diminishing, as tho sale has just been regulated. Within the last few • davs meat-cards have made their appearance, similar to those for broad. A MORAL BLOCKADE. In the other towns, more than in the capital, the. visitor notices the absence of adult men,, and’receives; the impression that; the male contingent of the population .is exhausted. : The increased cost of article* of prime necessity assumes' disquieting proportions. - These, says the neutral’ informant of the “Matin.” are facts. Now for appreciations., ■ ■

■' ’Germany is hermetically sealed as regards the entrance of news from abroad. The traveller, on entering and leaving, that country, is thoroughly searohed-r-hi* person, his trunks,, parcels. - everything, -by a cloud of functionaries. none • too - obliging. All <his papers are confiscated, ■ subjected- to - a searching investigation, and then returned to his domicile—an excellent ■way of learning the mature of the written mttter imported- and tho address of the traveller. TBo meet' -private papers, even those of your pocket-book, have to be : deposited, and are scrutinised. It is a moral blockade, i MWhat is tho state of mind of the Germans? In my: opinion,..the,- people want peace. It bears sadly the loss of its" numerous soldiers who are falling daily; the. great burden, of tho war Weighs heavily on its weary; shoulders, and discontent -grows in-proportion to the cost of living. As a proof of this I take tho ■ attitude vof the Berliners on the day that Warsaw fell. The taking of Warsaw; the - capital, of Russian Poland, called forth no popular enthusiasm or stir. / Only the official flags appeared at thewindows. , Tn- the streets there was silence and alto disillusion,"; for it . was manifest .that the, Ofiemy’a army had escaped tho "encirclement and* annihilation which,' the staff, hoped for. ' “The people would: like - to" have done: with it. ’ It desires peace. The Kaiser’S proclamation on August Ist, the anniversary’ of" the declaration of war," fell flat.

* ‘ ‘The - people: does net show.- its discontent, -which; is smouldering like the embers -beneath the ashes.. . The

haughty. . arrogance of . the begins ning of the .war .has given -place to depression. It does not -believe bulletins of victory any more; it counts its dead and suffers in silence. It receives official manifestations of joy'in silence. In the-course of my stay, at Berlin I, have had Occasion to ponder over .the deep truth of the saying of one.:of. your great revolutionaries‘The’ silence at the peoples is the lesson Of Kings.’ In conclusion,"the neutral adds an anecdote. Princess .. Victoria ■ Louise, tho Kaiser’s daughter, was lunching at the well-rknown Esplanade : Hotel (of which the Kaiser is a shareholder) with the "Prince of Lippe. All round were diplomats’ tables. At one of these tables sat members of .the Turkish Embassy. Further on were neutrals. The .Princess • took up the “Matin,” one of the first numbers of August, , which spoke of the Eaiser.. Raising her. voice so as to bo hoard, sho said it was wrong to blame her father, “who had not desired 1 tho war."

The [‘Matin’s’' informant summed up his impressions thus: — ,

“It is my settled conviction that Germany is hastening to ruin. She is not. yet at the end other tether, but there are manifest signs of. exhaustion. The violent popular desire for peace is a significant symptom.. One seostraces of attrition and > weariness in Germany which are not to be met with in France. Hold fast;,i resist all suggestions of peace; you: will crush Germany.” .