The New Zealand Times. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 16, 1918. THE TRUTH ABOUT GERMANY

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIII, Issue 9870, 16 January 1918, Page 4

The New Zealand Times. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 16, 1918. THE TRUTH ABOUT GERMANY

Yesterday -we let tlie six associations of German, citizens tell the truth of Germany. Now wo add tho testimony of the 1341 German intellectuals. Wo need not give space to the whole of their petition to the Chancellor, for it covers the same ground as the petition of the citizens. It is enough to quote the words of their demand for annexation, spoliation, and enslavement. The three following excerpts put tho matter with a dearness sufficient to make all decent Germans wish for the earth, to open and hide their dhamo;

"Special measures will have to he taken so that the German Empire should not be internally weakened by its external acquisitions. In order to avoid a position similar to that Which obtains in Alsace-Lorraine, the undertakings and landed properties

in the conquered districts which secure to their owners power and influence should ho transferred from hands hostile to Germany to German hands, and the indemnification of the original owners should be left to France. No influence whatever upon the Umpire should be allowed to that cart of the French population which has been taken over by ns. “Furthermore, it is necessary that France—and Franco among all our enemies in the first place—should have imposed upon it a high hvar indemnity, and that no mercy should bo shown to it, although it has financially been terribly bled through its own folly and British selfishness.” "Of the problems which we have to solve when we have acquired Belgium we mention only this, that the inhabitants mnst be allowed no political influence within the Empire. As in France, the undertakings and landed properties which give power and influence to their owners must be taken out of the hands of persons hostile to Germany and placed into the ' possession of German owners."

“The inhabitants, Lithuanians, Bsthonians, and Letts, who are racially not related to the Russians, will become useful as agricultural labourers for temporary work in Ger-

many proper." The special emphasis given by Germans to these infamous proposals dates from before the war. Here is what a certain very widely-circulated German pamphlet by ‘ ‘Tannenberg” said so far back as 1911 of the terms to be forced on Franco and Belgium

hy a war for Germany’s famous place in the sun: 1. —Franco will cede to Germany the departments of tho Vosges with Epinal, Meurthe-et-Moselle with Nancy and Luneville, the eastern half of the Meuse with Verdun, and of the Ardennes with Sedan; altogether about 17,114 square kilometres. 2. France will take the inhabitants of these territories and instal them elsewhere. This migration will have to be carried out within a year from the date of the signing of the treaty of peace. The country will be parcelled out into rural holdings of from 40 to 60 acres aero-ding to quality, and allotted as rewards to German soldiers who have distinguished themselves during the war. The house-property in the towns will also be distributed in lots of about the same value. 4.—France will take the Walloons inhabiting Belgium to colonise her uninhabited territories. The migration must he carried out in the space of three yearsThe properties of the Walloons and of the inhabitants of the districts of Haute-Moselle and Haute-Meuse, incorporated in tho new province of eastern Franconia, both houses and lands, will be valued, by experts,and their owners will be compensated. by the Republic, such compensation being reckoned as part of the war indemnity to be paid by France to Germany. The frontier regions thus depopulated on the middle course of the Meuse will be colonised by German soldiers who have distinguished themselves in the war, so that in a few years this frontier province will have a purely German population.

hVobenius (supposed to bo tho Crown Prince) wrote a pamphlet in 1913 much to the same purpose, entitled “The Plateful Hour of Empire.” Both pamphlets went into at least a dozen editions, selling like hot cakes. So did the photographs of tho Crown Prince, exposed in every bookseller’s dhop before the war, each carrying this inscription: “We can only obtain that place in itho sun which is our duo by the help of our good sword, for it will not bo ceded to us willingly.”

That sentence fits all tho German official utterances of this war, as the quotations from the pamphlet of Tannenberg inspired the two petitions of the citizens and the intellectuals. The official utterances are not so frank as the petitions, but their cryptic terms so studiously preserved, admit of noother construction.

In the face .of this evidence, of what use is it to negotiate with Germany for peace? As M. Pichon said in the French Chamber of Deputies, it would only lead to confusion and entanglement. Moreover, the exposure of the fraud attempted at Brest . Litovsk is sufficient proof of the bad faith of Germany’s proposals to negotiate. Tho Allies have declared plainly their views with regard to Belgium, France, and the other occupied territories. If the enemy were really determined not to annex them, no tiling would he easier for them than to say so in plain terms. But they meet the question with, virtually, sneers, jeers, hoots and falsehoods, covering their dishonesty with a, cloak of bad manners. Their aim is clearly to annex all the territory they can, confiscate all the property within their grasp, and enslave all populations brought under their sceptre—to avoid internally weakening their Brigand Empire by external acquisitions. .Their, object is to get as much of that as they,,can now, .and prepare for- seizing the rest when refreshed, and rested, and reorganised. The great Entente Alliance is now a groat fact, a live fact, a power of which all the parts are working with overwhelming strength and splendid precision. That most rare combination may, if the criminal is let off now, never again recur. The case for keeping up the fighting pressure against him til] he is beaten to the earth is overwhelming. Any other course, in view of the infamy of his expressed aims, which is only equalled by the infamy of his war frightfulness, ‘is unthinkable.