THROUGH GERMAN SPECTACLES.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XLI, Issue 12768, 10 February 1916, Page 1

THROUGH GERMAN SPECTACLES.

i FATHERLAND'S DESCENT INTO GEHENNA. INDICTMENTS FROM BERLIN AND COLOGNE. Lamentations over the degeneracy of the people, the increase in crime, and the spread of immorality continue to occupy a. large share of ttie attention of the Germao Press. : ..-_,:: Judging from this- unbiassed testimony, the Land -of Kultur is in a very bud way: The German, newspapers have never been particularly squeamish, and most of; the- so-called "comic" journals- of the Fatherland' are of a eharacter which would cause their immediate suppression in. imy. other country.: -.lt' may safely be assumed,! therefore, that conduct calculated to shock a German editor! must touch the lowest depths of iniquity. '■ : v .-•;■/ ' •A" "TERRIFYING PICTURE:" • Even the" official Cologne Gazette is moved to criticism:— • "While the war has contributed greatly, in consolidating the true German spirit,.'while it has strengthened the mental and moral virility of our citizens of mature age, and given to their patriotism _ a truly religious and lofty character, it seems unaccountably to be exercising an entirely contrary—a deleterious—effect on our youthful population. .- ■ "Crime has increased among young people—in the industrial districts par' ticularly—to a really alarming extent. In the case of one single local'tribunal the number of sentences passed on young men. as well as young women, rose Jrom 58 in 1913 to 183 in 1914 and to 256 during the first ten months of 1915. "Among the offences, fraud, robberywith violence, attempts'at murder, and actual-manslaughter.figure very largely, the youngest offenders being from sixteen to twenty years of age, while none of them was older than twenty-six. "It is a truly terrifying picture which casts a deep stain on German Kultur." . CALAMITY. An indictment framed by the Magdeburger Zeitung charges the German' people with a degenerate love, of luxury, the practice of criminal tisury at- the expense of the poor, and' flagrant immorality and licentiousness. A portion of the'article, is translated below. Some of it is too —Kultured —for reproduction : ' •' '

"May the Loul God' of German history aid us to prevent -calamity from overwhelming our country! While oiir heroes are shedding their lifeblood in the battle line, the vile' spirit of usury thrives and'flourishes hi its domain behind the front.

"Let us not forget that if we would see Germanism flourishing once more in all its pristine grace and glory we must break altogether with that love of luxury which our people have aped from the degenerate French and the soulless English.'' We must return to the days when the highest Prussian officer was content to sit on » cane-bottomed chair and to recline on the old American cloth-covered sofa in his father's house. "The future that is before us will bea time of iron : therefore the - mental and moral training of the people must be of steel. Thus it becomes our sacrod' duty to fight again the luxury, licentiousness, and immorality in'our midst, to strive for the-regeneration of the masses, for their-return'to ilie simplicity and iron rif-or of the Prussianisin which has made us great and brought on us the envy of the invertebrate nations." ft seem? to be rather a large order, judging from those parts of this and other indictments which it has been deemed desirable to withhold. UNASHAMED.

Another phase of German degeneracy is dealt with by the Berlin Tageblatt, ittid herc J again ..it is impossible to print the whole of the comment:— "Those who would deny "the stato-n-.ent that tlie German people are in danger of being wholly submerged beneath the extraordinary wave of laxity r-nd immorality that is breaking over the country must iind themselves' lamentably disillusioned when they learn what recently occurred at the Correctional Court of Berlin. '•During the hearing of a case the judge ordered that the defendant be subjected on the spot to a minute medical inspection. As the public consisted almost exclusively of well-dressed women, the judge remarked: "Ladies are requested to withdraw.' None of them, moved.

•'When the prisoner had heen divested of his very last remnant of clothing the behavior of the feminine portion of the audience so scandalised the judge that he ordered the court to be cleared." A SEVEN YEARS' AVAR. The Kreuzzeitung, which lias been prophesying Germany's "immediate and glorious triumph" every week for the past twelve months, is now serenely contemplating a seven years' war:- : - "Erederick the Great had to fight for Prussia's aggrandisement in a war that lasted seven years. The German people of to-day would do .wisely to propare themselves, if need be, for a struggle'of equal duration. "If Asquith can talk about a twenty wars' war, surely Ave can contemplate calmly one of seven years. Long before that period was reached; our schoolboys of to-day would have developed into eligible soldiers, the veterans of to-day would have become the military instructors of to-morrow, and' the marvellous scientific genius of our experts would bave.wrung from nature's bosom secrets a i present unimaginable 'which would be used to solve the problem of the feeding-of tin; people. "German has still in store vast treasure of sustenance for her children, even though seven more years of blood and strife pass over her head." BEGGARS AT THE GATES. Neither 'Mr M'Kenna nor Major Churchill, it' seems, is able to intimidate, the Hamburg Nachrichten:—. "Mr M'Kenna, we note, repeats Mr Churchill's ' comforting words: ' While Germany's - power is declining, ours giows automatically, both in. fact and in proportion,' and France and Russia, Belgians and - ' Italians, Portuguese, South Africans, Kaffirs, and Hottentots believe it, and' wag their. silly heads approvingly. "We invite all these gentlemen, regardless of color, to pay us. a visit. Their 'ignorance will then be enlightened, and they shall see the masses of capable men weean still dispose of. "lii the meanft'me we should like to ask the Allies how they can explain the inystej-y that "while their numbers are r so formidable they have heen unable for sixteen long .months to carry out any decisive action; on any part of the exteiidedseat ofVar from the North Sea 'to ' the Euphrates, although, cap in hand, they stand as beggars at the gates of the much-despised small nations."

A- FORJQ AND irJIS FOLLY. Mr Ford- andjiismotley crew of antiBritish pilgrims are rather cruelly handled by : the Yossisehe 2feitung:— "The acme of irony is reacbediin this that one happens: to he ex-President' "a ' iftaii v.ho exploits the. Nobel' Peace Prize, which was awarded organise a crusade of hailed'against Germany. ' 'The best tlnrig'tHe American's, could do would be to Quietly sta^'at home and concentrate their energies., on, the -far jiobler task of stoppihgi'the ing of the Entente Powers" with, war material. This -would be the most effect tive means for furthering !the cause of peace. • '. ':.','< ' v.-.■'."■-•■» :''■■} 'Yif.-'-* ;'■-, ■' i TransaUantks':nlißa^rt\.tr^ i productive of that kills." ".:. ~'^^£&< : .^M^i&(