GERMAN MEDALS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17576, 18 March 1919, Page 6

GERMAN MEDALS

The mentality of the German, always a curious study, is aptly illustrated by the collection of medals struck in Germany in commemoration of the notable personages and events of the war. The Hun has a passion for these objects d'art. As a soldier his pride is to win and wear them ; as a citizen he loves to collect them in the form of medallions, and to enshrine them on the walls of his house, where they minister to that "morning, hate" of the Allies, which is popularly supposed to be a feature of the all well regulated German households. Miniatures of these artistic and patriotic efforts are sold in enormous numbers for personal wear, so that the hausfrau, going forth to the depleted market, is sustained in her tribulations by the knowledge that on her bosom she rejoices pictorially in the sinking of the Lusitania, while little Fritz and Grotchen, trotting at her side, are decorated with triumphant presentments of the dead at Gallipoli, or the bombardment of Scarborough. If, as is probable, the truly patriotic German householder has made a collection of all these artistic'triumphs as they appeared, it is painful to reflect upon the number of broken idols which will shortly encumber the' dustbins of the Fatherland. , Possibly the effigy to be httrled most swiftly to the dustbin is "that of the Crown Prince, represented on one side in his habit as he lives, with a stupendous collar and—if the caricaturists are to be believed . —an altogether undue allowance of chin; and on the reverse-as "Young Siegfried," bestriding a prostrate monster with four heads—France, a cock; England, a unicorn; Belgium, a lion; and Russia, a bear. This, however, is the only attempt to include "Little Willie" in the collection; possibly v even the simple hausfrau has found him a trifle difficult to swallow. Von Tirpitz, on the contrary, has two medals all to himself, and half of a third. The _ massive features of the bellicose admiral, and his gigantic whiskers, render him peculiarly adapted for a medal, and he makes an ideal Neptune—on one medal depicted as rising from the sea and shaking his fist at Dover; on another sitting on a submarine and rejoicing over the sinking of a merchant ship. Each bears the simple anl beautiful legend, "Gott strafe England!" The third medal shows again _ the Allied monster, this time amplified with an ape's head for Japan and a dragon's for China, with Italy as a confiding child beneath the scaly beast. Tirpitz, once more as Neptune, occupies the reverse, ejaculating, "Strike hhn dead ! The Day of Judgment will not ask your reasons!" Companion medals are those illustrative opposing Alliances. Germany. Austria, and Turkey, serene and noble, are seen proclaiming, "To God Alone the Glory !"—the reverse stating that "England seeks to starve us out. Russia to plunder and rob, France to burn us out, and Italy to avenge the destruction of Belgium." The other medal shows M. Delcasse. Sir Edward Grey, -M. Ivolsky, and Signor Salandra, with the late King Edward's head as an inset; and a- more villainous looking quintet it would be difficult to find. The hausfrau probably concealed them from little Fritz and Gretchen, lest they should "dream of the devil and wake in a fright." A figure on the reverse blows- a trombone with the look of anguish commonly associated with that instrument, scattering propaganda leaflets the while. The legend is : "Campaign oflies of the Quadruple Entente, 1914." There is a joyous association conpected with the c 'Nach Paris! (To Paris) 1914" medal, representing Fury on horseback, heading for Paris, grasping a flaming torch. For the French promptly went medal striking on their own account, and produced Fury as a death's, head, on a skeleton horse, extremely depressed and "lighting out' , for Germany. "Nach Haase!" (Home) is the terse legend.

"The Pilgrimage to the Balkans, 1915," shows the Entente (with Irilted and puttied British) imploring the Balkan States for aid. "Help, Balkans! Fight for us!" we are gasping. Another meda] is a sneer at Wilson and America, showing the President as exemplar of "Liberty, Neutrality, Humanity, 1915," -while on the reverse Uncle Sam is contentedly supplying munitions. Had the British navy allowed Jus wares to pass to Germany, it is probale that the Hun regard for Mr Wilson's "humanity" would have been sincere.

The landing of the Indian troops at Marseilles was an inspiration to the artist. A British Tommy, smoking a gigantic pipe, is depicted urging a small elephant to the battlefield, while on the reverse fly triumphal banners, with the inscription (in. bad French), " Long live the English! We are saved! Great attraction—the Indians at Marseilles!" And the heroic bombardment of Scarborough and Hartlepool, where a school was shelled and many children killed, was the occasion for striking a " Victory penny," showing a winged Victory with laurel wreath and flaming sword, , and the inscription, "God Blessed the United Hosts." One medal alone out of the collection merits the respect that every decent man gives to a brave foe. It is to the memory of the three Counts von Spee, father and two eons, who went down with their ships in the battle of the Falkland Islands. Curiously, too, it is the one with an unusual claim to artistic merit—on one side the three sailors, on the other an eagle, swooping low over a lonely sea, dropping laurel leaves upon the angry waters. The Tubantia medal is an" impudent attempt to fix upon England the guilt of the destruction of the Diitch liner. England is shown as Death, hesitating between using a mine or a torpedo to sink the vessel in the offing. The legend, "England's greeting to the neutral Tubantia," and on the reverse, "The best man cannot live in peace if it does not suit a bad neighbour." After which ingenious outbreak, it is almost pathetic to recall that the torpedo used was found to be of Hun manufacture. The Lusitania medal is supposed to have achieved enormous popularity in Germany. It pictured the great Cunarder with a battleship's ram, conveying munitions, "No Contraband!" is above/and below' 'The liner, Lusitania, sunk by a German submarine, sth. May, 1915." Qn the reverse, Death, as a booking clerk, is selling tickets to a crowd of men and women. It bears the sneer, "Business First!" Gallipoli furnishes material for a savage gibe—one might wish the medal hung perpetually in the view of the politician! who engineered that most heroic " gamble " On one side a grinning imbecile plays with a top shnp, while a soldier fires a rifle carelessly; the reverse shows skeletons piled up before barbed wire, over which is the Star and Crescent of Turkey. The legend is short—" The Lunatics at Galli-' poJj. But the lunatics sat in high places at ilome; the waters of the Narrows wash bv the resting-place of the mighty dead, whose lives were flung away for a politician's experiment.

The last medal shows Count Zeppelin, very proud and happy; on the reverse hia airships are floating over the Tower bridge and distributing bombs on London ina nne and leisurely fashion. " Air Raid on London, 17-18/8/15" is the title. One dri imagine the Hun Government industriously calling in copies of this gem, and placing it on the "Index Expurgatorras," since the advance eastward enabled our' Independent Air Force to "get busy" over Germany, with the immediate effect—vide the German press—that "on the grounds of humanity affd the preservation of important possessions of civilisation on both sides, the German Government has proposed to other belligerents henceforth mutually to refrain from aerial attacks in the enemy country, behind the zone of operations." It is almost with a sob that the announcements continues: "Nevertheless, our enemies have recently again made bomb attacks on a number of German towns." Alas, poor Zeppelin and his, medal! For him, in.the homes of the fatherland, remains not even the scant consolation. of the poet: ' There is nothing left to answer But your photo, on. the wall I THE WORLD'S WATER POWER Nowjfcat fuel of all kinds has become \ so much more costly than it was, and is never again likely be obtainable at pre-war prices, the inhabitants of nearly all civilised coiin tries are taking an increased interest in other sources of power, of which the most promising is' water. A preliminary report of the British Coml mittee of the Conjoint Board of Scientifia Societies appointed 'to report on what is at present being done to ascertain the amount and distribution of water-power in the British Empire, , of which an abridgment recently appeared in Nature, contains some interesting matter, bearing upon this subject. A rough estimate gives the total amount of power used throughout the world as 120 million horsepower, of which 2,4 millions are employed for the propulsion of ships, leaving 96 millions for factories and railways, which could be worked by water-power if that were available. Of this 96 million horse-power 13 millions, are said to be need in the United Kingdom, and six millions in the British dominions and dependencies. The estimated horse-power available from hydraulic sources in various countries is given in a table, together -with the amounts already developed, and other data. From these we learn that Great Britain has available some 963,000 horse- * power, though this estimate is considered by Nature to be much too high. According to a 1915 estimate, only 80.000 horse-power has hitherto been developed. The waters of Canada are also capable of yielding far more power than is at present demanded of them, nearly 27 million horsepower being available, while only about three and a-half millions are as yet de-' veloped. Germany is far an<3l away the mosi, go ahead country as regards development, over 43 per cent, of her nearly one and'a-half 'million horse-power being utilised, against a little over," 8 per cent ' in Great Britain the lowest of all except Russia, which employs only 5 per cent of her During the past 10 years great progress has been made in the manufacture of nitrates from the air. by means of water-power, some 400,000 horsepower being thus employed in Norway alone. Owing to the probable '. future exhaustion of natural nitrate deposits and the increasing demand for nitrates throughout the world's wheat and cotton growing areas, it is thought that their manufacture from the air must be greatly extended. In Canada the water-power available is amply, sufficient for this purpose, ae her requirements, when all her cultivable land is cultivated, are estimated at 10 million tons,' which could be produced by three and a-third million horsepower. Among the conclusions arrived at by the committee are (1) that 50 to 70 million horse-power are available from the hydraulic resources of the British Empire, (2) that much of this could .be economically developed at and (3) that the development of. such enormous possibilities should be carried out under the guidance of some competent authority.