GERMAN ANTICIPATIONS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19903, 24 September 1926, Page 8

GERMAN ANTICIPATIONS.

Dr Stresemanx, German Minister ot Foreign Affairs, has deprecated the idea that a sensational meaning should be attached to his speech, reported in this morning’s cablegrams, delivered to the German “colony” at Geneva. Nevertheless his explanatory remarks will not have quite cleared away, the first impression, the slightly disquieting impression, that German policy is not in complete harmony with the prevailing spirit of international comity. No one would dispute the claim that “Germany has the same right to possess colonies as other people,” but her capacity to govern colonies with due regard to the interests of native populations has not been convincingly demonstrated in the past, and Dr Stresemann goes altogether too far in asserting that Germany’s admission to the League of Nations is tantamount to the withdrawal of “all war-guilty accusations.” There is no withdrawal of the charges, no blinking of historical facts. There is a tacit agreement on the part of the nations that were Allies in the war to forgive and, as far as possible, to forget. A misty vagueness, not uncharacteristic of Teutonic political philosophy, clouds Dr Stresemann’s pronouncement of German aspirations. First, the aim is to restore “German sovereignty in German territory.” “Sovereignty,” might seem to be an equivocal word, but it may be accepted that it does not bear a monarchial significance in this instance. The German Foreign Minister may be acquitted of any suspicion of complicity in Imperialistic intrigues. He does not desire to bring back the exiled ex-poten-tate from the seclusion of Doom to the glories of majestic marchings in Berlin. But, secondly, he does wish to see “the recognition of the right of self-determina-tion by all nations.” It is a far cry from 1914 to 1926. Tim ex-Kaiser, hewing his trees in the forest with indomitable energy, may smile. “Self-deter-mination” was not his watchword in political affairs, though his personal powers of self-determination were always unimpeachable. May Dr Stresemann’s vision of “general European pacification” be amply fulfilled! But there are influences still at work in his country that are far from pacific. There are powerful organisations in existence whose sole object is to maintain the military spirit. Among them is a body known us the Steel Helmets, consisting of men who wore at the front for at least six months during the war, and whose aim is concisely expressed in the sentence: “It is our will that German youth and the whole German people shall be made capable of bearing arms with the aim of getting back the territory stolen from us.” That is an aim that makes no allowance for the exercise of self-determination on the part of the natives of the lost German colonies.