THROUGH GERMAN SPECTACLES.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 144852, 2 December 1915, Page 7

THROUGH GERMAN SPECTACLES.

FEDERAL COUNCIL AND FOOD FRAUDS. Though the German Government is not unnaturally doing its best to flush up tfle graver features of the great food scandal, there are still a lew newspapers m Germany, it seems, which decline to be bribed into silence. Uno of these, the Berlin Vorwarts, the organ of the bociaust Tarty, published tables showing that a powcmil group ot contractors, uy laying their plans astutely very cany m the war, managed to corner such vast quantities of food that by the end ol lasi July they had realised in extra pionu £ J.&O,OUU,UOO— every penny ol which, as the Vorwarts pointed out, was drawn from “the blood and sweat or the people.” ’ “THE UNVARNISHED TRUTH.” The IVankfiLwler Zeiiung takes up the tale and make* tnc interesting revelation that it is tile hedcral Council which is upnolding this iniquitous system of robbery, turn? crossing heavuy tho “t’s” and dotting firmly- the “i s" of the Socialist journal's suggestion that “men m nigb places” were fingering these illicit prohis:— “ii tho gross stanqal of the speculation • m foodstuffs is to be dealt w.tii in tho drastic rashion that alone will ensure tho stoppage ol tins crying evil, tlie Slate machine in its present form must be remodelled out ol existence. “Jo all appearances, it is tho Federal Council that is responsible ior the delay in solving the loud question, llie fact is, however, that we are blessed or curbed —with two Governnmats in Germany, which arc not at all m harmony. One is the Federal Council, and tiie other is the ivaiser, with tiio responsible Imperial (.'nance!* lor and tho authorities sunordimue to . him. “Uf the two, tho Federal Council is tho more arbitrary. U exercises the powers of a despot and really admins no responsibility towards tuo Kaiser or anyone else, 'ihc consequence us. that a continuous slate of friction has been set up which does not augur too favourably tor a prompt relict from tho present intolerable economic conditions. • ; “There is only’ one remedy* available, and that is that the imperial Chancellor shall exercise all tho powers of tin- Federal Council. The council must be given a purely parliamentary sphere of activity, and become, its it were, an Imperial Higher House by the side of the Reichstag. “Only thus will the Kaiser become actually the head of the empire, and only m this form can an agreement bo rendered possible in Germany between monarchy and democracy.* Unless such an agreement bo concluded tho ship ©f State must founder. This is tiie plain and unvaruishod truth.” OUR DIMINISHED MILLION. Tho Hamburg Fremdonblatt, which has always boon famous for its figure studies, finds that tho “million men” of Lord Kitchener's New Army had dwindled down to 150,000 by tho time they reached the front. “Lord Kitchener, vrho talks liko a politician anxious to create a good iniabroad for financial reasons rather than like a general, has directed attention to tho great reinforcements which have lately been dispatched to tho English front. “Quito eleven divisions have arrived there. This is equivalent to about 150,000 men. Here, then, wo have the concrete result of the loudly advertised* now three million army whn u the English were forming, and wIHi which tjiov were to have given an entirely fresh turn to the campaign. •‘When the English War MimaUr talks about further armies v. hirli are to lake part shortly in the fighting. assertion must be received with the idmod caution. No doubt the result will bo like that which has already attended the coming of tho fabulous millionheaded host. “Meanwhile in tho west the Germans remain in ikjsscsshhi of the enemy’s territory. Thcv hold nearly’ tho whole of Belgium and a groat part of Northern Franco, and so strongly’ have they entrenched themselves there that the onslaughts of our adversaries were they continued for ten years, will not dislodge them.” THE INDELIBLE STAIN. Tho official North German Gazette rarely lets a day go by without trying onco more to rub out the stain of Germany’s early doings in Flanders. The new effort takes another turn:— •‘Until now there have still been found in the neutral countries a certain number of simple souls who believed that tho atrocity stories compiled by the English Government against our army sprang from noble motives of humanity and from the love of truth. “These credulous people did not suspect what wo know all along, that the blood-curdling yarns had been invented with tho on© solo object of giving an impulse to recruiting. Now* the irrefutable proof of the truth of this assertion is in our hands. “Before us lio two English booklets, bearing tho title, ‘The Truth about tho Gorman Atrocities’ and ‘Tho Dishonoured Gorman Amy.’ These contain a powerfully worded and condensed ration of the old atrocity lies, and are, as the title shows, published by tho ‘Parliamentary Recruiting Committee, Downing Street, 12, in Loudon.’ “go tho secret is out; they have deemed it best to play with cards exposed. They need atrocities in order to spur on tho man in tho street to enter tho army. “Wo might ask tho. English Government the same question that \t puts to its stupid owls of a people in these pamphlets: ‘Has your conscience been awakened at last?’ Wo might add another question, and ask whether the conspirators of Downing Street do not think that they are driving their cynicism too far in thus publicly exposing their cards.” HAMAN IN COTTONOPOLIS. A cotton famine in Manchester, according to the Vossische Zeitnng, is Fate’s righteous retribution on England for her dastardly attempt to deprive Germany of the materials for explosives:— “Like Hainan in tho Old Testament story, who was hanged on tho gibbet England is in danger of being hoist with her own petard. “They are actually suffering from a cotton famine in Manchester. After England and tho entire Quapruplo Entente had declared cotton contraband to prevent the importation, direct or indirect, into Germany, one might have expected that England at least would be provided with sufficient cotJpa.

“Can it bo that tbo American Southern States have consented to supply England with cotton on the sole condition that they are left a free hand for the delivery of the article m German ports also? “lie supposition would appear to be well founded, inasmuch as it seems certain that the Southern States have apparently participated in the Quadruple Powers’ loan on the understanding that England abandons her attitude on the cotton question.”