MORAL STIMULANTS.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16168, 23 March 1918, Page 10

MORAL STIMULANTS.

(Bv CnAKLES VINCE.) What does a German think when he remembers now tho splendid intoxication (as it was to lrim) of the firstweeks of the war.'' Mr Gerard, the American Ambassador, has described that intoxication in hi* book of reminiscences, ''There was a general feeling among the Germans that their Tears ol preparation would now bear fruit, that Germany would conquer the world, and impose its "Kullur upon all nations." It is described again, and more P IC " turcsqucly, in those. words of a German boldier re-echoing the Emperoi s speech, "All parties ceasc. We are onlv German brothers." •'•The outbreak of war aroused tremendous enthusiasm throughout Germany, and it appeared as if there would never be an end of it. in tnosc days there were no class distinction^, high and low could be seen sitting sido by side emptying glass after glass. The highest in ttie town condesconded, so to say, to associate with the, at other times second, private soldier. The latter was as if in a state or transport in which ho hardly knew what he was what was done to hi m Thanks to this enthusiasm the German soldier went forward with a contempt for danger in the opinion that he was fighting for a just cause. There you have Germany as ho was in the August of 1914. It is all said m I those two sentences:—"Thero was a general feeling that Germany would conquer the world and impose its K.mtur' upon all nations ' and The German soldier was as in a state of transport .... he went forward with a contempt for danger in the opinion thah» was fighting for a.just cause. When all is'said of the perfection of the military machine and its readiness for action, the chief strength of it was in this, that the soldiers whom it controlled were "in a state of transport, believing that they fought in a just cause." And now wiien we discuss the moral of the German people and the German army what we seek to discover I is how much of thoso two things remain; of that belief that Germany will conquer £he world, and that transport of soldiers believing that they fought for a just cause. We know that they must have been modified by three years of war, by suffering, by many successive defeats, just as we know that they will have been restiraulated by the spectacular victories 'which Germany has won. But- Germany is a sealed book to the world. We see of her little more than her rulers wish us to see. We can only guess at what they hide: and wonder how far those unauthorised glimpses are true which the world lias, from time to time, through the eyes of men who have escaped from her, or deserted her armies, or been capturcd. We know that the machine still works well; that the men whom it controls still fight doggedly. But such a machine will continue to work, and work well, long after the soul has gone. _ It is a wonderful and complex machine, which it took many years and much patient toil to make and perfect,. How much still remains of that "transport" ? Let us go forward from 1914._ across three years to the spring of 1917. Just at that time Germany was much exercised about its "Nerves." Hindcnburg himself had spoken of "the danger of giving way to nerves." The military critic of the "Vossische Zeitung ' rebuked the German people for its nervousness, preaching it a seryion on the Hindehburg text.

"The nerves of many readers are suspiciously be£innii)rr to give way" ; and then, lest this might seem to say too much, "but wo have firm confidence that we as a whole possess the. nerves which, as Marshal von Hindenourg says, are necessary for final victory. Every German behind the front should endeavour nob to shatter this strength of nerves even if any military event does not turn out as he desires." It was a month or two later that the new German Chancellor, Michaelis, explaining the political agitations before which his predecessor had fallen, said: "Our greatest mistake has been nervousness." This talk of nerves might itsolf have been nothing more than a mere passing fit of nerves but it has very significantly been followed by an organised campaign, both among tnc people and in tho army; a campaign of moral stimulants. The campaign is carried on by the General Staff in its communiques. Thus is the description which it has published of the Italian thrust.

"German fists shook Italy's frontier walls and mighty blows smashed down the gates with iron strokes, history draws up the judgment. The break 'through was irresistible. The idea which inspired it is without example hi the history of the war, and both the determination of the leadership, n.'id tho victorious spirit of aggression in the troops are without precedent." A-tid this is published wnen attack after attack on the Piave Line is being crushed and driven back: when the whole world has shrugged its shoulders and raised its eyebrows meaningly over the amazing impotence Germany has shown in her inability to exploit to any decisive extent the uniquo advantages she gained, by good luck and bv lavish propaganda, on the Italian front. We know she would gladly have pushed home her advantage at any cost at all, if only she possessed tho necessarv powers and reserve of strength. In "the-absence of these she has woii but a barren victory, and must needs expend frenetic eloquence upon making it appear to her own people something more comforting and substantial." Tht3 effort is carried on. by the hp v.- Fatherland Party with von Tirpitz at its head, which, with its loud demands for conquests and huge indemnities, is attempting to revive the vaulting ambitions with which Germany began the war. It is carried on among the troops by the Army authorities." That we know as much as we do of this propaganda. which in tile Army is largely carried on under disguise, is because the German Socialists have seen in it the intention to defeat their own efforts in favour of peace without conquests. Thcv have accordingly attempted to expose it. They have succeeded in showing how thoroughly organised it is. Tho Chancellor Has admitted it. In

the Main Committee of the Reichstag on October 6th, ho naidt "It cannot be denied that tho Army Command has undertaken a comprehensive plan of propaganda! and on the next day h.e lifted tho veil a little further. Ihose who know the conditions at the front agree that propaganda is absolutely necessary, and that mental and moral pabulum is urgently needed. 1 Yet another comer of the veil was lifted by the German Minister for War. He gave a list of the means used during "the educational hours" of the army, "pamphlets and papers and pictures theatres and cinemas" ho explained how tho soldier, "hungering for, spiritual food," was "enlightened as to the causes of 'tho war," and "as to the stato of affairs at homo which he saw when on leave," and ho -described how all the elements which were united in the army, amongst them the most famous representatives of science art, and every possible sphere, had volunteered for th« service." Here, indeed, is German thoroughness But in face of tins elaborate system of stimulants what are we to suppose remains of those transports with which tho German soldier went to war What else can this campaign be but an effort to ;> *£caußo they have been lost, that belief m themselves, and that transport for their cause; an effort to stimulate again Ihe German army and the German people (if it can be done) with the loss of the wine which intoxicated tliem in tEo first weeks of tho war.