THE COLD FIT IN BERLIN

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2335, 17 December 1914, Page 6

THE COLD FIT IN BERLIN

CONFIDENCE WEAKENING HATRED OF BRITAIN , The writer of the following article '(reprinted from the London "Daily Mail") is of neutral nationality. Hβ has visited Germany several times since tho war hegan and has- > known the country for many years. Ho gives a vivid picture of tho state of feeling in Berlin, from which city ho has just returned. . Undeniably it ib a marked change that has taken place in German public sentiment in the twelve weeks'since the outbreak of tho war. ■ ; ■ September 1, glorious certainty; October 1, easy confidence, with high and hopeful expectations; October 31, outwardly confidence still, but mingled with impatience and moody questionings and the first faint glimmerings of a lurking doubt. The varying moods mark the changes up to date in tho falling barometer of public expectations. It lias been my lot, through. chance, to be in Berlin on separate visits on all three of the dates named. One month ago, as wo know from the testimony of many competent neutral witnesses, all Germany was still in the joyous excitement of the war enthusiasm—not "warmad" simply, but war-drunk. . In fancy,, every man's hand was at his sword-hilt, and there were few of even the soberest newspapers, which' did not paint proplietio visions,' of that victorious advancing Teuton host in a shining armour—"in schimmenidera Gewshr." Berlin, as I left it a "day or so ago, is in quite an altered mood. "" One notes the change in the talk and bearing of its people as well as in many external signs. Ido not by any means mean that confidence has vanished or that the popular belief in an eventual Ger->. man victory is less widespread than it wne six -weeks ago. It would be the worst of-mistakes to suppose that there has.been any actual yielding of the German determination to wage war, bit-' terly,. unswervingly, ruthlessly, so long as there are men and weapons to fight with. "We must win!" with a strong accent on the "must" is still the watchword. One hears it''iterated on all sides with varying degrees of emphasis, and the mere repetition by a process tamiliar to students of auto-suggestion doubtless has its effect. The Press and the General Staff still report victories with monotonous regularity and conscientiously refrain from mentioning reverses. ' .

No More Exhilaration. •;■ The change that has taken plaoe to judge from what one hears among the lforliners themselves, is simply an awakening to the- fact that the struggle is going to be a much longer and more supposed and that the victory that seemed so near is yet far,' far away. It is realised as never before that war, after all, is a deadly serious affair, that the cost in blood, treaeure, and human agony will be beyond all precedents dreadful, and that Germany's foes are' powerful and resolved.. The bulk of the people one meets still talk ; hopefully of the certainty of ultimate success and of the mysterious "surprises" —something far more deadly and terrifying than the 42-centimetre gun— which tho General tSaff has in store i for the enemy. But the exhilaration is gone. The feeling I found in ■ many ■ quarters was unmistakably one closely akin to depression. The nightly de-. .monstrations in Unter den Linden and on the Potsdamerplalz have ceased. One hears no'more of the jauntily boaetful talk about the march "to Paris" and the staggering gold;indemnity soon to be oxtorted from prostrate France. The fall of-Antwerp, announced, by the General Staff with appropriate jubilations, brought a brief revival of the war enthusiasm. Huge crowds, cheering and singing patriotic songs, again filled "the Linden," and masses of tossing, black-white-and-red bunting hid. the street facades. The failure of the German forces to mako the expected, rapid dash upon Calais brought a speedy reaction. The face 3 one sees on the streets and in public resorts are serious and conversation is earnest and subdued. Half a dozen of the biggest cafos —among them the. Victoria, the Bauer, the Vaterland, and the Kaiser Cafe—are still crowded at night, but' the people assemble not to jubilate but from a

curiosity to hear and seo what is going on, and, if possible, to go to bed refreshed "and comforted by one of the General Staff's regular evening bulletins announcing another "latest victory." Dull and Lifeless streets. Berlin itself, doubtless owing to the withdrawal of so large a part of the male population, looKs strangely dull and lifeless. The crowds in even the busiest .thoroughfares , have ..dwindled. In street after street the* effect was almost that of .a deserted city. In the densely populated Neighbourhoods of Northern Berlin, where the "working people live, the dingy little half-base-ment shops 6tood pathetically empty, tho owners lounging idly in the doorway. ■. It is here that the preponderance of women, the shrinkage of, the normal male population is'most apparent. Although it wa_§ a week-day, the whole town seemed bathed in a Sunday quiet. Tho number of shops with red "To let" signs in the windows has increased with" extraordinary ' rapidity within the past month, and- many streets formerly lively business centres for small tradespeople are almost unteuanted. Two entire office ■ bui'dings in tho Potsdanierstrasse, both kige, modern structures) recently coinploted, are quite vacant. "Calm" Berlin undoubtedly is.. But it is less lie, calm of confidence than of business stagnation and. arrested enterprise f-fld depleted resources. The Tauentzienstrasse, the main street- of residential Berlin, is now 'the Cognised promenade for the convalescent wounded officers and .wldierß. So manv of them wear the Iron Crosa that the decoration no longer attracts cspeciil attention. . ' '• Business at a Standstill. Business, in the ordinary eenso, is practically at a standstill. : No one is spending money—except for war charities—and the courts, 1 am told on good authority, have become exceedingly lenient in enforcing the payment of debts. Manufacture, except in certain very special lines, is dormant. The country through which one passes on tlie way from Berlin to the frontier is beginning to show for the first time tho effects or war. . Farms and gardens arc all being tended—principally , by women, girls, and boy's, The factory _ towns look desolate. The tall brick chimneys that lino the railway through Westphalia iivere smokeless. Practically, the, only goods trains that passed .were laden with military supplies and under guard of eoldiers. "It is the shortage of raw materials even more than.the falling, demand which is worrying our industrialists just now," said one intelligent merchant with whom I talked. "Our. supply of wool, for instance, is almost exhausted, and we shall have to fall back upon cotton—if we can get it: We! are equally badly off for rubber and copper, and both aro almost unobtainable. Without these many of our fac-. torios must close even if they could find a market for their wares.". Next to the evidences of a waning 1 confidence the thing which must im- • press tlio tvaiisient visitor to Germany 3 ! mosf strongly is the intense grewine s ; bitterness toward Great Britain and all a things British. Hatred of England" ! seems to have become a niaiiisi, a cult. r almosV a rolision. In comparison, I v should think that the sentiment toward i either France or Bussia might fairly

to described a» one of passionate affection. The official and semi-official newspapers sedulously fan the feeling, obviously with the Government's cordial approval, and the impression one gets is,that the animosity )B being systematically stimulated from high quarters, iriilh a view to later contingencies. At all events, the Anglophobe mania has now reached a point where it is hard to account for on ..ny other hypothesis. I talked with men in many walks of life about the war, without finding ono who did not sooner or later' break out in bitter invective against England for "treacherously conspiring" to crush Germany.