GERMANY UNDER WAR CONDITIONS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2736, 3 April 1916, Page 6

GERMANY UNDER WAR CONDITIONS

NOTES FROM ENEMY'S NEWSPAPERS

_■ Although peace cannot bo said to bo in sight,' tho question of finding employment for the thousands of soldiers, who will be demobilised when hostilities cease is already engaging the attention of tlic German authorities. Just as tho outbreak oi' tho war was attended by a severe labour crisis, so its close promises to be marked by a long period of unemployment for many enlisted workers until German industry is ona normal basis. In order to shorten this period of unemployment it is proposed that as soon as an armistica is declared,, lists shall be prepared for each regiment; giving the nature of each man's employment, and his rate of wages. These lists are to be sent to a central office in Berlin, where they are to be tabulated according to districts and forwarded to the local employment bureaus which are to attend to the actual planning of individual employment. The different employment agencies are being urged to gather data now regarding the number of'men employed in various callings before tho war and the number probably required at its termination. With the number of possible places known in advance, dismissed soldiers will be able to find employment with the least possible delay or loss of time. '■

The war has caused ■ a tremendous growth in the activities of the Imperial German Posi Office. Leaving out Bavaria and AYurtemberg, which have their own independent postal service,' tho Imperial Post Office forwarded 17,000,009 letters per day on the average in 1913. Last November the number of p'eces of written- mail matter handled averaged -28.8 million per day, or an increase of G9 per cent, over the figures for 1913. Of these 28.8 pieces 18.7 represented communications to and from soldiers in the field, or one-tenth moro than the average number of letters n.ailed each day during the last year of peace. In the Franco-Prus-sian War only 104 million letters passed through the military post office, or fewer than are handled, in one week's time by the German Post Office under similar conditions.

According- to official figures, Germany's army medical corps had suffered a total loss of 1393 up to-November 1, 1915. ' As 15,00p physicians were enrolled at the outbreak of the war, casualties figure out almost ten per cent. Despite the humane nature of his duties, the German army doctor incurs no inconsiderable risk. Ninety-sis medical men have been killed, 215 captured, 373 wounded, while 707 died of infectious diseases. Contagion is,, therefore, more to be feared than injury on the battlefield. ' The same appears true of the. Austrian medical service, where 971 out of 1718 casualties suffered are ascribed to deaths from infectious diseases. Both in Germany and Austria a large part of the- fatalities, from this source were incurred while ■ taking care of disease-infected Russian prisoners. Thus almost 200 German physicians and hospital attendants fell victims to spotted typhus contracted from the Russian captives whom them were attending. , In the FrancoPrusskn War, eleven German doctors were killed and fifty-five died from infectious diseases.

Germany is paying especial attention to the training of its blind . soldiers, whoso number promises !to he very large, before hostilities aro ended.- In former times, oyo wounds ■'. were comparatively . rare, and formed only one per cent, of all injuries received during tho Franco-Prussian War. In modern warfare the proportion' is undoubtedly much higher on account of the use o"f ■shrapnel and the resort to trench warfare, where tho head and face are the most exposed parts. . . .. , In training the blind, tho main object sought is to .reconcile 'the afflicted to thoir fate, and to make them breadwinners by teaching them, new pursuits. Games are first taught, then reading of raised letters. 1 By means of a specially-constructed apparatus,, blind soldiers aro next instructed how to write quickly and legibly characters -which can he deciphered hy blind persons. All the blind learn quickly to |mako brushes, brooms and. mats, but great perseverance and apphV.tion are required to master more difficult trades, Those who have been shoemakers, cabinetmakers, upholsterers, and bookbinders are able to resume their former occupations within certain limits. Once tho feeling of helplessness and of dependence on others wears oft, experience shows that the newly-made blind can ho comparatively happy, provided they can only employ'their time usefully, and are allowed to remain at home. Housing them in asylums or homes for. the blind leads to great iinhappiness, and is, therefore, to be deprecated.

Professor Rudolf Euokcn, the eminent philosopher, spoke recently in the great Aula oi the Berlin University on the "Ethical and Hygienic Tasks of the Present." He is one of the most -universally honoured men in Germany, and his audience included "statesmen, excellencies, and tho most honoured members of the.highest society." .' _ His address is described as a "burning confession of his adhesion to the idealism of the German, tho idealism whioh distinguishes them from other nations, tho idealism of the heroic ethical." This idealism was threatened before tho war. The nation was crowing shallow", and degeneracy in all its forms was visible. There were wide sections of the people who were the slaves of every ingenious sensuality, who indulged in exaggerated who save way to abominations_ because of their misuse of strong drink.

Professor Eueken castigated tho drinking habits of the people. It is the only vice which they have inherited from their remote forefathers. Martin Luther and Tacitus both bear witness of tin's. Germans must conquer this custom. Tho war has brought with it an added it has brought many an improvement, but it has not choked the drinking habit. 'The professor urged a new morality which would introduce a. "noble beauty" into the lives of Germans, a "noble, pure conviviality." This constant drinking, ho declared, places bonds on tho nation, andhreeds the.wretched type «•£ heor--1 philistine with whom every one is familiar. 'It is a typo which must uo longer disfigure the German nation. Germans, further, must learn that money is not the only thing by which earthly pleasure may be bought, must learn that indulgence in luxury is slavery, not freedom.

But the professor does not wish these improvements Drought about by "pedantic scolding or iron sermons on morals," rather must the reformation bo the result of an inward' upbuilding of tho entire social structure. In accordance _ with the' innermost kernel of Germanism men must become "An Alliance of Seriousness and Love." Christianity in the midst of historical hanpenings stands between good and bad. "The battle of Christianity is the German liattie, foT it is a struggle for the keeping pure of our best, our souls. And what loes it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Let us see to it that the German nation does not lose its soul."

Professor Fl.-imm. of tlio Ciiariottcnburg Technical School, contributes to the "Vossiseho Zeitung" an article on the future of navigation on the Danube. The : Diuiuba, . says, the profesf.or.

touches six States hitherto independent, but England is not one of these, and yet England has played a large part in regulating international relations on the river. The efforts of the Powers have not succeeded in making the navigation of the river a success, their efforts having been frustrated by jealousies the Iron Gates, and economic condiAll through tho recent history of the river, English shipping has sought lo maintain a monopoly of the trade of the Danube mouths, but if navigation and general trade is to be successful, England must be squeezed out. and the necessary clauses of the Pans Treaty of 1556 rescinded.

lho glorious military successes of our armies have opened a magnificent perspective of uninterrupted connection between tho North Sea and Mesopotamia, and it is clear that .on this line R-e may expect a powerful impulse to trade and industry. The navigation of the Danube will play a most important role in this revival—war material and coal going .hi one direction, and in return raw materials, grain, other foodstuffs, and cattle coining to Germany and Austria."

. AYe are told by Professor Flamm that the new conditions have already resulted in a tremendous increase of shipbuilding on tho Danube. Every yard from ilatisbon to the Iron, Gates is occupied With profitable orders, and vorkin" overtime. This activity at present il coiihucd to the military side of trstse hit it is evident that- after the .war general trade will increase rather than dimmish, and that the Danube navigation may look forward to an exceedingly brilliant future.

In order that this Mure may be unhindered, certain steps must be- taken, lhere must be such improvement on tho land routes to the Danube as will make it possible for every State concerned to become independent of England. Germany must have the means to press England, and by forcing her from all participation in Danube navigation, and in eliminating her very presence from tlie river, the first step in this compulsion will be taken. The Danube must also be linked up with the Main and Oder, thus opening up a direct waterway with the Baltic and North Sea, and' England, seeing that she can no longer cut off Germany from the rest of the world, and realising the impossibility of starving her, -will ponder the matter ten times hefore she provokes another -war against Germany.