The Dominion. FRIDAY, JUNE 9, 1916. GERMANY'S UNSTEADY NERVES

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2792, 9 June 1916, Page 4

The Dominion. FRIDAY, JUNE 9, 1916. GERMANY'S UNSTEADY NERVES

Many people .may bo puzzled*' in endeavouring to find reasons for tho lying accounts of the sea battle off the coast of Jutland which the German authorities concocted for publication in the German Press and in neutral Tlioy may wonder still more at the persistence with which the Kaiser and those- around him cling to the fiction of victory, and their braggart references to the performance of a fleet which, after being badly punished, was forced to scuttle ingloriously for safety to lie protecting shelter of its defended harbours and mine-fields. The reason is to be found in the increasing evidence ;of internal unrest in Germany and the waning confidence of the German people in the outcome of the conflict. The Kaisek and his advisers are afraid to tell the plain truth because the nation is losing its nerve, and an accurate statement of what actually took place might spread panic throughout the land. By a carefully organised system of lying and elaborate precautions for preventing the circulation of news from independent sources the German Government hopes to keep up the drooping spirits of the people. When tho authorities tell a lie they stick to it.' When the news of 'tho recent North Sea battle was first published in Germany the nation was told that the German fleet had won a great victory. The authorities knew then that their Navy, after being badly battered, had been forced to fly for shelter from the pursuing British warships. Later information made it clear beyond the possibility of reasonable doubt that the German losses far exceeded any success they had gained before the main British fleet arrived on the scene, and that in the end tho British fleet had much tho best of the encounter. Yet the Kaiser still boasts of victory. In the course of a characteristic address at Kiel he declared that "the British fleet was beaten by the first great hammer-blow struck, and tho nimbus of British world supremacy disappeared." The Kaiser knows that this statement is absolutely false. He knows 'that the British fleet was not beaten, and that Britain's sea power remains unshaken, lie knows, as all tho world knows, that the British fleet still dominates the oceatis, and that the German fleet, battered and shattered, is locked up in Gorman ports, afraid or unable to challenge Britain's sea supremacy. He knows these things, but tho German people do not know. The German War Lord does not tell those lies about the battle without aim or purpose. It is all part of a deliberate and a necessary plan. Tho Kaiser keeps his fingers on the nation's pulse. Ho finds that the enthusiasm ol tho people is diminishing. Hope deferred has made tho nation's heart sick, and the Kaiser realises that bad news at the present juncture, coupled with the terrible losses of the Verdun vonture and the general effects of the economic pressure on tho civil population, might bring about internal dissension which would cripple his efforts and possibly cause a general collapse. A victory might act as a tonic on the failing hearts of his subjects. So a great naval victory is invented out of tho Jutland battle. German losses arc suppressed or glossed over; the fight of the German licet is ignored; the fact that tho blockade of German ports continues is brushed aside, and the ostentatiously thanks his

"conquering" llcot; tho Reichstag stands and cheors; and German school children are given a holiday in celebration of the glorious event. Tho Germans are fighting with every weapon they possess. Tfeir Press propaganda, both at homo and abroad, is regarded as an important part of tho general plan' of campaign. Tho maintonanco of tho morale of tho nation is one of tho conditions of victory. When iho fighting spirit of tho people is broken defeat is not far off. Tho desperate efforts that are now being made to put fresh heart into the nation point unmistakably to tho fact that the feeling is spreading through the land that all is not going we'll. The people are wondering why it is that the "victories" on laud and sea, which they hear so much about, do not seem to bring peace any nerircr or lesseii the hardships they have to endure. It lias become necessary to do something to counteract the depressing influence of such thoughts on the public mind. "You can, if you think you can," so some of the "new thought" experts tell us, and German writers and speakers are putting this theory to the test. It may, however, be safely assumed that those who find it necessary to resort to such doubtful expedients aro probably very uncertain in their own minds as to Germany's chances cf final victory. "We shall conquer because we must," says a writer in vhe Vossische Zeitung. He declares that there is only 'one thing that can decide the contest, and that is the will to conquer and the nerve._ His words give us an illuminating insight into tho state of the German mind at the present moment.

There is only one thins that can decide the contest (ho writes), and that is the will to conquer and the nerve. Every doubtful or discouraging word is a treacherous poison, that murders hope and courage and is more dangerous than a thousand enemies. We can only win if we are convinced of victory in our"innermost hearts, tn this contest, where numbers and technical skill are so evenly matched, moral superiority is all-impor-tant. We have more than once had to light a battle in which the end was so inconclusive that everything depended on which side felt that it was victorious, and acted in accordance with.this belief. A small addition of will and nerve is often what brings the decision and inclines the contest in favour of those who have the stronger mil. And God knows a man needs. all his nerve and will to bear what he has to face here. . . .

And it is only by this unlimited confidence, which must have something in it ' of the belief of the patient .in his doctor, that we can give w the Highest Command, whose nerves sinoe the beginning of the war have been, stretched to bear a superhuman burden, the necessary power and the possibility of seeing the thing through without evincing any weakness in their decisions. We shall conquer because wo must. • .' s

The appearance of such an article in a leading German newspaper is a convincing proof that the patient is losing faith in his doctor. The patient may be in such a critioal condition that he must be sheltered from anything that is likely to give'his nerves a shock. He must not be told unpleasant truths, but must rather be cheered up and comforted by pleasant lies. The chief doctor evidently thought that it would be dangerous to tell his nervous patient the true story of what happened in the North Sea last week. A "victory" had to be provided in order to make the German public feel victorious. There was no "discouraging word" in the Kaiser's speeoh at Kiel, for the psychological experts have laid: it down that every "discouraging word is a treacherous' poison that murders hope and courage." ' How different, is the British way! Tho contrast is decidedly instructive. Instead it went to quite tho other extreme. The victory which our sailors had won was obscured in the earlier messages by the publication of our own losses without giving those of the enemy. It was a wrong thing to do, but it is illuminating as indicating the spirit and temper of the British nation,- as compared \vith that of our enemies. The German people have to be fed up with lies and fooled with empty boasts in order that tho military autocracy which governs them may pursue its plans to tho bitter end. The German people are discouraged, and if not yet hopeless, very near to tho point of breakdown. The Gorman Press affords ample evidence of this in the nature of its desperate appeals to tho people to continue to suffer and endure. It is perhaps the best evidence we have of the waning power of our enemies. The lies of victory and tho empty boasts of their leaders are a sure sign of their desperation.