PRUSSIA OR HUMANITY?

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2928, 14 November 1916, Page 4

PRUSSIA OR HUMANITY?

GERMAN EDITOR HOPES ALLIES WILL WIN

That the cause of the real Germany will bo best served by tho overthrow of militarism, and that even now there is a strong trend toward democracy is shown in an interview published m a Swiss newspaper with Dr. Roesemoier. an editor or the Borlin "Morgen Post, now a voluntary exile in Switzerland. The interview is reprinted in the Now York "Herald." "The question of tho hour," says Dr. Rooscmeier, "is how ought tho world to protect itself against Prusso-Gcrman domination? And it is on this account that all Germans who had not yet sacrificed to chauvinism the spirit of universal solidarity, aro hoping for the victory of the Allies' arms or at least do not wish that the coalition of tho Central Powers should emerge victorious from this frightful wai ; . ■

"No one more than myself so ardently longs for a democratic Germany," said Dr. Roesemeier, in reply to the question what ho thought of tho tendency of German policy toward radical Liberalism. "I am, nevertheless, very sceptical on tho subject, not to say possimistio. If anyone ever hated with all his heart tho Prussian junkers it is I; but this does not hinder mo from recognising that they aro good fellows of their kind, whilo I havo a very poor opinion of the energy and courage of tho German Liberals and of the German Socialist majority. I have not in vain frequented half my lifo tho Press gallory in tho Reichstag. I acquired experience thore. Permit mo to givo somo personal recollections. On July 31, 1914, a famous democratic journalist tried to argue against my aversion to the war by saying:—'Have patience! This war. let us hope, will break the neck of the Hohenzbllcrns.''

"Tho Prussian junkers ..cannot concoivo of a Germany unless it'-'is dominated by Prussia nor of a Prussia unless it is managed by .junker's. For five hundred years the squirearchies of Northern Gcrmahyj taken as a. whole, have shown themselves more powerful than tho most powerful- of ■' the Hohenzollerns, not oven excepting Frederick the Great, who loft to the junkers tho entire administration of the country. For everyono who knows Germany it is almost a comical idea to suppose that Dr. yon Bethmana-Hollwog could succeed in the master, stroke of uprooting tho domination of -tho'junkers in Prussia and Germany. V The.owner of tho domain of' Hohenfinnow, ho is himself a junker in three-fourths of his being. "Thus, if a complete* failure of the war is even half-spared to tho German people, my profound conviction is that tho rulo of the junkers is again assured for some decades, eveiv if thoir final dethronement should bo accelerated by industrial development. On tho other hand, it is not unlikely that an obvious and definite defeat,, which could not be minimised, might awaken the revolutionary forces in a. part of the masses and in certain circles of bourgeois ideologists. I would be glad to answer affirmatively tho question whether a democratic regime in Germany would mark tho end of German Imperialism and the Imperial schpmos of conquest, but here also I am .somewhat sceptical. Without doubt the' Prussian junkors form the heart of tho German militarist party. But thero are many other elements connected with tbe-m.

"First are _the > great industries, whose role in instigating the war with such that it would bo. taking water to a well to scek'to disregard it. In' questions.of internal politics big business has almost identical views, with thoso of the junkers, with whom, moreover, its magnates 'aro closely allied. Both have an interest in gagging tho working masses and establishing high protectivo Oustohr' tariffs. The instinct of the people-discovered this long ago. After the war of 1870 tho expression 'Barons of : cabbages and of chimneys,' lords of the|' land and contains of industry, came into vogue. Besides that, the small trades organised in tho manufacturers' league, the exporters, certain circles in the banking world, tho little merchants and the overwhelming majority of tho _ 'high brows' aro all more or-less fascinated by tho thought of 'Greater Gormauy.' Ono dreams with exaltation of tho deliverance of his 'German'brothers' in Russia; another of a German coastline from Petrograd to Calais, another of tho 'freedom of tho seas.*. The 'BerlinBagdad railroad' ■ completely turned many heads otherwise, perfectly sensible.

"A glance at,tho,Gorman..hbwspap- ( cv's, writings, and pamphlets shows that oven now,- after, twenty-three months of this terrible war, the. madness for annexation dominates Gorman public ' opinion. This violent and brutal desiro for annexation finds its principal defenders in Prussian junkers, who covot other countries full.of labourers who work cheaply, docile, Slavs and slaves, and in big business which is eagerly desirous of keeping Briey and Charloroi. But in my view moro dangerous still is tho veiled form of annexation which I named 'expansionism.' I refer especially, to the disciples of Naumann, those who dream of a 'union of States from North Capo to tho Indian Ocean,' and designate this ideal by the false geQgraphio expression ■Central Europe' (Mitteleuropa). "It is just these persons, many, of whom are social democrats, who are tho most zealous partisans of a democratic internal regime. The question whether Germany will be governed in a democratic or a reactionary manner is without importance for the nations who aro resolved to defend their right to independence against German domination. It is a mattci'.of internal regulation, and concerns only Germany. To apply a democratic regime to a people of dominating spirit does not in any way lighten the chains of the oppressed nations. History proves it by many examples. However that may be, the present military, operations appear to me to be infinitely more important than the turn events may take within Germany. Tlio question of the hour is how ought tho world to protect itself against German dom-. illation?"