A PEEP INTO GERMANY

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 202, 15 May 1918, Page 6

A PEEP INTO GERMANY

WHAT THE PEOPLE BELIEVE—AND

DON'T BELIEVE

{By "A.A.M.," the well-known contributor to London "Punch," per favour

of the Royal Colonial Institute.)

A gentleman who has just reached England after a long residence in Germany, which has included tho whole period of the war up to January, 1918, has some interesting information to givo in regard to that country. The fact that he has business and family connections in Germany and that his wife's relations aro serving in the German Army enable him to speak with more authority than the ordinary alien -'isitor.

In Januarj of this year he met a German officer whom he knew and who had just returned from the Western front. This officer confirmed tho impression generally held in Germany that thero is to be a last great effort to break through this year, and .added that tho High Command was prepared to sacrifice a million men in the attempt. That another million of them are to be sacrificed will be interesting news for tho German people. This officer also said that tho troops with whom he had como in contact were more afraid of aeroplanes, which had been very daring lately, than of anything else. Food conditions are much as have been reported from time to time. It is possible, however, to get almost anything you want secretly by paying high prices —a 15lb. ham, for instance, for 91)0 marks. Clothes are almost unobtainable in somo towns, and cost anything up to £20. Copper ore had been obtained from Serbia which supplies a new copper works built near Constantinople. Leather for boots is practically impossible to get, tincl most people wear wooden soles in consequenco. ' Although the Gorman man-in-the-street is as tired of an unsuccessful militarism as other observers have reported him to be, this particular informant feels certain that they will uot effect anything by strikes during the war. lCrupps have a system of pensions and benefit funds in regard to which the men immediately lose their rights if they threaten trouble. Should they strike, the choico is offered to them between continuing work or going into the Army. The result is that they think twice before striking, anil not' at all before going back to work. Defeat in the war, however, will undoubtedly lead to revolution. It is said quite openly that the Kaiser and the Crown Prince will bo the first to go. The Germans do not believe in America, and think that they are putting up a gigantic bluff. Zeppelins .are still much in evidence, hut the general belief is that they will not again be used for raids, but aro resorved for naval occasions. , , It is no longer believed that submarines can win the Avar. The German Navy hits had its ups nnd downs lately, three ships being lost by mines 'in tho attack on tho Russian islands, and a light cruiser suffeiing the same fate last December. At a kinema show, which* illualrated tho cruise of the Moewe, the sight of Allied and neutral vessels being sunk did not lead to any oheera, but only to loud expressions of indignation that these ships had not been brought back to Germany with their much-wanted food cargoes. Summing up, then, we may say first that the German people are tired of the war, suspicious of their rulers, and longing for peace; secondly, that they are well under control, and are kept there by promises no lees than by threats. The conclusion of the matter seeins to be that German militarism is on its last trial. It still has the opportunity to justify itself by results; and if in the end it can claim to have been, in however small a degree, successful, thai it may survive. But if the Allies hold fast to their purpose, then it will batter its life to piecee, until the final deathblow is administered by a disillusioned people. __________