GERMANY'S DILEMMA

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 16, 14 October 1918, Page 4

GERMANY'S DILEMMA

The German reply to President Wilson's recent Kote is characteristic of German militarism and its ways. The men who still control and dominate Germany have never given a more remarkable proof of their faith in tho.gullibility of the nonGerman world. "Germany and Austria," they state in their reply, "are ready to comply with Presi-, dent Wilson's proposals regarding evacuation fof invaded territory], and suggest the appointment of a mixed Commission to make arrangements for the evacuation. The Chancellor has the support of a majority in the Reichstag, and speaks in the name of the German Government and people." Ignoring this last assertion for the moment, it will be seen that tho essential feature of the German Note is an eager acceptance of a proposal which President Wilson did not make. He certainly, did not propose in any such sense as the German Government suggests that the German armies should be afforded a free and ■ unimpeded opportunity of evacuating invaded territory as a prelude to peace negotiations. What he did say was:

I do riot feel at liberty to propose the cessation of arms to the other [Allied] Governments so long as the German, armies are upon their soil. The good faith of any discussion would manifestly depend upon the consent of the Central Powers-immediately to withdraw their forces everywhere from invaded territory. It is obvious that the first of these statements quite overshadows the second, Saying that he did not feel at liberty to propose the cessation of arms to other Allied Governments so long as German armies were upon tneir soil, President Wilson at once and completely disposed of "the question of an armistice which would permit Germany to withdraw her armies unhindered within her own frontiers. The further statement that the good faith of any peace discussion would manifestly depend upon the consent of the Central Powers to immediately withdraw their armies creates a dilemma, but it is Germany's dilemma and not that of President Wilson or the Allies. Some critics have complained that in his Note .President Wilson ga,ye Germany an opening, but they have surely taken too little notice of his explicit refusal to suggest an armistice while German armies remain in invaded territory. What the President has in fact done is to set Germany's outlawry in the clearest possible light. With her armies on Allied soil, even if they were not adding daily to an already interminable list of abominable outrages,' her professions of peace are an insult to intelligence. But this is as far as possible from meaning that she is entitled to an easy way of escape from the catastrophic military situation in which she is now involved. There is no apparent inconsistency between President Wilson's attitude and Marshal Foch's grim comment on the German armistice proposal: "I have not fought my battle yet." Poch and the Allied armies have found a better way of clearing invaded territory than any "mixed Commission" could devise, and the only answer to be made to Germany is that if she desires other conditions she may obtain them by surrender. Other messages to-day which bear on Germany's attitude in no way affect this conclusion. They embody, however, • some remarkable inconsistencies. One report states, that Germany has declined to consider the terms laid down by President Wilson other than what she is pleased to call his "proposals regarding evacuation." This in contradicted by cablegram which states that Germany _ accepts, in principle, the terms laid down by the President. On .the other hand a German message labelled official announces the destruction of German militarism. It read?:

Herr Erzberger, in an interview, said that tho new Government's first step had been to subordinate the military power to civil control. The War Minister, von Stein, and the two commanding generals who were considered to embody militarism had been removed. _ Commanding generals in • tho interior had been ordered to submit their decisions to the local civil authorities. Militarism in Germany is ended forever.

This message will undoubtedly _ be remembered as a curiosity, but it is ill calculated to carry conviction. The revolutionary cha-nges 'alleged are altogether too sudden and too faoile to be convincing. The wholo thing wears the appearance of the stage play that it almost certainly is. Even if Hindenburg and Ludendorff, as the message suggests, have been retired, and though the abdication of the Kaiser .should follow, the suppression of Prussian militarism would net necessarily be assured. Any announcement on tho subject by Eezbeuqee certainly carries a poor recommendation, for on his record he is an instrument and henchman of the Prussian military gang. ■ Although the professions of the German Government are more than ever open to suspicion, they mark a stage towards tho end of the war. These professions arc'false, but as events are moving on tho battlefield it may not be long before even the German people demand the reality of reform in place of the shams and futilities to which their rulers are now resorting.