GERMAN FATALISM.

Gisborne Times, Volume XLV, Issue 3980, 13 July 1915, Page 7

GERMAN FATALISM.

HOW IT MAY AFFECT THE WAR

There is a German instinct of which little account has been taken as a factor in the war, but which may > 7 ot exorcise a good ’ deal of influence on its course and its duration.

Fatalism is most frequently associated in the popular mind with Orientals, and especially with Mohammedanism. But it is by no means confined to the professors of that religion. The ancient Greek idea that the destinies of men are dependent absolutely on the decrees of the gods—the idea of an inexorable Fate—-.extends to a greater or less degree, it is to be feared, to all lands, and tinges many, if not most, faiths. Unconsciously, it may be, but none the less surely, the average German is a profound believer in blind, immutable Destiny 7. The superstitions which are so rile in the Fatherland are often tinged with Fatalism.

Leibnitz’s doctrine of philosophical necessity 7 , convoying the idea of immutable law, is co-relatcd, perhaps, to the doctrine of Fate, but- it would be doing a gross injustice to the great apostle of Optimism to suggest that the Fatalism prevalent in the Fatherland is founded on a philosophic basis. It is an unreasoned and tinreasoning instinct, inherited partly from the original inhabitants of the country. This is shown by the fact that it is most pronounced in those districts in which the clearest traces are found of the original races, such as the Wends, and their characteristics. The German has no word equivalent to the Turkish Kismet. But he lias precisely the feeling which the world expresses. In the end it gets the hotter even of the dogged pertinacity which is on of his outstanding qualities. He resembles the flind of force that succumbs and refuses to budge, when he feels himself “gripped,” and which neither coaxing nor the whip will then move. THE SUICIDE CULT.

Tt, is the prevalence of an unconscious fatalism which is responsible to a large extent for the enormous number of suicides in the Fatherland. The German does not show up well under disappointment and adversity. If trouble of a serious kind overtakes him he is inclined to take “the short cut.” When, in colloqual phrase he is “up against it,” his first impulse appears to solve the difficulty by taking his life. The number of persons in Germany who follow this impulse is appalling. “It is the only way,” coolly remarks ex-Lieutenant Borgert _in Bilse’s “Life in a Garrison Town.” The tragic ending of Borgert and Frau Liomann in that volume required no great effort of imagination on the part of the novelist. Such an ending was in complete harmony "with German ideas.

According to the last available statistics, about 13,000 persons in Germany take their lives in the course of a year, equal to 212 out of every million of the population. In Scotland the proportion is 08 to the million. Tho lowest rate of suicide in Europe is in Ireland, while Saxony has tho unpleasant-distinction of possessing the highest—32s out of each million of the population. Shortly after the Germans were turned bade from the Marne there were reports of suicides among the offices and men. There wore similar reports after the determined hut fruitless attempt to break through to Calais, and also after other heavy blows inflicted by the Allies. To any one familiar with Germany and with the German character there is certainly nothing inherently improbable at least in those reports. Quito the contrary. CREEP SENTIMENT. Fatalism is hut a poor substitute for enthusiasm. The contrast can readily he imagined between the effect likely to ho produced on The solihor by the spirited strains beloved of tho British “Tommy” and the influence of some of the lugubrious melodies and fatalistic odes dear to the German. HaufF’s “Reiter’s Morganlied” was a great favorite in 1870, and is, tho writer understands, a favorite in the German army to-day. The music, which is in a minor key, haunts the ear. The first verse runs: Dawn at day, dawn of day, light me to an early grave Soon the trumpet loud will blow Then I to my death must go— I and many a comrade bravo. This may he admired as courageous resignation to destiny, hut it is hardly calculated to rouse and inspire. One can imagine it giving a company of soldiers tho feeling known as “the creeps.” It is worth while remembering that till tho present war, defeat had been unknown in modern Germany. Prussia brought Denmark, Austria and, France quickly to their knees, and for the past forty years Germans have been ns sanguine with regard to the lofty Destiny of their race as was Napoleon of liis own. But onoo tho tido of war has fairly turned, the feeling that it is useless to tight against Deswill probably lead to unlooked for and important developments.