GERMAN WAR LORDS AND THE MASSES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 1292, 3 September 1914, Page 4

GERMAN WAR LORDS AND THE MASSES.

THE GRINDING WEIGHT OF PAN-GERMANISM. SHADOW OF A “COMMUNE.” A Wellington revident wlio toured Germany during July of last year, hu» no in;*itation in saying tliat bo does not bdicT« for ono inomont that t.l 10 surface trouble between Austria and Servia had anythin;' to do with the unaheathing of tlio aword by Germany. It. may have been tho means to ajv end—a peg to hang a war on-—but he holds that i.h« upheaval fia» been hastened on by an arrogant. war party to prevent an internal revolution, a revolution against a Government, or a. «ories of Governments, who to build up a mighty army and a great, navy, have ground ill* people down and down until their hard unremitting labour in field and factory produce just so much a« will keep body and soul together. The peasantry ol Germany were a clear, sober, hard-working people, who worked on their little farms and vineyards from dawn to dark without ever getting any further forward, and vaguelying wondering why life was made such a burden when if could bo so sweet a thing. In the cities, where they are in closer touch with what, is going on, where the aristocracy of tho army load a gay, reckless life, without a thought for the underdog, whom they treat as so much dirt, the mentality of the working classes has been sharpened into a realisation of what the Pan-Germanic movement moans, and rerouting tho soulless means that have for years been resorted to to bring about the end they have turned in their despair and disgust to Socialism, and for years had a gifted mouthpiece in the late Herr Bebcl. Socialism is rampant in Germany—it lioneyooinlts both the army and the, navy, for tho very reason that the craze for power and extended frontiers i« for ever grinding down ■he parents, and tho brothers and sisters of tho men who serve in tho ranks of these ; wo anus of the service. It was tho fear of a general rising' of the people, thinks our informant, that has led the war party to seek a means of involving the nation in a great struggle, and so engage, the attention of millions in an actual struggle with other nations rather than allow tho growing internal dissensions to hlazo out, and perhaps consume all who stood in its path. “1 very much doubt/’ concluded our informant, “if there will bo any Kaiser or Imperial Government when the final wash-ing-up takes place, after the war. If Germany wins, the Kaiser will probably be tho most powerful monarch the woyhl has ever beheld —more powerful than Napoleon the Great —but should he fail, he will b® dealt with not only by tho nations who have beaten him, but. metaphorically, torn limb from limb by his own people. The next few days will probably bo tho most momentous that have ever boon in tho history of Western Europe.’’--Dominion.