Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1916. LESS HOPEFUL OUTLOOK IN GERMANY.

Nelson Evening Mail, 30 September 1916, Page 4

Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1916. LESS HOPEFUL OUTLOOK IN GERMANY.

I THE opening sessions in the Reichstag i have not been of the stormy nature pre(dieted by some correspondents, Ibut it is stated that the Chancellor?was less hopeful and confident than in his former utterances. "Disgust with the war weighs upon the whole German nation as a burden ithat cannot be cast off." Such is the verdict of a neutral correspondent of the Rotterdam newspaper Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant, for whose exceptional opportunities of observation in Germany and staidness of judgment this paper vouches. .This neutral, who, by the way, is not a Dutchman, is, says the Rotterdamsche, "rather pro-German in sympathy, ' but "his-- sober reason views things with great detachness." "His impressions," it adds, "seem to ,us so important that we are bound to give them." He says, in brief : 'This war-disgust has, during the last months, or even weeks, reached such proportions that one cannot enliven the people out of this slowness and heaviness. Voluntary enlisting has completely stopped' during the last six months-; nobody even speaks about it. Moreover, those who have to go to the front- try .to evade their duty by all possible means. This reluctance to fight. has grown to such a suffocating pitch that no 'victory' can improve matters. The physical state of the nation is made still worse through the great bitterness which begins- to dominate the people. Everywhere the conviction is growing that the Government let pass the favourable moment for the conclusion of an advantageous peace in the spring of 1915. It was driven all the time bygrowing avidity, by lust of conquest, and thus lost the right moment; and there is no hope that the Government will win it back. This opinion is so generally expressed' that it explains in itself the rapidly-growing bitterness against the Government. Moreover, the lower classes, as the war drags on, are 'becoming more and more radical in their actions. The populace in the cities, and especially in Berlin, is in a great state of unrest. The Government, acts against this unrest with a total disregard of realities and justice. I One wild and reactionary measure follows another. Collisions happen, everyday, and are suppressed with 'bloodshed. After the conviction of Liebknecht such disorders were the order of the day. The people were furious over his conviction. Amongst others, all the workmen of the General Electricity Company struck work. The following morning 2000 of them were sent to the front."