GERMANY STUNNED

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIV, Issue 10277, 12 May 1919, Page 4

GERMANY STUNNED

That Germany is stunned by the terms of the Treaty is' not surprising. The German public has been nursing the hope that the treatment of beaten Germany by the Allies would be very different from the treatment the German rulers were prepared to inflict .on-the Allies-in the. event of (their ; de--feai 1 ," and'' !o 'Gefman ; . public.; was ready to applaud. That was part of the contempt felt for the Allies by the supermen of Germany. As a, matter of fact,. the' Treaty, treats Germany very much more mildly than accords with the German idea of the fate of all vanquished belligerents. Nevertheless, the treatment'is drastic enough to'make Germiiny., po3v;erjess. . It shears off'all"territofiar acquisitions, sweeps away all schemes of commercial exploitation, destroys all German hold on international roads, rivers, and canals, annihilates military and naval power, and puts a grip on the country as security for payment of a large proportion of due reparation, besides bringing many national malefactors within measurable distance of condign punishment. The German public thought ' The Treaty shows every German how thoroughly tho German nation has been beaten, and marks for them how completely the German ideals of aggression are shattered. Berlin is stunned. It is a sign that at last Germany is awake. There is, therefore, some hope for Germany. But Germany is still overbearing. No one need be surprised at tho exhibition of- boorishness on tho part of the head of the German delegation. ■ Nobody expected that- they would fall on the necks of the Entente representatives, pouring out expressions of gratitude, repentance, and respect. What in sonic quarters was hoped for was some sign of admission of evil, some indication of regret -which might lead to' a better understanding of the rights and wrongs of things. This hope has been disappointed by the scene of the horn spectacles. "Not a wrinkle," says the barber of the American cartoon, after passing a magnifying glass over a smooth, brazen German front submitted for >.6igns of repentance. This prediction is verified by the horn spectacles and the sitting figure and the rasping voice, and the claim they imply of equality in all things. They make it plain that force is the one thing on which the obedience of Germany depends.