THE FEELING IN GERMANY.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 169, 28 April 1916, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE FEELING IN GERMANY.

A neutral publicist of wide experience has contributed some noteworthy artides to the "Times" on things as lie found tl.cm in Germany whither lie has just been on* an extended visit —the second since tho beginning of the war. Ho notes a marked change in the people, and lie quotes German publicists, politicians, and workers in corroboration of his view that symptoms of depression arc p'.early obvious. His concluding remarks are interesting: — " I should like to supplement the facts 1 have been able to gather by a few personal impressions. Tho deterioration of the moral of the German people is a signal fact. Obvious nearly all over the Fatherland, it is most marked in tho South, where people are less police-ridden, but where the supply of necessities is not so well organised as in Prussia. Ag<:ia the deterioration has not affected a single class or a certain stratum of the population, but has, although for different reasons, permeated the whole nation. The economically weak have been influenced 0y actual want of tho most indispensable necessities, whiio the well-to-do classes dread a future the possibilities of which they have no means of gauging. This is one of the reasons why successes on tho battlefields are no longer sources of enthusiasm. Nor do the easy chances of making money give the many nouveaux r.ches —a class that grows amazingly, and that is going to make Berlin more hopelessly vulgar than it ever was—any real satisfaction. Occupied territory is'not an asset of the future, and who knows what the rici.es of to-day will oe worth to-morrow : J This-sceptical turn of mind, which to mo seemed rather a new and quite unnatural feature of German psychology, :s r-fc conlined to tho intellectual classes. It has become characteristic of he nation. To-day it is typical of tho Prussian as well as of the Bavarian. You are no longer told enthusiasm stories of national heroes. You may stay in Berlin for weeks without oaco hearing the n«m e of Hindenburg. That huge, ugly block of timber which 4s supposed to represent that Prussian hero offers no further temptation to tho nail-driving worshippers, though it is i.till more than half uncovered oy golden, silver, or iron nails. The casual observer would tell you that the cafes, theatres, bars, and restaurants aro still overflowing with noisy crowds, who aro rather encouraged by the . authorities to amuse ■themselves as well as they can. But it is a feeling which a German acquaintance of mine characterised as "Die Fluent vor dem Allcinsein"—the yearning for company. It is a very unsafe business to prophesy, and I should not venture to predict the exact number of months for which the German pcop'o will be able to bear the exhausting burden of tho present depression. One thing, however, I have no hesitation in saying: Tho German people will be more than heroic r.r.d less than human if they can stand this ever-increasing pressure for another vcar.