WHEN THE CLOCK STRIKES.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIII, Issue 38, 14 October 1915, Page 4

WHEN THE CLOCK STRIKES.

Discussing the vise of Germany from ' insignificance to the day when German heads became turned with too much dwelling on their own importance, and the great war was decided upon to further German ambitions, A. G. Hales in a deeply interesting article concludes that Germany was 'escaping from the toils of her destiny when Bismarck, the iron Chancellor, was horn. William of the red hand calls Bismarck the saviour of Germany, but Air Hales says he was “the Devil’s outrider, and Germany’s curse. Had this man never been born, the German race might have fulfilled the laws of evolution, and become really great; their natural force, if trained I and led aright, might have made the whole world gladsome. Bismarck was a 'throwback to the stone age. a man with a colossal brain and no conscience, an iron will and no soul. Be- , fore bis birth he bad been balanced in hell, and made perfect for evil. Massive in all. things- even in crimelie was a mountain of infamy shapen like a man, a devil by destiny. There is nothing surer than this, that unseen forces guide men, as men guide horses. What there was of humanity in Bismarck’s nature was bound up in two things—love ol Germany And hate of Britain. In danger ho was brave a.s a lion, yet he was a bar to tlie roots of his soul. His brain was ■ big enough to conceive plans for the dominance of Europe, yet lie was a forger, a trickster and a cheat. In all his dealings with the Chancellors of Europe, he played with marked cards. He wa s the-blight of Germany ; he scoffed at the poets and artists, sneered at religion, strangled nobility of sentiment, made a mock of purity.’A Then camp “William the Half-Wit-ted.” whom the writer describes as “a creature • diseased in body and brain—ball' an athlete, half a cripple, half a genius, half a homicidal maniac—a diseased .sepulchre for a soul, a monster spewed from the dark ages to curse the twentieth century—a blight upon the garden of the world,” and Bismarck, master-fiend, trained and tortured him. For a time he did not show his hand after he came to tlie throne. Bismarck told lies L William was living a lie. Mr Hales proceeds: “He professed peace and prepared for war on a world that phad done him no wrong. Ho was nlpevil, but he made Germany great. She had no navy; he built one, mighty in every detail, Germany had no' mercantile marine of any moment ; lie subsidised ship-bnilding until her hag was oil every highway of tlie waters ol the world. Germany had no overseas ! commerce.; he- sent, special emissaries the world over and (captured a gigantic 'volume of trade. , Germany, had no chiekjs or canals of importance; he built' some-of tlie best 'on earth, Germany's Hag had carried no weight outside of Europe ; lie made it respected and feared to the uttermost parts of tlie earth. Germany...had only a small gold reserve ; he filled the banks until they were bursting. He trained. armedj ami equipped a vast army of ravishers, murderers and plunderers and called them soldiers. He built factories where no factories had ever existed in the Fatherland, and he encouraged agriculture to walk hand in hand with commerce , and manufactures. He was a boaster, a Bar, a false friend. Ho played with dice—even when a guest in friendly countries. He did not know the meaning of loyalty to bread and salt; the guest-chamber was to him a place of espionage; his kiss was the kiss of Judas; lie would go to a royal kinsman’s death-chamber and steal fiv-m dying lips the secrets of tlie great. But be and Germany together mounted to the Alpine heights of power and prosperity., Germany became the colossus ,of tile world, and might have been its master ere the sands ran out, had honesty and righteousness been, tlie national watch words instead of trickery ami brute force. 'The whole Germanic .life has been a hideous lie for two generations. They were within an ace of world-mastery by virtue of their industry, organisation, will power and brain force—they have thrown it all to the dogs. The gods have cursed them; they will fall when the clock strikes. They are rotten with unrighteousness. But the hour is near.”