The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1916. INTERNAL GERMANY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 7, 2 December 1916, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1916. INTERNAL GERMANY.

The latest outburst of hypocritical bluff from Berlin which Hollweg gave for the benefit of neutrals, "is doubt-

less prompted by the German military clique, though it is certain that the common people hunger after peace as do also the soldiers' of the Kaiser’s army. For that matter tin* whole world desires peace, but not the sort of peace which Germany is praying for. That Germany should be making such persistent efforts to end the war before she is utterly defeated is proof that the situation is looked

upon as a dark one Irom the German standpoint. What is actually happening in Germany is very carefully kept back from the knowledge of the outside world, but occasionally Swedish and other neutral papers are able to throw a little light' on internal happenings- in Germany. It is becoming daily more evident that there is much distress and that protesting strikes and demonstrations frequently break out, only to he ruthlessly crushed by the military. A good deal of reliable evidence hearing out these facts is appearing in English newspapers, bused on the declarations made hy travellers and residents in Germany, and most ol it goes to show that the spirit of the people is sinking rapidly, and the public are losing faith in the Kaiser’s promise ol linnl victory. The failure of the late air raids on England, which had been planned so carefully and were intended to lay waste London and other towns, will not tend to lilt the depression. Some German newspapers have even become hold enough to flatly assert that after two years the German armies have not reached cither Baris or London; that Gieat

Britain still stands invincible; and that Germany is now fighting for her own freedom and independence, and not for conquest’s sake. Chancellor Holhveg’s latest utterances therefore, are merely what the Americans call “hot air,” and even the Germans must know it. So far as Austria, is concerned, Germany, never loved, ’S now much hated, and Kaiser Wilhelm’s (light back to Berlin on the pretext of a cold instead of attending Franz Josef’s funeral as he proposed to do, is surely a sign of waning German influence. It is plain that the great blockade is being felt keenly and that Germany is suffering. Hollweg’s assertion will not help much in averting the misery and peril which are rightly coming to the wjlful makers of a hideously brutal war.