HOPELESS ABOUT GERMANY.

Taihape Daily Times, 1 November 1918, Page 3

HOPELESS ABOUT GERMANY.

In a recent article in the New Yorx Times, Mr. Frank Bohn, a well-known Socialist and an active member of the “Friends of German Democracy,” confesses that he has been among those who since the beginning of the wa»have exaggerated the importance othe democratic forces in Germany. His roseate expectations recently sufferea very severe set-back in Switzerland. Every German democratic exile in Switzerland, without one exception, emphasised with the greatest clearness that only a decisive defeat of Germany’s forces could begin the work of building up a German democracy. One said: “Place absolutely no hope in any party, or in any class, within Germany. There is no considerable group in Germany which understands democracy. All criticism of the Government is based entirely on the fact that there is not enough food and clothing. But if the Government car. provide her people with the necessities of life as she has in the past there is

no reason why she should not make war for 50 years. The German people are growing accustomed to war losses. Any suggestion that the war is an evil is met by the answer, ‘Are we not better off than the others? Are we no« fighting upon enemy territory? Have we not won every battle?’ The number of people in Germany who respect anything but force is negligible. Upon the masses of Germany, capitalists, professional men, and w T age workers alike, economic success and the newfound wealth have worked like a black curse The acquisition of wealth merely destroyed the soul of Germany. I am hopeless, utterly hopeless, about Germany. Only complete defeat can give her a new beginning.”