The Daily News. SATURDAY, JANUARY 13, 1912. SOCIALISM GERMANY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 107, 13 January 1912, Page 4

The Daily News. SATURDAY, JANUARY 13, 1912. SOCIALISM GERMANY.

There are many people at the present moment who believe that war with Germany is, sooner or later, inevitable. Its inevitability is as questionable as its ending is problematical. There are few people who can be found to possess sufficient faith to believe that Britain in any conflict with Germany would beat her, although it is, in our opinion, absolutely impossible for Germany to succeed, whether she fights us on sea or land. Reasons must be given for a belief, which has otherwise no value. The German navy is new. It has no tradition, no history, no experience. The Little Britisher who understands this point still holds that its army is an engine against which Britain could make no headway. The armchair critic; who sometimes goes on to the street corner to show what a fatuous thing the British army is, is not likely to be misled by the statement of Lord Haldane that the British system of defence is at the moment perfect and the best in the world. It is wearily reiterated that if Britain does not introduce compulsory military training she must go under. The fact that the German army is the best-traine'd machine of its kind under heaven is no criterion of its fighting effectiveness. It cannot be proved that a perfect, machine must necessarily achieve the results mathematically calculated by its inventors and engineers. We have it constantly drummed into our ears that Germany can mobilise a million trained men in twentyfour hours. We do not know that Britain cannot mobilise more than a million trained men in less time. The War Office is not in the habit of saying what it is able to do. It still sticks to the British plan of keeping its mouth shut. It is generally believed by those who have taken no trouble to study the matter that the regular British army is the only effective land fighting force Britain has. It is stated by magazine writers that the Territorials—who are of the same flesh and blood and animated by the same ideas—would fire a few rounds at the first German helmet and then thrown down their arms and generally hide behind the nearest rocks. The facts are that Britain is teeming with trained men out of uniform. Short service with the colors means than men quit their regiments excellently trained while still quite youthful. Even if these men have put in their seven years or more on the reserve they are still young and fit, for it is still a condition of service with the colors that a man shall be physically fit. Our contention is that there are hundreds of thousands of trained men outside ohe ranks of the British army and its auxiliary who would flock to the colors the instant war broke out. Only

a small proportion of soldiers are specialists. The chief necessity for a soldier is that he shall accept discipline absolutely. No man who has ever been a soldier is strange to discipline even after forty years' civilian employment. The actual number of available trained men in Britain may be equal to the number of available trained men in Germany. The point of difference is that Britain has been engaged in war of la,te years and that Germany has not. The advantage 'is all on the side of Britain. War cannot 'be waged without money. Germany cannot finance a great war with the same ease as Britain can. We do not hear the opinions of the German people. We hear the opinions of the war-mongers. In order to get at the heart of the matter it is necessary, to see the heart of the people. There is no country on earth where socialistic ideas have so permeated a people as in Germany. A German general may advocate the "anhiliation of the Socialist party," but it is impossible and inadvisable to annihilate a party which wins nearly every by-election and which since the year 1871 has made such steady gains that it now holds the votes of at least five million people in the German Empire. The return of Socialist members to the Reichstag means that the war-monger element is kept In check by the voting power of the Socialists, who I are bitterly opposed to any .war, and especially opposed to a war between cousin nations. Every device invented for the suppression of the German socialist has made him stronger and more aßtute. He has thriven on the Bismarckian methods of suppression, for he has been more secret and more clever. He has carefully sown his doctrines among the young people of Germany. The young men of Germany must pass into the army, which is very largely an army of recruits. A tremendous number of the young men of the German Army are Socialists. That fact is going to trouble Germany more than all outside bother. We shall never believe that l the German army as a great body is anxious to flesh its maiden sword on its own relatives, nor that the British people desire a war with a nation which would be crippled for several decades afterwards. The nations are inter-de-pendent. When this fluster induced by war-mongers is over the dependence may be more pronounced and a peaceful alliance more probable. In the meantime, Socialism is Germany's biggest handicap to her bellicose intentions, and for that reason it may be hoped that i the power of that party will increase both in the Empire and in the Reichstag, j If in the 1907 elections the Socialists polled one-third of the total votes castas was the case—it is probable that a still greater percentage will be polled l at the forthcoming election and that the Reichstag will contain a Socialist party which may effectively handicap the war-at-any-price party.