The Daily News. SATURDAY, JULY 1, 1916. GERMANY'S PLIGHT.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 July 1916, Page 4

The Daily News. SATURDAY, JULY 1, 1916. GERMANY'S PLIGHT.

The remarkable report of the proceedings, which the Paris Journal states took place at a secret session of the German Council, may or may not be wholly true, but in the light >f facts which have foi some time past been ob vious to all who intelligently follow the events connected with the present struggle, there would appear good grounds for accepting in large measure the majority of the statements that are now made public in yesterday's cables. How it happens that a highly confidential document, Jiat must inevitably be injurious to Germany's position, came to be divulged is not of great moment considering the strenuous eflorts that are made to obtain inner information as to all important matters that transpire in the Councils of the various Powers engaged in the war. Looking at the report from a judicial point of view, and in the lignt of evidence that has been tested and found true, there would appear to be no groat difficulty in arriving at the conclusi.m ! that Germany is in desperately sore straits both as regards hei military and financial resources. The German Cha.'tcclkir ]'•:, reported as saying: "Our condition is bad. If everything goo.-? well and it the people are satisfied wir.n small results, we can last until March, 1917." The "if" plays a,n important part in this pronouncement. It will be remembered that the German bankers gave a much shorter period as the limit of the country's ability to stand the present intense financial strain, and it mint a'so be remembered that the whole of Germany's war credit has been

praqtica/iy obtained under the fragil< inducement that the vast indemnities to be wrung from her enemies* would far more than suffice to repay the exponas of the wa. and recoup the people for their advances to the Government. There is, however, no longer any talk of indemnities, and the ever increasing flood of paper money lias made bankruptcy certain. Herr Helfl'erieh, the German Finance Minister, is reported to havn said: "Financially we can last through '."lie war, but afterwards bankruptcy is inevitable. We have already lost a irllion marks in exchange." This view of Germany's plight so tallies with the known conditions that it may be accepted as an accurate summing up of the situation. We do not, howexfer, lay U.o great a stresii on Germany's economic position and resources as affecting the issue of the war which, as has alvcady Veen pointed out. must be decided

by military, and not by economic methods, although the latter factor cannot be ignored. Dismissing the economic position as a subsidiary element in Germany's plight, it is interesting to note her military prospects. So f ar as Germany's evil military resources at': concerned, we have it on acceptable authority that she has reached her limit in calling np the 1017-18 classes—boys who may be eager for service, but certainly cannot be fit to stand the hardships pf such a contest as the present. In spite of this fact, the waste of men at Verdun continues to be colossal, and the pity of it is that the flower of German manhood is being recklessly butchered on the altar of German vanity

,iid vaingloriousncss. If the remarks i ttributed to Herr Holhveg wen? actually made at the secret session of the Council, they certain reflect verj. adversely on his intellectual power*, "Kemember," he is reported to have said, "we have only one means of saltation. We must detach France from 'he Allies. We must obtain a breakdown oi French confidence at all costs." Does the Chancellor imagine for one moment that pounding away at Verdun and intense efforts to crush the French will detach them from the Allies? If so, lie must be suffering trom dotage, and he would do well to study that t-triking allegory exemplified in the contest between the wind and the sun as to which had the greater power to compel ii traveller to doff his outer coat. The larder Germany presses France, the stronger will France cling to the Allies and they to her. No sane German statesman could ever hope to weaken the ties existing between the Allies by merely dealiug great blows. The fact is that the German authorities have been forced to recognise that the turning point of the war lias been reached, and the tide is running against Germany, whose resources are now circumscribed, ond whose props, as represented by Austria and Turkey, instead of being useful are rapidly becoming shak.\ and are a menace to German hopes. Never has the confidence of the Allies been higher or more justified than at present. Germany's strength, shorn as it is oT its former greatness, is still formidable, but the Allies know that the task of the enemy will soon have to be concentrated on defence instead of attack. The cessation of the submarine campaign is particularly significant in view c|f the tightening of the blockade, and, reading between the lines, it would seem that Germany's present attitude is more directed to attaining favorable peace term's than to visions of conquest. We know how vain is such a hope. From the Baltic provinces to the imglish Channel and southwards towards the Adriatic the indications are all favorable to the Allies, and the confidence they display is far more effective than Germany's futile bluff and bluster.