GERMAN APPREHENSION.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 November 1916, Page 7

GERMAN APPREHENSION.

WHAT ENGLAND WILL DO., The Cologne Gazette gave its editorial approval to an extract from an anonymous leaflet, which may well have caused dismay among its readers by the unexpected character of the suggestions contained in it: — "The greater number of our people have not as yet come to realise the nature of the consequences which would result if we were defeated, and especially if we were defeated by an enemy such as England. We should be seriously mistaken if we regarded as silly boasting the speeches delivered by English Ministers and members of Parliament, who, when they have vanquished us, wish to overthrow 'German militarism,' blow up Krupp's, and exile the Kaiser to St. Helena. England, if she proves victorious, will act in a different manner; her motto has always been 'Sink, burn, and destroy.' "For God's sake, let us not bo deceived with regard to England's determination to humiliate us to such an extent that she will be able to impose her own terms upon us, willy-nilly, and stt us aside for ever as a competitor in the markets of the world. All classes of the people of England are unanimous in this resolve, from the First Sea Lord down to the most insignificant laborer at Newcastle-on-Tyne. It cannot be too strongly urged that a victory of this kind for England would mean an irreparable catastrophe for the German Empire. The Empire itself would be dissolved, and, in addition, the very existence of our people would be gravely threatened, especially when we ■remember the Russian torrents pouring in from the East.

"Such a victory on the part of England would lend not only to the bankruptcy of our industries and of our oversea trade, but to the ruin of the middle classes. Indeed, it is the middle classes in particular which would mffer, because in the event of an English victory it would be impossible for us to make our enemies pay an indemnity to cover the cost of the war, and for many generations our war burdens would increase to an enormous extent. The miseries of our working population would be enough to throw them back 80 years—to the time when the machinemade yarns of England drove out the hand-made yarns of Germany, and thousands were carried off by starvation, especially in Saxony and Silesia."