WAR NOTES.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 March 1917, Page 3

WAR NOTES.

GERMANY GETS THE TRUTH. Germany had a cold shiver the other day. Her leading historian, -Professor Friedrieh Meinecke, in the Frankfurter Zcitung, WTotc an article, which, seeing the writer is a Germai., was startling in its frankness. Professor Meinecke stated plainly and bluntly that the whole German plan of campaisn was wrecked on the banks of the Marne, that Germanv suffered an irretrievable defeat at Verdun and again on the Somme, and that these two hitter events were the direct inspiration of the Kaiser's prayer for peace. Professor Meinecke admits, in fact, that Germany is beaten, and has been ueaten since the battle of the Marno, and that immediate peace is imperative, because a German victory is impossible. The newspapers conducted by the paid scribes of the war party in Germany have in consequence suffered a terrible shock. Professor Meinecke in one article has undone tissues of lies which the paid scribes took months to create, and now they are engaged in a desperate concerted effort to counteract what they call "the terrible mischief occasioned by these ill-constructed utterancs." GERMANY'S PLIGHT. A London correspondent, writing in January, says Germany enters on the New Year with her plumes bedraggled, tier stomach empty, and her dreams of world-conquest over. One egg every fortnight has been allowed to date, but now that is stopped, and Amsterdam reports that a Berlin order has been issued telling the people that the egg situation is "very bad," and that only invalids would get them until March brought an improvement. People in Cologne have not had milk for four weeks, except children under six, who get less than a pint daily. There has been no genuine coffee for months, only an undrinkablc substitute made with barley and sold at a high price. Beans, rice, and dried vegetable* are unheard of, except in legendary pre-war stories, while fresh vegetables are' all seized by Batocki for the army, except cabbages, which are plentiful because townspeople have been given plots of ground on which to grow them. It is said by one special correspondent of a London newspaper that the old type of chubby German has disappeared, except among the peasants, who fed themselves properly until Hindenbttrg denounced them. Most working people look pale, haggard and ghostlike, and dyspepsia reigns. The factors which make the situation very serious indeed for our enemies during the coming year are-r-(l) The failure of the potato supply, which is certainly less than one-half of the previous crop, and which was depended upon as tln» staple form of food; and (2) the lack of nitrates and manures, which have been essential for intense cultivation of Gei--many's poor soil. So serious are these factors that the German leaders have ceased to boast of "ample supplies" and talk instead of "holdin" on " '