A GERMAN VIEW OF THE WAR.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 May 1917, Page 2

A GERMAN VIEW OF THE WAR.

"LETTER FOUND ON THE SOMME. NO lIOI'E OP VICTORY. IMPERIALISTIC ROBBER POLICY. Private William Rae, who left Invercargill -\vitlt the Fifth Reinforcements, and 'was in tho Komme battle, lias forwarded to 'Mr. Alexander Ferguson, his uncle, a letter found on the dead body of a German. It has -been translated by a local resident familiar with the language, and is as follows: What was bound to happen has come to pass, and we now have hunger in the land. In Leipzig, in Berlin, in Brunswick, in Magdeburg, in Co'blentz, and Osnabruck, and in many other places, we have mobs of hungry people before the provision shops. Tho Government responsible for tlid state of siege of the country lias only one answer to the cries of the masses: "Stricter blockade, police sabres, and military patrols." Herr von Bethmann-'HolUveg blames England for the crime which has brought hunger to Germany, and the war enthusiasts and supporters of the Government chatter away to the same tune. However, the German Government must have known that this condition of affairs would arise; war against Russia), 'Prance, and England: must lead 1 to a blockade of Germany. It has always been a rule in warfare that the combatants should cut off the supply of foodstuffs to the enemy. This war, this slaughter of nations ia the crime; the starvation policy only one of its results. The, war party complains that we 'havo been "hemmed in" by our spiteful enemies. Why did they initiate the policy which led to their being hemmed in? >: All Imperialistic "robber" policy is a crime, and all States pursue such policies. Our German Government, however, pursued such a policy as to irritate all other nations, came into conflict with them all, and, finally uniting herself with the "corpse"' State of Austria, and the hopelesly bankrupt Turkey, stirred up to violence the world war. To this criminal plotting was added more of the same. The Government had done noth-' ing to avert the coming starvation of the country. Why not? 'Because the Government clique, the capitalists, the junkers, and the food growers suffered nothing from the hunger of the masses, but, on the contrary, enriched themselves thereby. . -. If they had, on the other hand, taken measures from the' beginning to combat starvation and distress, the frightful earnestness of the situation would havo become clear to file deluded masses and their enthusiasm for the -war would have evaporated at once. They', therefore deafened the Multitude with shouts of triumph, and at the same time delivered them into the hands of the agrarians and capitalists. They sought to beguile the masses by cries of "Hold out for victory," leading them to suppose that, if we held out to the end, we should be able to dictate terms of peace and dominate the world.

Wo have ibeen assured that our submarines wouldi cut off England's imports, that England Would whine for peace, and so the war would J>e won. . . . All n fairy tale. Our submarine campaign ■brings us new enemies, but a blockade of Engtand is not to tliink of, not if we had ten times more submarines. Then we were told that the Balkan push would give more freedom if communication, that we were to get ample foodstuffs from Turkey. Here the Government lied knowingly, for any intelligent person knows that Turkey can give us nothing), that want and famine rage in Constantinople and the smaller towns of Asia Minor, and that the Turkish Government can no longer feed its ariuy. Then we are told of the coming harvest, which.is to satisfy all our wants. This also is a conscious swindle. The truth is this: In twenty-two months of war we have consumed, two "harvests, besides the great stocks of sugar, fodder, etc., which were in the country at the outbreak of war; further, all that we requisitioned in the conquered territories (Belgium, Northern France, .Poland, Russia, and Serbia); Anally ail that we. were able to import from Holland and the Scandinavian countries. But now. we have come to the end of our resources. -The conquered territories are swept bare, men are dying of hunger In -Poland and in Serbia. The neutral States have stopped exports because they themselves are suffering from a shortage. Our own harvest cannot give a larger yield, for there is a want of manure, of huhoi\ and of seed. The stock of cattle is low. A food-dictator is to sec that the food is fairly shared out. It is too late The food growers have do'ic their work too well. Strangling them won't lielu. There is no longer enough to divide to satisfy cvpryone. That is the truth--naked. The people lfave'bcen urged into a war which lias now cut o.T their Tood supplies. Capitalist criminals have done the rest.

We can go on fighting for half a year: perhaps for a full year, while cur people slowly starve. Then, however, we are making the future generations suffer, and to the frightful sucrifi.-os of dead and cripples will be added those of children and women. Besides, there c:m be no end to this war in a yea'. - or two's fighting, for a decision by force of arms is impossible. German militarism' after all its "victories;",gets no farther ahead. If the war lasts as long as that it will be due simply to the patient suffering of tho peopie. Men anil women of the -working classes, we are all responsible. Either the workers persist in a st'ipici indifference—then is the result long misery and eventual destruction; or the proletariat Will gather together, turn the present Government and the ruling classes tut of office, aitd bring this war to an end. There is no ohoirj; action is called for. Arise, men and women. Make known your will; let your voices sound. Down with the war. Long live the international unit? of the working clasres. Printer and publisher: Alfred Schultze, Lubeck, i