The Daily News. SATURDAY, MAY 31, 1919. THE NEW GERMANY

Taranaki Daily News, 31 May 1919, Page 4

The Daily News. SATURDAY, MAY 31, 1919. THE NEW GERMANY

I Will the new Germany be an extended Prussia ? Have Germany and Prussia finished with Junkerdom ? Do the Junkers, who have not drawn a sword or lost a life i for the creed they incarnated for two hundred years, recognise that they they are beaten an.! must go, or are they biding their timet These and similar questions on which rests the decision whether or not the world can be made safe for democracy, are for the future to decide—peacefully or otherwise. It has been said that constitutionmaking is a fertile field for ingenuity, but when the process is veiled by intrigue and pretence it is prudent to carefully examine probabilities even though speculation on the matter may be a sheer waste of time. We know what Germany has been in the past, and the indications of her present political I conditions are fairly discernible, 'so that it only remains to apply the i test of scientific inference in order j to arrive at probabilities as to the ■ future. The revolution has not I deprived the Germans of -heir

courage, tlieir formidable brains, their class-solidarity and their wonderful system, gifts of discipline, organisation, resourcefulness and powers of recuperation, nor has it eliminated their feeling of hate and desire for revenge. There must also be taken into account the fact that their faith .in "Deutschland über alles" is as strong as ever, so also is their policy of intrigue, misrepresentation and predeliction for propaganda as a potent factor in outwitting their opponents. It would be fool ish to expect the Prussian nation, for 200 years born, bred and drilled in an anti-democratic system, and the German nation that for half a century has lived under the old Imperial Constitution, to abandon at the stroke of a legislator's pen all its convictions and to change its mental atmosphere as easily as it can pass from the field grey uniform to civilian clothing. Ti'ue democracy is not a question of forms and organs of government, but a life and an attitude towards life—and above all an attitude towards, and a creed of, international relations. Tf the present German Government were actuated by an honest desire to democratise the country there would have been no organised demonstrations against the peace terms, no outcry against disarmament, for it would have been recognised that the terms erred on the side|of leniency by comparison with those that Germany would have inflicted had she been the victor, while disarmament would be welcomed as a mighty relief from a burden that has broken the back of the nation. The hysterical ravings merely emphasise the fact that the so-called socialist Government is a camouflage to hide its real nature. There is actually no material difference in the Parliament of to-day and the old Reichstag, both Ebert and Scheid mann being quite willing to cooperate with Hindenburir and Ludendorff. The star of militarism still shines brightly in the Teutonic firmament, but so long as the Allies stand firmly together, the Central Powers will be helpless. The German authorities are not only playing for time in their old cunning way, but are doing all in their power to sow discord between their enemies, to issue plausible appeals and striving to arouse sympathy by skilful propaganda. There has been no change in the heart of the nation or of the rulers —the talk about invincibility still proceeds. The chief desire is to escape punishment—to retain possession of all their re sources so that they may speedily renew their strength to strike another and a heavier blow. So patent is the aim that the Allies cannot fail to see through the machinations that are afoot, and unless they ensure the effectual enforcement of the peace terms the German menace will be more pronounced' than ever; the sacrifices all in vain. It is now or never, for the Germans are rapidly gaining strength, which they hope to accelerate by absorbing the purely Teutonic portion of the Austrian Empire. To counteract the danger it is necessary to ensure Poland and Czecho-Slovakia firmly established, also to assist Russia in getting on her feet and alienating her from Germany. According to present indications these objects appear to be in a fair way of materialising. The new Germany is so similar to the old that the outlook is by no means hopeful. The Pan-German policy is dormant, not crushed. Democratic Germany may yet have to buy, like other motions, the right to democratic freedom at a great price, for nations,

that buy their freedom in the cheapest market nearly always end by selling it in the dearest. The future of the League of Nations will largely depend on the work of the German Constituent National Assembly, and the Allies by insisting on the carrying out of the peace terms will thereby be doing the German nation good service by proving that militarism does not pay.