1918] The Impending Collapse 



Austria would collapse and Germany be obliged to 

 sue for peace events which inevitably followed 

 and in even more rapid succession than I had ex- 

 pected. With these things in mind I spoke at Tacoma 

 and elsewhere on the "Impending Collapse of Ger- 

 many/' and on "Germany's Frenzied Finance." 1 

 At this time also I wrote to Dr. Fried at Berne a TOO late! 

 letter from which I quote the first paragraph in 

 order to make my position perfectly plain: 



The recent peace overtures of Austria-Hungary seem to me 

 inadequate and unsuitable as a basis of mediation or other 

 adjustment. Arrangements that might have been acceptable 

 two years ago will not be considered under present conditions. 

 The submarine campaign, the deportation of civilians, the farce 

 of Brest-Litovsk, have closed doors that might once have been 

 opened. Every day that Germany persists in war, every town 

 outraged by her soldiery, but adds to the burden the German 

 people will have to bear, a burden that cannot be lifted for a 

 century and which can be lightened only by throwing over 

 those who brought on the war the conscienceless coward at 

 the head of the government and the vacuous Crown Prince 

 first of all. 



Just before leaving for Tacoma, as member of the Holland 

 "Central Organization" 2 I received a circular com- 

 munication from a committee of the Netherlands 

 Senate in session at The Hague, dated June 7,^1918, 

 asking my opinion as to the possibility of bringing 

 the war to an honorable end through mediation by 



1 Passing through Portland on my way north I gave a lecture on salmon and 

 trout before the Beaver Club, a group of anglers with literaiy and aitistic ten- 

 dencies. They then made me the one honorary member of the club, and in 1919 

 dedicated their Annual to me. Such pleasant relations tend to verify Izaak 

 Walton's remark that "It is good luck to any man to be on the good side of the 

 man who knows fish." Leading spirits in this group are Frederick W. Skiff, a 

 substantial merchant of Portland, and John Gill, bookseller and inveterate angler, 

 also fish commissioner of Oregon. 



2 See Chapter LI, pages 670-672. 



1:755:1 



