December 28, 1917 
LAND & WATER 
Leaves from a German Note Book 
T 
Politeness to Order 
HE Prussian Minister of War recently issued a special 
decree to all officials under his jurisdiction bidding 
them be polite in their dealings with the public. 
He addressed them in these terms : 
Every individual has his load to bear iu war time, and 
no one should unnecessarily increase the weight of this burden. 
Tliis is done, however, when officials in tlieir intercourse with 
the public do not give the required information quickly and 
politely, but make it an occasion for the promotion of dissen- 
sions and misunderstandings. He who acts thus injures tiic 
Fatherland aud, shows himself incapable of his task. Life is 
hard enough in these days, and if after receiving this warning 
anyone continues by his behaviour to make it harder still for 
his fellow men, he \vill not be suffered to retain his position. 
l"he Minister of Posts and Telegraphs has followed suit, im- 
pressing on postal officials so to behave to the public as not 
to give them just ground for complaint. All complaints, 
he warns them, will be thoiougldy enquired into, and action 
taken where necessary. A similar notice has been issued to 
tile officials in the BerUn Purchasing Permit Office. 
Why this insistence on politeness ? The Berlin correspon- 
dent of the Vienna Zcit, who ought to know, provides the 
explanation. Germans in the large towns, and in Berlin 
more especially, are suffering from acute irritability. Pcopie 
are excessively rude to each other in the streets, on tramcars, 
in the underground ; they are inconsiderate to officials, and 
at the least occasion pour out abuse in abundance, with the 
result that the oflicials retaliate. Quarrels in public offices 
have become every-day events ; the ^eit correspondent speaks 
of an " epidemic " of rudeness. It is a sad look-out for the 
time after tlie war, he writes. The worst offenders are the 
women. This gentleman observes that not the officials only, 
but the entire population in Germany should be dragooned into 
politeness. 
It is reported from Berlin that never before have the shops 
had to cope with so much shop-lifting as this Christmas. 
Nor are the culprits always poor folk. The reason alleged 
for this particular misdemeanour is nerves. It is also stated, 
however, that as necessary articles of clothing cannot be ob- 
tained without a permit, people help themselves to them where 
they can. 
The large number of suicides also bears witness to the nerve 
strain. On November 21st, to take a single illustration, 
n^ less than 11 cases of gas poisoning were reported in Berlin. 
Burglaries have become exceedingly common ; not a day 
passes but numerous instances are reported to the police. 
An official document declares that the breaking open of safes 
is the most favourite sport of the burglars. But they have a 
partiality too for shop windows, larders and stables. Pick- 
pockets abound everywhere. This same official statement 
continues : " Railway trucks arc broken open and pillaged ; 
trunks are spirited away from luggage vans ; the people 
affected are hit very hard by these losses, for it is difficult, if 
not impossible, to replace what has been stolen. The culprits 
are not only professional thieves, but it must unfortunately 
be admitted that soldiers also are among them." The burdeli 
of this human document is that the public should not always 
leave everything to the police, but should defend themselves 
against thefts by taking greater precautions and by seizing 
delinquents when they can. 
Nerves and Patriotism 
Nerves are also responsible for the foundation of yet another 
patriotic society. In order to complement the Patriotic Party, 
which has limited its activities to foreign affairs, an " Associa- 
tion of tiic Supporters of the Crown " has been formed to rescue 
Germany from becoming a democracy. It looks as though 
the new society is an offspring of the Patriotic Party, but the 
latter has disowned it. Yet the voice is the voice of the Patrio- 
tic Party. 
" The German Empire is in the gravest peril. The majority 
of the Reichstag demand the parliamentarisation of the German 
Government." The rights of the Kaiser are attacked ; those 
rights must be rescued before it is too late. " We must arm, 
arm quickly, arm at once, or we shall be defeated by tendencies 
which will and must lead to the destruction of the German 
Empire." A few insignificant nobodies have issued this 
appeal to the German nation, and it would be difficult to ex- 
plain the document except by reference to the prevailing 
hysteria in Germany. The 'Patriotic Party managed to 
rope in Tirpitz as its leader. The " Supporters of the Crown" 
have no one to compare with that whiskered seaman. 
]>:. . , ;. ,. ;,. iiysteria is also apparent in the thick type advertise- 
ments in the newspapers, right in the middle of the reading 
matter, to this effect : 
" Germans ! Beware of anyone who 'asks about military 
or business matters ! The spy danger is greater than 
ever." 
That this is no mere window-dressing is> evidenced by the case 
of a youth who happens to have almond-shaped eyes, who was 
arrested in Liepzic as a Japanese spy ! The poor apprentice, 
who is only 14, had come into that town from Dclitzsch, and 
it would have fared ill with liim but for the lucky accident 
that a neighbour recognised him and establislicd his identity, 
Russian Peace Negotiations 
The Patriotic Party in its anxiety lest Germany should not 
obtain the best of the bargain with Russia, has passed a long- 
winded resolution, the gist of which may be expressed thus. 
Germany must decline to negotiate a general peace. She 
must liniit herself to a separate peace with Russiii. The Gcnnan . 
plenipotentiaries are to be guided by German interests, and by 
them only. They are to obtain for Germany in the East what 
she needs — the military security of her frontiers, territory for 
planting Genmn settlers, and the establishment of German 
supremacy in the Baltic. At the same time, Germany must 
not lay down her arms until she has smitten England to 
the ground. 
Such are the desires of the Extremists. But are the moderate 
men any saner ? The Frankfurter Zoitung, which may be 
taken to express the views of liberal and financial circles, 
wrote as follows in a leader on December 8 th : 
The Central Powers lyive succeeded in all , they have undei" 
taken, and arc now quite ready to conciude peace, but although 
Russia has withdrawn from the conllict and Italy has lost 
rivers of blood, England and France, whose spirits are raised 
by the promises of the United States, remain standing erect 
and stubborn. They even demand Alsace-Lorraine, aud, because 
they want to tear a piece out of Germany's body, the German 
armies must contmue the mortal combat to prevent them 
accomplishing this object. 
Views of Iron Magnates 
The Frankfurter Zeitung only speaks of the demand of the 
Allies. It says never a word about the demands of the German 
captains of industry. The great iron-masters of Germany 
met in Berlin on the same day as this leader appeared, and 
agreed that the coming Peace must b^ an economic peace, 
must secure the German home markets against foreign com- 
petition, must remove any possibihty of German manufactures 
being dislocated in the future aiid must give Germany 
an extension, of territory, in order that she may have morp land 
for growing foodstuffs. 
The German Iron Industry must have the iron ore district 
of Briey and Longwy. Why ? Because the other Great 
Powers are better off than Germany in the matter of iron ore. 
This is a typical German argument. There is no consideration 
for the rights of others, no word even about rights, only 
demands are enunciated. Germany must have what sha 
covets, and there is an end of it. And yet the Germans inno- 
cently ask what the world means by " Prussian Militarism." 
When President Wilson and other Allied statesmen have 
declared that the German people are in bondage to their rulers 
and have no voice in their affairs, the German press has repHed 
that the German poHticaJ institutions are the freest in the world. 
But no one was taken in by this sham pretence, and to-day 
the German Press of the Left, forgetting what it told the world 
only a few weeks ago, is bursting with rage because the 
Franchise Reforms in Prussia are meeting with determiried 
opposition. 
The history of these reforms is an instnictive story. Prussia 
at present has what is universally regarded as the most back- 
ward franchise in all the world. It is so arranged as to give 
preponderating political power to the wealthy classes. From 
time to time a reform of the system was^ promised, but nothing 
was done, owing to the strong opposition of the Prussian 
Junkers, perhaps the most reactionary class in Europe. 
During the war the cry arose that if the Prussian people was 
shedding its blood in defence of the Fatherland, it ought to 
be given a franchise broad-based on democracy. 
" \Vhen the devil was ill, the devil a leech would call ; when 
the devil was well, the devil he damned them all." If the 
Kaiser scorned the demand lor franchise reform before the war, 
that was because he was well. Now he is ill, and must perforce 
bow to the slorm. So the Kaiser pledged his word that the 
reforms would be introduced. After a time the people 
demanded that the pledge should be kept. Another premise 
