January 3, 1918 
I.ANU & WATER 
11 
wicked. It is instructive to oUi^-rve how tliis result is arn\-ed 
at. The story opens with the first visit to London of German 
aeroplanes on June 13th, iqi;, which were so effective that 
pubhc feeling in p:ngland ran high. That was unjustifiab e, 
seeing that English airmen had attacked Freiburg and Karls- 
ruhe long before, and tiie victims of those raids had to be 
avenged. Besides London is a military centre ; Karlsruhe 
and Freiburg are peaceful open towns. 
The German reader, by being told half the story, is made 
to believe that the (.erman air raids are merely retaliatory- 
Not a single word is said about the Zeppelin raids on England 
with their toll of innocent lives. The German reader's 
memory must be very short if he has already forgotten that 
Karlsruhe and Freiburg were visited by Allied airmen only 
after Germany had had recourse to the air weapon. It 
should also be" added that practically every town in Germany 
is turning out munitions of war— Karlsruhe and Freiburg 
included.' The eftorts of the Lokal-Anzeiger are exceedingly 
instmctive in respect to German propagandist methods. 
One-iialf of the truth is suppressed, and the German case is 
based on the other half. The sliamelessness of it has long 
ceased to be a cause for wonder to the world. 
German Peace Feelers 
Despite these attempts at assuaging their fears, the German 
people is really interested in nothing but the possibility of 
peace. When 'Mr. Balfour's revelation of the German Peace 
feelers, which were sent to London last September, became 
known in Germany, a wave of excitement passed through 
the land. The " explanation" of the German Government, 
halting as it was, did not deceive the simplest. Why, 
mixierate men asked, was nothing more heard of the matter .-• 
Here was Germany proclaiming to the* world again and agam 
that she was ready for peace, that the hand of fellowship 
she had stretched out was rejected with mocking and scorn, 
that if the bloody business continued it was all the fault of 
the AUies. Yet when an opportunity for negotiating really 
presented itself, the German Government was dumb. Moderate 
men cannot fathom the mystery, or at least, they pretend 
they cannot. A distinguished poUtician and journalist like 
Theodor Wolff, the Editor-in-Chief of the Berliner Tageblatl 
is driven to this confession, and the only hope he can hold 
out to his countr\'men is to wait until Mr. Lloyd (ieorge, 
" the Lion of Wales," and M. Clemenceau, " the Tiger of 
Paris," have both fallen and yielded up their places to men 
more inclined to pean-. And' the German people read and 
arc comforted ! 
Capture of Jerusalem 
The capture of Jerusalem was discounted in the German 
press long before the event. There was so marked a similarity 
in the arguments used that we are justified in assigning them 
to a common official source. Perhaps Major Endres gave 
the clearest enunc iation of what the victory picans : 
From a military standpoint the taking of Jerusalem is of no 
great importance, but the political and moral effects are enor- 
mous. The taking of Jerusalem is a first step toward.s filling 
up the gaps in Great Britain's overland communications between 
Kgypt and India. The projected cxten.sion of Great Britain's 
sphere of influence signifies a very great danger, not only for 
'J'urkcy, but also for Germany. The realisation of Great 
iiritain's plans would mean the final closing of south-western 
Asia against Central JCurope, and a barrier against all economic 
expansion which did not possess the benediction of Great 
Britain, One of our most important tasks on the conclusion of 
peace will be to secure the integrity of Turkey, and thereby 
to open the door to the Orient. 
A German Africa 
If that is one of Germany's important ta.sks at the con- 
clusion of peace, another is the attempt to obtain an exten- 
' sivc colonial empire stretching across Africa from the Indian 
to the Atlantic Ocean, and ei^ectively dividing the British 
spheres of influence in the north and the south of the Dark 
Continent. This proposed (jerman Africa, of which maiiv 
Germans still dream, would, of course, inchidc the Belgian 
Congo, and there are not a few people in Gennany who have 
the effrontery to argue that because Ciermany has conquered 
I'Ji'lgium, she lias not only a moral but also a legal right to 
the Congo ! And then Germans ask inniKcntly why thr 
world does not love them. 
Their universal unpopularity appears to Ixi a source of 
annoyance, else why should tlicy demand that the Swiss 
Government ought, out of consideration to Germmi feehngs, 
to censure the Journal de Geuh'c for speaking of the " pro\ed 
crimes and mocking lies of the Imperial (icrniaii Govern- 
ment," and the Bibliolhcqnc VnivcrseUc for referring to the 
" robber nations which fell upon Belgium from the back, 
throttled the Serbs and .Armenians, spoiled Kniimnni.T and 
torpedoed neutrals." 
Vienna in War Time 
A Swiss visitor who has just returned from Vienna records 
his impressions in the principal Zurich paper. There is only 
one topic of conversation in the Austrian capital — not the 
grave scarcity of food, or the inordinately high theatre prices, 
or the Italian victories, but only the prospect of peace. A 
novel peace demonstration is reported from Vienna. In 
order to show their appreciation of the Russian peace negotia- 
tions, the members of the Austrian Housewives Association, 
the largest women's society in the country-, decided to leave 
a card at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on three constCitivc 
days set apart for the purpose. 
Owing to an inflation of the currency which surpasses all 
records, money has depreciated to an incredible extent, 
witli tlie result that general prices have soared to an exceed- 
ingly high level. Provisions are unprocurable, except by 
the very rich ; and as the city is full of refugees, principally 
from (iahcia, living rooms arc scarce and expensive. For 
apartments which in Zurich cost about £2 los. per month, the 
charge in Vienna is £10 ! It can easily be imagined that in 
these circumstances the war is hardly popular. Nor is the 
army. At a recent session of the Austrian Delegations, a 
Socialist member asked the Minister of War a number of 
questions which require no comment : 
The nation had lost all confidence in the conduct of the 
Army Command. Everybody believed that successes were 
only gained when the capacity of the Austrian troops was 
united to that of the Germans. It was the general opinion 
that there had been great and unneces.sary sacrifices of life. 
Who was responsible for the complete failure of the first two 
invasions of Serbia ? Why was Przemysl not evacuated 
at the right moment ? ■ Was there a great explosion at an 
Italian munition stores, whereby a large number of Austrian 
and Hungarian soUliers were killed ? Who took the booty 
from I'riuli and Venetia ? Did the German Command claim 
it all ? What about the two days' plundering of Udine ? 
Another speaker indicted the army authorities for acts 
of unspeakable cruelty. In Bosnia the troops were in- 
structed to persecute the Slav elements of the population. At 
least ten thousand innocent people suffered unnecessarily. 
In Trebinje the prisons were filled with the most respected 
citizens who were threatened with death, although no charge 
had been formulated against them. The author of this 
terrorism, General Braun, was still on the active list. AU 
that the Ministry of War could say in reply was that 
tlie Government deeply deplored these unhappj- events. 
Austria has to put up not only with (ierman domination, 
but also with Hungarian hatred. Feeling in Hungary against 
the sister kingdom runs high, and recently it was reported 
that the Buda-Pcsth Town Council passed a resolution in 
fa\'our of the entire independence of Hungar\-. A Hungarian 
newspaper has accentuated that demand in words wliich are 
significant : 
Our arch foe, old .Vustria, has now begun open and systematic 
warfare against us. In the air f)f Vienna, fille<l with \.\\ii 
stench of decomposing Austria, fly, instead of birds, impre- 
cations and calumnies. Every Czech vagabond, every 
Austrian ass, abuses Hungary. Now some .\ustrian owl 
h;is discovered that very few Hungarian soldiers have fallen 
in the wjtr but that very many have been taken prisoners. 
Jf this were so, we could rejoice for the healthy and honour- 
able Magyar blood, which is much more necessary for the 
world than .'Vustrian ; but the Hungarian losses have been 
tlisproportionately great, not only through the treachery of 
the Czechs, but also thanks to Austrian leadership. All 
this enforces the necessity of organising an independent 
Hungarian army letl by Hungarian high officers, not by our 
Austrian foes. Our people must be taught that we can 
no longer live in community with Austria, which would only 
lead to our defeat and ruin. 
This is an aspect of the German Alliance which is carefully 
'hidden from the German people. 
The manufacture on a large scale of a new substitute for rubber 
tvres is reported to have begun in Germany, and it is expected 
that the tyres will lie in general u.se at the beginning of April. 
The works are under official control, and the distribution of the 
tyres will be regulated by a Central Office. 'l"hc' new inven- 
tion is not merely a combined spring .system, but a material 
which is the result of months of experiment, and will make the 
motor factories completclj- independent of foreign tyre material. 
.Vccording to a Zurich'message. the electrical works at Kolin, 
Bohemia, have been closed down through lack of coal, with dis- 
astrous results to the whole of the surrounding ( oinitry. I'our- 
teen towns antl 35 village communities are witliout liglit. Eight 
sugar refineries, eleven large mills, 13 engineering works, the rail- 
ways works, and numerous other industrial establishments are 
all obliged to stop work. 
