EVENING LEDGER-PHILADELPHIA, ' WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1917
Pictorial 8fAm
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GERMANY c:
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CX C1Z. W.ACKERMAN
"The United States enters the greatest war in history at the psychologies! p
moment with a capable and determined President, a united nation and almost unlimito
resources in men, money and munitions." m
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Copyright 1U17. Qeorro II. Doran Company
Time Passes and the Victory Which the
German Government Promised Its People
Becomes Still More Remote, the Citizens Will
Force Through Reforms Which Have Been
Promised, Not After the War, as the Kaiser
Plans, but Now
That Mr. Ackerman's Appreciation of the Situa
tion "East of the Rhine" Was Correct Is
Proved by Events Now Taking Place Within
the Borders of the EmpireThe Revolt of the
Navy and the Army Has Spread to the People,
and a Rebellion Is Imminent
BY APRIL 12, when reports began to reach Germany of America's
determination to fight until there was a democracy in Germany,
the democratic press began to give more serious consideration to
America's alliance with the Allies. Dr. Ludwig Haas, ono of the
Socialist members of the Reichstag, in an article in the Berlin Tagc
blatt, made the following significant statements:
Ono man may be a hypocrite, but never a whole nation.
If the American people accept this messago President Wilson's
address before Congress without a protest, then a tremendous
abyss separates the logic of Germans from that of other nations.
Woodrow Wilson is not so far wrong if ho means the
planning of war might be prevented if -the people nsserted the
right to know everything about the foreign policies of their
countries. But the President seems blind to the fact that n
handful of men have made it their secret and uncontrolled
business to direct the fate of the European democracies. With
the press at one's command one can easily drive a poor people
to a mania of enthusiasm, when they will carry on their
thoulders the criminals who have led to the brink of disaster.
The wakening of the German People
Doctor Haas wa3 beginning to understand that the anti-American
campaign in ucrmnny, which the navy started and tho Foreign
Office encouraged, had had some effect.
Everything the United States does from now on will have a
decisive influence in tho world war. The Allies realize it and
Washington knows it. Mr. Lloyd George, tho British Prime Min
ister, realized what a decisive effect American ships would have
when he said at the banquet of the American Luncheon Club in
London:
"The road to victory, the guaranty of victory, tno absolute
assurance of victory has to be found in one word, 'ships,' and a
lecond word, 'ships and a third word, 'ships.' "
But our financial, economic and military aid to the Allies will
iot be our greatest contribution toward victory. The influence of
President Wilson's utterances, of our determination and of our
value as a friendly nation after tho war will have a tremendous
effect as time goes on upon the German people.
As days and weeks pass, as the victory which the German
Government has promised the people becomes further and
further away, the people, who arc now doing more thinking than
they ever before have done since the beginning of the war,
will some day realize that in order to obtain peace, which they
pray for and hope for, they will have to reform their Govern
ment during the war not after the war, as the Kaiser plans.
Military pressure from the outside is going to help this demo
cratic movement in Germany succeed in spite of itself. The New
York World editorial on April 14, discussing Mr. Lloyd George's
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VVoM'iHJiJU.'v
"There is a tremendous difference between the situation in the United States and that of any European country. In Switzer
land the economic worries and the sufferings of the neighboring belligerents have made the Swiss people feel that they arc in
the center of the , ar itself." The photograph shows children of Engelberg, Switzerland, in their usual ceremony of greeting
with floral offerings invalid interned soldiers who have been exchanged on their way home from prison camps.
statement that "Prussia is not a democracy; Prussia is not a
state; Prussia is an army," said:
"It was the army and the arrogance actuating it which ordered
hostilities in the first place. Because there was no democracy in
Prussia, tho nrmy had its way. The democracies of Great Britain
and France, like the democracy of the United States, were reluctant
to take arms, but were forced to it. Russian democracy found its
own deliverance on the fighting line.
"In the fact that Prussia is not a democracy or a state but an
army we may see a reason for many things usually regarded as
inexplicable. It is Prussia the army which violates treaties. It
is Prussia the army which disregards international law. It is
Prussia the army, represented by the General Staff and the Admir
alty, which sets at naught tho engagements of the Foreign Office.
It is Prussia the army which has filled neutral countries with spies
and lawbreakers, which has placed frightfulness above humanity,
and in a fury of egotism and savagery has challenged the world.
"Under such a terrorism, as infamous at home as it is abroad,
civil government has perished. There is no civil government in a
Germany dragooned by Prussia. There is no law in Germany- but
military law. There is no obligation in Germany except to the
nrmy. It is not Germany tho democracy or Germany' tho state,
it is Germany the nrmy that is to bo crushed, for its own good no
less than for that of civilization."
Tho United States entered tho war nt tho psychological and
critical moment. We enter it nt the moment when our economic
and financial resources, and our determination will hnve the de
cisive influence. We enter at the moment when every ono of our
future acts will assist and help the democratic movement in Ger
many succeed.
The United States entered tho war nt a tlmo when many
Americans believed the Allies were about to win it. By May 1,
1917, tho situation so changed in Europe that it was apparent to
observers that only by the most stupendous efforts of all tho Allies
could tho German Government bo defeated.
At the very beginning of the war, when Teutonic militarism
spread over Europe, it wns like a forest fire. But two years of
fighting have checked it as woodsmen check forest fires by dig
ging ditches and preventing tho flames from spreading. Unlimited
submarine warfare, however, is something new. It is militarism
spreading to tho high sens and to the shores of neutrals. It
ruthlcsslsm the new German menace, which la an rnnl nnrl dun
f aw "-..jSk
uua ivr ua uuu lur ijuutit siuiuiitu us lur jii$iuiiu lulu uio Aims
If we hold out until ruthlcsslsm spends its fury, we will win. BwiV
wc must fight and fight desperately to hold out
Dr. Kaempf, president of the Reichstag, declared that Prest
dent Wilson would "bito marblo" beforo the war was over. Awl
tho success of submarine wnrfnro during April and the first prt
of May was such as to arouse tho wholo world to tho almf,H
indefinite possibilities of this means of fighting.
The real crisis of the war has not been reached. We are
approaching it. The Allies have attempted for two years with
out much success to curb the U-boat danger. They have
attempted to build steel ships, also without success, bo that
the real burden of winning the war in Europe falls upon Ameri
can shoulders.
The United States and the War
Fortunately for tho United States we are not making the blun
ders at the beginning of our intervention which some of tho Euro
pean nations have been making slnco August, 1914. America it
awakened to tho needs of modorn war as no other nation was, thanks
to tho splendid work which tho American newspapers and magazines
hnvo done during tho war to present clearly, fairly and accurately
not only the great issues, but tho problems of organization and
military tactics. The people of the United States are better informed
about the war as a wholo than are tho pcoplo in any .European
country. American newspapers have not made the mistakes which
English and French Journals mado of hating tho enemy so furi
ously as to think that nothing more than criticism and hate were
necessary to defeat him. Not until 'this year could one of Great
Britain's statesmen declare: "You can damn tho Germans until
you nro blue in tho face, but that will not beat them."
Tho United States enters tho greatest war in history at the
psychological moment with a capable and determined President, a
united nation and almost unlimited resources in men, money and
munitions.
Thero is a tremendous difference between the situation in tha
United States and that in any European country. During the
two years I was in Europe I visited every nation at war except
Serbia, Bulgaria and Turkey. I saw conditions in the neutral coun
tries of Holland, Denmark, Switzerland and Spain. The one big
thing which impressed mo upon my arrival in New York was that
tho United States, in contrast to all these countries, has as yet not
been touched by tho war. Americans are not living under tho strata
and worry which hang like dreadful dull clouds over every European
power. In Switzerland the economic worries and the sufferings of
tho neighboring belligerents have mado the Swiss people feel that
they aro in the center of the war itself. In France, although Paris
is gay, although peoplo smile (they have almost forgotten how to
smile in Germany), although streets are crowded and stores busy,
tho ntmosphero is earnest and serious. Spain is torn by internal
troubles. There is a great army of unemployed. The submarine war
has destroyed many Spanish ships and interrupted Spanish trada
with belligerents. Business houses are unable to obtain credit Ger
man propaganda is sowing sedition and the King himself Is uncertain
about the future. But in the United States there is a gigantic dis
play of energy and potential power which makes this country appear
to possess sufficient forco in itself to defeat Germany. Berlin is
drained and dead in comparison. Paris, while busy, is war-busy and
every ono and everything seems to move arid livo because of the war.
In New York and throughout tho country thero are young men by
the hundreds of thousands. Germnny and Franco have no young
men outside th armies. Here there are millions of automobiles and
millions of people hurrying, happy and contented, to and from their
work. In Germany there are no automobiles which nro not in tha
service of the Government and rubber tires are so nearly exhausted
that practically all automobiles havo iron wheels.
(CONTINUED TOMORROW)
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