THROUGH GERMAN SPECTACLES.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XL, Issue 12536, 6 May 1915, Page 8

THROUGH GERMAN SPECTACLES.

JOURNAL- SUPPRESSED FOR TELLING THE TRUTH. <j THE ISHMAEL~AMONG THE NATIONS. No student of the German Press, at any rate since the war began, needs to be told that there is no room in Ger- , nianv for the honest writer ■ | The Germans: themselves emphasised j this fact lately in a curiously drastic fashion." In the Daily Express .sonic extracts were printed from Dor Hsirimer, the Leipzig periodical, winch caters exclusively If or the ''intellectuals.'' Thev were from the pen of Dr Lots, who dealt, with what proved to be fatal frankness, with the mental and physical degeneration of the German people. He was too honest; "Der Hammer, came promptly, under the hammer of the authorities, and it has now been suppressed'. on account, as a curt message -informs us, of its "frequently untimely utterances," while Dr Lots himself lias been "dealt with." Another German periodical, the Zeitgeist, has also been suppressed, its specific offence being an article m -which Germany was described as '-the Ishmael among the nations." THE SHUNNED OF EUROPE.

Oddlv enough. "Germany the Ish- j maolite" forms the text of an article in the Vossische Zeituug: — ~'.,''■ "We Germans, it must ho admitted, are not surrounded by friends. On the contrary, we are isolated by,the nations, almost, it would seem, shunned. Nor shall we be surrounded by friends in the future; to that certainty we must resign ourselves. '. . "To what extent it may be fate orin what measure it may be our own fault that we are universally hated it -j's not our province now to inquire. What- do know is that we entered on-this war with open oyc-s and with a clean conscience, and with a clean, conscience avo intend to emerge from it. That however, will be possible onlv it ■ -Ac remain cognisant of the fact that the European animosity against us is a permanent, .not a transient, sentiment. . - ■ ... „,, •■ /'.'We must- take this fully into account when the clay of settlement arrives and formulate our claims m such a manner and. on such a. basis that animosity be rendered impotent to harm us. ' , . ■. "Germany is too nroud to Did tor -Europe's love.. She will command her respectful, if timorous, homage. • FEMININE BACKSLIDERS.

The melancholy confession is made by the Berliner Zeitung am Montag that, in- seeking to set the fashions, German genius for once has been at fault: — "The German Fashions Union was formed some .months ago under the auspices of the Senate, but the prejudice, of the ladies themselves stands- in the. Wav of a healthy development. '"'As regards* fashions, -not women onlv but also men, arc still inclined, most* unjustifiably, to lcok towards Paris. To overcome these prejudices a vigorous propaganda must be opened bv the Minister of Commerce in such a" way as to command general respect for German modes. "There is one radical error in regard to this subject, which we hasten to correct. When the creation of a German mode is in question, it should not be imagined that what is meant thereby is a°mcde created by and for Germans alpne. . "German modes must reign .supreme. German, intensely Gorman, they mustbo in their creation, but international in their working. Berlin must stand where Paris stood before. . "This, it must sadlv bo admitted, has not vet been done. Indeed, even at:home, to the shame of all German women, no progress has been made. KOLOSSAL!

Nevertheless, in other directions, according to the'Neueste Nachrich-tcn, <>-" Munich German genius remains supreme. " It has, it appears, inspired the whole world: — "The personages which ine great Italian nainters of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries depicted on their caiiyases have all of them something Germanic about their features. "Whv is this? Because the greatest painters of the world have alwavs been markedly influenced by the German genius which inspires all arts and all sciences. - ~ "■ltalv -would never have produced men like Dante, Botticelli. Leonardo da Vinci Titian, and so many others but for the German emigrants whose Woo-' ran. in their veins. The traces of Gorman influence in the painting, the architecture, and the poetry or mediaeval Italy nnd of the subsequent centuries arc undeniable. . , "These influences are destined m the future to. exert themselves with mfmitelv aucmented power over the o-onius of the entire world; indeed, without those influences there, would be no genius!" . PIGS OR PEOPLE FIRST ?

The Welt am Montag, which also deals with the potato question,.administers a sharp rebuke to the Imperial Minister of Agriculture, who, it seems, has dared to say.that German has sufficient potatoes to last till the next harvest/if Vpcople will bo sparing.m their US "In this fashion docs this statesman dismiss the, question .which, above all others is the most important of all the pressing problems which face Germany at. this moment. ; . . . "We beg to inform the Minister en .Agriculture that his data are entirely and dangerously misleading .to the people. . ' .'. .' , "There is in fact, Jjut- one thing to do and that is for the' Government, •asspeedilv as possible, to make a. seizure of the whole of the stock of potatoes in Germany, or utter disaster will surolv fellow. - • . ._,'.'-•,. "If, after seizure, insufficient•. potatoes: are left with which to feed the pigs, let those animals be killed and pickled at the expense of the State. "The German people must not be placed'in the ignoble position of rivals of the pigs-" SAUERBRATEN. Fnun the Neue Freie Prcsse: The bombardment of the Dardanelles is another of those acts of a Cabinet which, as is ' universally known, wages war sob'ly in the cause of morality, on behalf' of outraged Belgian women who ~hayo never existed and mutilated chiidrciwho have hover been born, although •their., -amputated:' little feet are.dis- , tinctly to" be seen. on cheap photographs. . ~ * From the Deutsche Tagesze.itung: It is not enough for the English to sail under false they arc actually nailing the hated Gcrmfv* colors to their mast. Such has.been done by the

captain of the English steamer Amnion, which is now lying peaceful' and serene -■on the-.Spree". And- no submarine ■ comes'to torpedo her.; nobody inspects her for contraband, and none there is to capture.her as a prize. From Welir and Waffou: Our enemies the English and the French are fond of setting up seme figure of the hour on a pedestal to worship it as a hero. Thus they act- with Kitchener, with Joffre, and others. We Germans are not hero-worshippers:; among lis

there are no heroes, for the simple reason that the entire German people is a people of heroes. ' ' From the Deutsche Taeeszeitung: England wants war to the knife.. She shall have it, right np to the hilt. The German knife, too. will be found long and pointed enough to reach even to the bodies of her mock statesmen and scarecrow Ministers in Whitehall.