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Show "BETTER GERMANY Dy Itov. CHARLES AKED. I have learned that there, is a "better Germany." There are men and women In Germany Ger-many who refuse to hate England. There are men and women In Germany Ger-many who refuse to surrender the hope of renewed deep and lasting friendship with England, who believe be-lieve that even the war would not be too great a price to pay for an Anglo - American - German alliance safeguarding the peaco and progress of tho whltu races, for centuries to come. It is easy to catalogue crimes. Tho art of villiflcation calls for no spec ial training. But if there is anything any-thing good In tho thought of Great Britain about Germany, should not a Christian minister delight to tell It to Germany? If there is anything In tho thought of Germany about England should not a minister of Christ hasten to toll it to the English Eng-lish speaking world? It Is to publish pub-lish in German nowspapers throughout through-out Germany an artlclo about a sano and moderate England which rofus-es rofus-es to hnto Germany, Is to bo "pro-Ally," "pro-Ally," then I must bo reckoned a fanatical pro-Ally; for this I liavo already done. If to writo something of what I havo learned about "a better Germany" Is to label myself "pro-German," why, I must needs wear tho tag. Unto us also Is committed com-mitted a ministry of reconciliation! I was in Berlin ten days ago. I moved freely amongst all classes of persons, civil and military, of all shades of opinion, I talked with Jingoes and with pacifists; with mebors of tho general staff and with social settlement workors; with soldiers sol-diers of international reputation, theologians to whom overy educated proacher In tho world Is under obli gation, and successful business men and mon of affairs. I was with Count von Moltko In tho Palaco of tho General Staff a few days before M ho died; I spent one of tho happiest M hours of my life In tho Itoyal Llb- rary with von Harnack, and another in tho homo of Adolph Delssmann; H I was In tho homo of Hans Dolbruck, m , Treltschko's successor; I talked with jfl tho editor of tho Berliner Tagoblat M Germany's greatest political writer, 9 at his club. 1 I talked with women who aro H leaders of wealth and with womon M who aro loaders In Boclnl and moral M movomonts. &m I talked with members of the ""w government at tho forolgn office and In tho clvo chancellor's palaco 1 i talked with tho Catholic, Erzhotijor, leader of tho central party In tho Reichstag, and with Ilernstoln. tender tend-er of tho Socialists. I talked with ofllcors of artillery, omcors of Infantry, In-fantry, and soldlors of tho rank and file. I talkod with Chrlrtlan pastois glad enough to ho'd ojt 'ho band of friendship to a broriior minister who had como to a n. stricken land with peaco in hit hps.rt. May I add a personal word? It is Important for tho sake of clearness. clear-ness. When I say I "talked" with these persons it must not bo supposed sup-posed that I exchanged pollto greetings greet-ings with them, mentioned tho war, picked up Bomo stray expression of opinion, and came away. It is to bo understood that I discussed with them seriously and at length tho problems of tho war and of nn eventual event-ual peace. In many cases I submitted sub-mitted to them written questions. The same questions were put, and in tho same words, to all tho persons I mot. And this, amongst other things, i I havo learned: Thero is to be found In Germany at this hour a body of opinion which Is modorato, reasonable, pacific II Is at once ardent and informed. It Is patriotic of course It dor-and'j a united and pruanoioas Germany secure from attack, freo to develop Its own civilization, !o feel Its limba and grow. But Its isIon Is not narrowed nar-rowed to Germany. It hollcvos in freo nations and froo men. It has tho international mind. It is possessed pos-sessed by tho international spirit. And I havo learned that it is terribly ter-ribly difficult for these mon am' womon wo-mon to bo true to tholr convlctlom because everywhere, not 1 mt in America, their good is evil sponen of, and their peaceful words perverted per-verted to tho Injury of tho Fatherland. Father-land. In Boston last weok l re.id of tho "climb down" of Germany from tho demands mado by her a yuar ago, of tho repudiation now cf tho annexationist propaganda of the days of her military successes. Tho most devoted adherent of tho caus of the Allies, the most furious opponent op-ponent of the central powers, could not for one moment write in such terms, if ho had been In Berlin and learned tho facts. What aro the facts In regard to annexation? Thero was a year ago and thero Is now an "annexationist" party, a militaristic and Jingo party such as may bo found in America or Eng-, land, Franco or Japan. Thoso men say that thoy havo won Belgium and a part of Franco with tho'r blood, and moan to rotnln It. Yes; but there was a year ago, ovejj as there Is now, a determined antl-auuoxa-1 tlonlst party beyond all comparison, groater and nioro powerful than tUo Jongoes whom they oppose Who are tho Annexationists? What docs tho world 'know of thorn, Individual ly and personally? What, In a your or ton yearn, will tho world remember remem-ber of thorn? But the nntl-annexntlonlsts, tho mon who will sway tho councils of emplro and rebuild tho futuro, boar names which, to Americans and Englishmen, aro familiar as household house-hold words; It Is more than year since thoy published their noblo pro-tost pro-tost against annexation; and a writer writ-er does tho world, and not only Gor-many, Gor-many, a dls-sorvlco when ho Ignores this thlrtccn-month-old document and represent the "moderate" do- mands of Germany today as evoked evok-ed by tho fear of ultimate defeat. Tho pen that actually wroto tho protest was that of Theodoro Wolff I havo talked with him and I know. But vonllarnack signed It, and Baumgarten and WelhauBon, and Schuklng, and von Liszt, and Welbruck, and Dernburg, and Itohr-bach Itohr-bach and eighty or ninety others, all daring to say to Germany: "Wo subscribe to the principle that the policy of absorption or annexation annexa-tion in tho caBO of tho peoplo accustomed ac-customed to Independence Is to be rejected." And tho suggested annexation they described then, in July, 191 G, as: "A political blunder fraught with grave consequences and calculated not to strengthen but to fatally weaken tho Gorman emplro." Many of tho signers of this declaration declar-ation I saw. Thoy stand whero they stood n year ago. They romnln opponents op-ponents of annexation. "Tho machinery of negotiation must bo lubricated with peace, not with war," ono of them, and ho Is tho greatest of them all, said to mo. And when I pressed him an to how widely tho nntl-annexatlonlst vlow prevailed amongst the German people, peo-ple, ho said: "Tho geographical position of Gor-mnny Gor-mnny Is not favorable to her economic econ-omic development. Her greatest river finds Its way to tho sea through throu-gh territory which Is not her own. It would bo overwhelmingly to her advantago to possess tho mouth of tho Rhine. But thero is not a sane man or women in Germany todvy who dreams of laying a prodatory hand on tho 'river-routo' to tho sea which would bo of Inestimable value val-ue to tho German people. Before tho war began It would havo been equally equal-ly Impossible to find In Germnnv n sano person who proposed to annex tho territory contiguous to tho mouth of tho Scheldt. Belgium was safo from ub. And Bolglum will bo safo from us vhen tho war Is over." And Franco! "What aro you going go-ing to do with France?" I asked another of tho signers of tho protest, pro-test, a man who In two continents hns served tho Gorman emplro, "What aro you going to do with tho parts of Franco occuplod by your troops?" "Nothing," wan tho prompt roply, "leavo them until tho day that peaco is concluded." "What about Serbia and Montenegro?" Monten-egro?" I ashed ono of tho bo3t known editors In Germany; and af-tor af-tor demurring that I ought to seek my answer In Vienna or Budapest, ho said, "Sorbin must bo restored, and Montenegro, too," Ought not these things to bo known? Do wo help tho causo of England by believing a llo of her foes? Do we sorvo tho God of Truth by falaohood? Is It pro-Gorman to say that, along with n militaristic Germany, tt ero Is today "a hotter Gormany" and that this abides? Wo havo beon asked to aeo something some-thing sinister In tka phrnso, "Ber lin to Bagdad." To tho angry partisan par-tisan It seems to convey tho menace of German exploitation and German aggression. I do not feel called upon to dogmatize about It. I can say, with only a deslro for conciliation concilia-tion In my heart, that It does not present Itself In this light to some of tho best Christians In Berlin with whom I tnlked. To them, tho phrase does more than visualize a railway. It points to tho regeneration of Asia Minor, to a Mesopotamia which shall ilourlsh and blossom as the rose. I talked with a scholar who knows tho world that lies between tho Black Sea and tho Mediterranean as few men in America know it. Familiarity Fam-iliarity with his books may fairly be demanded of nny person who claims U) know anything at all about tho countries whence Christianity started start-ed upon Its conquering way: And this vision of tho Asia Minor of the futuro seemed positively to Inspiro him "Tho cradle lands of civilization," civiliza-tion," he said, "will recover from tho deadly blight of centuries. Regions Re-gions potentially the richest beneath tho sun will become once moro the homes of happy men. Germnn schools, German colleges, German railways, Germnn enterprise and science and over the desert the song of harvest homo!" And still, tho "better Germany" refuses to shut out a "better England" Eng-land" from Its vlow. For I havo talked with scholars nnd with statesmen states-men who see "with the mind's eye, Horatio," Great Brltnln Joining In such development. They refuso to believe that tho evil results of this war aro permanent. To them the lossos nretoinporary. The gains will onduro. They sco Germnny nnd Great Britnln brought together ngaln by "a community of Interests, rivals, but friendly rivals, In tho commercial commer-cial and industrial renai3sanco of ABla Minor, neither seeking to exclude ex-clude tho other, both serving the high Interests of tho race." I know that thero Is another Germnny Ger-mnny a worso Germany. All tho world knows that. But I sot out to tell something of "a better Germany." Ger-many." And theso aro only some of tho things that I have learned. From tho Congregationalism |