The New York Times/1918/11/11/Editorial
THE OVERTHROW OF AUTOCRACY.
No great empire ever before came to so sharp an ending, no mighty potentate was ever so ignominiously hurried sprawling from his throne. Germany, the greatest military autocracy on earth, was given over in a day to Socialist revolution, characterized as yet, happily, by no great violence, and even if, by reason of delayed communications, the terms of the armistice be not yet signed, defeat is acknowledged in the proclamation of Prince Maximilian, and of surrender there is no longer a doubt. Whipped by nations devoted to peace in its own special business of war for which it was eternally drilling and arming, jeered at, repudiated and overthrown in the moment of defeat by that proletariat class it had always held to be fit only for servitude and soldiering, the powerful German Empire was already writhing in most undignified throes of dissolution when its humbled emissaries set out for the spot where the firm voice of Marshal Foch was to declaim to them the terms of surrender. And the Hohenzollern, the last of an ancient line, had to receive from the hands of one of the most despised of his knavish tools the summons to renounce his crown and sceptre.
Germany's pride is the true measure of Germany's humiliation. That mountain-high, impenetrable concit of Kaiser, of Junkerdom, of people, and of German wanderers outside the gates was humbled and crushed out in a trice. That is a minor incident of the Empire's disaster, to be noted, certainly, with some natural human satisfaction by men of other races who have so long endured the German haughtiness. But it soon gives way to consideration of the larger aspects of an achievement so momentous in the world's history. Amid the universal rejoicings that victory and peace succeed to long years of combat and misery we may, with a feeling of gratitude even more profound, take note of the great place of these events in the story of human society. They mark the end, not merely of a war and of an empire, but of a contest that comes down to us from the beginnings of history and beyond, the struggle for acceptance between two irreconcilable notions of government, autocracy and the commonwealth, the rule of all by one and the rule of the people over themselves. Out of those opposing ideas grew this great war. Autocracy dies with the Hohenzollern, for the Romanoff and the last puny Hapsburg had already been swept into the dustheap of time. The hour of doom struck late for these lingering adherents of an outworn creed, bu their fate was foreordained. They were fools not to see and understand that the world long ago had outgrown them. They sought to perpetuate in Western lands an Oriental form of government, fit only for the ignorant and superstitious. "Asia begins at the Landstrasse," said Metternich. He was mistaken. Vienna and all the dominions of the Hapsburgs, Potsdam and the whole of Germany—it is even truer of the Germany of our day—were Asiatic, altogether Oriental in their government, in the ideas of their Princes.
When the first bonds of society were fashioned it was a matter of rudimentary political tactics and chicane to make the people believe that the laws laid upon them by the King had divine sanction, were made known from on high to be proclaimed by the Lord's anointed on earth; for so obedience to the King's mandate became a religious duty. In express terms the last German Kaiser preached this doctrine of his authority. German behavior, German jurisprudence, all German institutions, were shaped to the belief that law must come down to the people from the high authority. We have ordered it differently in Europe and America, and some Kings' necks have come under the axe in the ordering of it. "There is only one law, my law, the law which I myself lay down," thundered this little man, now a fugitive from his realm and so impotent, while he still strutted in his military coat, helmet on head and sabre at his side. Stupid, supine Germany believed him. If instead of trusting to a pious fraud and the sword to rule his people he had trusted his people to rule themselves he would still wear a constitutional crown.
It is over. On the splintered thrones of Kings no new thrones are built. The tide of democracy rises, sweeps resistlessly onward, gains the world for its domain. This last struggle and the wounds were terrible, they were not in vain. With the arrogance of a Titan, William of Hohenzollern challenged the world, and the world has made an end of him, for which today it devoutly thanks Heaven. The work of restoring their desolate homes, their shattered edifices, their rend and blackened fanes, will now engage the peoples who have destroyed the Prussian power. In Germany rehabilitation, political and material, will have to await the passing of this new fever that has seized upon the people and stirred them to uprisings in every German city. There are omens of evil in the character of the revolt. The red flag is everywhere, the Bolshevist spirit rages, there is a general strike, and in place of government we see Workmen's and Soldiers' Councils; Socialists are everywhere to the fore. That virus of the proletariat pestilence with which the Imperial Government infected Russia at the cost of millions of marks now courses through German veins. A Socialist is made Chancellor, Barvaria lends ear to talk of a Socialist President of the new republic that is to succeed the ancient Wittelsbach monarchy. Revolt against authority at first takes the form of the class struggle. In spite of the awful warning of Russia, now given over to anarchy and starvation, the German insurgents set out upon the road that leads to the tyranny of one class over all others, that ends inevitably in social disorganisation, the horror of indiscriminate murder and ruit, until reason and law resume their sway. Russing ignorance has no counterpart in Germany; it is to be hoped that the sober sence of the people will set limits to the ravages of the Red mobs. As in the case of Austria, we may presume that the terms of the armistice provide for police protection and the maintenance of order in Germany by the Allies. The war organization of the countries united against Germany must evidently be maintained until the Germans have a responsible Government.
THE UNITED WAR WORK CAMPAIGN.
Judge Hughes sounded the keynote of the United War Work Campaign when he said at the great meeting in Madison Square Garden one week ago yesterday, spiritually the most inspiring of the war, that the raising of $170,500,000 by the federated associations would require the "greatest volutary altruistic effort which any people was every called upon to make." And there can be no doubt that the appeal will not be made in vain. Men and women of all faiths and creeds, "the unified moral forces of America," as Secretary Baker described them, will respond with full hands.
America as a combatant has been fortunate in this war. She has sent 2,000,000 of her young men overseas, the flower of the nation, and with the loss of a small percentage they will return physically sound to the United States, in the event of early peace, which now seems assured. But what havoc the war has played with the manhood of France, Great Britain, Italy, and Serbia! A million and a half Frenchmen, killed in battle or dead of wounds, have been lost to the State, and of the blind and mutilated, who will be of deplorably diminished use to society, there must be a host. Much the same story can be told of Great Britain, Italy, and ill-starred but redeemed Serbia. God in His Heaven has been kind to America. Hers not the supreme sacrifice; hers, in fact, the advantage and the gain, for society and industry will benefit by the ordeal of war.
America's manhood, trained for battle and sent to the field, will be stronger physically and cleaner spiritually for the lessons it has learned, for the discipline it has submitted to, and for the experience gone through, unless—and this is the significance of the response that must be made to the United War Work campaigners—there should be a failure by the American people to guard the health and the morals of their armies up to the very day when the men are restored to civil life and society. War has been an education, war has been salvation to the young men of America assembled in her armies and fighting the battle of civilization on foreign soil.
What a throwing away of splendid opportunity, what a tragedy, it would be if the young soldiers of America were abandoned to the license of the camp because the war draws to a close! More than ever it is the duty of the people at home to maintain the organizations that have ministered to the comfort of our soldiers, helped to keep them clean in body and clean in thought, inspired them to be worthy of the great Republic at all times. These organizations cannot be maintained unless they are supplied with the money asked for. We are all proud of heh American Army in France. Let us prove that it is not a sentiment reflecting only our self-esteem by subscribing generously to the fund of the seven federations, the Y.M.C.A., the Y.W.C.A., the Knights of Columbus, the Jewish Board for Welfare Work, the American Library Association, the War Camp Community Service, and the Salvation Army. It was a happy thought to group them together in such a cause, thereby merging creeds and strengthening the appeal. Who can hesitate to give, be his church or faith what it may?
As was said at the meeting in Madison Square Garden, "there can be but one rivalry, and that is as to which will be first 'over the top,'" Jew or Gentile, Protestant or Catholic. Every dollar of the amount to be divided will be needed and spent wisely, whether the war stops before Christmas or continues into 1919. In any event it will be two years before all our soldiers can be brought home and held in the home camps until they can be honorably discharged from service. Those two years would be the most perilous and critical of all if the comfort, the recreations, and the morals of our soldiers should be neglected by the American people.
JUST HOW JOYFUL ARE YOU?
Are you glad that the war is over? You said so last Thursday, when you gave yourself up to that great tide of brotherhood that flowed irrepressibly through our streets. Was it cheap joy? Or was it real and deep, the kind of joy that seeks earnestly some way to pay for its creation?
And who created it? The soldiers and sailors who offered their lives that your dearly bought freedom might be bought over again. Many of them sold their lives to save that freedom. It was due to them and to those who so freely offered to sell their lives, but who still live, that you were so joyful last Thursday and are so secure and comfortable in your homes now. It is due to them that there are not now and never will be, as far as we can see into the future, any broken Belgiums on this side of the Atlantic. From Canada to the Argentine this hemisphere is safe—thanks to them.
All this you know, and you showed it on Thursday when you raised soldiers and sailors over your heads and paraded them through the thrilled streets. Well, is that all? Does it stop there? Are you going to give them one cheer, turn your backs on them, and leave them, for the year or more that they must remain in Europe, to go to the devil if they choose, at any rate to have no more of the stanch backing they have had from you while yet you were in danger?
That is not the American way. Let it not be said of America that she abandoned her saviors to luck, good or bad, when once they had saved her. Come up to the support of the United War Work Campaign, come up with your dollars, and show whether your joy is counterfeit coin or not. You have lent your money to the Government, now give to the boys; give to the boys who drove the Hun out of France, give to the boys who drove the submarine from our coasts. Give, every one of you, in full measure for their welfare and protection while they remain in a foreign land, idle after having dared the last peril to save America and the world from the new barbarians.
NOT A LOCAL TAX SCANDAL.
The disclosure of the nature and the extent of the tricks played on buyers of real estate in Nassau County has been considered mostly as a local affair, of no general interest. As a matter of fact the sales by tax officials which deprived owners of their property in a manner little short of robbery with official connivance were made under a general law covering the State. Attention is also called to other and graver irregularities of particular harm to this city. In opposing the application for an injunction against the continuance of the sales of property for trivial amounts of taxes, the attorney for Nassau County defended its good name. He informed the court that all which was done was done regularly, under a statute covering the State, and dating back to 1828, with amendments from year to year making the tax sale law of present application. He contended that the law was mandatory, and that the court could not stop its execution.
This defense of the county is an accusation against the State. The court, through Justice Scudder, said that there was no question about the law. The question was whether the law was not executed in a manner shocking to the conscience of the community and the court, in which case the court had power to intervene, especially for the protection of absent soldiers and their dependents. Justice Scudder's words were confined to the cases before him, but all familiar with the tax laws know that they are imperfect, and that they are administered imperfectly. The particular defect is the discrimination between city and country valuations, with the effect of putting the burdens of the State taxes disproportionately upon the cities. The personal questions raised in Nassau County will serve a useful purpose in attracting attention to the public issues raised in vain by too many commissions to leave any doubt of the trouble and the root of the trouble.
As Justice Scudder said, the trouble is more in the administration than in the law. The existing laws could be administered so that there need be no personal scandal, nor any prejudice between sections of the State. Unfortunately the result of maladministration is to encourage a crop of quack remedies, instead of fastening attention upon better enforcement of existing laws. The reformers make all sorts of promises about the good effect of their proposals, blandly ignored the fact that these are as much liable to maladministration as the laws which they propose to displace by innovations of wide and unknown bearing. There have been betterments in administration of tax laws in recent years. There should be many more. The deman increases with the State's demand for taxes. In the nineties the State debt was $660. Now it is a quarter billion, and the State needs revenues by scores of millions. The direct tax, which had disappeared, has reappeared as a permanency. That revives and increases cities' interst in the manner of laying and collecting taxes everywhere. The Nassau County scandal could not have occurred if the taxes had been laid and collected as they should be in every county, and something in the manner shown in the counties of this city in recent years.
MAUBEUGE.
Field Marshal Haig reported on Saturday that "the fortress of Maubeuge has been captured by the Guards and Sixty-second Divisions." So, after four years and three months of war, the British Army is advancing in triumph over the ground where the "Contemptibles" first saw the flash of the enemy's guns and retreated, fighting desperately, before superior forces. If Sir John French had blundered at Maubeuge in the last week of August, 1914, his army would have been destroyed or captured, and through the gap made by its elimination the Germans would have poured in an ever-swelling flood of men and guns, rolling up the flanks of two French armies and confronting Joffre with a problem, the saving of his main body and the defense of Paris, for which he might not have been able to find a solution. Small as was the British Expeditionary Force, consisting of no more than 80,000 men, its units checked the German advance from day to day by tenaciously holding on to positions prepared overnight until scarcely an officer or private was left to tell the story. Never did the British Army, which has always known how to die, fight such stubborn rearguard actions. These covering operations made it possible for Sir John French to save a part of his army, and on Sept. 8 it crossed the Marne by the bridges between Lagny and Meaux. These bridges were blown up by the rearguard.
Maubeuge figured in that critical retreat when Sir John French, engaged in his battle at Mons, his right resting on Binche and his left on Condé, and the fight going against him, received "a most unexpected message" from General Joffre. It was a belated message: the British commander should have known its ominous tidings hours before. While he was defending the Mons position against a force at least twice as strong as his own, the Germans had thrown back the Fifth French Army on his right and were driving across the Sambre between Namur and Charleroi. At the same time the enemy was making a wide enveloping movement around his left at Tournai. The British supports were gone, had been gone for several hours, and when the message reached Sir John French the Fifth French Army was retreating before von Below's Second German Army.
The British commander knew the terrain in his rear intimately, for he was an authority on the French campaigns of the past. His decision was quickly made: he would fall back upon the line Maubeuge-Jenlain, and that very night preparations were made for retirement while he continued to defend the Mons position as if he knew nothing of what had befallen Lanrezac, Langue, and Ruffey. Back went the heavy transport to clear the roads, and the ambulances carrying the wounded followed. In the morning Haig's First Corps counterattacked to cover the retirement of Smith-Dorrien's Second Corps. The feint deceived the enemy, who reasoned from the steady fire of Haig's 120 guns that the British has been reinforced. When Smith-Dorrien had fallen back five miles from the Condé Canal he took up a strong defensive positions, Frameries-Querouble, to give the British right an opportunity to retire to Maubeuge, a fortress of the first class on the Sambre.
To the left of the British force the enemy had crossed the frontier, but the British right resting on Maubeuge would have been secure if the French had made a junction with it. This, however, was out of the question. The Fifth Army was not in touch with it and had no alternative but to retire to new positions. Von Kluck's design was to outflank the British left and tempt Sir John French to give battle under the protection of the Maubeuge forts. That would have been fatal to the expeditionary force without support. It would have been Sedan over again. The British Army was of about the same strength as the French Army that surrendered at Sedan in the late Summer of 1870.
The British commander, left to his own resources by the irresistible "drive" of the Germans against the French on his right, rejected the plan of giving battle on the Maubeuge-Jenlain line and ordered a retreat past the great forest of Mormal, the 1st Corps marching to the east of it, the 2d Corps to the west of it, for in its way the forest of Mormal was as dangerous to a small army as the fortress of Maubeuge. It is not necessary to follow the fortunes of the hard-pressed British Army falling back to one position after another through Le Cateau, Landrecies, Valenciennes, Cambrai, and St. Quentin. The worst was over when the 2d Corps reached the Somme.
The British are at last back in Maubeuge, retracing the line of their retreat. They have passed through the same towns that saw them staggering and bleeding and beaten from the fierce German onslaughts in 1914. They have thrown back the enemy in and around the forest of Mormal. They are again in the vicinity of Mons, where they fought the first battle of the war. They are flushed with many victories. They will never taste defeat again, and the Germans will never know anything else. But it is not to be doubted that if Sir John French had blundered at Maubeuge in those crowded hours in August, 1914, the British would never have returned as victors in the closing days of the great war.
What a spectacle for gods and men! The mightiest military monarch of earth, proud as Lucifer, a most famous swaggerer, he who went his way and trod under food all who opposed him, takes to his heels like a scared schoolboy and takes shelter in Holland from the wrath of his so lately loyal and servile people. And that Son of Thunder, the Crown Prince, accompanies his parent in this flight to a place of safety.