Jasper County Democrat, Volume 21, Number 72, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 December 1918 — EDITOR HARDEN SAYS HUN ENVOY LIED TO WILSON [ARTICLE]

EDITOR HARDEN SAYS HUN ENVOY LIED TO WILSON

German Publisher Declares Bernstorff Was in Turn Deceived by Berlin. MOLTKE FOR PEACE IN 'l4 Kaiser Also Should Have Sued In 1916, When Ruthless Undersea Warfare Was Launched — Only Brief Excerpts of Speeches Sent Out. Amsterdam, Dee, C. —Helmuth von Moltke, then chief of the general staff of the German army, told the kuiser that Germany had lost the war in September, 1914, just after the turning point in the first battle of the Marne. Maximilian Harden, the famous editor of Die Zukunft, made this revelation in a speech at Hamburg October 27 last, on the eve of the German upheaval. “Bernstorff told me,” said Harden, “that at the last moment of his stay in Washington he had lied and lied and lied to President Wilson —without knowing that lie' was lying. The foreign office told Bernstorff to say <jne thing and then proceeded to do the other.” Censor Hides Truth. Only brief excerpts of Harden’s speech were permitted to get out of Germany at the time, and the full text of what lie said is only now available from German newspapers reaching here. In opening his address, Harden expressed the hope that the dying days of the year would bring an armistice and peace. fir • “Events,” he added, “have hammered the realization into all brains that, it is impossible to vanquish three or four-fifths of the world's inhabitants. “Once, perhaps, there was a period when victory in the ancient sense slipped past us by a hair’s breadth — in September, 1914. “But the Marne retreat, which wrecked the plan of overrunning France, gave a different turn to the war.

“The War Is Lost." “The clear-tli in king anil dear-see-ing Moltlie at that time —in September, 1914 —went to the kaiser and said: ‘“Your majesty, the war is lost!’” In reporting this juncture of the speech the Hamburg papers describe the great audience as being seized by a tremendoust emotion. There were wild cries of “Hear, hear!” and for several minutes -there was such restlessness and noise that the speaker had to wait. When calm was restored, Harden continued: “Triumph had escaped us then and there. But even if triumph had been ours it would have left us friendless and joyless in the world. But it was then that the first opportunity to make a good peace was missed. “There was a second opportunity for a liquidation of the war, and it, too, was allowed to pass by. That was in the middle of 1910, when marjy military forces had been successfully brought into play by us without bringing us to the ultimate goal. “It was then that the work of Grand Admiral von Tirpitz began to take the center of the stage. The controversy about U-boat warfare set In.” Asks Trial for Accused. “His aids and abettors were Herr Zimmermann, secretary of state, otherwise without ill reputf\ and Helfferieli —God only knows how such men came to such offices. "I hope and wish that these three men will be brought to trial before a high tribunal. (Stormy applause.) Characteristic for the whole conduct of the war is—as I am in a position to prove—the ‘mathematical’ activity of a certain statistician who in a personal report to the kaiser ‘demonstrated’ that England was absolutely bound to sue for peace within a very short time thereafter. And this gentleman concluded his sanguine statements with the remark:

“ ‘And please God, your majesty will then reject England’s petition for peace!’ Instead of striving for an understanding with America, situated as we were in a strong military defensive position, we drove that hemisphere Into hostility against us. “Bernstorff is homeward bound because he does not wish to witness the entry of the British in Constantinople. The Dardanelles already are officially closed. Upholds Wilson. “It is in connection with our isolation that we have to consider the exchange with President Wilson. A gigantic world arbiter’s task has been placed in his hands and strong influences are counteracting it —influences which we should not aid and abet by insinuations against the president." Harden then justified the allied and American demands for proper guarantees prior to the granting of an armistice. Apart from other reasons, he said, such a demand by President Wilson may be explained psychologically, “for be has had bad experiences with former German governments.” _ v