The age-herald., 1898-08-14
IRENE INCIDENT
 MISCONSTRUED Spanish Press Responsible For Suspicion Aroused on Account of It. GERMANYS NEUTRALITY
GERMANYS
Was Strictly Adhered to Throughout
 the War With Spain.
DURING APPROACHING AUTUMN
Germany Will Maintain a Much More Formidable Naval Power in Ameri- can Waters Than Formerly
 Meat Famine Prevailing.

Berlin. Aug. 1S-The Associated Press correspondent here has had an interesting interview the subject of the Spanish American war with gentleman, who, in | the absence of Baron yon Buelow, who Is away on his summer holiday, Is acting chief | of the foreign office, and who may be re- garded as yocing in this conversation the general view of the subject discussed. The gentleman Began by saying: Baron l Von Buelow, on leaving, cautioned me that no expression of opinion contrary to Ger many's policy of strict neutrality was to be promulgated. That we mean to observe neutrality of this description I think the | world now knows. From the start the office 1 has made it the invariable rule to say noth- | ing that could be interpreted as favorable | to either side, and we have not tried to in- fuence the German press in favor of the United States, except on one occasion. At | first there was so much hostility on the part of the German press toward the United | States that we took an early opportunity to
 arrange for the appearance of articles of a | different tone.
 | Were the Aggressors
 Almost the only affinity existing be- | tween Germany and Spain Is found in the astbnarchial institution, while the bonds 'n ..ting Germany and the UnitedsStates are l numerous. It Is true, at the commence ment of the war Germans were much inf1u- enced by the fact that a powerful nation
 was attacking a weak one. This was a strong strain on German idealism and
 sense of justice, which characterizes the German people and the mere fact that you
 were the aggressors in this case some | .txz1 oft.af
 you quite irrespective of the merits of the controversy. Besides, 1t must not be for gotten that Germans in the matter of po- ntical education, are still somewhat unique. 1t is not long since they became a homeo- genous political entity. It is partly due to
 this fact that GS.s lans are given to reach
 ing nasty conclusions on questions of poh-
 tics. Herein sprang a great amount Of
 public sympathy with Spain in the early
 stages of the war. Such talk, however,
 ought not to be credited against the Ger
 man government, and I think there Is no just cause for complaint against Germany by the Americans"
 Press More Favorable
 As matter of fact, for the last fortnight
 the German press has been much more fa- vorabe to the United States and hardly anything hostile has appeared In the more important papers, while the number Of journals openly friendly, has considerably increased. The papers now point out that the authorities at Madrid and Manila and l the Spanish press were largely responsible | for the excitement arising out of the Irene | incident, as they misconstrued this and | preceding incidents in manner that nec- | essrily aroused suspicion in the United States.
 | The newspapers here today discuss elab- | orately the new situation and the changed conditions growing out of the war. The conclusion reached is that the United States must hereafter be reckoned a great naval power and that Germany will be ob- liged once more to increase her navy to hold her own with the other powers. The Deutchsche Zeitung discussing the annexation of Hawaii and the plans of the United States as regards Pago Pago, says:
 s"This means a change in the balance of
 power in the south sea regarding which Germany cannot afford to be sflent.'' The paper concludes a somewhat ag- gressve article by saying:
 "We have confidence that the leaders of
 our foreign policy will do all that is re- quired to prevent the disturbance of Ger
 man interests and influence in Samoa" Larger Naval Forces
 Admiral Won Knor, commander-in-chief
 of the imperial navy, informs the corre-
 spondent of the Associated Press that dur
 ing the approaching autumn and winter
 the tGerman navy VIII pe ihoiS etioh6y
 represented in American waters than at
 any time since 1891, when Germany took
 leading part in the settlement of the
 Chilean trouble. Five warships, the Geir,
 Hela, Mollke, Sophie and Nxo, with a total
 tonnage of 1O.5OO and carrying fifty-seven
 guns and 1,54 men, will be kept there. The meat famine that prevails through out Germany is causing much dissatisfac-
 ton among the poor, who are unable to
 pay the increased prices. Villagers on the
 SEesian frontier daily cross the line and
 visit the nearest Russian towns to procure
 cheap meat. The Rcrlin labor -organiza-
 tions this week promulgated resolutions ex-
 pressing indignation with the governments
 policy of preventing meat imports which
 has caused a great scarcity of meat in
 the home market.