The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-07-10
WOULD GERMANY FIGHT?
SPECULATION AS TO WHAT WILLIAM
MIGHT TAKE A NOTION TO DO.
A Bullying Emperor Who May Take 1t
Into His Head to MeddIe with
the United States.
New York Press.


been not only anti-American, but decidedly
un-GerInan. In general uniformity of mis-
statement, in righteousness and lack of
reasonableness the newspapers of Germany
have been more like the mean, crazy little
French boulevard sheets than like journals
edited by the people of what has been con-
sidered always a particularly thoughtful
and wel-informed nation. AS matter of
fact, the preponderance of the militarism
fostered by the German Emperor has
brought this about to a great extent be-
cause the veXations, petty and great, OF
| censorship have driven the really represent
alive and thoughtful German writers to re-
main silent and to conserve their fighting
| energies for such times as the Importance
| of affairs will warrant embodiment with
| the imperial police. The result is that the
| noisy newspapers do not always represent
| the people of Germany. But they have said
| enough to raise the question as to whether
Germany really would like to find cause
! for war with the United States.
! Similar articles in French newspapers
| would not need to be taken at all seriously.
| But the serious thing about the German
| newspapers is that those who are rabidy
| anti-American, to the point of demanding
and threatening German interference, are
mouthpieces of the imperial party, and as
! they have not been checked it is safe to
assume that the Kaiser is inclined to view
| the United States with feelings of aggres-
sion. If the French President wanted wax
| with the United States it would mean moth
| ing unless he could get the people to APP
| prove his policy Queen Victoria could not
| let her personal inclinations sway the pol
| icy of the British empire even if she
wanted war. With the exception of Rus
! STA, the two rulers of civilized nations to-
| day who are most able to give effect to
| their personal inclinations or beliefs in the
case of great policies like making war are
of the Us nted states Amerca
! The time has not yet come when an Amer
1 lean President will make war unless he has
! Emperor is essentially a military figure. He
| Is to-day the only real fighting monarch in
sia is miarW only out Of poiev The Ga Ems
! peror of Germany is military from inclina-
ton. He is a curious mixture of tradition
and policy. The house of Hohenzollern al
ways has been a soldiers family. Kaiser
| Wilhelm is imbued with it's traditions He
Is a soldier and an autocrat partly because
he has inherited the blood of soldiers and
| autocrats. But he is the more dangerous
because besides that, he is a soldier and
military autocrat for the mere personal
satisfaction of being one, but because he
/ thinks that that is the proper way to rule
imperial Germany and to make 1T greater.
| WHY HE DISLIKES US.
It is this which makes him oppose per-
haps hate. the immense Republic. The
United States represents everything that he
dislikes and despises. He may oppose France
| as a matter of hereditary enmity. He can
| not hate it as q republic, for he is far too
| masterful and uncompromsing himself to
consider it's pitiable governmental fabric as
serious danger on account of its repub-
! licanism. Indeed, France serves the mon
archs of Europe we'll to-day, for it poses as
an abhorrent example of what democracy
| is like, and can be held up to the people as
| such. Besides, France has lost so much of
| its hold everywhere that it hardly bothers
| the Germans in commercial sense, while
! they run against the Americans and the
| English continually
These are the considerations which make
! 1t impossible for the German Emperor to
| view the United States with friendship.
| lie is q German first of all, and the great
ness of his empire is his first concern. He
| is military, and he sees the shortest road
! to greatness as one that may be forced, at
least In part with arms. He is an autOcrat,
and as such he can make war if he wishes,
| and all the elaborate system of Reichstag
and Bundesrath will be powerless to pre-
| vent. The German Constitution is one that
can be invoked more easily to help an EN-
| peror plans than to thwart them Perhaps
! the only danger which he would have to
meet would be the danger of revolution in
|
| TO his policy, but revolution is not German
| habit.
| If, then, it is possible that on the EN-
perors whim or policy may depend the
question of embodiment with this Nation,
| the little lights which have been shed on his
character from time to time will aid mate
rally in deciding what Germany's attitude
IN this war finally will be. To begin, Kaiser
! Wilhelm is no fool In many respects he is
| a remarkable man. He Is eccentric but his
| eccentr1cltieS do not appear 70 go to the eX-
| tent of making him swerve from his course
| after policy has been adopted. He likes to
| talk, and is inclined to the grandiloquent
| style, but he generally has Something to
| say, even in his absurd rhodomontades that
impresses on his beloved people that he is
their ruler and that he intends that they
| shall remember it. He hates democracy,
| but he does not underestimate its strength
ness of the measures which he takes against
| it from time to time. He is egotistical but
not to the extent Of failing to learn from all
who can each him anything. He is a sol
| der but he does not let his military policy
| take precedence of diplomacy Rather, he
let's the clang Of the sword sound as if by
accident, just often enough to hasten little
affairs. He has managed despite his essen
| TALLY ENJOYABLE personality, to hold the
people Of the Empire together and to keep
! them loyal by a force which, call it what
! you will-brutal might, diplomacy, fear-has
| been successful.
PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS.
He is not a man to be laughed at as a
| boaster because he boasts; not a man to be
| sneered at as bully because he DULLES;
not man to be defined as figure of the
| rast because he has deliberately adopted
| the policy of autocracy which belongs to
| the past. Let 1t be remembered that this
man was quick enough to see and to push
| the policy inaugurated under Bismarck
which has forced German goods into all the
markets of the world. His little trick in
| taking territory in China was a notable
| achievement, and 1t was done just at the
| psychological moment. Selling the psyche
| logical moment is considered as one of the
/ best attributes of the successful diplomat
| or soldier, and, from this viewpoint, Will
try. He bullied little Haiti very savagely,
| but it was not unnecessary for him to
| show the Haitians that the German gov
| eminent would protect it's citizens. The
German interests in Haiti are very large,
| and the EInperors action was a decidedly
| good one for them, for the Haitians are the
! worst of little DULLES themselves, and they
would made the lives of the Germans mis-
cradle before this, perhaps, had the En-
peror not given them a lesson that they
| would not forget.
Perhaps the EmperorS most dangerous
/ conviction, which is most dangerous at
| present because it may incline him to med
| die in our affairs, is the conviction that
| no is the great conservator of peace of
the world. lie has repeated this often
that, without any overt act, Il has come TO
be accepted, in Germany at least, as an
/ International policy Of Germany and If he
/ wishes he make it the pretext for in
terfering between the United States and
! Spain.
If that interference is led up to cleverly
enough TO carry the German sympathy with