Evening star., 1901-12-14
ENEMIES OF THE REPUBLIC
ENGLAND AND AMERICA HAVE COM
MON RIVALS IN TRADE.
Countries in Continental Europe Thai
Dread Commercial Supremacy
of the United States.
Frnm the London Spectator.


Our countrymen as body are very
Indifferent, perhaps too Indifferent, to the
opinion OF foreigners, but no educated En-
giishman can read without pain the tor
rent of abuse which the continent is now
pouring on our heads. 1t seems so hope
less to be friendly or even just, in the face
of such malignity. We all know that 1t
owes its origin, in great part at least, to
the malignant Misrepresentation OF our
enemies, who, for example, describe the
concentration camps. which were establish
ed out of a philanthropic desire that Boer
women and children should not suffer the
worst hardships of war, or be left help
less amidst a hostile black population, as
torture chambers in which women are sur
fered to starye and children to die in heaps
of preventible diseases. The knowledge,
however, brings little relief. for If the
creduiity which accepts such stories is
born of Ignorance, how is it to be en-
lightened? and if it springs from malice,
how deep must the malignity be which,
with all the facts before the world, includ-
ing De Vets own statement that the war
both sides has been unmarked by cruel
ty, can use such tales merely bespatter
a deteSted people. There is nothing to be
done. of course, with such abuse except
to bear it, and continue our defensive arm
aments, for when the tempest of calumny
is famed by the press, by the clerics and
by the popular orators evidence is as un-
heard as music in a cyclone, and we can
but wait patiently until the tornado has
blown past Englishmen may, however. be
q little relieved to find that much of the
hatred-that part Of 1t, at least, which
is born of jealously and fear-extends in
full measure to the United States. We
have repeatedly quoted evidence of this
from the speeches of statesmen. and It is
gradually becoming clear that their utter
ances do not misrepresent the peoples.
Peer Mad Attack.
At one Of the greatest meetings ever held
In Vienna. meeting which was attended by
great Austrian aristocrats as we'll as leading
economists. and which was, so to speak,
plessed by the Austrian premier in letter
read aloud. America was denounced as
the grand peril Of the future. She was
aiming. said Dr.. Peez, a great Industrial,
at universal economic supremacy" and
must be fought by strict protection. Count
Buquoy,' says the Times correspondent,
argued that the problem should be con-
sldered under these different aspects, as
the United States was a great power
first as a center of production: secondly
owing to its command of capital: and.
tnlrdly, on account of the brute force at
its disposal. A survey of the manipuIa-
tiOn of its trusts and it's corners in grain
etc. revealed a series of crimes which
were associated with an unparalleled ruth
lessness in the conduct of business :"
Others speakers expressed the same
fears. and the entire meeting unanimously
passed resolutions. Of which one demands
a union Of central Europe against trans
oceanic competition" and another that the
United States and Argentina, a country
which agrarians specially dread because of
her increasing production of wheat should
be debarred from the full advantages of
commercial treaties. The words of the res
olution are: That while treaties for longer
periods may be concluded with other coun-
tries when they afford adequate protection
to native production and export trade.
those with the United States and the Ar