The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1902-11-25

lands great and good friend and
England had fought the Crimean
war to keep the rotten Turkish EN-
pire together. The kaiser, how
ever, made his famous pilgrimage
to Jerusalem and dazzled the sui
tan by his magnificence and his
gifts. Soon the sultan came to be-
lieve that the kaiser was the only
real thing in emperors and that
Germany and not England should
be his chief protector. A substan-
tial result Of this feeling was CIV
ing to a German company the right
to const ruct the Bagdad railway
from the Bosphorus to the Persian
gulf. This railway when it is COM
pleted will be very important
link between Europe and the east.
An English syndicate offered
much better price, but the German
syndicate got 1t. The kaiser scored
again.
Then came England's fuss with
France over Fashoda. At this time
Germany quietly urged France to
put UP her back and fight. 1t was
apparently the German idea that
be able to gather up the pieces, but
the Frenchmen objected to being
catspaw and nothing happened, ex-
cept that Englishmen made an
other black mark against the
kaiser.
All through the Boer war Ger
man sympathy for the Beers was
very obnoxious to Englishmen and
finally led Joseph Chamberlain and
Count Won Buelow to calling each
other names in public speeches.
Prince Henry's visit to America
was also calculated to increase
English dislike of Germany. Eng
land felt the kaiser was poaching
on her preserves when he sent
Prince Henry over to give the glad
hand and distribute cigaret cases
in the land of the free.
The chief grievance of all, how
ever, has to do with the increase in
the German navy and in the Ger
man mercantile marine. The Amer
lean invasion, while it Is grievous
enough, has not seriously touched
the British shipping interest, Nor
gan's money having gone into Brit
ish ships which will continue to fly
the English flag and be to all in
tents and purposes British.
The American ocean carrying
fleet remains pitiably small, Eng
land building twice as many ocean
carrying ships in a yea as the
United States has altogether. The
Germans, on the other hand, have
made special point of competing
with England on her chosen ele
ment.
Last year the German Atlantic
liners had the cream of the ocean
passenger trade, and English ships
were bad second. In Asiatic
waters German financiers have
bought British merchant fleets out
right and put them under the Ger
man flag. The kaiser sees to it
that the Pierpont Morgans in his
country contribute to German ag-
grandisement.
The German navy, too, Is being
built, ship by ship, so to speak,
against the British navy. Ger
many's future lies on the sea-"
says the kaiser. and when, during
the BOer war, the British held up
the German steamer BundeSrath,
with contraband material for the
Beers on board, Count Won Buelow
declared in the reichstag that this
would not have happened if Ger
many had a bigger navy. Since
then this argument has been often
used to get this larger navy which
the kaiser and Count Won Buelow
have desired.
Englishmen can see but one
meaning in it all, and that is that
Germany means, some day, to con-
test the supremacy of the seas with
England. OF the inevitable wars
of the future which some people are
fond of talking about, this seems
the most certain.
Relations between England and
Germany being what they are, and
he facts of the case being so OBJ
vious, many in this country regard
the kaiser's constant professions of
regard for England and the Eng
lish royal family as somewhat n.y.
pocritical. They have very high
opinion of the kaiser's ability and
are willing to admit that he is prob
ably the quicker witted and more
than a match for King Edward.
Hence, when the kaiser comes over
to England and weaps On his un-
cle's neck, they fear he is quietly
awaiting himself of the opportunity
to size up the country and the state
of public opinion for future refer
ence.
This time the king had eight cab
met ministers up to Sandringham
to keep the kaiser from working
any bunco games on the British EN-
pire, but some are afraid the kaiser
may have been too many for them
all.
After all, the fact that the kaiser
! is not ready for war with any
body, and moreover has found that
Germany prospers exceedingly well
simply by peace and diplomacy, is
the best guarantee of no serious
breach between England and Ger
many. But this does not prevent
the two powers from watching each
other with great jealousy and occa,
sional anger, and from keeping
their powder dry.
FOREIGN NOTES.