New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-04-13
ATTITUDE OF GERMANY TOWARD UNITED STATES
POCLTNEY BIGELOW BELIEVES OF
FICIAL TENDENCIES AT BERLIN
ARE PREPARING GROUND
FOR CONFLICT.
BY PoULTNET BIGEDOW.

In 1896 the raid of Dr. Jameson into the
Transvaal called forth from official Germany
cable dispatch to Paul KRUGER which Germans
In South Africa we'll those in Berlin in
terpreted as indicating disposition unfrendly
TO England. and akin to a desire for interference.
1t was my fortune be in the German capital
when this cable message dispatched and
In Pretoria few weeks after its receipt by the
Boers. In each capital L had opportunity of
noting the state of feeling to which 1 refer.
And, after ALL large part Of the worlds his
tory is made up of this imponderabe force
this sentiment that cannot be put upon the
scales or added UP By the statistician-yet 1t
overturns governments puts armies in the field.
wages war and changes the map of the world.
The sentiment behind official Germany
then hazy notion that German colonial ambi-
ton could somehow be gratifed by pitting the
Boer against the Anglo-African. This view
very popular at the time. and the German En-
peror became a prime favorite throughout his
empire for his supposed willingness to offend
England.
The mobilizing of large British fleet in the
Channel and certain events in South Africa
tended to cool off this sentiment far the
Transvaal was concerned but it reused in Ger
many a popular enthusiasm for big navy
which has admirably served the purposes of the
government.
Germany has to-day a naval programme
which promises to make her as powerful afioat
she is already land She intends build
between 1904-20 ffty-seven battleships fifteen
first class cruisers and thirty-six second class
cruisers. This means annual naval budget
of S15.000.000 year-and this money is not to
be spent merely for playthings.
When America and Spain We're at war in 1898.
the feeling in German military circles that
Spain was the better equipped for the struggle.
at least at the outset: and therefore she sent to
the Philippines a strong fleet, whose mission
ostensibly the protection of German inter
ests. but whose practical work was to show
cordially with all things Spanish and desire
to thwart all things American.
Here. in the South African situation. Ger
many again disappointed, and the upshot
was still louder clamor for more navy. Ger
man papers had special correspondents at
either of these wars, but. nevertheless. their
papers filed to bursting with alleged news
fresh from the seat of war written mainly in
Berlin Cor Brussels), and charging all manner o.
shortcomings to the English speaking side in
the contest
We rub eyes in wonder this German
sentiment. England is to Germany and
can understand it more readily But it is
thing of very recent growth. and its explanation
is not to be found In official utterances.
Germany sees no future save through expan-
sion, and she space in which she can
expand through
Official Germany began under Bismarck in
1884. to create strong sentiment in favor Of
colonies This sentiment based largely
upon false premises, and nearly all the hopes
then officially raised have been dashed to pieces
against the cold walls Of experience. Thanks to
British complaisance, Germany hoisted her flag
over many hot strips TO the extent of a million
square miles. but Germans have steadily refused
to settle in those places. excepting as salaried
officials, and consequently official Germany is
compelled in order to save it's face to teach
the credulous people that the reason Of her fail
ure is to be sought in the perfidious behavior
Of the English speaking peoples. who for a va
riety Of reasons about all the world worth
having.
The visit Of Prince Henry to America cannot
fail to attract German attention to the strange
fact that, while Germans for the last seventeen
years have carefully avoided colonies ornament
ed with the German flag. they have with ex-
traordinary obstinacy persisted in crowding the
la Dor market Of the very eople who by the
German official press held up brutal,
ardly and corrupt.
Between 1890 and 1896 there came to America
more than five million Germans. Between the
close OF the Franco-German War and the year
Of the Jameson raid. Germans flocked to New
York at the rate Of hundred thousand
year
1t is estimated by competent authority that
the Germans in America who natives of Ger
many. of German parentage represent ff-
teen million souls. about three times the
population of Prussia during the Napoleonic
times.
The emigration has moved in perfectly
NAL channels-it has not been assisted by State
aid from America nor has il been helped from
the Fatherland. On the contrary, nothing has
been omitted that could discourage intending
ernigrants, and this Of itself explains what l
have so often noted with surprise and regret.
perpetual stream of misinformation flowing
from official German papers and intended to
produce distrust of things American.
Germans are essentially a nation of philoso-
phers-that is to say. they are people who
like to construct the world on a theory and then
find fault with It if it does not conform to It,
For years they have depicted the Germans IN
America as pining for colony with the Ger
man flag When these philosophers learned
that there were many millions OF
Germans in America, let alone the British COL
onies. who were quite satisfied with the prac-
teal arrangement of things they had found
them, official Germany Numbered against these
people unpatriotc scoundrels-
The visit of Prince Henry has given a broad
opportunity for German sentiment In America
to proclaim itself, and the result is unmstak-
able American Germans delight in honoring
a German prince they delight In honoring
Wagner or Schiller-as they delight in visiting
the Rhine on their holidays. But they have in
no wise responded to the many appeals made to