The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-12-20
American Sent iment and Germany

american sentiment ana germany.
Repeated references in some OF the
German newspapers to an alleged state
of excitement in the American press
concerning Germany's presence in Vene-
zuela and her supposed intentions make
proper the candid remarks here sub
joined
According to our observation and best
belief there is not at the present time.
and there has not been since the be-
ginning Of the incident, any such ex-
citement in any portion OF the American
press. II is tolerably we'll understood
on both sides of the Atlantic that certain
journals here as well as there are capable
of a more or less artistic stimulation Of
hyperRsthesia over any international sit
uation Of considerable importance and
general interest but in this case as
in many Others the excitement is purely
professional
As for the American newspapers Of
the other class those which habitually
express their own real feelings or en-
deavor honestly to reflect public senti-
ment as they actually perceive it-they
all have seemed 70 us to be as cool as
either an Anglo-Saxon cucumber or a
Teutonic frog. This state Of normal
temperature arises from the following
circumstances:
Confidence in the sincerity of Great
Britain's declaration that she does not
intend to question or rest the Monroe
Doctrine is well-nigh absolute and uni
versal 1t springs partly from the re-
membrance Of the good faith so scrupu-
lously observed by the same great Power
on similar occasion seven years ago
in Nicaragua; partly from the remem-
brance of recent reciprocal services of
nature that serve to bind benefactor
and beneficiary; and partly from gen.
eral appreciation of the friendship and
community of interest now existing be-
tween the two Engish-speakng nations,
a possession too valuable to be staked
on a comparatively insignificant issue
by one party or the other, without an
inconceivable access of folly There is
practically no apprehension anywhere
in the United States regarding Englands
course in Venezuela.
There is, we likewise believe, a general
wish on the part Of our respectable news
papers and citizens that the amicablc
relations between the American republic
and the German Empire shalt come to be-
as solid as that other Internal ional friend
ship to which We have Just referred
II is natural and eminently desirable
that the United States and Germany
should be close friends The recent
manifestations Of personal activity on
the part Of the German Emperor in the
public and official recognition Of such
a friendship have been very gratifying
10 the American people. His approaches
have done much to remove the unpleas-
ant impression which had been created,
perhaps unjustly. by certain incidents
in Apia Bay, in Manila Bay, and elsewhere
at some of the few points where We have
happened to come in contact with the
new world-policy Of the German Govern
ment The future Of German American
friendship, it ia fair to say, rests with
Germany rather than with the United
States, Here we are all ready for it,
ready to take it for granted. ready to
accept it as an assured and permanent
relation, prepared to rclinquish the hope
of it only upon the most positive evidence
that it is not equally desired and is not
to be equally priced by the German En-
peror his Government and his people.
Possibly this tranquil watching for
further proof of the genuneness of
friendship 40 sincerely desired by us
accounts in part for the misapprehcn-
sion Of some Of our German contempo-
rares, What il merely close observa-
ton of the developments of German
policy in South America they misin-
terpret as suspicion or hostility of sem
timent.