The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-07-16
DIR. Won Schferbrand' "Russia'
Attracting Attention.
Purpose of Author to Lay Bare
Cause of War.
HE MAKE CONTRASTS.
Compares Russia With the
American Nation.
Does Not Regard japan as
Serious Rival.

A book that is attracting more OF
less attention in the east is DR.. Wolf
Won Schierbrands latest work just
published by Henry Holt & Co., of
New York.
DR.. Won Schferbrand's latest book
follows logically, his previous work,
Russia, Her Strength and Her Weak
ness" which was principally an expo
sition of her weakness. says an east
ern reviewer. His aim has not peen
merely to lay bare the causes winch
led to the war between Russia and
Japan. although his book bears more
or less directly upon the present con-
hict It has a wider scope. He con-
tends that the war represents out
the initial stage in an international
struggle which there is every reason
to hope may be fought solely with
the weapons of peace. 1t will be
long contest and will involve all the
leading nations of the glope. AIS VI
innate outcome will settle the question
CT predomfnance. commercial ana Lo-
litical among the civilized powers The
coming conflict will be for the mas
terry of the Pacific, which will assume
in the twentieth century the lmpor-
lance which the Mediterranean had
for the leading commercial nations
of ancient times. From the Med1ter-
ranean the scepter passed to the Az
lantic, and in the authors opinion the
time is ripe for the supremacy OF
the Pacific ocean. The cutting of the
Panama canal will be the last geo
graphical event of the first magnitude
England reaped an immense advan-
tage from the digging of the Suez
canal. The Panama canal will trans
fer that advantage to the United
States, with the all-important GER
tainty that this advantage cannot
again be transferred by any geograph-
fsrTharafnra
Sutherland contends, the CONNER
cial supremacy of the Pacific will be
final The nation holding that su-
premacy will, so far as human fore
sight can discern, hold the supreme
power on this globe
The author considers in turn the
equipment of our rivals in the Pacific
the British, German, French, Jap
anese and the Slav. Regarding the
last named he says:
''On the border of the Pacific, on
his own soil, stands the Slav, brawny
and overbearing. The American S
the Pacific will be the hardest of all.
1t will not be of the same nature as
that with the, other nations For with
the latter it will primarily be COM
lmercial; not SO with the Russian. 1t
will not even be so much a question
of fighting for the possession of ma
terial things-no, the strife will be
of a different character.
hegemony over Asia must be broken.
The Russian article of faith-that the
whole of the immense continent by
right belongs to him and must come
under his sway-is to be destroyed.
His pretension to exclude from Far
Asia all influence and all trade but
his own must be resisted and over
come. His type of civilization must
confined to his own dominfons. His
dogma-that the Orthodox church of
Russia is to have spiritual rule
throughout Asia-must be crushed. In
fine, the chief issue hereafter between
the Russian and the American in
Asia will be for the predominance of
western or eastern civilization"
Between the Slav and the Ameri-
can there are some striking resem-
blanceS.
The American nation is numerically
one of the strongest in the world.
Russia exceeds us in numbers, but
we have the greater rate of increase,
and within generation both nations
will be equal in population. Since
1860 Russia'S population has doubled,
ours has trebled. The natural re-
sources of Russia, like those of the
United States, are practically limitless.
We have had enormous territorial
growth-the Russian likewise. In the
century we added more
than 100000 square miles to our
domain; the Russian added a terri
to his country. The American as we'll
as the Russian nation has remarkable
powers of assimilation, fact which
goes far to account for unequaled
growth on both sides. The author
quotes Lavelaye, who said: "A hun
bred years hence, leaving China out
of the question, there will be two CO.
lossal powers in the world, beside
which Germany, England, France and
Italy will be as pigmies-the United
States and Russia.
But the author finds the contrasts
between the two nations even more
and numerous than the points
of similarity, only a few of which |
the author has noted having been re-
Deated. The decisive point of differ |
ence, he declares, is the difference be-
tween their conception of the best
form of government. The American is |
the supreme representative of civil |
and religious liberty; the Russian is
the supreme representation of abso- |
lutism, both in state and church. |
American civilization is the product |
Of the development of the individual |
1t means individual responsibility and /
individual effort Russian civilization |
Individual. The two systems, DIR. Won
Schierbrand holds, spring from radi-
cally different conceptions and aim at |
radically different ends. This devel- |
opment will finally drive the two ma
tons further apart and finally must
bring on a conflict The result, the
author does not doubt, will be Ameri-
can supremacy. Whatever the out
come of the present war Russia will
ssue from it in a sadly weakened
condition. And that will be telling
,act in our coming struggle with her
n the Pacific
The author does not regard Japan
as a rival to be regarded seriously.
There is a field for her, certainly,
he admits, but it is rather limited.
Her exports in rice to Asian coun-
tries may grow considera bly,. So
nay her exports of beer, textiles, coal,
copper, sake, the cheaper grade of
hardware, and possibly later on ma
,hinery. Her trade in tea is scarcely
susceptible of great expansion, because