Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-09-20

this is the British reasoning now. and
it has been for hundreds of years.
In the seventeenth century Holland
was the great maritime rival of Great
Britain. So the English allied them
selves with France and crushed Hol-
land. Then the French navy, under
Colbert, began to spring up. The Bril-
fish combined with Holland and de-
stroyed the French navy Early the
following century Spain, under AL
beroni. gave signs of reviving her sea
enterprises, so England wiped out her
navy. France had aspirations in In
dia and began another navy to foster
them, which navy England destroyed.
So 1t has always been. England in
slsts on the unquestioned superiority
of the sea.
by two methods-addition and sub
traction. She would either add to her
own fleet or subtract from here enc
my's. In the seventeenth and eigh-
teenth centuries she kept ahead by
subtracting from her enemy's, but
since 1905 she has been at war with
great sea power, and has, consequent-
| ly, been forced to keep ahead by ship
building.
But of late years rival nations have
peen setting pretty fast pace In ship
building, thus requiring England to set
!! even faster one And she is begin
ming to feel it would be cheaper for
her to reduce rival armaments-es-
\ pecially Germany's to keep on
| increasing her own.
SO, either in accordance with blind
instinct, or in pursuance to general
plan. the English press have set out to
arouse British opinion against Ger
| many. Even the most respectable and
| conservative of publications continual-
~ sound notes of warning" Some Of
them go so far as to bewail the divorce
| proceeding which is threatened be-
tween Neptune and Britannia. In the
Times, the Spectator, and the various
reviews there appears a constant sue
cesslon of articles under such titles as
i German 1ntrigue; A Note of Warm
ing, Shall Germania Rule the
Waves" THE Restless Kaiser" WAR
1 Lord and Sea Lord" Even good old
/ Punch has been drawn in. The
story Is that while the Rus
sian cruisers cruisers, by agreement
i commerce to the orient they have
made only pretense of Interfering
with German trade. Consequently the
German ships are giving the safer
passage to the far east and shippers.
prefer them, Britannia, meanwhile, is
/ weakly disconsolate.
i The following story which is by no
i means known to be authentic, is a
i present favorite with the British press.
1t hrst appeared anonymously: "An
amusing story Is learned on excellent
authority by our correspondent" etc.
The story was that once, when the
kaiser ana car met at sea on their
yachts, they entertained each other at
a champagne luncheon. When the
Il yachts and the escort fleets We're about
to separate the kaiser signaled, "The
admiral of the Atlantic salutes the
admiral of the Pacific "This was
before the Japanese war; The car.
wishing neither to affront the kais-
er nor implicitly. to pronounce himself
admiral of the Pacific, merely responds
ed, Farewell"
Il This exchange of courtesies between
!, the two emperors is supposed to have
! taken place over a year ago. But ever
since its first appearance the major
1ty OF the British newspapers have
taken delight In irritating and anger
, ing their readers by illusions to the
/ admiral of the Atlantic
While the British press is appar-
emily trying to prepare tP people fol
y war, the British government is making
every dfplomatic preparation tic, iso-
late Germariy.2N-on s,-- -
3 placated. There is a negative alliance
4 With France. "A friendly, hand is held
}, out to Italy.
!, The signs are that the next war will
be between Great Britain and Ger
many, and whatever the assigned
cause of the conflict, the real reason
will lie In British jealousy of Ger
many's increasing navy. The English
are becoming gradually convinced that
as purely business proposition, 1t
7 would be cheaper to subtract from
the German navy than to add any fur
: Their to their own, and when the Bril-
fish are convinced of the business adj
vantages of a scheme they usually
> adopt it.