The Topeka state journal., 1905-10-08

an empire reaching across south-east-
ern Europe and over Asia to the Ara
bian Sea. she is certainly ready 1or It.
NO WAR IF POSSIBLE.
She does not want to gain 1t by
war. She wants territory unhampered
by the chains and clogs that the otheF
Powers would attach to it If she won II
through war. She wants it to be hers
absolutely, held as completely in her
mailed fist as are the German soYe-
reign" states Of the present federation
But the penalty of playing a game
so vast as hers is that she may nave TO
make war in self-defense, or that war
may be thrust upon her.
That war may come from Russia
about the Balkans, or from England
about the Persian Gulf. If 1t be with
Russia, we may look for Turkey GER
tainly, and Austria probably, to join
with Germany. France, sick OF her
Russian bargain, may. be glad enough
to stay aloof. But England, with the
Mediterranean ocean, that she fondiy
views as her very own, threatened Dy
nation vastly more to be feared than
| Russia ever was, may easily be en-
broiled on the side of that very Russia
whom she has Kept bottled up behind
the Dardanelles so long.
Then we may have the curious spec
tacle of the world-fght for the Pa
! cif1c breaking out in that same ancient
! corner of the Mediterranean where
| the trade wars of all the world began
| in the dim past of history
Russia, forced by her defeat in the
+! East to strive again more sedulously
! than she has striven in generations for
an opening into the western oceans,
may not wait for Germany to threaten
her Never was there a Russian de-
| feat in war or diplomacy, however
! complete, that made her cease her
plotting and striving for a moment
She must get to the sea, If not
| through the east, then through the
west. Her way through the Baltic is
/ blocked at present; but the dissolution
| of Norway and Sweden has opened a
/ typical opportunity for his peculiar
stateeraft to the Muscovite.
! UNKNOWN STRATEGICAL POINTS.
Now, there are two spots that are
/ hardly known even by name to any ex-
cept navigators and statesmen One is
an island, GrOthland in the middle OF
| the Baltic Sea. Tt belongs to Sweden,
and is known as "the Eye of the Bal
/ tic among naval men. At present it is
/ a Swedish stronghold, heavily fortified.
4 It is directly in the way of Russian
ships endeavoring to win to the At
! lantic Ocean out of the Gulf of Fin
/ land, where Russia's naval base of
/ Kronstadt is.
/ The other spot is far north in Nor
way, a little place called Narvik, on
/ OfOten Fjord. Far-seeing politicians
of Europe say already that Russia's s
way will lead her overland across the
northern part of Norway to Narvik.
| ILe reason Is LLldl 4NdIhlAs ldL uOEl1A
/ thBugh it be, is an ice-free port, and
an ice-free port is almost a life need
of Russia now.
| So it is that the next war may begin
/ over two almost unknown places, tens
of thousands of miles away from the
real prize.
But Russia has by no means ceased
| to play for an eastern road to the
| Indian Ocean. OvershadOWed by the
giant events in Manchuria and the YeI-
| low Sea, there have been important
happenings in the west of Asia.
Even while she was in the grip of
| the Jap, Russia advanced her great
railway from Orenburg, in the central
western part of her European empire,
that is to lead across Turkestan south
to Merv, thence east to Samarcand,
and north again to Tashkend.
Almost unknown places are these to
the majority of persons. But Merv is
the center for the caravan routes from
Persia, Afghanistan and BOkhara. It
is the key to what is in itself the trade
/ of an empire. Samarcand is another
ancient center of Asiatic life, with 55,-
| 600 people, while Tashkend is the capi-
/ tai of the government of Turkestan,
and has 157, 600 people in it.
NEAR ENGLAND'S GATE.
Most important of all, the road
crosses the Oxus, so jealousy watched