The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-01-03
DETERMINATION OF EUROPE.

The North German race is possessed
 of mania; 1t is in the grasp of one absorbing idea Deutschland ueber
 Ales' says the motto. In these days that means the commercial supremacy and dominance of Germany around the
 world.
 For instance, all Europe knows that
 the death of Emperor Franz Joseph will
 be. the signal for the breaking up of Austria, the last remnant of old Rome,
 the eastern empire of two sons of Con- stantine. Even now the fabric is loose; nothing holds together the ire
 concilable Magyars, Czechs, Slays, and
 the rest but the popular affection for
 the emperor and popular commisera- ton for his misfortunes. He has no direct successor; the heir-apparent is not liked, and upon the advent of the new ruler trouble is scheduled. The
 Hungarians have fixed their hearts upon independence, and will have noth- ing else. With the removal of that keystone the arch falls, inevitably, and from the fragments the North Ger
 mans expect to gather at once Bome-
 mia, Austria proper, and the Tyrol. And why? These countries must go somewhere; they cannot drift on alone. The trend of progress Is wholly against small nations, wholly accretive and so- lidifying. Except Bohemia, the coun- tries here involved are naturally Ger
 man. therefore their inevitable place Is
 in the Germah empire.
 Moreover, close about the borders of
 Germany are other states essentially
 German in population and thought.
 Holland, for instance. The law of evo- lution is the development of what Is necessary for the survival of the stron- ger organism. Holland has magnitl- | cent seaports adjacent to the Atlantic, and Germany needs them; Holland Is almost German now; in time, then, manifest destiny will draw 1t Into the confederation.
 North Germans see plainly the future of Switzerland as province in the coming German empire. Some persons, knowing well the temper of the Swiss people, believe that first 1t will be ne-
 cessary to depopulate the country; but the Germananswer to this is the natu- ral force of development which Is driv- ing the nations together as surely as it is indicating the dominance of the
 most resolute and hardy.
 And what will the rest of Europe be
 doing while thus the new German em-
 pire is being formed? There are the
 balance of power, and the European concert, and all the rest of it; the Dreibund and the zweibund, and the
 entent cordiale, and what of all these? According to the German idea of things the rest of Europe will have no
 more to say about the forming of the new than it had to say about the form l ing of the present German empire. If Austria shall conclude to join the great German confederation, that will be mo- bodys business. If Holland determine to follow the example of Bavaria, of
 what concern will that be to the rest of the world? Nobody interfered when
 Bavaria came in. If Denmark be in duced to give up precarious and cost ly independence for place in the Ger
 man procession, who shall deny her the right? Sooner or later, according to
 the imperialistic idea, the roller is to go over all the smaller notions; they are
 doomed to obliteration. anyway, like small tradesmen before a department store, or small manufacturers before a I ust.-Cosmopolitan,