Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1907-05-30

@ time the eminent advocates of
nj peace may be able to get togeth-
er. Also in the fullness of time
the millennium viii come. But up to
date the aforesaid advocates are far
apart. Colonel Roosevelt is for peace.
OF course he is. He is determined to
have peace even if he has to fight for
it. Therefore he constantly exploits the
theory entertained and preached by
both Sancho Panza and George Wash
ington, Sin times of peace prepare for
war; But Colonel Roosevelt was de-
termined not to be squeezed out when
it came to making peace suggestions,
so he clipped into the game with one
to the effect that the nations should
agree on the maximum size and tom
mage of battleships. Fine theory, nota-
BILE suggestion about as apt to be
adopted as that the elephant would
agree to eat the same quantity of hay
as would Shetland pony.
Colonel William Jennings Bryan also
has a suggestion, and that is that mon
ey shall be contraband of war. That is
a ..sockdolager'' and if adopted would
at once end all wars, but there's the
rub. Nobody will agree to it, The poor
nations will oppose it because they
want to borrow money, and the rich
nations will oppose it because they
want to lend; but Of the two sugges-
lions Colonel Bryan's is more sane and
feasible than Colonel Roosevelt's. Bry-
ans has the merit of having far reach
ing effects if it could be adopted, while
Roosevelt's would simply multiply
smaller craft.
In the meantime there is one world
character who is not trying to pose as
a peace advocate, and that's the Ger
man kaiser Wilhelm of Hohenzollern.
He probably desires peace as much as
any Of them, for Germanys present
amazing commercial growth and pros
perity would not in all human proba-
biIity be promoted by war. On the
contrary. they would most probably be
retarded and might be stopped entire
", all Of which the kaiser has the wis
dom to comprehend thoroughly; but
speaking through his chancellor, Won
Bulow, he frankly says that he has or
dered his representatives at The Hague
peace conference to take no part what
ever in discussing any proposition to
disarm, and the chancellor gives as
reasons that differences in geograph-
ical situation, etc, are such that what
would be a reasonable armed force for
one nation would not be at all ade
quate for another. While it is the
voice of Won Bulow, it is of course the
idea of the kaiser. The more one reads
and thinks of Wilhelm the more one
recalls his mighty ancestors, the Great
Elector and Frederick the Great. In
the foregoing matter his reasoning is
clear as crystal. Naturally Germany is
hard to defend on account of her topog
raphy and geography. She has no
such defense as England had in the
English channel when Napoleon as
sembled his army of invasion at Bou-
logne. The chances are that had Full
ton got his steamboat to going twenty
years sooner Napoleon would have con
quered England and would have clap
peu uue VI LIS plOlucio, SldplS ivy . VI
brothers-in-law on the throne occupied
now by King Edward. Germany has
no such natural defense as both France
and Spain have in the Pyrenees. And
SO on to the end of the chapter. Know
ing this, it is natural and reasonable
that the kaiser should study much
about geography and topography when
Ii.
fore. There is no rational ground for
surprising that he seeks war, but there
is much ground for believing that he
does not propose to relinquish any ele-
meni Of strength he now possesses.
He il candid about his position.