New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1909-04-08
NAVAL PANIC MONGERS
AngIo-Germon RiUalry-4 Return
to Reason.
London March %

been described in England as a debating So
ciety. without capacity for directing the forces
OF public opinion, has shown at critical stage
Of the duel over ornaments how reticent and
patriotic German legislators can be. It has au-
thorfzed largely increased expenditures for the
navy without word Of discussion or a dissent
ing vote. Three Dreadnougfts and an Irwin
chile have been sanctioned in q scheme of new
construction involving SO 10000 and although
the Reichstag is composed OF factions strung
together like the sections OF a fishing rod not
ono Of them had been bent broken by the
weight Of these burdens Of preparation for naval
defence. The Reichstag has voted as one man
for the government proposals, and not even
the most laxative socialist has wasted time in
idle debate. That is the way in which public
opinion is made in Germany when the conduct
n the government is challenged abroad. It is
IN Impressive exhibition of dignity and power
u-hich puts partisans and panic mongers in Eng
land to the blush. They are regretting already
that the Admiralty proposals were not sup
ported unanimously and cheerfully, and that the
temptation to make party use out Of a vote of
confidence and popular agitation throughout the
coYntry was not strenuously resisted.
The creation of a powerful German navy
seems 70 have come as a startling revelation TO
the British Admiralty and TO the nation Some Of
The later processes Of acceleration may have
been concealed. but from the outset the general
policy has been openly proclaimed in Berlin. and
The plan: and the facilities for making armor
Mate gun mountings and the heaviest guns
and fer laying down and rapidly completing
hattleships and cruisers have been systemati-
rally improved. There has been no mystery
about hat was going al the Krupp works
in Essen and in the shipyards Of Kiel Ham
burs. Stettin and Bremen. With characteristic
.so ro1-p hoo
ordered and the capital has been found for
mechanical equipment by which Dreadnoughts
.nd Invincibles can be turned out a large
scale in the shortest time and the lowest cost.
These things were not done in corner nor out
Of sight but in broad daylight and in conform
fly with a national policy for providing the
fstherland with a feet for the defence of its
commerce and for the enlargement Of imperial
resources and prestige. The aCceleration Of the
programme may have been cleveriy managed
an a. - rass for time without observation
hut the expansion Of the shipbuilding plant and
fhs Improvement Of the naval industries have
been details of an openly avowed plan for con-
verting Germany into a great maritime power
Nj Punch's cartoon of the German tar waving
? fag and dancing hornpipe TO the odtime
lingo tune might have been printed advan-
;aEeouslv several years ago. The tune was
called for the hornpipe when the German gov
eminent decided To pay the piper for an all
around modern navy good as the best
# tia risks Of competition in sea power have
not been adequately appreciated by the BRUSH
Admiralty. the government Parliament ana the
countrz there has not been any necessity lor
raagnifving them when the awakening has come
What has been described as a national crisis
has been artihcislly brought about because poll
ticsans and journals have been partisans ana
ts~ricians rather than self-respecting patriots
The Prime Minister and the First Lord. having
had : hard fight in the Cabinet and being anx-
fous to avoid Radical desertions in the Commons
accomplished the importance Of the German
methods Of construction. The leader of the OPP
-osition with more zeal for party advantage
than devotion TO national interest, raised Ques-
-ion q confidence and set the country asos
with political excitement For ten DAYS there
have been recriminations. shrieks from panic
r7onRers excited demands for the purchase OF
Dreadnoughts under construction for foreign
,,,-a-s and der1oralizng confessions that Brit
-, SUPREMACY at sea is doomed already ano
that the country in the course Of three years
will ne exposed TO invasion Even mentors Ike
the influential Daily Mall" make matters worse
while rebuking the panic mongers' TOT 'ieS
draw 2 close parallel between the present cIIsis
in AneIo-Cierrnan relations and the eve OF Ihe
Franco-C1erman war, when Prussia was siiell'-S
working and arrning and France was e1penolhB
her energies in frivolous talk insane optimism
and wild hysteria-
what has been the first effect Of the exces-
=. o-,;.at,i1f,,- the unreasonable distrust OF
81 .x-i-,jDg navy and the morbid, unbalanced
dread az foreign supremacy, which have Oeeh
.xbiri,a6 here with so little self-restralnt! A
concen+ration Of German opinion in faNor VI
the Emperor's naval policy The fac'ioh7 III
80. t,aiobetap have been massed into single,
Homogeneous party committed TO the support OF
The new navy which is causing so much con
s-arnatiop and dismay in England F1nahclal
.,,ry,liss are granted without debate or reroh-
STRANGE The German Admiralty has the legls-
lar. and the country behind IT, and national
Interest in the naval policy is powerfully s'liiu-
lated The English panic mongers nave resIoleu
tho German Fmperor's prestige In ms own O0
- i,,e,ifed expenditures on a large scale
Cor the new navy. Foreign rivalry IN sea PoMei
-. 80, shown 10 be remarkably effective The
49, 80 barely begun to build battleships
or5 arnored cruisers Of the most forn1oaole
- md II Is assumed by credulous Enghsh
- and politicians that the kingdom is IN
- airee+ reriI and will remain so until there
&C ,uice as many ships and guns under the
y--ion lack as the rival navy can command
There is everything in the situation 10 ilIlaIhe
German pride and TO encourage operations on d
,,u.- scale for the creation Of navy. The
,,oe,Iv and ruinous game of national armalhen'S
,.cor,es distinctly more provocative ana fasci-
-, ,-ben England is thrown prematurely
;r-o so irrational a panic
The GOODNESS and self-possessioh OF the yer
mans as reflected by the action OF the helchstae'
s- 1,l,eIv 10 be followed by return oil reason III
England. There are already unmlstaKaoie sishs
Of reaction against partisan folly and mysteries,
lint