The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-05-22
Letters rom
the People

Editor Advertiser:-In this mornings |
issue, speaking of what you call the
German bogy" in England, you say
"not a single valid reason why Ger |
many should attack England has been
advanced. 4" While it would be absurd
to think that any country, Germany
not excepted, would attack Great Brit
ain unless fair chance of success pre-
sented itself, it must nevertheless be
admitted that economic reasons so pow
erfully and persistently sway mankind
that men, seeing their chance as they
think, don't stop to consider whether
reasons for or against their actions are
valid. 1t is generally enough to con-
slider whether they have good fighting
chance to get what they want, and the
conclusions to which different men ar
rive is much a matter Of temperament.
Nelson's temperament (and his blind
eye!) saved the British from defeat at
Copenhagen. But, Mr.. Editor leaving
| the question of the absolute validity of
the reasons why Germany should at
| tack Great Britain, the fact is apparent
! in both countries and in the greater
| Britain beyond the seas that there is a
feeling clash will come. You, sir,
| say "the whole trouble is one-sided and
seems to have been caused by night
mare. F" Such view being correct, then
there must have commenced in truth
and indeed that decadence of the Butt
ish that was so commonly talked and
written of in this country sixty years
agoi But If straws show which way
| the wind blows there are not wanting
few that seem to Indicate the British
hold their own fairly well in those mat
tiers the world looks upon as indications
of national prosperity and strength
The statistics of the world s commerce
you recently permitted me to allude
to IN your columns, pointed to no evil
! dence of decline on Britain S grip of a
large share of the trade the nations
compete for. 1t is this large share of
the lion and its cubs in the said com
merce of the world that causes the
strain between Germany and England;
| it is not a personal or racial question
| between the two peoples, but an eco
nomic one, and that is causing men to
say "delenda est Carthago.' A coup
de grace at the supremacy of British
naval power would settle the matter
for good and aye. 1t is not, sir, as you
suggest, a onesided thought, for while
the instinct of self preservation is
strong and patent in the British and
should compel even more sober con-
sideration than it does others than
themselves see the dangerous possibiii-
ties latent in a question where self
interest and commercial ambition must
and do hold and play SO dominant a
part, impressing themselves upon the
consciousness of nations.
Just twelve months ago the Empe-
ror, on the completion OF the twentieth
year of his reign, spoke as follows:
1T looks as if they were trying to
encircle US and bring us to bay. The
German never fought better than when
he had to defend himself on all sides.
Let them all come. We are readyi''
Emil Reich doctor Juris). author of
Foundations of Modern Europe,
Success Among Nations Imperial
} |
the preface to work on this very
question of the dangers confronting
Great Britain by the rapidly develop
ing commercial ambition and naval
power of Germany, he says: L am
conscious of no bias against the Ger
mans, whose language, people am
whole mentality are quite familiar t.
ME. The antagonism between Germany
and Great Britain is one Independent
of any personal like or dislike. 1t i:
one of those conflicts that neither pri
! vate men nor statesmen can neutral
ize In Germany alone,' further say.
: | this author, is there ruler, young
. strong and well informed and pursu
. ing a definite, well-founded and well
: organized international policy. T
speak of such a ruler as most Briton
do, is nothing short of absurd.
His well-known utterance, to the eff
feet that the future of the German
lies on the water, is the keynote
all his policy. Speaking of the intens
desire of Germany for transmarin
expansion, the author quoted adds
this means sea power; in fact, su
premacy on the sea. This supremacy
! again. means victorious war wit
:. Great Britain This, then, is the rea
the true, the only objective of Gel
. man world-policy.' Unless one be
lieves in the absolute and uncond
tional invincibility of the British fee
as q sort of law of nature, one is nc
n entitled to assume that the Germa
fleet can not, even in 1912, defeat
The whole of German polio
IS is directed to one single object:
keep the former great powers as bloot
NJ less as possible, to anaemiate' withol
unduly exasperating them. This don
there remains for the Germans OF
single great duel, that with Gre;
Britain. This, they hope, they will
able to manage. The pea
| societies of Britain venture to say al
si publicly to state that Germany do
I'M not dream of attacking England. Al
such criminal drivel is said in face
the fact that the Beers, with only 81
600 men, against the 100000 of t
= Germans. did dare to attack Britt
n possessions a few years ago.
y But the invasion of England is me
81 incident in the Germans plan. On
they defeat the British Navy in t
a North Sea; once they hold this Sc
u as the Dutch repeatedly. and for To-