Los Angeles herald., 1909-12-11
GERMAN MILITARISM

i terested" in the German army
maneuvers. To the egotistical
Hohenzollern tho army represents Ger
many When he thinks of Germany he
secs an army on the march. When he
thinks of a foreign nation he wonders
whether his army could without diff
Guilty swarm across its borders. When
he talks of the strength of a nation he
means its fighting strength. Is it any
wonder thousands upon thousands of
Germans, disgustcd with the miltar-
ism which is depressing the Father
land, have come to America 10 form
sturdy and dependable part Of the
population of the republic?
In recent years German art and lit
erature have suffered from militarism,
while the scientific research for which
the Teutonic mind has a genius greater
than is possessed by any other nation
al mentality has all been turned in the
direction Of seeking out shllful meth
DDS Of destroying life and property
To students Of the diplomacy Of the
day. nothing can exceed for Macchla-
vellianism the rare skill with which
the Emperor William has managed to
sow discord between two great nations,
closer by consanguinlty than any other
two nations OF Europe, and to substi-
| tute hatred and suspicion between the
people of the German and the British
empires for the love, sympathy. trust
and mutual encouragement that for
] oh Il aVi
! body ever stop to think why this feel
! ing of distrust between Briton and Ger
man was created-for created it was,
deliberately and malice prepense?
Alas for poor human nature. No
| greater or more patriotic" cause than
| the personal ambition and overWeen-
/ ing vanity of Emperor William began
! the whole wretched business. First
he desired the British people to treat
him as an heir to the British crown.
Then, as an heir he took it upon him
self to lecture his British "quasi-sub-
jects' for their anti-European attitude
during the Spanish-Amcrican war. The
feeling of too much Wilhelm at that
time crossed the big pond to America,
and affected our naval and military
service. Captain Coghlan crystallizod
the sentiment Of the service and won
public applause and official rebuke by
singing "Hoch der Kaiser!" After hav-
ine taken an ella borate but convincing
method of discovering, by means Of an
obiect-lesson he provoked, that if the
American wars did interfere with tho
peace of Europe the British intended
to make common cause with the
Americans, Wilhelm's contempt for
British offcialdom and his patronizing
attitude toward the people Of the coun-
try that had supported His grandmother
for sixty years and was now putting
up for" his uncle and a huge horde of
his relatives. was replaced with hatred.
He fell out with" Uncle Ed, whose
remarks, uttered in private, were not
Of a soothing or peacemaking nature.
and it was to trim Uncle Ed and morti-
fy him the continental heir to Britain's
throne advocated the German naval
program. But in all the epithetlng and
hating the plains Briton and toiling
German took neither part nor interest
until comparatively recently when the
unpracedentedly keen economic COM
petition Of German workmen with Brit
ish in the markets Of the world gave
opportunity for an appeal to popular
prejudice. Soon the German people
and the British, natural allies and
blood relatives, will hate each other,
mainly because Wilhelm was "chesty,"
and Uncle Ed called him a dachshund
or something of that kind.
What fools these monarch ridden
mortals be!