El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-07-07

ke - ERMANY is deliberately pre-
n pairing to destroy the British
empire" That sentence is
| found in the first paragraph of the
| most widely circulated campaign dOcu-
ment used in the British general cleo
ton last January. The document was
J not circulated by Radicals, nor by ire
sponsible alarmists. 1t was sent out by
, the leaders of the Conservative party
, of the united kingdom. The German war
| scare was used by the Tories as an eX-
cuse to damn the Liberal government
| policy, and to a grea; extent its agi-
| tatiOn is TO be charged to arrant pO-
| litical demOgogs. But the COnser-
vatives could not have used the German
war scare unless there mad been such a
/ thing.
| In sober truth it must be said that
| the German menace is very real
/ thing in the British mind. The SOL
| emn declaration of the government
! with respect TO the acceleration of the
! German naval program the heated
rhetoric of Robert Bintchford in de-
| nouncing German motives and plans,
| the frigid logic of Mr.. Balfour's in
| dictment of the inadequate naval pol
icy of the government. the naval pan
| ic which set the selI-gOverning col
onies wild with excitement-all of these
| things proceeded from a real cause
A worked-up agitation might have
done one of these things. or even two,
but it could not have done them ALL
England may be mistaken. yet
England, from Lands End TO John
O'Groats, is convinced that Germany
is preparing to challenge the British
championship of the sea. 1t be-
Ieves that Germany VIII make the pre-
text for war when it is ready to
strike. There is no confidence in
diplomatic amenities.
Germans Build Sims.
The fact that the German shipyards
are constructing battleships of the
Dreadnought and super-Dreadnough
clesses with a rapidity not to be ex-
ceeded even in England; the fact that
the great Krupp works at Essen are
manufacturing huge guns at rate
never before attained in any country;
the fact that the acceleration of the
German naval program was for a long
time successfully guarded secret;
the fact that the German expenditures
on the navy are being pushed forward
despite threatened revolt against
taxation; the fact that German ambi-
tions for the world dominion crop out
in every German utterance; these things
are the things that count
England is drifting, unintentionalIy
perhaps, even half unconsciously, into
a war with the most powerful military
state the world has yet seen. Against
the superbly disciplined and perfect
ly equipped German army Of four mil
lion well fed and prosperous sons of
the Fatherland, England has to op-
pose regular army in the British Isles
OF less than 10000 men. To aid this
army England may summon the terri
torials and militia of the home country.
making 100000 partially drilled men,
about like the militia of New York
and Pennsylvania.
Engiand's Hope On Navy.
The disparity in lane strength is so |
great that Britain stakes its whole |
hope, for the present. on its navy. To-
day that navy is more than twice as
strong as the German navy, ship for ship /
and man for man. But this great adj
vantage to England may exist only up |
on paper. A few years ago the Brit /
ish naval authorities wrought change !
In naval history and possible disaster /
Tor British supremacy by the construc- |
ton OF the Dreadnoughi. This was |
a ship so pow erful, on account of it's /
armament of all big guns of long range,
that every other battleshIp at once be-
came practically obsolete
Immediately the maritime nations he
gan a race for building Dreadnoughts,
a race ruinous TO the taxpayers and |.
bankruptcy to nations. If
the old style battleships had remained
the highest standard, it would have
been almost impossible for Germany
to have caught up with England in nav
al strength in a quarter of a century
But when naval authorities regard only
Dreadnoughts in appraising the eff
fectiveness Of fleets. the difference IS
marked.
Germany started almost as soon as
England, and, greatly TO the surprise
of Englishmen, the Germans have !
showed that they can turn out the ,
great ships as rapidly as can be done
n British shipyards. This. in itself. is
L great blow to the boosted British
maritime SUPREMACY.
Secret Operations Cause Panic.
When Britain awakened to the re-
llization that Germany would have by
1913, as many Dreadnoughts as En-
gland, sensation ensued which was
appropriately termed a panic. 1t is a
title more than a year since the Pre-
nier. Mr.. Asquith, formally told the
parliament and the people that the
German naval program had been qui- {
lily advanced and that it would be {
lecessary to take extraordinary steps
o meet the situation. The conserva-