Los Angeles herald., 1910-11-06
TIeligoland: Germany's Gibraltar
TIWENTY years ago Germany and England n
an exchange of Zanzibar and Heligoland

an excbanoe of Zanzibar and Heligoland. Lord
= Salisbury thought he had done very well in
getting rid of the little island in the North Sea- AT
the time the kaiser laughed at. Heligoland was
shifting up bodily. Great scientists agreed that its
doom was certain and that it not structurally
strong enough to stand the strain of being fortified
But the German emperor further than the Brit
ish statesmen ''The island is destined to be a bull
wark toward the sea, he declared, to offer protec
tion to German fisheries, support for German war
ships strong place in the German Sea against every
enemy who may show himself there "
SO the kaiser began scheme of rebuilding the
little island Since 1890 he has practically recon
structed the island He has spent, on an average,
81 250000 year in providing Helgoland with granite
mattresses ON all Sides sixteen feet thick and eighty
Yards and half high. The numberless cracks and
fssures caused by each winter s frost in the higher
parts of the wasting cliffs he has filed up and bound
together with thousands of tons of ferro-concrete
Tirelessly by day and night, this work has been
going on for twenty years At the present day the
island is wholly incased with cemented belt OF
armor three miles in circumference, which has cost
$30,0000o0. Thus strengthened, the island has been
fortified at further cost of 81 100000, during the
last three years
Heligoland is only twentysx miles from the mouths
of the Elder the Elbe and the Weser, and it is de-
Tense for all three rivers and the kaiser has also for
tilted the chain of islands which lie to the north and
south of Heligoland This chain of forts has made it
possible for the kaiser transfer his naval base from
the Baltic to the open Under pretense OF erect
ing breakwaters to protect Heligoand from erosion,
he has spent 81 900 harbor construction on the
north and south sides of the isand in addition, the
east coast has roadstead with foryeght fathons of
water Here can be accommodated the entire German
feet which is thus brought 100 miles nearer England
The kaiser has spent the cost of five or six super
Dreadnoughts on Heligoland alone 1t is the key to
a maneuyering base hundred miles in length from
any point on which mosquito craft can dart between
the island fortresses. In naval circles it is agreed
that this long base doubles the fighting value of the
German feet The German Gibraltar has been
described as an advanced spearhead of menace to the
English coast It's magazines contain millions OF
rounds of every class of ammunition, well as mines,
torpedoes and submarines In addition, its large gar
rson is always fully provsoned to stand siege
Z Until this year, Heligoland remained the Mecca OF
lovesick swains the Gretna Green to which all Ger
man runaway couples fed by steamer yacht or lug
ger It's quaint old church has been the scene of
thousands of marriages without previous banns or
license Last year $50 couples availed themselves OF
the privilege of getting married there. Alas! there
will be no more of that in future. The kaiser has
put his foot down.
From the armored easements on the summit of the
island peep Krupp's finest and heaviest guns, which
can sweep the sea within radius of ten miles, All
the naves in the world would probably fail to subdue
Heligoand This is something to which English peo-
pie have at last awakened and they realize that
Germany has again outwitted them in war game