Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-07-07
Germany is deliberately preparing to

Germany Is deliberately preparing to
DESTROY the British empire That sem
tence Is found in the first paragraph Of
the most widely circulated campaign doc
ument used in the British general cleo
ton last January. The document was
not circulated by radicals, nor by ire
sponsible alarmsts 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
excuse to damn the liberal government
policy, and to a great extent its agita-
tion'is to be charged to arrant political
demagogues. But the conservatives could
not have used the German war scare
unless there had been such a thing.
In sober truth. it must he said that the
German menace is a very real thing In
the British mind The solemn declara-
ton of the government with respect TO
the acceleration of the German naval
program, the heated rhetoric of Robert
Blatchford in denouncing German motives
and plans. the fTigid logic or Mr. BAL
four's indictment of the inadequate naval
policy of the government, the naval panic
which set the self-governng colonies wild
with excitement-all of these things pro-
ceeded from a real cause. worked-up
agitation might have done one OF these
Things or even two, but Ii could not
have done them all. England may be
mistaken, yet England. from Lands End
to John OGroats. is convinced that Ger
many is preparing to challenge the Brit
ish championship of the seas. 1t believes
that Germany will make the pretext for
war when it is ready to strike. There
is no confidence in diplomatic amenities.
-
The fact that the German shipyards
are constructing battleships of the Dread
nought and super
Facts of Ger. DreadnOught classes.
man Activity. be 't exceeded even in
England: the fact that the great Krupp
works at Essen are manufacturing huge
guns at a rate never before attained in any
country: the fact that the acceleration OF
the German naval program was for
long time a successfully guarded secret;
the fact that German expenditures on
the navy are being pushed forward, de-
spite threatened revolt against taxation;
the fact that German ambitions for world
dominion crop out in every German ut
terance: these are the things that count
England is drifting, unintentlonally per-
haps, even half unconsciously, into
war with the most powerful military
state the world has yet seen. Aga1nSt
the superbly disciplined and perfectly
equipped German army of four million
we'll fed and prosperous sons of the
fatherland England has to oppose a
regular army in the British Isles of less
than 10000 men. To aid this army Eng
land may summon the territorials and
militia of the home country, making
800, 600 partially drilled men. about like
the militia of New York and Pennsyi-
vania.
The disparity in land strength is SO
great that Britain stakes its whole hope,
for the present, on its navy. Today that
navy is more than twice as strong as
the German navy, ship for ship and man
for man. But this great advantage to
England may exist only upon paper A
few years ago the British naval authOri-
ties wrought change in naval history
and possible disaster for British supren-
acy by the construction of the Dread
nought. This was ship so powerful, on
account Of its armament of all big guns
Of long range, that every other Dattie-
ship at once became practically obso-
lete.
Immediately the maritime nations be-
gan a race for building dreadnoughts,
race ruinous to the taxpayers and threat
ening bankruptcy to nations. If the old
style battleships had remained the high
est standard, Ii would have been almost
impossible for Germany to have caught
up with England in naval strength In
quarter of century. But when naval
authorities regard only dreadnOughts in
appraisiRg the effectiveness of fleets, the
difference is marked. Germany started
almost as soon as England. and. greatly
to the surprise of Englishmen. the Ger
mans have shown that they can turn
out the great ships as rapidly as can be
done in British shipyards. This. in itself.
il q great blow TO the boosted British
maritime supremacy.
When Britain awakened to the realiza-
ton that Germany would have by 1913
as many dreadnoughts as
Britain's SlowEngland. a sensation en-
sued which was appro-
AWAKENING priately termed a panic
II is q little more than a year since the
premier, Mr.. Asquith. formally told the
parliament and the people that the Ger
man naval program had been quietly adj
vanced, and that it would be necessary
to take extraordinary steps to meet the
situation. The conservative opposition, led
by Mr. Balfour, clamored for measures