Arizona republican., 1910-07-01
Why Germany Objects.

OpAASANSo III Us NlOSlilS iAOul passed the bill authorizing the ap- pointment of a commission for the purpose of promoting the cause of international peace. It seems to be taken for granted that former Presi- dent Roosevelt will be at the head of the commission. The law provides that the commission Is ito consider the eXpediency of utilizing existing international agencies for the pur- pose of limiting the armaments of the nations of the world by interna- tional agreement and of constituting the combined navies of the world an international force for the preserva- ton of universal peace and to con- sider and report upon any other means to diminish the expenditures of government for military purposes and to lessen the probabilities Of war"
 This ambitious program, which, as we have observed before, will open an unlimited field for MT. Roosevelts talents, will not succeed unless Ger brought into agreement concerning the limitation of their respective na- val armament and a timely article in Scribner's Magazine for July by Mir. Elmer Roberts explains why such an agreement is improbable
 The prevailing understanding in the United States is that Germany alone stands in the way-that Great Britain is willing to enter into an agreement with Germany and the other powers for a limitation of naval construction-and that Germany's stubborn refusal to entertain any proposal looking to an agreement is unreasonable. MT. Roberts makes 1t clear that Germany considers that she has ample reason for maintaining her position. In a word, it is because Great Britain, in all her suggestions of limitation has made it a requisite that her right to maintain a navy double the size of any other navy must be conceded; and because Ger i many believes that she can only | avoid humiliation at the hands of Great Britain by pursuing the naval | policy that the kaiser and his ad- | visers have adopted.
 This belief is the outgrowth of the | developments which followed the | kaiser's famous telegram to Presi- | dent Kruger. congratulating him 1 upon the Boer success in repelling the Jameson raid: T express to you my sincere congratulations that. | without appealing to the help of friendly powers. you and your people have succeeded in repelling with your own forces the armed bands which have broken into your coun- try, and in maintaining the inde- pendence of your country against for eign aggression" The publication of this telegram, January 3, 1897. brought Germany and England to the verge of war The British fleet was hurriedly placed on a war footing. and only the protests of friendship and the conciliatory tone of the Ger man government prevented war. The kaiser and his advisers felt, accord ing to MT Roberts, that Germany was unnecessarily humiliated by Great Britain in that incident and that British statesmen and the Brit ish press would not have dared to take the truculent attitude they did, if Germany had been in a position to defend herself on the sea. At that time Germany had no navy worth British consideration. The idea of a great German navy, which had long been the subject of academic dis cussion. from that moment took de- finite form. The extraordinary de- velopment of Germany's sea power since that date has astonished the world. Under the circumstances as related by MT. Roberts, it is not II strange that the toast to "The Day II (the day on which the German navy III shall meet Great Britains flee) has become the secret but popular toast ! of all German naval officers. Nor is German inclination to limit naval de II velopment lessened in any way by II the constant talk in England of an Anglo German war. Still less is If