The Washington herald., 1911-12-23
GERNANY'S INTEREST
IN HUNGARYS FUTURE


From q German standpoint the attempt
of the "Magyars,' the ruling class IN
Hungary, to uphold their Asiatic Ian
guage as a reasonable and the most con-
yenient medium of speech. IS untenable,
because 1t would isolate them from the
rest of Europe and ALLEVIATE the sympathy
of the men of SCIENCE. The Turco-Fin-
nish speech of the Magyars, on the con-
trary, ought to be allowed to die out by
degrees. II Germany fuses more COM
pletely with Austria in regard to COM
mon policy of expansion, her direct rail-
way route to the near East must lie
through Hungary. and for complete unity
of purpose the Hungarian nation ought
| to subordinate its foreign policy to that
OF the Austrian and the German empires.
Hungary. as we know, is and always
was jealous of Trieste as rival sea-
port to Finne, yet all the coast coun-
tries of the northeast Adriatic, from the
Trieste Hinterland all the way to Dali
malta, Is not populated by Magyars, but
| by Slavs, and 1t irritates German opinion
| 10 think that the Magyars should over
ride the Kroats and Karthinians and
make use of their territory to bar the
way to a spread Of the German language
| and of GermaniZatIon in general
With the common object of checking
the expansion of Trieste into purely
! German port on the Mediterranean, Hun
| gary has powerful ally in Italy in
common policy, which, strange to relate,
| Is directed against her own ally and
confederate, Austria, and her own En-
peror-King. Yet the Hungarian obstacle
| in the path of the German "Drangnach
Osten" Cpush toward the easO for all
| that is not believed to be insuperable.
From time to time the Magyars are re-
minded that Pennsylvania Is partly Saxon
and partly Roumanian, but altogether
| very little Magyar; that to the East OF
| Pennsylvania there is Austrian Poland
that there is also RoumanIa, in which last
kingdom-though it always may nave
autonomy, at least to the same extent as
Bavaria under the present German rule
! (under the German dynasty King carol Is
a HohoenZOllern prince, though OF the
mediatized Cacholic branch) the con-
sequent inflow of German capital is be-
coming inclined more and more to con-
slider itself an integral part Of the future
Austro-German empire.
! The "Romany' (Roumanian detests
the Magyar, owing to the unfair treat
ment accorded so often by the Hungarian
government to the large Roumanian
population within the kingdom of Hun
gary And 'Roumania has absolutely no
leanings toward Russia or the Slavs in
general
| But in such a scheme of Germaniza-
ton, the concurrence of the Austrian
Poles would count for much, and to win
| these a different attitude must be as
sumed by Germany toward it's own Po-
lish citizens, those of Posen and East
Prussia. At any moment Russia, without
material loss. might take it into her head
to oppose the German advance and ideas
Ia German hegemony to the east OF
! Hungary by according virtual indepen-
| denCe-say home rule-to Russian Poland.
! a movement which, If taken within the
next few years would very considerably
/ damage the future OF the Austro-German
Empire. owing to the effect it would have
| on Galicia austrian Poland and Posen.
| Meantime, hampered by the fact that
| Trieste is Austrian and that Hungary
and the Balkan States lie between the
| German-speaking countries, Constantine
| pie, and the Black Sea, Germany real
/ ICES that any direct assumption of re-
| sponsibilities in regard to the political
| control of Asia Minor, Syria. and Meso-
potamia can only be undertaken by the
! consent and with the approval of Russia.
! Britain. and France: Russian opposition
has been largely allayed by the recog-
| milton of special Russian interests in
Persia.
German opinion is allowing the idea of
political interference in Asia Minor and
| MeSopotamia to fall into abeyance for
| the present but it is as strongly bent as
| ever on the fostering of German eco
nomic interests in the Turkish empire.
! Much of Asia Minor is marked out in
| German trade circles as a region in which
! the greater part of the cotton shall be
grown in future for German manufac-
lures. A feeling is growing in Germany
| that not only shall the manufacture of
cotton goods be an increasing German
| industry, but that German industries
| shall not be obliged to depend only on
| the United States and the British empire
| for their supplies of raw cotton. It is
doubtful whether German East Africa is
as suited to cotton cultivation as the less
equatorial regions of Nyassaland and
! Rhodesia, or British East Africa. The
same disadvantage applies to all Ger
man West Africa. and Southwest Africa
| IS too much lacking in rain for cotton
| cultivation.
For this and other raw products which
need a sub-tropical or warm tenn
perate region, Germany knows that she
must have a free hand for economic en-
terprise in the Turkish dominions, even
If not followed by political control To
deny her this by any action Of the other
powers would be to precipitate the ex-
plosion, for she feels that her commerce
must expand, both in the opening up OF
fresh markets for raw products and for
the sale Of German-manufactured goods.
Hence the German government would be
compelled to attack her weaker neighbors
on the west in order to secure for her
self future sphere of influence in the
world proportionate to her population
and her energies.
But If not pressed or irritated any
further, it is almost out of the question
for the next ten years at least, that such
struggle would be precipitated from
Berlin. Much more than the British navy
or the conjoined attack of the French
and Russian armies (the last regarded
as very problematicaD Germany would
suffer from her present poverty and from
the withdrawal of foreign capital.
Part of the German feeling at present
Is due TO the realization that the action Of
France, Britain, and Russia in respect to
the withdrawal of invested funds COM
PEELED her, far more than the danger of
their arguments, to render abortive the
sending of a German gunboat to
Agadir. The addition which has been