The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-09-15
TURKEY NOW IN HER DEATH STRUGGLES All Europe Awaiting Share
 of Spells ENGLAND IS STUPID" German Press Says England and France Should Ally With Ger many-Bolatine Is Remark
 able Man of Albania
ENGLAND IS STUPID'

The powers of Europe are watching what must necessarily be considered to be the death struggles of an em- pire which more than 200 years ago received the name of "the sick man of Europe, a name which has chung to turkey ever since. Like eager reia- lives waiting to see what share they are to receive from the doomed pa- tient's estate, they all look forward to the supreme moment when life must depart, and if one of them occasion ally recommends some drastic remedy to prolong life, as if by artificial in- halation of oxygen, such proposal is l not made of love of the dying patient, but with the secret hope of being able 1 to gain some advantage during the re- | spite gained or of preventing the oth CTS from getting too much. Count Berchtold's much discussed proposal is decidedly of this kind; no love of Turkey, struggling toward freedom, civilization and continued national in l dependence, has had any part in the conception of this apparently noble ! idea.
 Russia. it Is rumored, is about to get free passage through the Dardanelles, and Austria, of course, must see that | she gets something too, not being sat- 1 isfed with the successfully accom- plished annexation of Bosina and Her zegovina. The time the Austrian states | man has chosen is exceedingly propi- | tious and the form in which the pro- posal has been made so clever that no power could very we'll refuse to attend a conference for the purpose of ex- changing views. purpose which is undoubtedly but the very thin edge of a very broad wedge. No European power is inclined toward war; the very idea is abhorred. and the conference
 may result in the finding of some solu- ton that may satisfy all.
 In Germany the cleverness of Count Berchtold is admired, but 1t Is the kind of admiration one may feel of the beautiful colorings and physical per lection of a venomous reptile that may bury its poisonous fangs in your flesh the next moment. Austria is Germany's
 ally, but Germany has not been con- suited; once more her statesmen have
 been left in the luch. powerless to act, nay even to protest. The bitter pill
 must be swallowed. Most papers are silent. vituperations of the treacher-
 ous ally are in vain, though one paper
 aptly characterizes the present posi-
 ton as "Berchtold against Kidderlen,
 Austria against Germany, Francis Jo- sep against William IL"
 Count Berchtolds proposal. if it leads to
 any positive result will practically end the life of the sick man of Europe. Turkey will disappear from the map of Europe and from the ashes of the Ottoman em- pire will arise number of more or less free and independent nations. with hearts filled with gratitude towards Austria that helped them to freedom, but Germany will be nowhere, gone will be her position In the near east, to maintain which she has so long posed as the friend of Turkey at considerable cost and sacrifice to herself.
 Berchtold's scheme has driven the dag
 ger into the heart of Germany in the
 near east"
 While the press as whole is silent in
 regard to Austria it takes revenge for
 the silence imposed upon it from Yilems-
 strasse by denouncing what 1t calls 'the
 stupidity of England" How stupid these
 English statesmen must be, that they keee on smuggling closer to Russia and France.
 Of what advantage can 1t possibly be to
 England that Russia pushes forward her
 cossacks in Persia, strengthening her grip
 every day and at the same time fortifos
 her position in China with the aid of
 Japan? Would 1t not be far wiser of
 England to come into the open arms of Germany and put an end 10 Russia's march towards the frontier of India? And
 France? Is not France equally short shighted? Why should France nelp Rur- sia to gain admittance to the Mediter- ranean for her Black Sea fleet? If France would only give up her national hatred of Germany, her desire for revenge. what enormous advantages couldn't she gain by cooperation with the German empire? Germany, England and France standing shoulder to shoulder might rule the world But can there be the slightest doubt as to who will take all the profit when Russia has finger in the pie?
 Now it Is not all nonsense what Berlin l journalists are writing. There is consid- | erable truth in their statements when | they pronounce 1t the limit of statesman- like shortsightedness that the English | journalist, pr. Morrison, has let himself | be engaged as the political advisor of the | Chinese government. England dreads to | see her world empire endangered by Ger man aggressiveness, but she seems abso- | lutely blind and deaf In regard to the l evolution in China, and how much greater Is not the danger which threatens Eng lands world empire from Chinas count | less millions and from the enormous wealth of this old empire than German competition in industry, commerce and shipping. Against the German peri- England is hysterical with nervous ac- tivity. but in China she gives everything promises of friendship, assistance, advice and money.
 Surely the political evolution in China is one of the most interesting signs of the times. Everyone who knows anything about conditions in China, its people and resources, are
 unanimous In expressing that here lies a danger not only to Ensland's world
 empire, but a danger which may result
 in the downfall of the culture and
 civilization on Europe That the cul-
 ture, championed by the Japanese, is
 typically Asiatic. hostile to the white
 race, is something everyone knows.
 But Japan cannot rule the world. But
 what will happen when China comes
 into the game? And this China, still an infant, is assisted and nursed by an English adviser. England spends millions of pounds to keep ahead of the growing German navy She fights the
 lesser peril and forgets the greater. How the situation actually Is In
 China today is hard to say. The news
 coming from there is too contradictory,
 Soonor or later. however, order will
 arise from the chaos History has taught us that q nation which arises from a sleep of many centuries is sure to find the proper leaders. even if IL, like China now, at first has to borrow
 political advisers abroad
 England's neglect of the yellow
 peril Is difficult to understand, but
 no more so than her apparent faith in
 Russia. her other chief competitor in the struggle. It does not take much astuteness to discover the evident ad-
 vantages which semi -Asiatic Russia is
 reaping from the disturbances which
 Chinas transition from a barbaric to
 modern state carries with 1t also
 outside the frontiers of Asia, and whose commercial. industrial and economic re-
 suits will be felt in England more than