The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-09-08
EDITOR HARDEN |S DOCTOR|NG GERMAN Empire Is Like Hawkers
 and Street Vendors IS TOO MUCH TALKING Germany Feels She Is Playing Sec ond Fiddle" and Kaiser Is Being
 Strongly Denounced-Noth-
 ing to Say on Canal Bill
IS TOO MUCH TALKING

l With merciless coolneSS he makes his ! diagnosis of the condition of the em-
 pire during the quarter century Will l liam Il has been its ruler He gives an intelligent and on the whole truth | full picture of the origin and character
 of the disease. It is just because Har-
 den is so mercilessly sincere and be-
 cause he stands outside of all parties l that one is able to learn more from | his articles than from scores of pollti- cal editorials in the German party press, conservative, radical or socialistc. And Harden's connections in the political,
 military and financial world are so many and varied that he nearly always
 throws new light upon a subject when he sharpens his critical pen and goes
 to war against the men who are to blame for the symptoms of political disease. Harden is a lonesome man, and
 months nay years, may pass when
 you never see him mentioned in the press, which hates him for his biting satires, but his articles always have their great importance for it is a well
 known fact that Hardens statements
 emanate from and are listened to in the highest circles.
 give part of his diagnosis: The
 sober, thrifty, honest German people has acquired a bad reputation because it
 carries on it's imperial business after
 the manner of hawkers and street ven- dors Not quite unjustly. Sudden at- tacks, theatrical coups and empty flit- ter We have preferred to quiet prepara- tions to vigorous actions, from Ger many is often heard incessant babbling. lbut hardly ever the ring of many deeds IxII. worked into an internal din and then
 our neighbors were immediately after
 wards soothed by mellow flute tones.
 We crave really nothing, we are
 the most peaceful people in the world. And when We solemnly assert this on
 every side is heard the question why We make such racket then and force
 Europe's aged body to carry crushing
 armor.
 What dlsguises Itself as public opln-
 ion is not of a nature to win friends
 for us but simply to inspire in the Ger man heart the mistaken idea that all other states are signing in mortal dan ger while he alone is sitting in the bright sunshine.
 He does not believe it. The dis satisfaction, even in the army, whose leaders seek oblivion in constant drill | ing, is greater than even the great num- Der of red members of the reichstag | 110) has made suspect The cold parvenue pride of the moulders of our | opinions, and their foolish arrogance ruin our reputation abroad more and more from month to month. The howl | ing at the mote in our neighbours eye does not remove the beam from our own English bluff, French swindles, Italian piracy and lying, Yankee stealth this is what you are always hearing about. Because the French in Morocco like every other great colonizing nation, must fight hard for every inch of new soil, the most important politically and economically of all countries near Eu- rope. Because their navy Is still suf- fering under the after effect of a reck- less Jaeobine rule, we ironically praise the heroism of the prime minister that he dared to go to Russia on the cruiser Condo.
 No day passes without a coarse useless challenge of foreign spirit and manners.
 'Our behavior is bad, even where it is ruled by the authorities. To en- deavor to create business disturbances where the attempt will never be suc- cessful, to SOW suspicion where the seed will never bring any harvest. must all ways remain stupid and pitiable What good does it do to teach the French every week that they have noth- ing to hope for from the Neva or the Thames, that the Russians have robbed ] them and the British selected them as scapegoats?
 An open eye immediately dscerns that alliance and entente has quickly raised the republic, which stood alone until 1890, | to the pleasant position of a great power whose friendship is courted. that the | millions lent to Russia are returning fat ! interests, and that the extension and | safeguarding of the North African em- | pire of Nouvelle France is due to Eng | lands friendship. Are we to behave as if we were more intimate with Russia
 than France Is. and that everything that | Sazonoff has given to France is as worth | less as cake rolled In paint. "Baltysky port. Yes, children, a Kai- l ser has far more influence with the Cos | sudar than any Faure or Poincare Peter 1 hof will never take sides against us This is how we boast and the result of | this bad habit Is that the ties are
 strengthened which our dull penknife would cut asunder.
 Our behavior Is bad. At home and abroad. We seem to invade circles that | are hostile to us. but at the same time
 we scare away the friends who ought to | have confidence in us, by our excessive | demands navy) and by our flirting with people (Russians and Turks) who are their | enemies.
 Was it necessary to force Austria
 Hungary to great naval expenses, which the protection of their coast line or shipping does not call for and in the list of the men of war which
 will soon be ready for a fight with England to include and boast of the dreadnaughts built in Hapsburg ship yards? Was this not rather the best means to make Poles, Magyars Czechs ! and even German Austrians tired of an alliance which involves the monrach into complications without offering any 1 advantages. The Russophile Count | Berchtold knows how he may insure
 himself more cheaply. He knows why
 he has emphasized time and again
 since the crisis came in Turkey that
 Austria will fight only to safeguard | her own interests. Before Asquith pro
 nounced the idea absurd that England
 in the Mediterranean would have to | fight Italians and Austrians and thus frightened the weight of the triple al- liance with many kilos, we ourselves
 ought to have stated that we would
 never think of relying on Austria in
 case of an AngloGerman war.
 l We do not cause the natural mag
 nets of our military and economical power to attract kindred splinters, that Poles, Alsacfans and Danes take root
 in German soil and learn to feel happy | that they belong to such a mighty power, that love of Prussia grows in
 southern Germany. that other German
 people long for our sheltering protec-
 tion Dutch and Scandinavian will, as
 long as their choice is free, choose Eng land.
 Can any better proof be found of how much we hurt our own interests
 by our gestures, words and deeds?"