Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-08-25
KAISER AND PEACE
Germany Will Not Dispute
British Naval Supremacy.
ENGLAND TOO GRoUcHY
Fatherland's Expanding Foreign
Commerce Needs More Warships
for Its Protection.

Germany is not plotting or building
ships against England. She will not dis
pute British supremacy upon the sea.
England is too touchy and sensitive up
on this subject, says Mr.. Arthur Won
Gwinner in the Nord und Sud (Berlinl.
This writer is the Pierpont Morgan of
Germany, being director of the Deutsche
Bank and president of the much-mooted
Bagdad railroad. his countrys great
highway of oriental commerce. He says
that as Germany is no longer merely a
farming country, it's foreign commerce
requires a strong navy to protect it. Yet:
English public opinion has long been
persuaded that the building of Germany s
feet has it's only object in a meditated
attack upon England. That sea suprema-
CIV is for Great Britain a life-and-death
and appreciated in Germany as it is in
England How is it that public opinion
on the other side of the North sea can
not be. convinced that Germany. too. con-
siders a strong fleet matter of vital
Importance?
so long as the German empire was
merely an agricultural state it could do
without fleet. but since 1t has become
industrial it requires, just as the British
empire does, a navy for the protection
Protection Of Colonies.
The able leader Of the national liberal
party in the reichstag. a party which is
far from being Chauvinistic in its views.
speaks much in the same way in an arti-
Gle he contributed to the same review.
In this powerful military and political
organ Mr.. Bassermann writes:
''Our naval program Is not dictated by
a desire to equal that of England. 1t is
laid down on account of the belief that as
colonial possessions expand, so the need
for the adequate protection OF Germany
and her colonies becomes greater. AS
soon as both peoples realize that Ger
many has no wish to encroach upon Eng
lands supremacy at sea, and that Ger
man fleet of such size and strength as is
demanded for the safety of German
power and economic interests is not evil
dence Of our hostile intention against
England then we may find ground for
an understanding which 1t appears to me
is drawing nearer every day.
The Mercantile Navy.
The we'll known Prof Schiemann, an
eminent editor and writer on political and
economic sub. ects, thus joins in the
chorus of pacific protest. writing in the
Nord und Sud as follows:
Germany. next to England. has the
largest mercantile navy in the world.
Our ships pillow every sea; there is no
coast which they do not touch; no land
exists in which there are no Germans
Now protection. as is self-evident. must
be provided for German commerce, Ger
man ships and German people. l be-
lieye-and I wish the English people to
understand it-that this protection can
not be provided without strong navy.
How very different would be the state Of
things throughout the world IL England
and Germany could only reach out
hands to each other and would exercise
forever the evil specter Of mistrust
which stand in the way of normal de-
velopment.
Il am thoroughly convinced that there
of a political or intellectual character
which would do more for the good of the
world than that Of England and Ger
many