The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1914-08-20
GERMAN HOPES AND PLANS.

of news that has thus far penetrated
the network Of censors IL the state
mont that Germany has seized Rus
sian funds to tho amount OF $25.ooo.-
900 deposited in the banks Of Berlin
Just what this statement may por-
tend Is explained by Professor Roland
@. Usher, the famous authority on IN
ternational politics. in his recent book
PAN Germanism," a forecast and ex-
PLANTATION Of the present war.
Germany. he explains. has been able
to carry forward her amazing eco
nomic development by borrowing huge
sums from tho very nations with
which she ia now at war. She freely
admits the great advantage to her
natural enemies Of this arrangement,
whereby they exact from her as inter-
est a yearly tribute Of millions. so long
as peace prevails. but claim that
those financial factors, which seem to
be weaknesses in time OF peace. would
be in case of war a tower of strength.
Germany is almost, If not quite, self
supporting, and. with the trade be-
tween herself and other European
nations overland in time OF war. she
could become entirely self-sufhctng.
Nor is she dependent upon her i'm
ports for the raw materials to keep
her factories busy or to maintain her
army and navy. Whatever the bal
ance may be upon the books of the
world, she is actually rich, actually
richer than England or France. So
long az her army is unbeaten. no one
can take away from her her factories,
mines, and fields. Whoever may own
them on paper, she owns them In
reality and will continue to own them
sc l.ng as she is strong enough to
keep them. Surprising now that she
should repudiate the whole debt which
she owes other nations. should seize
the capital cut of which her economic
was created, what then?
Would she not actually possess her
Could she ever be compelled to pay
for 1t by anything short of actual
conquest, and is there in the world
any nation strong enough to subdue
her upon her own soil? Would not
such an economic blow destroy her
enemies with greater certainty than
any conquest by sea or land? In
deed, has she not everything to gain
from war and nothing to lose? So
long as peace prevails and she con-
tinues to recognize the validity Of
ity, she must continue to pay huge
sums, must continue yearly to part
with actual wealth in goods until the
debt is paid. The moment war breaks
out, she need pay nothing. II she is
defeated, she will merely be compelled
to pay what she was already obligated
to pay. If victorious, she need never
pay interest or principal. Would that
not be a stake many times worth play
ing for compared to a war indemnity
of any size whatever, and, when such
a manoeuvre might also not improb-
ably compass the control of the
worlds commerce, what German
would doubt that the chances of war
are better than those OF peace?
She will get the cash with which to
begin the war by borrowing from her
enemies, and she will this time either
the money in the banks
before war is declared. or she will
make war too quickly to permit any
repetition of the manoeuvre executed
by the London and Paris bankers in
the summer Of 1911. She cares very
little who claims title to that money,
so long as she has it, so long as they
can take it from her only by force.
She is conscious that German securi-
ties will everywhere fall in the for
eign stock exchanges when war ac-
tually begins; she ais knows that
English and French stocks will tum-
BILE likewise, and, she believes that
when the reaction Of economic forces
is complete, the destruction of values
in England and France will be too
great to make the loss of value in her
own securities Of any Significance.
Besides, who own her securities :?
Who, therefore, will bear the fall in
value? Her securities are only paper.
The factories and fields they actually
represent are not changed in value by
operations on the stock market The
foreign investor will lose money and
will bear the only ostensible losses
and will thus be dealt an additional
blow. Germany. in other words. can
fight her enemies with their own
money, and may obtain not only her
industries for nothing. but her army
and navy and the whole cost of the
war as well. The foreigner may even
provide her with the money necessary
to begin the war"
OCEAN TO FERTILIZE LAND.
Studenta of economics have reneaf-
edly warned that some day the fertil-
ity of the earth will be exhausted and
the human race perish for lack OF
food. Attention is being given by con-
structive thinkers, however, to the