TaÌˆgliche Omaha tribuÌˆne. [volume] (Omaha, Nebr.) 1912-1926, 1914-12-21

" MAAN8 NAhtte
Russia. that Is 70 say, IL destitute OF
a harhor free from Zee az every sea.
son Of tho year. She rules a realm OF
Ereatcr contiguous ARIA than any nov
existing. fAr vasf territories are 70
her a prison, thinly peopled though
much Of her extent may be because
she IA destitute Of an open door look.
ing on the ocean,
OF oil the SlaY powers Russia TOO
is the most restless. Those hordes
which from age to age penetrate into
Europe under leaders like Genghis
Khan-Mongols, Tartars and Ha,rest
burst invariably from the bosom OF
what Is now Russia. She spreads
eastward or to the south. alternating
like a pendulum between these points
of the compass. Her spirit Is auto
cratic and she dare not allow her nil
lions to reflect upon that fact too ser.
iously. She has directed the minds Of
her subjects 70 industry, to commerce,
to~expansien. to the triumph OF the
slav ideal In the world. And she
never loses sight Of that open port on
the unfrozen sea.
The history Of Russia, as regards
the dream OF warm waters. has been
a series Of humiliations and defeats,
The most recent OF these. the struggle
with Japan, was due directly 10 Eng.
land. The mistress Of the seas allied
herself with the Asiatlc. Nor could
Russia come down TO warm water
through Persia. England again saw
10 that II was a repetition Of Musco-
.vite experience in the Black Sea.
The Powers who have made them.
selves at home In the Mediterranean
want 20 new competitor for suprem'
aoy there. II Russia but approach
the Dardanelies the Turk turns TO the
rest Of Europe. true 70 his ancient
habit Of playing one Power against
another. This Is the meaning Of the
Crimean war which Turkey, France
and England waged together against
the Gear some sixty years ago. Rus.
sia was checked again.
Turkey at the return Of peace was
seated on the Bosporus, a treaty OF
the familiar type f%orbidding warshipa
10 pass by Constantinople. In less
than a quarter of a century Russia
had turned the tables on Turkey. She
dictated the terms OF the treaty OF
San Stefano at the very doors Of Con
stantinople, thanks to the assistance
rendered by Rumania. The dream was
about to come true.
Europe stepped in at once.
Russia found herself baffled In the
hour OF her triumph by the congress
of Berlin. She had to wait thirty years
for another opening. Finding Austria
receptive. the Foreign Office in St
Petersburg am told they spell Il
Petrograd at present-inyited the For
eign Office In Vienna to revise the In
convenient arrangement relative te
the Dardanelles.
Austria was most eonciliatnfy. She
would do anything to which France
and England agreed So Russia wen
from Herod to Plate, with the usua'
consequences. She had still to BIZ
content with her northern harbor
ArchaHgel, icebound as early as Sep
TENDER and connected with Its indus
trial centre by a single track Of rail
way over a thousand miles long. o.
there was Gronstadt, icebonnd too ii
cold weather, a harbor only to the
Baltic at that, with Germany dominani
In its waters. Nor must we overlook
Vladivostok, of in the Far East
where the ice breaker makes a way
for ships with difficulty in some sea
sons and abandons the enterprise al
together at others.
SO the diplomacy OF Russia reyert'
inevitably to Constantinople. Ant
how sincerely, in the light Of thes'
considerations, must Russian syrnpa
thies be enlisted Ia behalf of SeryiaI
ambition for an outlet on the Adri
atici We begin to see why Bulgari;
was not allowed to get to CONSTANT
nopie or, indeed, to get anywhere ii
particular. A greater Bulgaria on th'
Bosporus would make life a burden Il
diplomatists from Petrograd. Bulgarii
was called back and Russia took goot
care that she stayed back. Pan-Slay
ism scored heavily.
Austria was looking on with some
thing very like panic. Her trade ID
for the most part, Oriental, and vel
she knows that wherever Russii
plants a foot the door, however opel
hitherto, Ii shut tight. The emery
ence Of a strong Power across TIL
southern frontier threatened an ah
sorption Of the Slay regions-thI
nightmare of Austrian diplomacy.
The outcome Of the war in the Bal
kans had but recently erected a fresl
and powerful military machine in Ell
rope. There had come into being
new armed force which, thrown int
the scale against Vienna and Berlin
might reduce not only Australian
gary but Germany herself to nnllity
| That explains the additions made d
German and Ausfro-Hungarian arrns
| ments last year. The Dual Monarch.
was threatened with the loss Of Its pc
sition as a great Power since the Sla
regions could not be split withou
bringing the whole fabric of Hapsbur
| dominion TO the ground.
The situation of Austria-H ungar
was thus supremacy critical before til
assassination of the heir to the thron
acted like d spark In d barrel Of poV
der. She was menaced by the cor
spiracy In Servia. She had to des
with a Rumanian element In Eat
Hungary. Her great Bohemian crow
land is mainly Slav. The Serb is D
the Danube. She had treaty right
with Turkey TO uphold. Russian 81
mites to eyade and the pressure /
Pan-SIayism To resist. The hour ha
come for the Dual Monarchy to strik