Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-11-20

death Calais would be found written
on her heart. Today it is not less
clear that the same name has been
written on the heart of William H.,
that the possession of this town and
the eastern shores of the Straits of
Dover has for him a value which is
now being estimated in the lives Of
his soldiers
What, then, Is this value? What is
really the explanation of this desper-
ate battle of Flanders, now enter
ing its sixth week, a battle in which
German lives have been sacrificed
without stint? In the first place
it Is fairly plain that the answer is
not to be found in any military con
sideration. If the purpose of the
kaiser is to get to Paris he could
certainly. attain his object with no
greater cost If he resumed operations
far south, where his line is still
within seventy miles of the French
capital.
If the explanation is not military
II is then political. Fortunately Max
imilian Harden, the G.. B. Shaw of
Germany-or Is Shaw the Harden OF
Britain 2-supplies a clue In his latest
suggestion that when Germany has
taken the little block of French ter
ritory between her Belgian conquests
and salt water she should declare
peace. In other words, in Harden's
mind, Calais taken Germany will be
satisfied.
Now IL any one cares to go back
a little into that great mass of lit
erature which is classified as Pan
German he will discover a number
of maps, pretty much alike, all of
which in some fashion indicate what
to the Pan-German mind should be
Germanys rightful place in the Eu-
ropean sun. And without exception
these maps all include Belgium ana
that corner of northern France be-
tween Boulogne and Dunkirk on the
channel. With the maps are full and
extended explanations.
These explanations are of two sorts
First there is set forth the claim OF
Germany This claim rests on the
fact that the larger part OF this ter
ritory Is inhabited by Flemish speak
ing people, and Flemish Is a low Ger
man dialect. Flanders, too, was at
one time a portion of that German
empire, which preceded the ruin OF
the Thirty Years war, for every Ger
man the greatest tragedy in history
For many years, then, there has
existed in Germany an Influential
group who have steadily argued that
Belgium and French Flanders, in
Guiding Calais and Boulogne, should
be reconquered by Germany, that the
retaking Of Aisace-Lorraine was only
the greater Germany.
Germany Has Small sesfrsnt.
But aside from these mores or less
sentimental reasons there are prac-
teal reasons of great weight. AS 1t
Oh, nd ie,n oYfina6 n q
narrow frontage on the open sea
between the mouth of the Elbe and
the Dutch frontier. Her natural sea
front is occupied by the two States
Of Holland and Belgium. which owe
their past immunity to the strength
Of Great Britain. Antwerp and Rot.
terdam, the natural ports Of Ger
many, are In alien territory. But
Antwerp and Rotterdam both taken
by Germany, she would still be at
disadvantage so long as France and
England, her enemies, held both
shores Of the narrow Straits Of
Dover.
on the other hand, If GERMANY
could win the battle of Flanders and
take Calais, Boulogne and Dunkirk,
she would then have entered into
possession OF practically all the terri
tory that her most extreme Pan
Germans have claimed. 1t is true
that she had planned to take Paris
and crush France, but even after
France had been crushed her pro-
gram included inconsiderable terri
torial demands. France was to pay
the cost Of the war, but save in
few frontier districts was to suffer
no territorial losses,
From the very start Germany has
recognized that England was her real
enemy, but so long as England was
protected by neutral Holland and Bel
GUM, as we'll as hostile France, It was
next to impossible for Germany to
come to grips. German fleet at
Heligoland could have but a fraction
of the value that 1t would have as a
weapon against England in the
Seheldt, with a secondary base at
Dunkirk. Moreover, 1t should never
be mistaken that the ultimate pur-
pose of all Germany is to get at Eng
land, the one real rival.
Now If Germany could get possess
sion of the shore of the channel 1t
would then be perfectly possible for
her to abandon all but a defensive
campaign. If she had not taken Paris
Or crushed France, she would then
have actually in hand what she had
at the outset fixed her mind upon as
the maximum of territorial profit for
herself With her wonderful artillery,
her splendid military machine, she
could then intrench herself from
Boulogne to the Mouse. via the Aisne,
and wait until her opponents wore
themselves out with the fury of their
attack, or she. might by private ar
rangement with Russia, perhaps by
permitting Russia to keep Austrian
Galicia, while Austria took her pay
in Servia and Albania, exchange Lem
berg for Salonica, regain numerical
superiority.
Kaiser Needs More Coastline.
But, until the channel coast was
taken all her actual conquests would
be of little value in he greater
scheme, because 1t is the seacoast
that she needs. With only Ostend,
since the Scheldt Is neutrahzed, she
would have fallen far short of her
goal, she would actually be almost
as far away from England as before,
FOR as a naval base Ostend and all
other ports of Belgium on the open
sea are without real value, are indeed
hardly tenable permanently If Nieu-
port and Ypres are in hostile hands.
AS to Holland, German writer's
have never made the slightest con-
cealment of their purpose to include
it in the greater Germany. If Hol-
IL pines willingly it is to keep its
ir luality on the terms that Ba-
N M has since 1870. But it is to be
a. of the German empire, its
pt open to German commerce and
ba for the ultimate attack upon
Brit L. To enter Holland now would
not inerel mean to bring the Dutch
army into the field against Ger
many, but t would close the most
valuable II trail gate to Germany.
Once Belgiu, \ were German, how
" n tsra