The Alaska citizen. (Fairbanks, Alaska) 1910-1917, 1914-09-21
WAR To CHANGE
OLD COUNTRIES

Philadelphia Public Ledger: Speed
lati5H As % the effect OF the war
upoa the European monarchies is
most fascinating. especially to Ameri-
cans. who have an ingraiged suspi
c;on Of every form of government
save tr.if avn T#a a.r -r
y maintain that it is war of
d,nasfiss ENTERED uD4n 70. terrific
tal greed or because of anilaositias
~ the re5anina houses Tie Hap
'-rss ave fighting TO extend the.~
boundaries toward tie Aegean: tho
JpHepzol'srns hive dreams Of w1rli
dominion and the greater glory Of
their name; the Romanoffs are seek
ing to maintain their hold upon tho
loyalty of tie Slavs outside of their
empire and to bind them more close
ly 10 st. Petersburg so that the
ultimate extension of the Russian
frontier to he Mediterranean may
be facilitated.
There is no doubt that these are
among tie potential reasons for
the conflict Put they are not all
the reasons. The German army is
not merely the Kaiser's fighting ma
chine II is Germany IN arms. When
100000 men respond to the call to
tie colors, or stand ready TO respond
to carry out the plans of the kaiser
il is pretty safe 10 assume that the
cause of Germany. and that nation
al as we'll as dynastic reasons lie
behind the great enterprise. The
same reasoning will apply to Rus
STA and to Austria. only to lesser
degree.
Germany and Austria are in ALI
ance because of their common in
terests They both seek an outlet
to the Aegean and to the markets
of the East. The dynastic policies
are supported by the commercial
interests of the two empires, and n
large sense the Hohenzollerns and
the Hapsburgs are the spokesman
for and leaders of their people and
are leading in the direction in which
they would go.
There is DO dynasty in France to
be slorified but the French people
have been arming for forty years
for this great conflict. The French
men who took their hoardings from
Il cir stockings to help their govern
ment pay the indemnity to Germany
in 1870 have been waiting for the
opportunity to get ii back again,
and their children have inherited the
same relentless purpose. They have
watched and waited nearly half
century for this one great, over
whelming. all-absorbng opportunity
Of "revanche,"
DEMOCRACY WANTED.
Despite the fact that the ambitions
of the people and the dynasties are
in accord the effect of the war upon
monarchcal institutions will be mo-
mentous The spirit of Democracy
is abroad It has practically abolish
ed the British house of lords. 1t
parliament in Russia. 1t is so ac-
tive and alert in Germany that the
social Democratic party is the larg-
est and most powerful political or
ganization in the empire. In France
it overturned the monarchy nearly
ralf century ago, and is now so
firmly established that only the
widest dreamers ever imagine that
republican institutions can be dis
placed. 1t is regnant in Portugal
and nearly so in Spain.
A nation in arms. as Germany now
is, will not long be content to re
main nation without ministry re-
sponsible to its parliament. The
characterization of German institu-
tons is inevitable after the war.
whatever the result. The people,
even in Russia are no longer driven
serfs. They think, they reason, and
demonstration of the power of
five million men on the battlefield
will not be lost on the patriots who
wish also to demonstrate the power
of the same number of millions in
deciding at first hand the causes for
which they will take up arms.
Whether the kings and the emper-
ors remain on their thrones matters
little Great Britain, though it re-
tains the fiction of monarchy, is as
Democratic as the United States, and
it's parliament responds with greater
precision to popular sentiment than
the American congress. The war
means the end of autocracy whether
the kings remain or not.