El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-11-07
WHAT AMERICA SHOULD LEARN
FROM THE EUROPEAN WAR


CCoutinued From
Of any nation which is wronged; and
yet a. also refuses to act so that we
may ourselves be sufficient for our own
protection.
we ought not to trust in words un-
backed by deeds. We should be able
TO defend ourselves. We should also be
ready and able to join IN preventing the
inflictiOn Of disaster of the kind Of
which I speak upon any civilized pow
er, great or small. whether it be Ger
many or England, Belgium or Hun
gary Russia or Japan. ,-.
So much for questions Of interna-
dOnal right, and of our duty TO others
in international affairs NOW Tor our
A sincere desire to act well toward
other nations must not blind us 10 the
fact that as yet the standard OF inter-
national morality is both low ana IT.
regular. The behavior of the great
military empires Of the old world, IN
reference to their treaty obligations
and their moral obligations toward
countries such as Belgium, Finland ana
Korea, shows that it would be utter
folly for us in any grave Crisis 10
trust to anything save our own prepar-
edness and resolution for our saIety-
The other day there appeared IN the
newspapers extracts from transla
ton Of a report made by a general OF
the Prussian army staff outlining the
plan Of operations by Germany IN tE'
event of war with America. Great sur
prise was expressed by innocent AIneII-
cans that, such plans should be IN eA-
istence, and private individuals stated
unofficially that the account was IN
correct-althOugh there were no oItl-
ciaI denials. Neither the resentment
expressed, nor yet the denials OF IaGL
were necessary One feature Oh lu0
admirable preparedness in when Ger
many and Japan stand so TAR apoVe an
other nations. and especially aooVe
our own. is their careful CONSIDERATION
of hostilities with all possible antaB-
Onfsts Bernhardi'S famous DOCKS treat
of possible war with Austria, and pos
sible attack by Austria upon Germany
although the prime lessons thaI they
teach are those contained IN the poSSi-
bility of war as it has actually oc-
CURED, with Germany and Austria IN
alliance. This does not indicate Ger
man hostility 10 Austria; II merely IN
dictates German willingness TO look
Equarely in the face all posslDle lacls'
OF course, and quite properly, the Ger
man general staff has carefully con-
Eidered the question of hostihtles with
America, and doubtless plans were
drawn up with minute care and pre-
vision at the time when there was
friction between the two countries over
Samoa at the time when admiral Diet
rich clashed with Dewey i'm Manila bay,
and on the later occasion when there
was friction in connection with Nene-
zuela This did not represent German
iIlwill toward America 1t represented
the perfectly proper and common sense
consideration of possibilities by Ger
many's rulers; and the failure TO give
this consideration would have reflected
severely upon these rulers. To become
angry because such plans exist would
be childish. To fail to profit by our
knowledge that they certainly do exist
would, however, be not merely chlldlSh
but imbecile. I have myself become
personally cognizant Of the existence
of such plans, and Of the larger Tea
lures Of their details in two cases, as
regards two different nations
should American Chies. he Attacked.
The essential feature of these plans
has been the seizure of some Of our
great coast cities, and the terrOrization
of these cities so as to make them give
enormous ransOms, ransOms Of such a
size that our own country would De
crippled whereas our foes would be
enabled to run the war against US with
8 handsome profit to themselves. These
plans are based Of course, upon the
belief that we have not sufficient fore
sight and Intelligence 10 keep our navy
in first class condition, and upon not
merely the belief but the knowledge
that our regular army is so small and
our utter unpreparedness otherwise 50
great that on land we would be en-
tirely helpless against a moderate sized
eNpediUonary force belonging to any
first class military power Foreign
military and naval observers know well
that our navy mas been USED during Ine
last year or so in connection with the
Mexican situation in such manner as to
accomplish the minimum Of results as
regards Mexico, while at the same time
TO do the maximum damage in inter-
rupting the maneuvers and the gun
Eractice OF our fleets. They regard
Messrs. Wilson and Bryan as represent
tatives of the American people in their
entire inability to understand the real
nature of the forces that Underlie in
ternational relations and the import
ance Of preparedness. They are en-
tirely cold FLOODED in their views of us.
Foreign rulers may despise US for