Washington Journal., 1914-12-12

the whole English credit would have
broken down If the English authorities
had not within four hours forced
Baron Schroeder to become a British
citizen; the diamond and gold bust
ness is in the hands of Anglicized Ger
mans; theirs is q large share in the
produce business. The English can
not do without German clerks.
A Commercial Quarrel.
! remember a speech by the chair.
man Of the Londo- Chamber OF Com.
merce, Lord Southwark, not longer
ago than last June, in which lie said.
You Germans are getting ahead ef us
because you are working sixteen per
cent longer than we and because You
10 not consider Saturday a holiday"
That state OF things was not felt
much so long as il was going on with
n British confines and for the inter
est OF Great Britain alone-that a
until about 1880; hut then The Ger.
man nation commenced to assert itself.
Germans learn all the Languages.
whereas the English very seldom 10.
II an Englishman wants a
pher TO write Portuguese letters 10
~ 1870 fAhL a herman tiGTh
German dominion in trade an over the
world has been established through
the fact that the German talks 20 the
people IN their own language, respects
their national feeling, finds cut their
national wants and delivers to them
eNaclly what they wish to get. He new
er says We cannot do this" or You
ave TO take Il standard" but caro-
mlty IN 4ptag p.tt th-4.
ng 10 the best scientific methods and
therefore at the best price. The Ger.
man iron industry. has because OF its
improved methods. obtained a great
part OF England's trade. German
machinery. except in the textile bust.
ness, is more efficient than English
machinery. The field OF electricity has
been entirely Abandoned BY England
% America and Germany. DyestuYs
are now even shipped by way Of Amer
lea and Canada back to England. Ger
man proprietary medicines have cpn-
quered the world market and the Ger.
man competition is felt everywhere.
Then, too, there is the enormous n.
crease OF German shipping. IN spite 81
the lact that practically all the
English companies doing passenger
service are half broke. While the
International Mercantile Marine Com
pany has suspended payment and the
Dig liners of the Cunard Line can live
only by subsidies. Germany has heen
building up a most magnificent mer-
chant marine, with ships that exceed
N comfort and size anything launched
rom England's ~shipyards. Even in
the tramp.steamer business, the back
bone OF English shipping, the Ger
mans have made big inroads. So
while the trade of Great Britain ana
Ireland since 1870 has risen from two
billion dollars 10 five and n hair
billions, that of Germany has risen
from II billion TO five binions-in
other words, while Germany's trade
IS now five times what II was in 1870
English trade Is only two and a hair
times its former amount. For a com
mercial nation such as England this
condition is very serious. II goes 70
the very core of the nations existence
therefore, Great Britain faced the
alternative of getting better habits
OF work, improved machinery. better
education, better knowledge of foreign
languages-that Is, being more M.
dustrions. less luxurious and more
painstaking-or of fighting. But
England was not accustomed to doing
her W fighting. save with her deet
The other fellows, whose welfare she
has so much at heart, could fight for
her. so Il was not very difficult for her
10 make her choice.
This Is the real explanation OF the
present war. The correctness of this
view is proved by the constant in
vitations sent u from England TO
America 10 help her get away with
the German trade. al idea that is
Justly repulsiye to the American mind.
so II was not Germany's militarism
that England feared, but German
trade n commerce. which she could
no destroy because of the military
and naval forces behind them.
dermany Is now attacked by seven
nations. She is fighting morally for
her freedom and for her existence.
She has no special grudge against any
body. She is modest in her aspira-
tons, and merely wants to maintain
her place under the sun. She wants
equal opportunity, open-door politics
u open m throughout the
world. Nor is she either Hunnic or
barbarian, as Americans will have
learned from the twenty-five million
German or German-Amerlcan people
who live in their midst. She Is out
for conquest on a peaceful line. the line
where the higher culture wins. where
the more Industrious and laborious
are sure to prevail. This is TO the
interest of all the world. Germany
has TO her record forty-four years OF
peace, and she has never coveted her
~neighbors possessions. So, as far as
the moral issue goes. she has much
the best showing to make OF all the
nations now at war. and II is within
eternal justice that she should and
viii prevail. From Saturday Evening
Post issue of Nov. 2l 1914