Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1914-08-01
THE WAR IN EUROPE.

Much is being written as u Tic
causes of the war which seems certain
to break over all Europe and may IN
yolve other continents. So far as racial
and religious distinctions are con-
cerned and as the history of the war
ring nations and races bears upon the
present situation the commoner ana
more apparent seat OF the Impulse
which impels the general citizenship
of each nation to war are not iar u
seek Differences in language, ploou'
and race are always basic causes OF
war. Then ii is to be remembered that
the map of Europe has been changed
hundred times by war, that SlaV anu
Turk have history of hatred and bat
tie that extends thru the history OF
their organization into government anu
mas been kept alive in peasant huts oy
song and tradition and kept fresh ny
battle between each generation. Poialio
has never forgotten that she was ma
ton disme mbered by political butchers
in a political slaugnterhouse. The Pole
subject in Russia has been powerful |
in Austria and the Russian Po!e mas
never ceased 70 dream Of new Poiaha'
bohemia is to Germany as the Pole is
70 Russia. Governed by Germany the
Bohemian has hated the hand that
ruled him. France has Kept alive her
desire 10 regain Alsace and Lorraine
while Germany has stood ready in the
knowledge that she would some DAY
need to fight TO keep them. Ihe pro-
cess of centraliza ton and the policy OF
territorial extension in Europe as pur-
suad nv the stronger countries has been
that he shall take who has the power
and he shall keep who can. provinces
and states and even nations have oecn
denied their own languages and forced
70 learn in schools and use in business
the language Of their conquerors. Eur
ope has been from the beginning
thea,er of war and conquest since
Caesar entered Gaul. No nation whose
capital has heard the tramp OF a for
eign army in its streets ever tofSets
while 1t lives. The great wars that had
as their moving impulses the rehgloos
differences of peoples and nations
swept over the Low Countries again and
again. And so Europe is culture OF
active hatred, Of hostile memories ana
her peace has been kept only by sucn
balance of strength that makes one
afraid of all.
But the dream of supremacy has
never faded. And now 1t would ap-
pear that one great central nation thru
years OF stern luiiitarisTll and the eX-
penditure of untold millions in organic
ing a military machine which can put
5000 900 soldiers afield equipped ana
Differed has concluded that the time
of her own ascendency has arrived and
| to realize the Napoleonic plan Of dom
nance of Europe for herself. SO the
battle is TO be fought over perhaps,
involving territory undiscovered when
Napoleon was the war lord Of Europe
provinces and territories added since
since in other continents and another
hemisphere. Territorial greed, desire
for power, ancient grudges between
royal families, extension of trade, re-
ligion. racial hatreds are in the melt
ing pot OF the promised general war in
Europe.
The present war between country
whose area is $4,000 square miles, or
Z -; ,b eli -
/ Austria one of the greater nations or
/ the continent goes back to the begin
ming of the wars between monam-
mechanism and christianity but its
later connection begins with the treaty
of Berlin which took from Servia when
she won by war her independence of
Turkey, thirty six years ago, three
Seryian provinces and gave them
TO Austria. 1t was rape pure
and simple. Austria refused to
subscribe with other powers to the in
dependence Of Servia unless given her
price and the powers CAV. her Herzo-
govinia. Bosnia and Dalmatia She also
keut Servia from the po:ts along the
Adriatic sea. Fearing the possibility
that Servian independence might bring
all Serbs together as an Independent
nation and a rival of herself she set
about TO restrict trade and starve her
smaller ne;ghbor. She Iassed quar-
antine laws which prevented Servian
products being transported across Aus
TRAN territory to the seapCrts and in
all possible ways took measures to
prevent growth and prosperity within
the Servian boundaries. Ard then the
Servian spirit which had held out
against the moslem for centuries re-
VOTED, Servia promulgated the recent
war against Turkey, drew the Balkan
states together and won the most
amazing victory Of modern warfares.
And then Austria. with the aid Of other
powers robbed her of the fruits Of her
struggle Albania was set UP as an in
dependent country in order to shut
Seryia from the sea and Durazzo taken
from Servia while Scutari won in blood
but Montenegro was denied tc the state
that had won it at such cost