The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1914-09-09
sHE WAR SITUATION
FROM DAY TO DAY.
By HERMAN RIDDER


BY HERMAN RIDDER.
The veil Of hypocritical altrufsm
which the British government ha:
hung between its real motives for en-
ering the present war and the
earching eye of the world. torn as
nder by the cold. crude and, in the
,:ic Of Great Britain. condemnatory
net TINT in the twenty-five years
rom 1887 to 1912 the exports from
he German Empire increased from
S-2:. 100000 10 $2.239. 900.
While British exports advanced from
,I.i%+.onn. 900 TO no more than So
$50. 100000 Although Great Brit
in still leads IL total value Of eX
ports, her rate OF increase during
hese years has been so insignificant
n comparison with germany's as to
i've cause for serious alarm not
,Icnc to the British merchant but
% his government as we'll. This
tcady forging ahead by Germany in
the worlds market, unassisted by eX-
tcnsive colonies such as Great Brit
ain possesses, has been for years in
'erpreted in every conceivable man
,er by the British press. The phrase
Made in Germany" was coined to
kill German trade. but today II is
'hc Goals Of fire which arc returning
% burn the heart of those who coined
It.
That this is no unIounded asser-
ton may he read in the British pa
Ners which have come to us since the
of the war or in that elc-
ment of the American press which
has Joined in the campaign to sweep
German commerce from the seas.
The leading British newspapers find
their one triumphant note In the
thought. expressed in headline after
hcailinc. that cut Of this conflict
will como the reCapture of the fields
lost to their merchants in the years
If Ccrmany's peaceful expansion.
What shc could not do by the fair
means OF commercial competition.
Great Britain has set about to do by
war. Bafflcd at every turn by Ger
man brains and enterprise, it was
the only recourse left to her.
The story OF British diplomacy
during the last years coincident with
iiermany's tremendous cutting down
Of Britains commercial supremacy is
punctuatcd with every conceivable
form of possible interference with
her rivals legitimate lines of trade
expansion. 1t was all done under
the cover of that shibboleth Of Down
ing Street 1.-THE status quo" but like
other fabrics stretched to cover too
much, the status quo" became at
last transparent. When that point
was reached, war sooner or later was
inevitable.
1t was Edward VII. who maintain
cd the status quo" in northern At
RIGA by bargaining with France for
Egypt and giving in return a free
hand to the French in Morocco. and
thus closed both of these countries to
German trade. The Treaty of AL
Gcciras which subsequently guar
anteed" the open-door in Morocco
was never intended by France and
Great Britain to be anything but d
mantle to cover the insidious work.
ings of French subtlcty. Sir Edward
Grey, with the same Status quo"
ever uppermost in his mind. divided
Persia between Russia and Great
Britain and closed another door in
the face of German expansion. In
China the same objective was aimed
at.
There was not one field beyond
her own borders in which Germany
was unopposed not simply by the
commercial competition of her rival
but by all the diplomatic forces that
could be brought to bear against her.
Germany knew this. and Great Brit
ain knew that she knew it and that
the hour of reckoning could not be
long postponed. When her chain of
allies had been completed. Great
Britain needle donly pretext.
The white Paper issued by the
British Foreign Office and the teIe-
grams exchanged between Downing
street and the British Embassy in
Washington show where this preteXt
was found and throw a strong light