The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1914-11-27
spirit still controls German aspiration,

spirit SIlll cOuCTOlS GeFudu dSph dtiOn'
is that the mliitariat is the natural
expression of the vital force of the
nation; and as these vital forces OF
nature increase shall the German ar
my and the German navy increase.
"A nations military efficiency is the
measure of a nations idealism." That
is Treitschke's conclusion. His an
swer to all talk about the limitation
of ornaments is: Germany shall in
crease to the utmost of her power,
irrespective of any proposals made to
her by England or by Russia, or by
any other state upon earth. To end
war is not only beyond human power,
but against human will, because in
war. these is some secret possession
or lingering human glory to which
man clings with an Interchangeable per-
sistence." He cites an incident in the
life of the Emperor Julian, when, con-
fronting certain Teutonic tribes along
the Rhine, and demonstrating with
them on their restless, predatory and
warlike habits, one of their chiefs
made answer and summed up his de-
tense with: But in war itself we dis
cover life's greatest felicity"
Thus we see not only that for gen
Grafton Germany has been preparing
for war, but that generation of Ger
mans has been educated to believe
war is the inherent state of man. This
education has made England the chief
and Unborn enemy of Germany. Ger
mans of the type of Treitschke are
implacably hostile to the English. AS
their justification for this war they
point to the fact that the English
race is the posessor, "by theft" as
Treitschke describes it, of one-fifth
of the habitable globe. And they ask:
by what right? BY the right of
of craft, then of violence! Thence
German indignation takes the place of
German analysis. Cooped up between
the North Sea and the Danube, the
Rhine and the plains of Poland, can
we or ought we, they ask, acquiesce
in England's possession of one-fifth
of the globe?
We need not take up the cudgels for
England to see that this state of
mind involves ultimate aggression up
on all mankind outside OF Germany.
If it could win in this war it would
soon include us as obstructives to it's
all-conquering impulse. Already the
Germans in the United States, as dis
closed by their writer's, are not Amer
leans at all, but a German colony in
America, owing allegiance to the
principles of Absolutism and Arbitr-
airy Power.
1t is well enough for England, "the
robber nation" as the Germans put
it, after five centuries of treachery
and murder, having possessed herself
of one-fifth of the surface of the globe,
to talk about peace on earth; but
what about Germany, her superior in
all things, shut in by limitations not
large enough to hold her own people?
In point of fact, England's willingness
to disarm was regerded by Germany
as proof only of cowardice The war
for the world being over, England in
the German view wants peace. But
the Germans made reply that war is
not over This, according to Profess
sor Cramb, constituted the signifi-
canoe of Germany's reply to the
offer of the British government in
1907 to reduce her programme from
three dreadnoughts to two. Her an
swer was to increase her estimates
and accelerate her programme. It
was the significance of her answer
in 1908, when England laid down only
two dreadnaughts and Germany re-
torted by laying down four. 1t above
all, was the significance of her action
in 1911, when Bethmann-Hollweg
said: "The vital strength of a nation
is the exact measure of that nations
armament" And in 1913, still the
significance of Germany's answer to
the proposal of "a naval holiday" was
a war of levy of 100000 pounds to
be expended on fortresses, aircraft
and barracks; the peace strength of
the army to be raised from six hun
dred thousand to between eight and
nine hundred thousand men.
In the face of all this it is absurd
for any German to pretend that Ger
many did not want war; that the Kai-
ser is a man of peace who was forced
to take up arms; and that the Ger
mans fight alone to defend their
land from invasion