Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1914-12-06
ENGLAND'S POSITION
Greatest SECURITY
GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION HAS
MADE IT SAFE FROM
INVASION.
COMMANDS THE SEAS
Has Always Been Able 10 Play
France OFF Against
Germans
spociaI to The sunday World

Special 10 The sunday World
WASHINGTON. Dec That se-
ography. after all is the basis of the
greatness Of Great Britain, and that
the great national ability to save
and conserve the earnings Of CEN
turtles that has resulted from her
geographic position stands her in
god stead in these days Of trial, IS
the conclusion OF DR. Roland O..
Usher who has just prepared for
the National Geographic society nm
incisive study Of the factors that
have made the tight little isle"
across the channel from continental
Europe a far greater power than her
area and natural resources would he
speak
we must not lose sight of the
fact" says Doctor Usher. that the
strdtegical geography of Europe has
given the English advantages of ro-
sltion which were more important
in the past than great armies, that
the English channel was, in the day
Of sailing ships. n more effective bar
rier against invasion than any army
could have been The strategiCal i'm
pOrtanCe Of Belgium and Holland.
too, vital to England, was very for
tunately, also vital 10 Germany and
France The English have never,
single handed. been able to keep
either France or Germany out of
those countries in time Of war, but
they have, somehow or other. always
managed to play off France against
Germany or Germany against
France, and in the long run keep
them both out of Belgium and Hol-
land England has protected her
self by arousing the fear of others.
and 1t must be admitted that Ger
many in Belgium threatens Paris a
good deal more effectively than she
does London, and that Louis XIV in
Holland was even more distasteful "a
the German states on the Rhine than
he was TO the English"
Doctor Usher calls attention to the
fact that England has never known
since William the Norman harried
Yorkshire, such raYaging by armies
and consequent economic loss as con-
| tinued in Europe for centuries. In
the long run. England became pro-
pOrtionately richer than larger cOun-
| tries with much more extensive nat
ural resources which were decimated
| by war Neither extraordinary dill
gence nor skill needs to be brought
forward as the explanation of the
beginning Of Englands capital fund
1t was by that most unusual but
simplest Of all thlngs-saving
While England was free from the
wastes Of an invading warfare, Ger
many was being literally eaten vi
by such conflicts as the Thirty Years
war.
In order TO rest secure from attack
| by the more powerful land empires
on the neighboring continent, it was
necessary for England to dominate
| the channel with its fleet. This
| dimnation was established beyond
question by the English defeat OF
the Spanish Armada. But, Doctor
Usher explains, in obtaining contro
of the channel, the English alsC
found themselves dominating the
oversea commerce of the nations OF
Europe, The English Channel wa.
the needles eye which all ships haC
to thread that sailed from French
Belgian, Dutch or German ports
upon the Channel and the North Sea
The dangers of the seaway along tn,
western coast of the British Isle.
make il impractiCable even for tn,
powerful ships of the present day
! Among the essentials of nationa
strength, Or. Usher enumerates thos,
of territorial unity, or natural stat,
boundaries; a racial unity, or a con
sciousness OF the citzenry that they
are one people; a religious unity
which. in the case of England, con
sists in a broad, workable federation
of individual beliefs; patriotism, o.
the consciousness Of the people o