The evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1914-1922, 1914-09-03
Race Wdr--a SURGICAL of Borbarism


philadelphia North American
TtHTHEH dispute az this time as
II 90 specific responsibility for the
war va Europe IL futile. The de-
termination can DO left TO history.
For "a generation mankind was made
to believe that the war ~ 1870 was
due wholly 10 French and
the mad ambition ~ Napoleon III.
yet Bismarck IN his memoirs bluntly
told how he had fomenied the strife
Ia order 90 crush prussla's rival
Soon or late the world b. enabled to
brush aside ]speCious or Irrelevant
pleas ana apportion glory or infamy
us Il Is deserved.
The vast C0unaRrution now agiug
WAS the work Of no single act Every
student ~ affairs has known FOR Years
that the lunammable materials were
being heaped up and that some day "a
spark would let loose destruction.
The underlying causes ~ the war
are many. That which he discussed
yesterday-the racial %antagonism OF
slav and Teuton-is the one most em-
phasized In recent historical literature
and current controversy.
German advocates to a man charge
the prusocation To- Russia. They do
bot cite airy concrete evidence or
overt aci-asidc from the mobilization
which followed Aus.ria's assault upon
Servia-but they declare that Russia
is inspired by an ~implacable cumlty
toward Teutonic civilization and by
an unsuitable ambition to rule an
Europe ~ well as Asia. SO ardent
are Germans IN this accusation that
they d%cnounce opposition to or crit
icism OF German acts and policies. cx-
ccpt from Russia. as race trcathcry..
The influence OF racial hostility in
bringing this havoc upon the world
cannot he denied. 10 Is that which
has welded The people OF the German
empire iht1 e.. ~ OF purpose which
Is far frotu q -,sug upon questions OF
INTERNAL s. The Interests and
aspirat the Kingdoms and
duchics feprising the federation
clash az q hundred points. but are
srhnit.ed at the summons OF race
loyalty. The same Is true of Russia,
whose dull millions are fred with zeal
for Salvic expansion. and Of the Bal
kan peoples, who respond TO the call
% blood.
Thls belief in a Slavic peril Is in
eradicable In The German mind. No.
n who has Travelled throughout the
empire, particularly in Prussia. and
talked with the common people. can
have failed TO be struck by the in
tensity OF the conviction hat Ger
manic civilization must hRht FOR It's
existence against slavic barbsrism.
II has been instilled into them from
childhood. They are saturated with
Il In the schools. In business. in poll
tiles. IL has been the subject of a
vast mas Of literature, Scores of
books and pamphlets and reviews
without number have been written
around the Slav peril and the coming
of a decisive war for survival.
such a propaganda, Of course, could
not be maintained without reason.
And that has been easily found Ia the
u%ndeniaalc recession OF Teutonic in
nuence in Austro-Hungary and the
balkans, with "A corresponding adj
vance in slavic power. together with
n realization Of Russia's vast military
strength aud ineNhaustible
But the contention that the race
issue IL fundamental in the struggle Is
maintained chiefly by the German
writers. who admit a partisan inter
est. Observers who pretend TO be i'm
partial. ON the contrary, hold that II
~ not a basic cause, but. rather, an
excuse-a means to an end.
They see In this titanic conflict a
war FOR conquest; behind the fervid
appeals to race instinct a lust of dom
nation; behind the inyocations to pat
riotism the age-old struggle FOR terri
tory and power.
So far as the German empire is con-
cernCd the real issue Is defined In a
single term-Pan-Germanism. Back
OF the racial idea, back of m%ilitarism,
back OF imperial unity and industrial
expansion, lies this splendid vision OF