Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1914-09-16
LITTLE KINGDOMS
FEAR FOR SAFETY

giants only. In n SenSe, lndeed, the
smaller states fringing the North sea
and h Baltic stand to lose more by 1t
han Of the great powers. What
eve happens and whichever side ia
victorious none of the major combat
ants will cease to be national n in
dependent entities. But for their lesser
neighbors standing on the brink, or
caught in the cleft of the titanic strug-
gle, for Belgium, Holland, Denmark,
and possibly Switzerland, there are but
two prospects. One is to remain as
they are now, free and se~lf-governing
states; the other is to be blotted from
the map n to suffer the final catas-
hated power.
Why Dutch Arc Ready.
That is the terror which for years
has haunted the minds and guided the
policies of statesmen from Copenhagen
to Brussels. And that is the reason
why the Dutch at this moment are
ready to pen the dykes n foo the
country rather than submit to being
turned into a German provinces; why
the Danes are standing to arms vigil
liant n grim: and why the Belgians
with splendid hardihood have flung
themselves across the path of the Ger
man invaders.
The Germans have many great
qualities. out they nave not the gift Of
inspiring either trust or affection; and
nowhere are they so bitterly hated n
their designs so f~iercely suspected as
In the little kingdoms hat border on
their frontiers.
The map shows the whole position
more clearly than any words. There is
Germany such as we know it to be-a
patient, virile, finely organized nation,
filled with the consciousness of being
on the crest of the rising a hum
gering for an empire overseas but
aware that no empire can be founded
nowadays in the old, easy, effortless
Of the Baltic and the North sea, from
the Mediterranean and the Adriatic.
and with the short n difficult coast
line between Holland and Denmark
forming almost the only effective
channel for its expanding commerce.
Little Nations in Way.
And the nations that in this way
all cases weaker than itself. 1t is
walled off by puny, insignificant states
from everything it most vitality needs
TOR the protection of it's security and
the full utilization Of it's strength.
Ports, territory. opportunities, lie just
beyond its Observation-Disclosures. re-
member. that are artificial, not perma-
aent. drawn by d~iplomatists, not by ma
ture-and their occupation would pro-
vide for generation an adequate outlet
Tor it's surplus population, it's maritime
ambitions, and it's industrial enter
prise, an outlet more than YER desir-
able now that Germany, with it's rap
idly growing numbers and a conse-
luent increase of the social pressure,
has changed from a mainly agricultural
to a mainly industrial state.
Therefore for three decades at least
Holland. Belgium and Denmark have
been the objects of the Pan-German
propaganda. The Dutch have been
plainly told that it is an insufferable
monstrosity that the mouth of the
Rhine, the German Tiber, should be in
the hands of strangers and that a
small coast people should set astride
of Germany's busiest river. They have
been warned that Germany must adj
vance to its natural" confines, and
that while Holland remains detached,
Germany is in the position of a man
who is denied a key to his own front
door.
The advantages of a commercial
union, the danger to the Dutch COL
on1es from he predatory ambition of
Great Britain and the United States,
the chronological, linguistic spirit
ual affinity between the two peoples,
nave been dwelt upon with alluring
iteration.
1t has all been to little purpose.
There are a few Dutch papers that in
the. past a favored both a customs
union and a military alliance with
Germany. But the masses Of the peo-
pie have stood resolutely against any
scheme that threatened to compromise
their independence. They forsee that
an economic union foreshadows an ul-
innate political subserviency; they in
tensely dislike the German militarist
and bureaucratic spirit.
II they are forced to enter the pres
ent struggle, it will be to fight as their
fnrnfIfnaro fO1Yohf oUoinct Cnnir VIZ
can all see now that it would have
been better If the long discussed pro-
5ect of an alliance between Holland
and Belgium had taken effect. The
fate of the two countries is ins%eparable.
A German triumph means for each ex-
tinction. 1t means that the whole lit
tOral from Ostend to Copenhagen
passes into German hands. The Dutch
vii! go any lengths to ward of such
q destiny.
The position of Denmark is equally
difficult. It is washed both by the
trolls the passage between them. The
British fleet, for instance, ran only
gain entrance to the Baltic by steam
Ing through h narrow and hazard
GUS straits OF the Great Belt or the
Sound, both Of which may be opened
or closed at the will Of Denmark, and
the seizure OF which may therefore
present itself either to Great Britain
or to Germany as q strategic neces-
sity.
The Danes Have Fears.
The Danes have never relished the
disquieting perils and responsibilities
Of their situation. At the time Of the
first Hague conference 0 1000 Of King
Christians subjects petitioned him to
obtain from the conference a solemn
recognition OF Danish neutrality. The
problems Of defense are their constant
tim -% 0NhAxy M HnV yA
ned Seeland's coast line with forts,
mines and t~orpedoes. They have
worked out an elaborate system Of
transport and mobilization for bring