The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1915-02-25
FOREIGN ENTANGLEMENTS
AND COMMERCIAL STRIFE

The recurrence Of Washington.
birthday should always be a period foi
the renewal Of American wisdom. Tn,
lesson Of the father Of his country
most pertinent and needful at this
time, is that the people Of the United
States should avoid foreign entangle-
ment II We as q people and as ma
ton could cxemplify that spirit in con.
nection with our international rela-
TORS today, we would need to talk Of
neither armies nor navies.
The two sources Of international
trouble arc the lust for territory and
the struggle FOR commercial suprem-
acy
The foreign cntanglemcnts that
most threaten us today are those in
yolving simply and almost exclusively
American commerce. Strip the Euro
pcan war Of Interference with Ameri-
can shipping, and Uncle Sam could
fold his hands In peace. Eliminate our
struggle for the open door for
American trade IN China, which Japan
would close withs bang, and war
cloud on our western horizon would
dssipate
II we are inclined to conclude that
commercial interests could not lead
nations d war, we have only 70 study
the present struggle in Europe care
fully, to realize that possibility Eng
land is not fighting for more territory,
but for the maintenance Of commercial
supremacy
While Germany and France may
have had remotely in mlnd the dis
putcd provinces Of Alsace and Lor
rainc at the Outbreak of the present
war, the ultimate aim Of Germany is
to gain aud hold Belgium On the North
Sea and to retain access TO Trieste
through Austria to reach the Adriatic
Sea and thus find greater southern
outlet for its commerce.
Russia has long sought Constant
nople as it's goal, not because it want
cd simply to add that city to its
domain, but because the Turkish cap
ital holds the key 10 the entrance to
the Black Sen. With the Dardanelles
and the Bosphorus free 10 Russian
ships without possible let or hindrarcc,
tho ears dominions would have open
ports the year round and Russian com
mercc would be en- an equal footing /
with that Of other European nations.
If the United States were to become
embroied in the present European
struggle, it would be because Of inter-
ference with our commerce under the
American flag. Such an outcome is
inconceivablc, especially when we
count the small stake involved and
consider the tremendous cost and far
reaching consequences Of such q fool
ish move
We should note in the Grst place
that the American nation never yet |
went to war Cor the sake Of mere
trade. We fought for our liberty as
a people in l77G and for our rights as
a sovereign nation in 1872. Under
Polk, a Democratic president, in 1916,
we fought territorial war for Texas,
Just as under Wilson, another Demo
cratic president, we refused in 1914 to
fight q war that would have meant the
Of Mexico to the United
States. We fought in 1861 for the
Of the Union. We waged
war with Spain for down
troddcn people in Cuba in 1898, and
as an evidence OF our good faith we
refused TO annex the Pearl Of the
Antilles. We are not likely to break
that rule regarding commercial war.
In the second place, no nation VIII
ever interfere with the trade OF the
United States 10 q degree sufficient to
warrant war on our part. Germany
and Great Britain are simply doing at |
this time what we did TO their ccri-
n1erce with the Southern States during
the Civil War. There will be clashes
now as there were then, but We shall c
maintain the peace. s
In the third place, the rewards OF q
A commercial war would confessedly 2
be measured in dollars and cents, and q
A war for trade would cost more than
he nation would gain in decades in '
mere filthy luere, 10 say nothing o, e
.he loss Of precious lives which money
,ould no restore or make good and /.