TaÌˆgliche Omaha tribuÌˆne. [volume] (Omaha, Nebr.) 1912-1926, 1915-01-30

40 ANEAA - 49, ~ AAEM
Teuton or Gaul, the chief interest OIL
Americans in the present war viii
but temporarily lie In the strokes 81
tactics, however brilliant, or the
c~hessboard moves rof strategy Of
military boards Of directors, however
studied or comprehensive.
The panoply OF war will but brief
Iy crowd the stage, and when the
50. tacle Is passed again we must
turn with whatever lessons. we may
have learned to the everyday bust.
ness OF life whatsoever shoulders
bear the burden Of indemnity, and
w%hosoever pockets are lined with
foreign treasure.
America is the chief spectator Of
this worldwide show, but unfortun-
ately, an unwilling and heavily
mulcted patron, and thus one en-
titled to cry "a plague on both your
houses" Approaching this, efforts
have not been spared by either side
TO defend rs entrance into the quar-
rel, so that who ever runs may
read and read aplenty.
But America has not much 20
profit by the exact determination OF
whose match struck the powder.
But she has to profit and vastly TO
profit by coming to thoroughly UNI
derstand how the powder was ac-
cumulated, and the infinite and far
reaching economical processes which
led up TO the great explosion and
the sowing OF the winds of inter-
national competition which are now
being reaped In the whirlwinds Of
war.
To those who are familiar with
European conditions, particularly the
contrast between England and Ger
many, the truth is in realty a price
less book Of knowledge TO America.
1t needs only a homely illustration
to ponder its value, a story OF two
farmers; for America and Germany
may be likened to neighboring hus-
bandmen, one of whom holds land
on the alluvian side Of a stream
where his crops grow in rich pro-
fusion with but little cultivation,
while the other dwells upon the bar
rem side with but a narrow strip OF
infertile soil TO hand. The rich
farmer, with his ample crops in his
more frequent moments Of leisure,
may observe unconcerned, if not
with a certain impulse OF charity, his
necessarily more industrious neighbor
on the barren shore. He will certain
ly not grudge him the few drops Of
honey which his poorly situated
neighbours bees carry across the
stream and he may even admire the
intensive detail with which the
meager soil is cultivated.
But when after a few decades the
barren shore blooms like a garden
while the rich %alluvian soil has been
exhausted by the reckless drafts
upon its fertility, and the prodigal
farmer begins to feel the pinch OF
circumstances and lessening yields,
while the farmer on the once barren
shore thrives on with the comfort
and luxury that once were enjoyed
by the prodigal farmer, it behooyes
not the latter to neglect the lessons
which the poor farmer has been
forced 10 learn, but rather to avail
himself of the hard-earned technique
and the multiplicity of devices which
the severe but kindly mother Of in
v%entions, necessity, has forced upon
him.
This comparison is by no means
fanciful Germany, with an area
four-hfths Of the size Of Texas, sup
ports a population Of e. 900
which, without immigration, is in
creasing at the rate Of one million
a year, while the vastly richer and
wider expanses Of America support
population OF 1905 900 with a 4
wealth per capita only slightly in
excess of Germany's wealth per
capita.
In 1870 Germany with a popula-
ton Of 100000 was poor in natural
resources and poor in pocket. To-
day, with a population 81 per cent.
greater. she is still poorer in natural
resources, but her savings bank dep
osits have increased 600 per cent.
and the individual wage earners' in-
come and wages have more than
doubled.
Her foreign trade has increased
one to FIVE billion dollars,
while in the same period the foreign
trade of Great Britain, for example,
only increased from two TO five and
a half billion dollars. Thus, while
England has been doubling her
trade, Germany has increased hers
hyefold.
Comparison might be multiplied,
but these few items are typical of
the enormous development Of Ger
many. 1t is the present purpose to
point out the secrets of this vast
German progress and to show in
what particulars America may profit
by the hard experience which Ger
many has gained.
America, enjoying the isolation OF
is geographical situation and free
from the pressure OF foreign polit-
cal considerations, has been animated
its development by individual
-ather than national considerations.
The country has grown up of its
,wn accord. That it should become
great and powerful has not been an
conscious national policy.
Its politicians have been engaged
n their own devices and have found
not in developing the country
IS a nation, but in favoring certain
A41tl Ha8 vL T.