The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-06

From the Springfield Reput lican.
 This question is being asked on all sides
 aud variously answered, hu, it ought nc; to be raised at all. Nobody can possibly
 know all the motives wr,ch lie benind
 friendly profession from one govern
 lnent to another, and it Is wiser not to inGuiie too curiously. Indulgence in such | skepticism would or,cd on all sides sus- ricion and i'll will and make impossible | the friendly confidence which ought tv | exist between nations which have no SC. rious ground for lLarr.;l.
 If conditions exist which call for pre-
 cautions, the precautions should be taken.
 but even in taking them there should be l no question of the sincerity of any nation which speaks us far md sui $ it's ao otions | to the word. We should never forget that | nation is not sinste personality, and | thai within it may be clements friendly | t5 us and elements that are hostile just as in our own country ws have to recog-
 nize violent divergency of opinion and sympathy.
 Uniform friendliness either in the peo- pie or in the government which repre- | sents the people it would be absurd to de-
 mard. All that can reasonably be asked
 for is oorrect and friendly relations, and into the motives We reed net inquire too crriously. France helped us in the revo | lutionary war; tho obligation should be fully and generously recognized without asking whether the aid was due to | friendship for us or to antagonsm to England. Bismarck more than once made
 fine show of regard for the United | States, his private sentiments were not SC cordial, but that does not matter. In international relations it Is well not to go below the surface.
 1 This Is the more essential because quar- rels which are suppressed often dsap- pear entirely; new men come to the front; a bellcose ministry falls; fresh turn of events makes the whole issue obsolete. | In 1898 Fashoda brought France and Eng ! land to the verge of war; in 1905 the Dog 1 ger bank incident nearly provoked war between England and Russia. Now all three are allies. Even unfriendly acts 1 and intrigues should be discreetly over- looked when nothing comes of them there | is probably no nation in Europe which l has not at one time or another plotted against some friendly state Ambitious men get into power and the net of intrigue 1 is being necessarily woven. but 1t unravels as fast as 1t is made.
 The only course for a self-respectinS nation to take is to avoid offense and accept professions of good will as honest l ly meant till the contrary is proved. We know that many Germans at the present
 moment are embittered against the United States. but we know too that they thinl; they have reason and We hope that after l the War this feeling will disappear. We have no reason to think that any act of | the German government has been dictated by hostility to us or by any motive but desire for the advancement of German ! interests. What motives prevailed in go- | ing just so far and no further we need net inquire. Probably the course taken was the resultant of many forces, politi- cal. military anal personal, but 1t is suf-
 turn turn for the better. Nations are to be jucged not by th@ir motives but by theil
 actions.