New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-07-04

solute cynicism whenever it suited their inter-
ests to fout it. Had she desired TO crush
France she could have done so in the sos,
when the British official world would have been
rather pleased than otherwise. She could
have done so when, embarrassed by the Boer
war, we were incapable Of helping France even
had we wished to do so; or, again, when freed
from any danger on the Russian side. after
Mukden. She did not do so. Why7 She was
proportionately far stronger as a land power
In the 80s, the COS and in the first five years
of the present century than in 1914. For
just upon half century Germany had waged
no war. Neither had her Austrian ally The
personal influence of their rulers had been ex-
erted time and again, as eminent politicians
and writers in the countries of their present
foes have borne witness, in the cause Of peace.
Germany's oversee possessions had been &C.
quired not by wars of conquest but by treaty
arrangements. Her ally had never been at
tracted by the oversee imperialist mirage.
During that period Russian Imperialism had
waged sanguinary war with Japan; British
Imperialism with the Dutch republics which
had been absorbed in the British Empire;
quest against colored peoples all over the globe,
and as a result had annexed an area Of terri
tory as large as the United States; Italy had
embarked upon two formidable campaigns, the
latter of which was the most cynically immoral
venture of our time. While her neghbors
were fighting Germany was building up a mar
velous industrial edifce, which had everything
to lose by war, and a great overseas trade
which was bound to be temporarily ruined by
war.
When these facts are borne in mind-and
none can gainsay them-when it Is considered
that even Germany's enormous expenditure
upon ornaments during the last ten years
falls short by hundreds of millions of the ex-
pendture of her potential foes under the Eu-
ropean balance of power" system-that foul
idol" as Bright once called it-and that she
has never once put forth her great strength,
the presumption is that, judging from her own
past conduct, Germany would welcome an hon.
orable peace and if this be denied her that
she will drag down the civilized world with her
in her fall. In her position Britishers would
do the same.
ONWARD TO PEACE.
Were President Wilson able to lay even the
first foundations of the future bridge across
the gulf of existent Anglo-German enmity the
end of this awful tragedy would be in sight.
For Anglo German enmity has become the key
of the situation. The Balkan question, and
with it the problem of Austro-Russian rivalry,
is not nsoluble on the basis of a settlement
founded upon nationality, of home rule within
home rule We owe the origins Of this war not
to the insoubility of Austro- Russian conten-
tions, but to the seeds of strife sown by two
rival iplomatsts-Aerenthal and Iswolsky-
watered by the subsequent intrigues Of Hart
wig and Won Tschirsl y, just as we owe its
worldwide extension to the intrigues ignor-
ancies and incompatblities Of temper Of half
a dozen rulers and diplomats operating IN an
atmosphere of mutual fears and concealing
their maneuvres from the gaze OF their peo-
pies thus giving free rein to the criminal enter
prise of few powerful publicists and an in
ternationalized armament ring. Neither are
the problems of Alsace- Lorraine or of Poland
insoluble if solution be sought in the ascer-
tanned desires of the peoples of those disputed
areas and not on the basis of military con-
sideratons which have never settled any prob
lem of international politics. The real problem
which faces the world to-day is none Of these.
Anglo-German enmity is the real problem.
Neither people can destroy the other, what
ever the politicians or the papers say
Every belligerent government must make
sacrifices for peace; must be compelled TO do so
by its peoples if it will not of its own accord.
But it is at least probable that elements in the
ruling classes of all the beligerent countries
are looking for a golden bridge. And after
all it is the peoples, not the diplomats who
Numbered them into war or the publicists who
bounded them at each others threats, trading
on their fears that are paying with blood
and tears.
Once again. then, the essential is that the
PEOPLES should mutually and severaly be in
position TO know the nature of the adversary's
claim. If the Peoples have the right TO make
war they also have the right to make peace.
II is a great thing to ask of President Will
son that he should endeavor TO make himself
the medium through which that knowledge can
be acquired But he is the only personal force
in this distracted planet 10 whom we can turn.
Supported by the American people, fortified by
the deep humanities which inspire him and by
the wide and penetrating grasp Of men and
things which he possesses-if he could bring
himself to make this effort he would be the
savior Of the world, and his name would be
blessed from generation unto generation.