Der Deutsche correspondent. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1841-1918, 1915-03-16
ENGLAND IS FRANK IN ONE
THING-ITS WAX IS A COM
MERCIAL ONE.
(By DR.. Edmund Won Macht in
The Fatherland.)

of German wares, with a list of the
places where they used to be sold,
at what prices and in what quanti-
ties Suggestions are also made
how this trade may be diverted to
England.
This is natural because England
looks upon the economic profits TO
be derived from this war as the most
important A London magazine,
therefore, The Financier, spoke in a
recent number (Boston Evening
Transcript, March 3, 1870 sub
stantially as follows:
Germany is on the point OF los
ing, for ten years or longer, not only
the big markets of Russia, France
and Belgium, but also those of the
whole English-speaking race. The
German foreign trade has suddenly
ceased, and it is our duty to see that
il viii never start again. What Ger
many has achieved by years of pains
taking labor has suddenly been given
into our hands. So long as we con
troll the routes of the great oceans
and If we improve our opportunity
the complaint Of German commercial
competition will not again be heard,
at least in our lifetime"
Self-Sunicient Confession.
This unblushing confession of
what England is fighting for, made
only few months after the be-
ginning Of the war, is a worthy
counterpart to the famous trumpet
call to arms of 1897 when England
first realized her inability to win by
fair means our German competition.
"a million petty disputes" the
Saturday Review said. build up the
greatest cause of war the world has
ever seen. IF Germany were OK
tinguished tomorrow, the day after
tomorrow, there is not an English
man in the world who would not be
richer. Nations have fought for
years over city or a right of sue
cession Must they not fight for two
hundred million pounds of COM
merce?"
From the English point of view
they must, of course, fight for it, for
Englishmen hate nothing worse than
free competition in the open markets
OF the world. -a ...........l
English wars are commercial
wars. The English Government, to
be sure, has generally looked for
moral sources under which to dis
guise its real purposes. This proce-
dure, however, has at times been
very annoying to her blunt fighting
men, for the latter openly prefer the
attitude of their famous Admiral
Monck, who said during the English
Dutch struggle for commercial
superiority: "What does this or that
reason matter? What we need is
slice of the commerce which the
Dutch now have"
Britons Write Neutral News.
If the press Of our EnglishAmeri-
can friends. who in spite of their
hyphen are often not void Of Ameri-
can patriotic Ieelings-this state
ment has, of course, no reference to
the British subjects who are engaged
in writing neutral" war news in
our metropolitan paDers-would
recognize the emphasis which Eng
land has always laid on the economic
side of her wars, two recent occur
rences would have been less puzziing
to them.
England's objection to President
Wilson'S Ship Purchase bill was
voiced by those American business
men who cannot conceive Of q
hourishing American industry inde-
pendent of England. Even if Presi-
dent Wilson should have wished to
purchase everyGerman merchantmen
lying idle in an American portland
this has been denied--the material
benefit which would have accrued to
the German companies would have
amounted to only a few million dol
lars, and even if this money could
have found its way from the private
] owners to the exchequer Of the Ger
man Government, it would have
been but drop in the bucket Eng
lands real objection was due to her
fear lest America cut loose from her
walking strings.
Independent of the British carry
! ing trade, America and not England
might be the real gamer of the war
Rut the very thought of England
! having instigated a world war with
, out being able to reap the glorious
reward of two hundred and nifty
1 million dollars worth of annual
trade. was enough to break every
honest English heart And this
f, would not have been the whole
calamity, for if America could have
her own ships. England might find
at the end of the war that she had
not one, but two capable rivals
Germany and America She has
{ been unable to hold her own against
one rival; against two she would be
( utterly helplessl
Must Set His House in Order.
And she knows this, for there is
I not a living English business man
who is not convinced in the bottom
OF his heart that he must set his
house in order first, before he can
hope to compete on even terms with
anybody. England, however, hates
progress. She does not wish to re-
nounce her oligarchical government
or abolish her privileged classes.
She regrets the destitutiOn of her
laboring classes perhaps, but She
would rather pay billions to crush a
rival than millions to improve the
conditions of her own people. This
is the real cause of the present war.
The second incident mentioned
~. Il Sc