New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-02-04
To the Editor OF The Tribune.

To the Editor or The Tribune.
Sr: To a dispassionate observer il would
appear that the paramount question OF the
day. that of armament, is being agitated at
the wrong end. We are directing our at.en-
ton t. effects before considering causes. and
are discussing defence without any clear idea
Of what VIC mean TO defend and against whom.
Hence, the need Of the hour is concrete for
eign policy which can be recognized by the
people and for whose fulflment Congress and
the Administration can be held accountable.
Happily. there arc indications OF a growing
consciousness Of this need. and the con-
ference OF the National Security League, 70
meet presently at Washington. includes n its
programme a discussion Of "World Politics
and Our Country's Relation Thereto"
We arc now drifting amlessly, whereas a
nation can no more than an individual afford
% live without a guiding principle, and guild
ing principles are better formulated in nor
nal times than in the excitement Of crisis.
The wayfarer suddenly confronted with a
footpad is i'll conditioned for deliberation
and is prone TO do the wrong thing, unless in
the security Of his home he has previously
decided on d course in such case. whether TO
yield his purse. argue the matter or reach for
his Weapon. according 10 his conception of
what is best worth while.
A world policy must be founded on two
clements: First, our own aims and smbi
tions. and, second. such foreign aspirations
as concern US ether adversely or favorsbly
II must be compounded Of diplomacy and
statocraft, and il is 10 dplomatists and
statesmen. distinct from oficeholders. that
re must look for the formulation OF the de-
-. /. u, l..
and unuttered. Furthermore, the formula will
fail to become possession of the people I'M
less their leaders. by needing the laws of
mass psychology, provide them with watch
word a concrete expression of their aims.
which can be shouted or cheered. Such cries
as mot one cent for tribute" and Fifty
four forty or fight" have been powerful in
ccntives to action. and even the more static
place in the sun and italia irredenta" are
making history to-day.
One effect Of tho war on American opinion
has been to arouse general interest IN the
working of the European mind. For the first
time within memory the man in the street IS
man Testing a curiosity about the underlying
motives OF peoples speaking in strange
tongues. First, in August. 1914. he hears the
names Of Nietzsche and Treitschke and the
rest, after the bearers of those names had
spent their lives in teaching their ideals. He
earns that Won Bernhard has for years been
preaching a jehad. lie has formed some no
tions OF the application of Pan-German,sn 70
European relations. but has as yet learned
out vaguely that Pan-Germanism is not lin
lied by any continent or hemisphere.
What Won Bernhard accomplished IN his
expos ition Of his country's des igns on her
nelghbors was undertaken a dozen ?ears
h.. Lrof dol shaiu an
officer Of the General staff, in respect of ad-
venture overseas in his monograph. rudely
written and roughly translated into English
under the title corporations Upon the Sea.
This little book Is not likely to become popu-
lar. but nevertheless affords highly intel est
.mg reading to any American whose horizon
extends outside the three-mile limit. Simply
and earnestly the Freiherr appeals for prepa-
ration to the last detail Of all that make for
readiness to strike with lghtening-like sud
denness, not AZ his country's foes there is
always time TO prepare hostile expeditions
against open enemies but against weak or
ansuspectng nations across the seas. II,
discusses frankly surprise invasion or Eng
land and also Of the United States. He says.
page So: Operations against the United
States Of North America must be entirely
different With that country in particular
political friction. manifest in commercial
aims. has no. been lacking in recent years
and has until now been chiefly removed by
acquiescence on our part. However, such
submission has limit the question arises a.
to what means we can develop to carry out
our purpose with force in order to combat the
encroachmen, Of the United States upon our
interests Again. page 50: III an unexpected
invasion Of the United States is prevented
/. 1t must be emphasized that the