The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1916-12-28
{ Frcm New York American. }

Europe is a reasonable peace treaty
consummated this winter, Just as the
surest guarantee of renewed wars
breaking out in Europe would be the
prosecution of this conflict to a decis-
i've victory by either alliance, or to a
more probable exhaustion of both ALI
ances.
Let US see if we cannot talk these
matters over with calmness and good
sense.
In the first place, it Is well to consid-
er the objects which led to this war.
If we dismiss the sentimental aspects
without discussion we shall get along
much faster, because there is very
little sentimentalism in world politics,
and we know of no government except
our own which diverts and amuses as
well as puzzles European statecrafts-
men with copybook maxims and horn
book moralities.
Put your finger on the map of Europe
at Constantinople and then run it down
southeasternly by way of Ismid, Konia,
across the Taurus range, thence to the
Euphrates and Bagdad. and stop at
Basra on the Persian gulf.
Your moving finger has touched the
springs of this world war, and ira
versed the bridge between Europe and
Asia which is the prize Germany has
been fighting to win and England has
been fighting to prevent Germany
winning
The popular instinct which speaks
always of this as a war between Eng
land and Germany is exactly right,
without knowing why.
The seed of this war was sown in the
month of March, 1908, when German
capitalists, backed by government in
fuences, obtained from the Turkish
government the concession to extend
the German-owned Anatolian railway
from its then terminus at Konia to the
Persian gulf, along the route Of which
YOU have run your finger.
The present route between Europe
and India and the far East is the Suez
canal route, which is Great Britain's.
That route is the artery Of her world
empire. Who strikes at it strikes at
her commercial supremacy, her do
minion over the seas and her empire
in Asia.
The completion of the railroad from
the BosphorOus to the Persian gulf
would open a shorter commercial route
to the far East and military road to
India, which would be a fatal menace
to England in any war with a strong
power which controlled that road.
The object of Germany is to extend
German control over the Bagdad rail-
way and to coIonize Mesopotamia. The
German hive is fertile and is crowded.
1t feels the necessity of throwing off
swarms, just as the English hive has
swarmed into Africa, North America,
New Zealand and Australia. And
with the Americans closed to Ger
man swarms by the Monroe doctrine,
and Africa closed by British and French
occupations and alliance, German
craftsmanship turned to Asia and the
near East.
The object Of Great Britain is to pre-
vent German control of the Bagdad
railway and Persian gulf route to the
far East, with its commercial and
military menace to Britain.
The object OF Russia Is to gain Con-
stantinople and a water route over
which her trade with the world can go
on the year round.
The object of France is to limit the
growth of Germany's commercial and
military power before it becomes so
great as to compel France to sink to
the rank of a second hand power in
comparison. Incidentally. of course,
there is Alsace-Lorraine But it is
both her future safety and her ancient
"place in the sun" for which France
fights first.
The ambitions of Italy, Bulgaria,
Roumania, Serbia and Greece are
frankly territorial gains, and the OBJ
ject of Turkey is to preserve the ex-
istence OF Turkey in Europe.
The occupation of Belgium is not,
and never was, the cause Of war or the
cause of any nations entering the war.
The war would have begun and gone
on and been participated in by all the
combatants whether Germany had
violated Belgium's neutral territory to
strike at France or not. We may all
have our opinion of Germanys treat
ment of Belgium, which we do not
hesitate to brand as one of those blum
ders that are even worse than crimes.
But the war was not fought over that
crime by England or any other power.
With this outline of the causes of the
war and the objects of the ombstants,
we ought to be able to conjecture
whether peace can or cannot be made
now with more profit to all than any