Der Deutsche correspondent. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1841-1918, 1917-02-01
GREAT BRITAIN BARS PEACE TO
DOMINATE THE WORLD.

BY JOHN w. BURGESS,
Professor Emeritus Of Political
Science and Constitutional Law
at Columbia University
------
From the New York Ameriean.)
The position taken by President
Wilson that, while the United States
Shall have no voice in determining
what the terms of peace" ending this
war shall be-" and while no Amer
ican Government would throw any
obstacle in the way OF any terms Of
peace, the Governments now at war
might agree upon or seek to upset
them when made whatever they
might be-" on the other hand, that
so far as our participation in guaran-
tees of future peace is concerned, Il
makes great deal Of difference in
what way and upon what terms it is
ended appears unassailable
These are not. however, the all
else-overshadowing questions for us
as citizens OF the United States of
America. Those all-embracing, ALI
else-precedent, questions are whether
we shall demand peace now, peace
without victory, and whether, what
ever may be the terms Of peace, the
United States shall participate in
guaranteeing its permanence by
force
The old-fashioncd American would
answer no, emphatically, from the
point of view held and upon the prin-
ciple enunciated by Washington that
America must avoid all eptangle-
mcnts with the politics OF Europe.
High-Sounding Words.
We hear now, however, the propo-
sition advanced all around us, that
the conditions which produced and
justified the Washingtonian policy
are now obsolete and that the mod
ern situation OF the world and our
own obligations to mankind require
us 10 abandon ii and participate in
world guarantee of everlasting
peace These arc high-sounding, not
to say startling, words, and every
one Of them should be scrutinized
with cold end mcrciless criticism.
How has the world changed? How
has our own country changed? And
how have our obligations to mankind
become so changed as TO demand OF
us SO radical a reversal Of our tradi-
tional policy?
H.
which produced our Washingtonian
policy, the period between l776 and
1920, was the period OF the dissolu-
ton OF the Great Colonial Empires,
Spain, France and Great Britain,
which had during the three preced-
ing centuries been constructed. DUR
ing This period practically the whole
OF the two American continents, eX-
~
America, shook themselves free from
colonial connection with these Euro
pean Empires and set themselves up
as a number OF Independent States,
and announced the doctrine that they
we're not subject to any further
colonization
In 1925 most Of the publicists and
statesmen in America believed that
the colonial empire system, the sys-
TEN OF territorial conquest and cX-
ploitation Of weak peoples by strong
peoples, had received its death
wounds and was soon TO be laid away
in the tomb Of past and obsolete
world systems.
Allies Hold Half OF Land.
They thought that the New World
system was to be series Of separate,
erning States, equal in right and
bound together BY the general prin-
ciples OF international justice, and
MOI requiring any special alliances
and Understandings in order TO main-
tain their existence and their proper
interests II actually looked for "
timc as il this ideal might be real
izcd.
But il was soon seen that, driven
from tho larger part Of the Americas,
the Colonial Empire System was
fastening itself with more rigor and
determination upon Asia, Austral-
asia and Africa. Great Britain, Rus
sia and France now hold half tho
land area Of the world in colonial de-
pendence and control the highways
OF the seas, During this present war
they have increased that dependent
area by nearly two millions OF square
miles and have lorded il over the
high seas as II these also were their
possession.
Moreover, they have inveiglcd
Japan into the Great Colonial En-
pire Trust, both military and econ
cmic, which they have formed for
controlling the trade OF the entire
world after this war is over, and as
the result of it, by encouraging hcr
ambition TO become the Colonial En-
pire Of the Pacific and the chief OK
ploiter OF the wealth Of China.
The menace contained in all this
to the freedom of the seas, the conf
mercial independence of the other
States of The world, both belligcrent
and neutral, and to the open door TO
trade everywhere, is far more threat
cning and perilous than ever before
in the history OF the world.
Would Tear Down Bulwark.
Still further, the plans OF this
great Colonial Empire trust would
tear down the great bulwarll OF CEN
trail, southeastern and western
Europe against Asia, namely tho
German Empire and the German ar
my and open the white-man States
Of Europe to the Overwhelming
hordes of Muscovy and Asia, to the
destruction OF the civilization Of con-