Arizona republican., 1917-08-24
Fe0r Borm Qf Centuries
 Made The GeyrMamS W0yllke

statues, busts, souvenirs, etc, of the first Napoleon. collected by the crown prince and which he was showing at the time of the first of these converse tions to this American lady, shows the trend of his mind and that all his admiration is centered upon Napoleon, the man who sought the mastery of the world and who is thought by admirers like the crown prince to have failed only because of slight mistakes which they feel in his place they would not have made.
 If the Germans long preparations for war were to bear any fruit. count less facts pointed to the summer of 1914 as the time when the army would strike that great and sudden blow at the liberties of the world.
 The Time for the Great Blow
 It was in June, 1914, that the i'm proved Kiel canal was re-opened, en- abling the greatest warships to pass from the Baltic to the North Sea. In the Zeppelins the Germans had an arm not possessed by any other coun- try, with which they undoubtedly be- lieved that they could do much damage to England than was the case after the actual outbreak of histilities. They had paid great attention to the develop ment of the submarine. Their aero planes were superior to those of other nations. They believed that in the use of poison gas, which was prepared before the outbreak of the war, they had a prize that would absolutely de- moralize their enemy. They had their flame -throwers and the heavy artillery and howitZers which reduced the re- doubtable forts of Liege and Namur to l fragments within a few hours, and l which made the holding of any fort resses impossible
 On their side, by the imposition of a heavy tax called the "wehrbeitrag, or supplementary defense tax, they had, in 1913, increased their army by number of army corps. On the other hand, the law for three-year military service voted in France had not yet | gone into effect, nor had the law for universal military service voted by the Belgian Chambers. Undoubtedly the Germans based great hopes upon the Bagdad railway. which was to carry | their influence to the East and even | threatened the rule of England in | Egypt and India. Undoubtedly there was talk, too, Of Slav railroad to run | from the Danube to the Adrlatic, which would cut off Germany from access to the Southern Sea. Francis Deloisi, the | Frenchman, in his book published be- l fore the great war, called De la Guer- re des Balkans a la Guerre Europe enne," says: Tn a word, the present war (Balkan) is the work of Russia, and the Danube-Asia railway is a Russian project If it succeeds con- i tinuous barrier of Slav peoples will bar the way to the Mediterranean, the path of Austro German expansion from 1 the Black Sea to the Adriatic. But 1 here again the Remanoffs confront the 1 Hapsburg. the Austro- Serb conflict 1 becomes the Austro- Russian conflict, two great groups are formed, and the Balkan conflict becomes the European conflict"
 l Another reason for an immediate
 war was the loan by France to Russia,
 
 strategic railways were to be con-
 structed by the Russians in Poland.
 Although this money had been received
 the railways had not been constructed
 at the time of the opening of the great
 war. Speaking of this situation, the
 Russian general. kuropatkin in his re- port for the year 1900, said: We must
 cherish no illusions as to the possibility
 of an easy victory over the Austrian army" and he then went on to say that
 Austria had eight railways to trans
 port troops to the Russian frontier while Russia had only four, and while Germany had seventeen such railways , running to the German Russian iron
 tier the Russians had only five" Kuro- } patkin further said that The differ | ences are too enormous and leave oul nelghbors superiority which cannot , be overcome by the numbers of our , troops, nor their courage"
 Comparing the two armies, Kuropat [ kin said: The invasion of Russia by German troops is more probable thar
 the invasion of Germany by Russian , troops;" further, that Our westerr , | frontier, in the event of a European
 War. would be in such danger as il
 never has known in all the history ol , Russia
 Il Agitation by wcrkmen in Russia wa. believed in Germany to be the begin. fl ming of revolution.
 I Illuminating figures may be seen ir
 the gold purchase of the German I'm Q perial bank: In 1911, 174 ,OO0, 900 marks a in 1912, 173,000,000 marks; but in 1913
 317.0O0OOO marks.
 Il There was belief in Germany tha
 the French nation was degenerate ant corrupt and unprepared for war. Thi a belief became conviction when, in tn U debates of the French senate, Senate P Humbert, early in 1914, publicly ex I posed what he claimed to be the weak n ness and unpreparedness of France. ,l tContinued Tomorrow r |