The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1917-04-20
GERMANY'S CONNIE ClAL CON-
QUEST-HER GREAT MISTAKE

marvellous progress OF any nation OF
modern times.
Had its emperor been content to
have made conquest OF the com
merce of the world his ambition n
this laudable direction may have been
fully gratitied.
With { territory no larger, ii as
lage. as the state of Texas, Germany
was fast becoming a world power III
trade, traffic and travel. It's ships
traversed every sea. and its merchan-
disc was sold in almost every hamlet
of the world.
Take, for instance. the one example
that we shall name: Ocala is small
town. situated in the interior OF 4
state remote from the German en-
pire, ana is not noted for its German
population. yet German goods were
as familiar here as those Of .Ameri-
can manufacture.
German toys. German cutlery. Ger
man printing inks, German dyes and
other gods of German design. all car
ry;ag ne trade mari, of the kaiser
were as familiar in this little city as
tn toys If New York the hardware
Of Pittsburs, or the printing inks Of
Cincinnati
Germany's was marvellous and
wonderfully rapid development and
quickly PIT the world on notice
The German people are gOOd-na-
tured, and in many respects a lovable
people: they are frugal and indus
trial people: they are a people gifted
with prescience and foresight, and
are the real builders of the empire
yet they strangely fall down and wor-
ship at the feet of the kaiser as if he
were an idol and he. not themselves,
were the creator of this worldwide
traffic
From the day the present kaiser as
cended the imperial throne he has act
ed as if this homage belonged to him
because he is anointed of God. and
he has no tolerance or patience with
any other thought
For example. the socialists in Ger
many form the greater part of the me-
chanics and the greater part of the
laboring population; they are a quiet,
lawabiding people: socialism there is
entirely different from socialism
here; their political propaganda for
reform did not mean war on autocra-
cy per Sc but the kaiser from the
beginning of his reign, had an I'M
necessary fear and hatred of them.
and in one of his speeches from the
throne he referred to them as a
horde Of men unworthy to bear the
name of Germans.
Yet today these same men are in
the trenches doing the fighting and
the dying. and continue to cling TO
the idea that the kaiser. as he him
self prOclaims. is kaiser by divine
right. and they but the doer of his
bidding.
To us on this side of the water this
boosted pretension and blind obedi-
ence surpasses all understanding 1t
has led to an autocracy exceeding
that of Russia
Under the kaiser'S dictun the mill
tary became paramount and civil law
existed in Germany only in name The
press had no standing; les majestic
was milestone about its neck.
The kaiser only abided his time
10 strike blow for some cause, any
cause however trivial. to strike
blow for military conquest, and found
it in the assassination of a grand duke
by crazy man in Servia.
And this rushing to arms without
a just cause, what is the outcome?
Germanys great commercial con-
quest has been swept away. Her
ships have been swept off the seas.
Except that part OF her navy that Is
afraid to come out OF hiding has been
destroyed Her territorial conquest
in other parts of the world has been
seized upon by other nations, and
when the end comes Germany will
find herself hopeless and helpless,
with the loss of Alsace and Lorraine,
besides her other possessions, and
with none so poor as to do her rever-
ence She will have a mark upon
her more terrible than Gains, and
will be regarded as a vagabOnd among
the nations.
For brave and spirited people her
punishment will be almost greater
than she can bear
And all because of the vaulting am.
bition of her ruler
But it will teach a salutary lesson
that will lead in the direction of dem