The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1917-03-30

letter which the German naval com
monder in Mexican waters had writ
ten TO the imperial chancellor in Ber-
lin, giving high praise to Captain Won
Papen for the extraordinary service
he had rendered 10 his country IN
forming the German residents of Mex
leo into well-equipped and we'll
drilled army for defensive purposes.
So enthusiastic was the German naval
commander over the achievements
Of Captain Won Papen that he urged
the imperial chancellor TO bring them
to the attention Of the kaiser himself,
Great indeed must have been the work
Of this military attache that 1t was
worthy Of the notice Of the kaiser.
This was in the spring of 1914.
'NOw let's return to President Will
sons speech Of March o. Great Brit
ain was the foreign country most In
| terested in the Panama canal tolls and
next to the United States the country
most interested in Mexico. There has
been no secret Of Germany's efforts to
get footing I'm South America-ever
since the affair of Agadlr on the Afri-
can coast she has had her eye on GER
tain islands of South America.
Eye to Monroe Doctrine.
"When President Wilson refused to
recognize Huerta as president of Mex
leo, Germany saw what she thought
was a chance TO tear the Monroe Doc
trine TO pieces. First she tried to pave
the way through diplomacy in an eff
fort to get Great Britain to agree to
a hands-Off policy should Germany ac-
quire by purchase one of the Carri-
bean islands. Great Britain declined
to enter into any such agreement-and
then told the Unit ed States something
about Germany's aims that the United
States had not suspected. So when
the Panama canal tolls question came
to the fore for settlement, President
Wilson found that 1t involved other
matters Of even greater delicacy and
nearer consequence
"On the afternoon of July %, while
a Herald reporter was visiting Captain
Knapp on board the Connecticut, boats
were lowered from the Karlsruhe and
Strassburg machine guns were put in
them, men with rifles got in them and
the boats pulled for the shore.
"What are you going to doY the re-
porter asked Captain Knapp.
"'Wait and you will see said the
captain.
"He had hardly spoken before 1t
was observed that the German war
ships We're signaling to their boats.
The seamen, who had just landed, hur-
riedly got into the boats again and
they pulled out TO the warships and
were taken aboard. A few hours
later the Karlsruhe and the Strass-
burg went out to sea at full speed.
Their commanders had received word
that the European war had begun, and
hostilities with the United States were
no longer desired.
"Germany's far-reaching scheme to
attain commercial supremacy in the
Dutch and Danish West Indies, to ac-
uuire Haiti, TO get a footing in Vene-
zuela and Columbia and to establish
bases along the coast of eastern Cen
tral and South America were ruined
for the time being.
Purchase of Islands.
denmark, freed from the German
menace, entered again into negOtia-
tions for the sale Of her West Indian
possessions to the United States, and
President Wilson, knowing so many
things which the public at large did
not know, eagerly advocated their pur-
chase, having in mind their enormous
strategical value when the European
war should end and Germany again
might renew her activities on this side
of the ocean.
an November, 1914, Great Britain |
called on the United States to police .
the coasts of South America, because |
Colombia and Ecuador were permit
ting the use of their harbOrs as Ger
man bases and wireless stations, and
in December, 1914, Colombia forced
Germany to close a wireless station at
Cartagena.
Before the war, Germany had built
extensive port facilities at st. Thom-
as and had carried on a far-reaching
all through the islands.
She had powerful wireless stations In
the Caribbean and along the South
coast. She had supply
station for German vessels in st. AIMS
bay, on the south side of the Dutch
island of Curacao, and the island Of
Little Curacao, six miles from Gu
racao, has even been the scene Of Ger
nan operations since the war"