Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1918-12-27
~ THE sLAv LANDS OF CENTRAL EUROPE


will not do to conclude that Germany,
because her armies for the moment
are defeated and disorganized, no long
er is TO be considered q factor in the
economic and political life of the
world.
Socialists Are Pan-Germans.
The German government, at this
writing, appears to be under the con-
troll of socialist groups who will bit
terly oppose any return to the auto
cratic form. But these same socialist
leaders who now direct the German
government were at the outbreak of
the war and, in fact, up to a very
few weeks before its close, Just as
pan-German as the kaiser himself or
his junker advisers who now are 30
cordially hated.
The workers Of Germany-the so
cialists now in control of the govern
ment-must look to the outside world
for the raw materials to keep their
mills busy and they must likewise look
beyond the boundaries of their coun-
try for markets in which to sell their
surplus production. For fifty years
they have been taught this. Further,
they have been taught that the way to
get supplies of raw materials from
abroad is not to buy them. giving their
I surplus manufactured products in re-
turn, but to go out and grab the lands
which supply them. They also have
been taught that the way to open for
eign markets to their export trade Is
not to meet the other nations in fair
competition, but to subdue neighbor-
ing lands and compel their peoples to
purchase German products.
| 1t is not reasonable to believe tina
these German Industrial workers hav
changed their views overnight-that
they would not try even under a so
cialist government for expansion If
they thought there was a chance for
success. More than ever before they
must depend on the outside world both
for their raw materials and their mar
kets, and, defeated though they are,
they are likely to try to get these
things in the only way they know
by force.
Seek to Push Trade.
governed by socialists who must work
or starve, who must get raw materials
from abroad and sell their finished
wares abroad, will be the nearest
neighbor of the newly established Slav
lands. These lands will furnish the
best sources of raw material and the
best markets for goods made in Ger
many"
It is certain, therefore. that Ger.
many, under its new government. will
make every effort to monopoIize the
trade of these lands, to keep them
from progressing industrially to a
point where they would rival indus
trial Germany, and finally to reduce
them to such economic dependence
that political servitude might easily
follow when the time is ripe.
The allied nations have it In theil
power at the peace table to see that
these new nations are firmly establish
ed. It is their plain duty, thereafter
to see that proper support, moral and
financial. and, If necessary, military, IL
accorded them in order that they may
become real barriers against Ger
many's greed. No one nation, it is evi
dent, can take up this burden alone
Something like league of nations, un
selfish and powerful, undoubtedly mus
fulfill this duty, because, If the newly
created states are left to themselve:
it is by no means certain that they
| will not soon fall again under the con
troll of a revived and reconstructed
Germany, thereby made powerful
enough once more to attempt to throt
tie the world.