Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1918-08-22
Why We Fight
No.
Bseanss Gsrmaay TIavinl Split the
World in Hall Il Now Tryint
to Devour he Halvss
BY CLARENCE I. SPEED
Secretary Of the War Committee Of the
Union League Club Of Chicago.

8D6ESI8xY y
Union League Club Of Chicago.
We are fighting Germany, for one
thing, because Germany, having split
the world In half, is now seeking to |
devour the halves separately. She
has driven a wedge straight through
the heart Of Europe, and into Asia,
and Is seeking to extend It to the Per
sian gulf.
This is no accidental happening, due
to the downfall Of Russia and the sud-
den shifting In the fortunes Of war.
Germany planned 1t all decades ago.
She made no effort to keep the plans
secret. She told us all about 1t. She
had a reputation for making plans
and sticking to them, from one gener.
alton to another; yet the world paid
no attention. I. seemed too prepos-
ferrous even for Germany to attempt.
AS long ago as 1898 a pamphlet,
"Pan-Germany and Central Europe
About 1885," was published in Berlin
and had wide circulation. i laid the
whole Mitteleuropa plan bare as fol-
lows:
"Poland and Little Russia tthe king
dom to be established at Russia's ex-
pense) will agree to have no armies
Of their own, and will receive in their
fortresses German and Austrian garri-
sons. In Poland, as well as in Little
Russia, the postal and telegraph serv-
ices as we'll as the railways will be in
German hands,"
In 1911 Tannenberg's book, "Greater
| Germany" was published. This was
only three years before the war, but
1t showed that the idea of German
Mitteleuropa had not been allowed to
languish. 1t says:
s'The new kingdom Of Poland Is
made up Of the former Russian por-
| ton of the basin of the Vistula, and Of
Galcia, and forms part.of the new
| Austria"
How the plan has grown since then!
.Russia's collapse dropped whole prov
inces into the lap Of the kaiser, and
now Germany plans its empire on
scale which would dwarf that of an
Gent Rome. 1t Is to embrace the orig
/. inal Central Europe, inhabited by
some 100000 Germans, make the
Black sea q German lake, and extend
clear to the Persian gulf through the
1assal states of Bulgaria and Turkey.
The German government started to
l put it's scheme for Mitteleuropa In
to effect years ago when it began the
construction of the archaeological
railway. Little Serbia stood in the
10 1y
j world was plunged into war. In the
opposite corner Of Europe Belgium
was invaded and crushed. The world
then thought that this was only be-
i cause Belgium offered the easiest
u route to France; but study Of the Nit.
teleuropa plan of years ago shows that
1 Belgium was included in the scheme
, of conquest.
, SLOW does all this affect American
i one may ask. Germany was late
conner in the family Of great nations
Most Of the uncivilized world had been
/ prc-empted by other nations before
4 she arrived. Germany wanted col
j onies. 70 get them she. would have
{ to take them away from someone else
Africa and South America offered
the best fields for German colonial
0 ton. England possessed the best par
J Of Africa-the parts in which the
i white man might hope to settle ant
u thrive. England had mighty feet
/. and disposition to hold what sht
|. had, even though she did not show
1. disposition to fight for more.
b There remained South America. /
J. was divided among weak nations. I
d was protected only by the Monroe doc
J, trine. This Monroe doctrine was {
i sacred thing to Americans, but, no
. being backed up by mighty armies ant
b fleets, was not even a "scrap Of paper
4 to the Germans. Can anyone doubt
' should Germany succeed in welding
d into q mighty empire the 7S,000,O0'
Germans and the 100,O00,000 inhabi
J, tants of the vassal and conquered
n states Of her Mitteleuropa, that he
d next step would be toward the west
i The very fact that she had this EN-
q pire would presuppose the defeat o
England, SO that no British feet woul'
q stand between us and Germany whel
y the time came for the kaiser to sen,
10 his legions across the Atlantic.
4 "As in the East, so in the West,
Is motto which, Of recent weeks, ha
. been much heard in Germany. At
conference Of the national liberal pal
), ty, held in March Of this year, the fo
Ill IL