The sun., 1918-07-09
What German "Freed of the
Seas" Really Means.

| Seas" Really Means.
The phrase freedom of the seas
has been favorite locution with
Germans since they began the war
against civilization. They have sought
to picture England as brutal and
despotic ruler Of the great waters, re-
strlcting and combining other nations
IN their use of the oceans. The at
| tempt has not been a success; the ex-
istence and prosperity Of a tremen-
dous German merchant fleet have been
too obvious n REPUTATION of the charges
| Of British discrimination to be con-
cealed. 1t has been apparent that
when a German statesman talked Of
freedom of the seas" he meant free
dom for Germany and for nobody
else. But this truth has not been ac-
knowledged by Germany's Spokesman,
for good and sufficient reasons.
1t is interesting therefore to find
the facts Of German purpose bluntly
declared on respectable German au-
thority, by Professor EHRENBERG, in
the Vossische Zeitung. Not the oceans
open to nll on terms Of exact equality.
| which has been the situation for
years, but the oceans n series of Ger
man lakes Is the object Of the war
on its naval side. He writes:
The victory at Constantinople (the
al q.
| ward a naval victory. Thanks to that
victory. we have ieaped across Eng
| lands power In the Mediterranean. and
| thus we have become a naval power
thanks to a victory on the land We
must go on In the same direction. and
| there shines clearly before us our last
| object for the attainment OF the freedom
of the seas-the domination OF the suez
! Canal.
by the possession OF the Suez Canal
we would have In our hands the core
OF the British Empire. and the latter
would thus be deprived OF its poison
| Gus tooth. And we would in this man
| ner become the rulers OF the bridge to
the second great part Of the world and
the neighbors OF the Indian Ocean: We
would get out OF the Middle European
press-the moist triangle: we would not
care what is going on In the Atlantic.
Egypt must be our aim and II we
cannot reach II right now we must get
to It as closely as possible; this means
that we must add to our Constantnople
| naval victory further victories; we must
capture the Suez Canal and hold It for
a victory in our future naval and colo
| NAL war"
In this conception of freedom of the
seas there is no passage indicative of
liberty, equal rights or common priv
ileges. The keynote of the whole Is
domination: German domination,
capture Of Suez for victory in the
future "naval and colonial war" The
British Empire must be deprived of
its poisonous tooth: the poison, ap-
parently. so far MS the seas are con-
cerned, finding it's expression in n
policy that made profitable the build
ing and operation of splendid argo-
sizes for worldwide trade by every
nation in the world that cared to en-
bark IN such enterprises. Germany
herself was one Of the greatest bene-
ficiaries from the operation OF this
policy. Had Great Britaln's leader
ship in shipping been founded on cur
tailment of the opportunities of other
nations. no such fleet Of carriers rs
that which flew the red and white
and black of the German Empire be-
fore the Kaiser challenged the world
could have come into being.
In this MS In other things altruistic
words from German tongues mean
only selfish German projects thinly
yelled or temporarily hidden. Ger
man freedom Of the seas" connotes
German seas. verboten to all whose
presence does not fit German designs
or serve German ambition.