New-York tribune., 1918-05-13
Middle African Empire Urged
By Economists in Germany

barry Johnston, British authority on
AREA. accused the German ministers
OF having this idea in mind in an az.
ticle he wrote for "The Manchester
Huardan, last summer. To this Dr
Solf rcpled: '"'' D''
M NJ am the only German minister il
tna.; o,mce VINO has spoken about the nils
centlue ~s'om o. -A1rlca--in Leipzig re-
eently--and what | said was eracf1v :.
the opposite, namely, that we do ~ ~
oesire the militarjzation of tho h,ao,. ao.
races OF Africa The best wav ~ nro
.eht,ng such militarization is to arreo
. 20 the new partitioning of tho conI
e'nent which we ask for. If an oo,,;
Folse or power all round is suhst;tntod i
lor tne unequal distribution which bo
prevailed hitherto, it ceases to he noe m"S
800 trnie ior any one colonial power to
o,unsport on. black forces to Europe with
Of of on uSposlng the colony to the danger
vi an attack by the equally stronp
Mnlch any power may have in organ
l;s lEins native armies will be verv much
dlminlshed when there can ho ~
!:ohEer any question of EMPLOYING then,
III EUROPE or anywhere outside +ho
country. Since, however, our att;tnde
10 the whole question is one Of min
c.p,e. we snail be ready to 20 further
ana promote any limitation by agree
1hent OF armaments in Africa;
III Germany set I'D a biz emn;ro ~
=, lrlca and armed the natives. none of
the European powers would dare sond
hative forces to Europe. The French
nave had valued assistance on Euro.
pean battlefields from their SeneeaIeso
troops, end there was a small marty in
britain which at one period uryed +ho
government to bring black Soldiers
mere. Peace in Africa might be oh.
ea'ned by mutual fear.
Valuable as Naval Base
Mlttel-Afrika would be extrero,,,
valuable to Germany as nr'e'"eay has;s eay
Worldwide naval operations. Zimmor-
mann an, develops the idea as follows:
ihe policy both of Australia ana of
ta inuia might be very strongly influenced
py pressure from German M;ttolI
AAirlka-and - British policy too. since
england mas as strong an interest in
unl!npeded commercial intercourse with
4n1: 4nola ana Australia as India and Aus
'i;4n u.aiia nave IN unlmpeded intercourse
with England. If we have a nosition If
strength in Mittel-Afrika with wh;ch ch
india and Australia must reckon thor
we can compel both of them to respect
our wishes in the South Seas and in
Eastern a Asia: and we thereby drive the
nrst wedge into the compact front of
cur opponents in Eastern Asia.
FROM Mittel-Afrika we command thc
brltlsh connections with South Africa.
with India and with Australia. and
compel British policy to take account
1t is recognized generally that Ger
many has no surplus population for
agricultural colonization. It is also
stlll a doubtful question how far a
whlte population could thrive in any
part of MittelAfrika. In any case
therefore, the Germans resident in the
country could not form more than a
small minority among the millions of
natives. But there are two classes Of
germans for whom it is urged that
M1ttel-Afrika might provide a home.
Opposed by Pan-Germans
Professor Delbriick includes in the
hrst class technical experts, merchants,
planters, doctors, inspectors and civil
servants. In the second class are in
cluded numbers of the Germans who
are already abroad in the United States
and the British colonies. These are
represented as now being savagely per-
secuted by the nglo-Saxons, British
and American, and Germany muse
therefore Immediately after the war
institute great campaign for inducing
oversee Germans to migrate in masses
either to Mittel-Afrika or Latin Amer
ica.
The Mittel-Afrika plan acquires addt
tional significance when considered in
connection with book which appeared
anonymously in 1913, "Weltpolitik und
heln Krieg," for this book is general
y reported to have emanated from the
German Embassy in London and is
even attributed by many people in Ger
many to kuhlmann himself. If this is
so 1t proves close community of views
between the present German Secretary
for Foreign Affairs and the champions
OF Mlttel-Afrika. Like them, the anony-
nous work was definitely opposed to
the pan-Germans. Like them, it put
forward as the true policy for Germany
the acquisition of a predominant posi-
tion in Central Africa.
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