Free trader-journal. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1916-1920, 1918-07-11
Humble the United States,
Long Plan of Germany
By CLARENCE L. SPEED
Written for the War COMMITTEES Of the Union eans c ~

"The United States must be taken
down a peg. America is growing too
preSumptuous. She is obtaining too
innch Of the worlds trade. She is in
terfering with Germnnys commerce In
foreign lands, and piling up too much
wealth. Sooner or later we will have
10 show her with the sword the might
OF Germany, and teach her not To in.
terfere with our commercial develop
tnent."
How many American tourists have
heard this Kind OF talk in Germany
They heard it from all kinds of peo-
pie; from Diplomats, from merchants.
from bankers, from professors in the
universities, and from the man in the
street. Yet, in years gone by they
paid no attention to it; saw no German
menace. They merely pulled out their
chests with pride at the thought of
what great nation they represented,
and dismissed the German threats as
Idle boasts.
Designs Hard to Believe.
II was nconcelvahle to them that
sane people Of civilized nation coul!
actually think of taking up the
sword inst because another nation
was showing some ability in capturing
part Of the trade of foreign
lands. They could sot believe that the
German government actually mad in
contemplation plan for making war
on the United States. taking away II
sarge portion of its wealth in the form
of indemnitieS and SO cripplng it that
it would no longer menace Germany's
world supremacy.
Such tourist was Prof Albion
w Small, bead Of the department Of
sociology Of the University Of Chi
cuGo. Professor Small knew Germany
as wen rs an American could. He
was educated in q German university
He married German woman; he
loved the German poets and the Ger
man philosophy; he had spent years
among the German people. Yet lie be-
came convinced, after time, that
Germany was actually planning blow
ut the United States. He exposed the
plan in l9O3-fiye years after the Span
ish-Americnn war, yet he was given lit
tie credence in this country.
Tells of His Experiences.
Professor small tells Of his expert
ences aud conclusions In pamphlet
entitled: americans and the World
Crisis" issued as No. = in the series
of University of Chicago War Papers,
us follows:
''ln the summer of 1903 | was in
Germany on business which gave me
the occasion to sample the opinions
about Our country Of more different
classes OF Germans than had ever In
teryiewed before. The itinerary sched-
uled stops at Cologne, Lucerne, Vienna.
Budapest, Munich Dresden, Berlin,
and thence an excursion into Russia.
AT each Of these points, and in the In
termediate travel, | had opportunities
TO talk with many men Of prominence
ana with as many more whom | could
classify as merely ordinary specimens
Of their various types.
II soon became aNare that, quite
aside from the direct purpose Of my
trip, was gathering from these
sources collection of significant and
cumulative evidence. over and over.
again Germans of different social posi-
tionS, living in as many different parts
Of Germany and neighborlng countries,
volunteered the same opinion in almost
the same words.
"Nou Yankees are all right, hut II
~ only Il question of time when we
Germans will have to fight YOU, not
with trade regulations, hut with can
non. And my question Why invari-