The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1918-08-22
Why We Fight
NQ.3
Beoauso 0semsny Havinl Split To
World Ii Halt 10 Now TryinS
10 Devous the Halves

II % 00VOOH SU0 k10kvOO
BY CLARENCE l. SPEED
Secretary Of the Wa Committee Of Tho
Onion League lub OF Chicago
We / fighting Germany, for one
thing, because Germany, having split
the world in half, IL now seeking to
devour the halves separately. She
has driven q wedge straight through
the heart Of Europe, and into Asia.
and Is seeking to extend it to the PEI.
sian gull.
This Is no accidental happening, duo
to the downfall Of Russia and the sudp
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 II. She
had q reputation for making plans
and sticking to them, from one ge1pR-
alton to another; yet the world paid
no attention. Il seemed too prepos-
ferrous even for Germany to attempt.
As long ago az 1895 q pamphlet
'Pan-Germany and Central Europe
About 1850" was published In Berlin
and had wide circulation. It laid tn
whole M~ittelenropa plan bare 40 fcar
} lows: a
sPoland and Little Russia (the HIM.
dom to. be established at Russiab ~
pensel win agree to have no armies
a. HHlf own, and win receive In their
A~ortresses' German and Austrian garri-
sons. In Poland. as well as In Little
Russia, the postal and telegraph sery-
Ices 40 well as the railways viii be u
German hands"
In 1911 Tannenberg.s book "Greatef
Germany" was published. This was
only three years before the war, but
It showed that the idea Of q German
Mitteleuropa had not been allowed ia
languish. It says:
1.-THE new kingdom Of Poland n
made up OF the former Russian por.
ton Of the basin Of the Vistnla, and Of
Galicia, and forms q part.of the new
Austria,7
How, the plan has grown since them
Russia's collapse dropped whole prov
inces into the lap Of the kaiser, and
now Germany plans its empire on q
scale which would dwarf that Of an
cient Rome. It is to embrace the orig
inal Central Europe, inhabited BY
some 73,OOO,O0O Germans, make the
Black sea q German lake, and extend
clear. to the Persian gulf through the
vassal states of Bulgaria and Turkey
The German government started to
put its scheme for a Mitteleuropa In
to effect years ago when 1t began the
construction Of the Berlin-to-Bagdad
railway. Little Serbia stood In the
way, so Serbia was attacked and the
world was plunged into wal. In the
opposite corner of Europe Belgium
was invaded and crushed. The world
then thought that this was only be-
cause Belgium offered the easiest
route to France; but study Of the Nit
teleuropa plan of years ago shows that
Belgium wal Included in the scheme
OF conquest
allow does all this affect American
one may ask Germany was a late
conner in the family of great nations
Most Of the uncivilized world had been
pre-empted by other nations before
she arrived. Germany wanted col
onies. 10 get them she would have
10 take them away from someone else
Africa and South America offered
the best fields for German coloniza'
ton. England possessed the best part
Of Afica-the parts in which the
white man might hope to settle and
thrive. England had a mighty fleet
and q disposition to hold what she
had, even though she did not show q
disposition to fight for nor
There. remained South America. Il
was divided among weak nations. II
was protected only by the Monroe doc
Htne. This Monroe doctrine was q
sacred thing to Americans, but, MOI
being backed up BY mighty armies and
fleets, was net even q 'sscrap Of paper
to the Germans. Can anyone doubt,
should Germany succeed in welding
into q mighty empire the 100000
Germans and the 10O,O0O,0N inhabi'
tants Of the vassal and conquered
states OF her Mtteleuropa, that her
next step would be toward the westi
The very, fact that she had this EN-.
pira would presuppose the defeat OF
England, so that no British fleet would
stand between us and Germany when
the time came for the kaiser to send
his legions across the Atlantic.
Al, In the East, SO In the West
Is o motto which, Of recent weeks, has
been much heard In Germany. At q
conference OF the national" liberal par.
II, held In March Of this year, the fol.
lowing amazingly frank declaration
was made:
sOur policy has been directed TO
making the government and majority
turn away from the reichstag resolu-
ton Of July 10. peace without an
hexations and indemnities). In that
We have succeeded. Peace has just
been made IN the East under condi-
lions In fiat contradiction to the pol
Icy iof July -, and has received the
support and assent Of 81 the burgeois
parties.,,s 4