The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1919-04-15
Germans Forsee Source Of Continuous
Trouble In Irregular Bound
aries of Future
Europe.
POLES ARE DANGEROUS
Started Out to Occupy All Lands In
Which Any Of Their Country
men Could be
Found.
[By Frank J. Taylor, United Press
Cfofa fHcrrac r0ndonf


Staff correspondent
BERLIN, March 8. (By Mail in
the irregular boundaries that will form
the new republic, many Germans for
see source of continuous trouble and
weakness.
The Germans opinion Of the small
neighbor, or any neighbor at all. has
changed considerably, as the result OF
the war. Where Germany used to see
a big field, for not only commercial
but also political activity in small
neighbors, she now sees trouble. The
largely because the entente espouses
the rights of small nations to exist
Grmans subscribe to the doctrine Of
peoples having the right to decide
their sovereignty. In it they forsee
beth losses and gains. If carried out
as Germans expect, with Austria join
ing in the German republic, the gains
will probably be greater than the
losses in population. From a STRATEGY
cal point of view, Germany loses, ac-
cording to the views of her leaders,
since the new republic will have a
boundary that will be almost impossi-
BILE to defend in case Of a new war
with any kind of coalition against
her.
Probably this has been an important
factor in the weakening of the mill
tarists in Germany. Nobody in the
whole country would take the respon-
sibility for being militaristic under
such unfavorable circumstances. This,
added to the general antipathy for
militarism. has led the Germans to
view their relations with their neigh
bors in more defensive light. and
one which brings fears and apprehen-
sions to German hearts.
The Polish question is the most I'M
mediate and dangerous problem the
Germans face at present. The Poles,
famed by newborn patriotism, and in
srired with perhaps overconfidence by
the support they expect from the en-
ttnte, became aggressive and began
a march toward Berlin. AS they began
their invasion, the Poles were in the
right. The province Of Posen. out
side of the city itself, is largely Polish,
especially the eastern portion. The
peasants are mostly Polish, and the
better classes are largely German.
The majority of the population I'M
doubtedly is Polish, which would be
the deciding factor.
But the Polish troops did not stop
With districts where the majority was
Polish. They continued, and began a
campaign to occupy all regions in
which any Poles could be found, which
included large part of eastern Prus-
sis proper The Poles were finally
stopped by the armistice commission,
but their display of vigor and their
desire for revenge from the Germans
who have ruled the region for half
century, has given the German gov
eminent a new source of permanent
worry. If Poland keeps the territory
she now occupies, it will almost double
| the length Of the Eastern Prussian
! frontier, which stretches them in two
long arms, one along the Baltic coast,
and the other down toward the east,
which is bounded on the other side
| bv the Czecho-Slovaks, who equal the
! Poles in their feeling and aggressive
ress against the Germans.
| If the Austrian Germans join the
| republic, they will constitute another
long and larger arm around Vienna,
extending out from Bavaria, which the
epublic must defend. The length or
this boundary, if it is established along
the borders of Bohemia, will be around
two thousand kilometers. AT the near
est point, the enemy Poles would be
not more than hundred and fifty kilo-
,,eters. or about one hundred miles
from Berlin.
With this tremendous boundary to
defend in the east, which is vulner-
able at so many points, the militarists
have suddenly become pacif1sts IN Ger,
r,any. and decided that war does not
nav. anyway. They talk of the League
of Nations, for the selfish reason that
Germany needs it to protect her own
reople. who as nation are put in this
extremely unstrategical position by
tie turn OF events.
On the western front, German ap
nrehensions are not so much on the
grounds Of invasion as they are
from fear that the territory on the
south bank of the Rhine will be taken
away from the republic as a bulwarR
for France. Germans have not given
IN Alsace-Lorraine in their own mlnds
vet and expect a plebiscite to decide
The suzeranity of that disputed area
Little is ever said OF Luxembourg, pu'
the other territory occupied by the
entente troops must belong to Ger
many, Germans feel.
Defense Of this front, strangely, does
not worry Germans nearly as much as
the east. 1t may be because the oc
cupation was agreed upon and was
understood by the Germans, or it may
he that the Germans feel they cal
settle the matter satisfactorily ant
more fairly at the peace table. There
is no talk of defense, at any rate, eX
] cept by the League of Nations, TO
Vh.ch the Germans have great hopes
Danish claims in Schleswig-Holsteil
are the source of less feeling thai
sny boundaries in which the German
are likely to lose. Posters in brigh
colors everywhere proclaim "Schles