Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-08-15

ly discussed In recent months. and
there is a general appreciation in Eu-
rope. if not in the United States. of
the fact that Italy is definitely and
determinedly setting her face toward
a new and great colonial and even i'm
perial experiment. The similar crys-
utilization of a national aspiration in
Germany is. on the contrary. far less
perceived, although it Is also begin
ming to command much thoughtful at
tention in Europe.
The war destroyed one German CO.
lonial empire. This empire was not
considerable in the sense that 1t could
be regarded as a rival for British or
French overseas possessions. 1t was
not, actually, in population and wealth
comparable with the great establish
ment Of Holland in the East or in
area and possibilities with that of
Belgium on the kongO. Even me rel
les of the once great Portuguese en-
pire still possessed greater promise,
and this was particularly true of the
Portuguese possessions in Africa.
Germany had come to the table too
late to obtain any share in the good
things which the nineteenth century
saw distributed among the Europea n
colonizing countries. Bismarck had
| looked with unconcealed contempt
| tories. His life had been spent In
the creation Of great European Ger
many, he remained to his death re-
! stricted as to outlook to the European
continent in which he had played SO
/ great role, and in which. he had
made Germany the supreme state.
Encouraged French Aims.
To push Russia into Asia. to en-
| LNt.on N African
ventures, to avoid any clash with Brit
ain on the seas or beyond them, these
were cardinal principles with Bis
! marck AS late as the Congress or
| Berlin he had assented to and even
urged French seizure of Tunis, seeing
| in this operation the double advan-
tage of distracting French attention
| from Alsace Lorraine and arousing
Italian jealousy of the French.
| Nevertheless in the closing decade of
| the last century and in the first
wears of the new. Germany began to
| be conscious of the value of colonies.
| German industry, trade and commerce
| were expanding, but more and more
] this expansion was encountertng tariff
! walls, and where tariff walls did not
| intervene there was still the 1neVC-
| able fact that colonies bought OF the
metropolitan country as matter or
| habit and taste.
| When the century opened Germany
had various scattered plantations, In
GLIDING four sections of Africa. to-
gether with a few less considerable
possessions in Asiatic waters. How
were these African estates to be trans
| formed into something which might
! even remotely compare with the Brit
| ish and French empires in Africa and
| the Russian and British In Asia? All
| German policy began to concentrate
upon this problem. One of the deep
| est causes of German dissatisfaction
| in the pre-war years lay In the lack
| of overseas possessions which might
serve to complement German great
ness in Europe.
Expansion i'm Africa.
| In this time there came into exist
ence the German aspiration in some
| fashion to unite three African col
onies, German East and German
| Southwest Africa and the kamerun,
while the diminutive Togo was con-
sidered rather as having an exchange
| value. But this aspiration at once
| ran counter to many obstacles. TO
| ioin the kamerun. on the Atlantic
coast, with German East on the In
dian Ocean meant to insert corridor
| between the bulk of French African
| territories stretching from the Medi-
| terranean to Lake Tchad and the
Kongo lands. 1t meant to take the
Belgian Kongo outright and also TO
| interrupt the British Cape.to-Cairo
| "all red" dream Of Cecil Rhodes.
Nevertheless, Germany insisted.
| The liquidation Of Morocco gave her
! real, If dangerous, opportunity, and
from this dispute, beginning with the
n
Tangier in 1905 and eliminating In
the Agadir affair of 1911. Germany har-
vested certain territorial gains at the
expense of France, which did actually
interrupt the continuity of French
| possessions AS a result Of German
acuuiescence in French control of
Morocco Germany did at last reach
the Kongo Basin. took contact with
the Belgian kongo and thus found her
self with only Belgian territory sep
arating the Kamerun from German
East Africa.
In the same time German diplomacy
extracted from the British government
certain rather vague concessions In
the matter of Portuguese colonial
areas. Britain was. by alliance, the
protector and guarantor Of Portuguese
integrity, a condition suEviving from
the NapOleontc times. The German
COLA, which Joined German Southwest
Africa and thus bring her possessions
south of the kongo nearer to those to
the north was humored to the extent
! that the British conceded that, if Por-
tugal ever decided to sell her colonial
estate, Britain would agree that An
COLA should fall to Germany.
Big Dream of Germans.
Id, Il to- o.
perceive that what the Germans were
dreaming of and actively working for
was a vast colonial empire extending
straight across Africa from the Indian
Ocean to the Atlantic and embracing
most, fl not all, of the KongO Basin
A long step had been taken in the
Moroccan settlement, a considerable
step in the Portuguese proposal.
| There remained the question Of the
Belgian Kongo. difficult. but not to the
German mind impossible to solve In
a German sense.
In this prospective empire there
was little promise of new lands for
actual colonization German propa-
ga nda talked wildly of the German
necessity for overseas lands in which
to settle the rapidly expanding Ger
man population. just as Italian propa-
ganda urges the same arguments
now. But actually what Germany
had in Africa was almost wholly un-
suited for European colonization and
what she hoped to have was equally
useless. German masses would not
go to German Africa and when the
World War broke there were not
80 900 Germans living in German
colonies.
On the other hand. the world was
beginning to appreciate the enormous
value of tropical products. the great
possibilities of wealth in them and
the opport unities of deNelonment of