GERMAN POWER.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1050, 13 February 1911, Page 5

GERMAN POWER.

SIX 'MILLION" MEN' TRAINED FOR ■'-,;■;-:;.■;■;■. ••• war.; ;.v .v „ . Calculating on the; basis. of the census taken oil December 1, Colonel Gaedko re-, cently declared in "Tngcblatt' , : that.Ger- ! many Is able at, the present moment to send the-colossal total of 5,200.000 trained soldiers and sailors "into action.. That number , includes , only a pbftioii—ioo,ooo--of tho so-called '."substitute ~ reserves." The grand total represents 8 per ■ cent, of the population of the Empire, as compared with 5.9 per cent.,(274,000) of Prussia's population of 5,000,000 who took the field, in 1813' to overthrow; tho power of Napoleon. Colonel Gaedke' calculates that Germany will have actually under arms in .1911 a total of not less than 714,000 soldi<|rs and Bailors,, "and probably more." "Without calling noon the ."substitute reserves," Colonel Gaedke states, Germany can at any time now put 4,800,000 trained men in tho field from anions the 6,001,000 who have dono service with tho colours by land and. sea 'during tho past twenty-fivo-years. ■'■■ •' ■•.-■ .■.'•' The official "North German Gaictlo" recently; ', described the year's •', "Kaiser which are to be on an extraordinarily extensive scale. The theatre of war will embrace nortions:of SchleswigHolstein, • the Grand"; Duchies of. Moekle-burg-Schwerln and' Mceklenburg-Streliti!, and -.the/ .orovinCM jof Pomeranio', Haiiovoty nhd'Tßrandenbnrg,.. The manoeuvres will: consist of joint, operations .between the.army nndo, navy,'.and'\ tho Guards Corps, the Second and .Third Army Corps, nnd'tpe battlcihiDS' unci cruisers of the .High SJeas.Flfet will. -Mistake ptirt.. Tho navy's - operations will mainly, in the neighbburh'obd of. the east const of Southern jSchleswig-Holstcin and the island of Upepien. The, Kaiser's' headquarters wilj be at JJeu-Strtlitz. where'a'landing corps' from ..the Fleet .'will parade before him. , ;' The'following comparative tables of copulation arid of-military, strength uro frbm' the returns of last year.' Those figures, do not, as in Colonel Goodko's statement of the strength bf the German fighting force," include-tharnaval-forces:— • •-- ■ ' . ' ' Army, . . Population. Peaco Est. T'l. Eat. ' ■" \: • . ■■■•.:.' T'l.forces. Great Britain. 41,485,721 254,000 742,036 QermaUy .„.-„..'.'.'... 60,641,278. 634,509 j;765.000 Htiesta ' •.....:.;,...■.■..... 160,095,2001.2C0.0C0 3,6CO;000 France '..:.•.. :..... 39,252,000 600.CC0 3,107,000 AuetrlaJtungary...,' 49.425.C00 582.8C8 • 1.895,000 Italy •... 53.910.000 268,5J2; 3,000,000 ,;: STATEMBNT BT THE : GERMAN :,.;,'•'..• • . CHANCmOE. .: , . ' . The Imperial Chancellor. Horr von Belhmann'Hollwee.'inii short specoh in the Kelehstag on December 10, saidi—"On tho subject of our relations with England and" what has been said as to negotiations with 'that- Power on the question of agreements for the limitation of naval armaments, I must, in tho : first place, emphasise tho fact—it is, indeed,'common form—that the British Government has repeatedly expressed tho view that to.fix by agreement tho.i naval, strength of > the individual Powers' would tend appreciably to tranquillize international; relations. England, as, is well knownigavo utterance to this opinion at The Hague Conference, and she has. raised the question nlore than onco since then, without; howovef, bringing forward proposals, which could have given us occasion for a positive acceptance or a positive rejection. Wo find ourselves at one with England, in the desire to avoid rivalries in j'espect of armaments. .But throughout tho pourparlers—informal and conducted in a spirit,of mutual friebdlihave taken place from time to time wo ; havo: always. put in tho • foreground tho idea that it is nn open,and frank discussion, followed :by agreement concerning the economic and political interests on both sides, that .is.the eurest means of removing mistrust of any kind in respect of the comparative strength of the two Powers by sea or by land."