GERMANY'S COLONIAL AIMS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 123, 11 February 1918, Page 6

GERMANY'S COLONIAL AIMS

« ■ A RECENT PROGRAMME It is important (says the "Manchester Guardian") that Allied public opinion should understand what are Germany's aspirations in the sphere of colonial expansion, more particularly because • they have been pursued with rigid consistency and determination, and are to a large section of the German people a condition of world-peace. The British African Society has published a translation from "L'Afnque Francaise," iu which was contained the detailed programme of the German Colonial Society—a programme drafted and issued apparently towards the end of last voar. It i« true, of course, that the German Colonial Society is not the German Government, but it is immensely influential and has \yithin. its ranks and amongst its advisers the Duke of Mecklenburg (the president), Dr. Solf. and Herr Dernburg, and a membership of many thousands connected with its 250 branches throughout Germany.

This programme is one of three main sections and ten sub-sections, and is a document of great importance, for it is a kind of colonial creed for the German Empire. The dominating feature of Germany's colonial policy is set forth in the first section —namely, that Germany's aim must above all be territories capable of white colonisation. The priamble under sub-section 1 reads:— '■'Extra European and colonial possessions are indispensable, whether regarded ethnically, politically, economically,' or ethically, and the German people desire to be, as heretofore, a worlddirecting people, with the German Empire as a great Power." In tho second sub-section tho samo idea is emphasised, for after urging tlie Value of extension of territory in Europe, we are told that "the possession of colonies proper is an absolutely necessary complement to a European Germany." The meaning of the phrase "colonies proper" is, of course, territory suited to European colonisation, or areas where white manual labour and domestic life are possible, coupled with the birth, education, and upbringing of white children. That there may be no shadow of doubt upon this point, the statement is made in Sub-section 8 that "a colonial empire essentially African could not suffice us." There is, of course, nothing new in this. _ Germany has always insisted that this was tho cardinal feature of her colonial policy, but what is extraordinary is the way Allied puhlic opinion deliberately restricts its vision to the return or the non-return of Germany's late colonies, which never were, and never can he,' "colonies proner." The second section of coloninl aims, after dealing with the importance of maintaining "a sufficient strong navy," proceeds to emphasise the imperative necessity of stepping-stones to the colonies. Subsection 5 reads:— "Besides n fleet, the military and economic security of our foreign and colonial territory requires the possession of strategic points, notably a. sufficient number of coaling stations, submarine telegraphs and cables, with fortifications as required." The coaling and cable "steppingstones" to the African colonies and to South America are the Spanish and Portuguese Canaries, tho Portuguese Cape Verde Islands, the. .Portuguese and Spanish islands in the. b'ights of West Africa, British St. Hele>-n' ai:d British West Indies for tho Panama and South America. In subsection 8 is set forth the necessity of "strategic noints in the Indian Ocean and Pacific.

It will bo observed that the demand outlined in this section covers almost exclusively territories which have never been under German control, and which, in order to meet this programme, must spell chances of sovereignty upon a verv large scale. In the group of demands under this beading one finds a host of details, but the most striking is thnt contained in tho first paragraph:— "Tim great needs of Germany and her allies . . . require the possession of a great colonial empire ... it means the not being hindered by pusillanimous scruples, the more so as such a favourable opportunity will not recur for many a long day." In the "choice of new cobnies" several conditions are emphasised. German policy must, "fioir. the financial point of view, prefer colonies whose exploitation will not necessitate too great sacrifices," and' also "strike at those colonies which can increase the military strength of our imeniies by furnishing them with coloured troops." The price for a world-peace, accordins; to this programme, is, first, an adequate outlet for German emigration and German white industrial activity; secondly, steppinc-stones across the Atlantic and Indiiin Oceans to what Professor Bonn called the "New Germany" overseas: and only thirdly, what most people place first, the restoration of tropical and sub-tropical colonies. —John H. Harris.