GERMAN MEGALOMANIA

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 190, 1 May 1918, Page 6

GERMAN MEGALOMANIA

I A PEOPLE MAD WITH PRIDE ! AMAZING DEVELOPMENT OF • ! TEUTONIC AMWiIONS i \" ' ■ ! WAR A NECESSITY I 'CAUSES OF THE PRESENT STRUGGLE j [The accompanying interesting and \ instructive survey of developments in . ; Germany whioh kd up to tho pre- | , sent war is taken from the current 1 issue of tho "New Zealand Tablet." j Tho authorship is concealed under ■ tho pen namo of "Spectator," but ; the object with which it was written I is stated to bo to set put the causes j of tho war from tho standpoint of !. Trance.] I This extraordinary thing has happen- ; «d in Germany—she ihas in a short tinio : eo changed as to have become nnrecog: ; Jiisnble. In tho 'first third of the last

:. century, 80 per cent, of the Germans j lived by agriculture, and poor agriculture it was, for the soil all over the i country is poor. The history of Ger--1 many, we may remark by the way, is ; partly explained by this simple fact, ; that it is a poor country inhabited by a ! people with a grant appetite—this peoplo I has invariably sought a supply of food ! from elsewhere. To-day Germany is ono '•' of the world's greatest industrial Pow- ; ors. She exploits to the utmost her un- : derground .wealth in fuel and minerals, '' in order to supply the insufficiency of : the soil. Since the year 1870 her econo- | mical progress has accelerated; from the year 1895 it has become simply prodig- ! ions. For instance, she used to extract j in 1895 seventy-nine million tons of coal; ': in 1912 ono hundred and seventy mil- • lions. She manufactured in 1895, ; 5,400,000 tons of pig iron, and in 1911, I 17,617,000 Tike capital of her conipan- : - ies, which in 1895 was only two nul- \ liard twelve million (francs), reached, in I 1906, fourteen milliards. Her trade ex- ■''■' ihibited similar progress: from 1890 to j•, 1906 the tonnage of her mercantile fleet ] lose 29 per cent., and the amount of her i general trade rose from seven milliaras f 6470 millions to seventeen milliards a i millions in 1903.

i 1.-ECONOMICAL CAUSES OF GER- |, MANY'S INDUSTRIAL WAR. ' In no period of history and in no ■ other country was ever such a formid- ! able tise in labour and wealth. At tho i Bame time there was a similar increase ! of population. While the population in ' 1876 was 41 millions, it was nearly (0 ' millions at the ove of this war. Ao i instance of a like phenomena lias been ■ over seen in any other country. Well i Jiigh all these new forces were engaged i in taamifactiure3 which employed an ! enormous number of hands taken from ' the land: the rural population at tno ; beginning of last century was 80 per ! cent.; it was only '43 per cent, in 1882, : and 29 per cent, in 1807. The towns ; grow abnormally. Berlin, Munich, Dies- > den, Hamburg, Breslau, had collectively, ■ in 1871, one million eight hundred and T fourteen thousand inhabitants; in 1910 r the number was 5,175,000. In 1871 only i eight towns had a population equal or ■ euperior to 100,000 souls; in 1910 there ' were i$ such towns. \ ,' Bead these figures again and again, i reflect on these formidable increases, and ' you will understand that Germany has • changed so 'as to be unrecognisable Mo- ! jnentous consequences, political and so- : cial, are discernible in the future ini terior government of that counta-y. Hut : enough on this topic. What interests I us are the effects of this change in the ! whole world, and it may be said without : exaggeration in tho life of all humanity. : Germany, by her energetic and me- : thodical. labour, produces far more than : she consumes; she must therefore have ' an outlet for her excessive production. '■■■ Because she is over-productive she must i assuredly have expansion, and verily she ! lias expanded in all directions. _ i First of all her groups of emigrants, •"• -nassing and permanent, in all tho coun- ■ tries of the Old and New World, wero ! looking out for something to do and ; found it. United and strongly*grouped, ,' encouraged and urged on by the aietroi Tiolis which sent to them her directions • and the money of her banks, they lai Tmhreo , everywhere, and everywhere with J- excess. At the outbreak of tho war : [England, France, and Italy perceived i how Germany was bearing oh their ecoBCinkal life.. Every, country in the I -world , made tho same discovery. ' 'rffihei Germans also spread by tiieir i colonies; they wero able oven when tho 1 ibulkwrf the land suitable for colonists ' seemed taken up by their predecessors, to ■ cioate-.a colonial empire for which thej 1 dreamed' a boundless future. lo all ■■ that they had a perfect right. If, in tho ; competition witi the nations, they had i proved/more energetic and able so much ! the more to their credit. But, Germany ™ u dissatisfied with such iniflity re- ; „ ttlte-some of her statistics she-boie ; with pain and Tcluctance. Since fcho be-over-productive her underground ' Sh was insufficient for her^nufe- ■ *(iii 6« i She had: to pay in 1913.238 mu I^rfrancs in the purchase cf iron ore, ■&&&&&££ iß2sswha»«£ : greed.. ||-MORAL CAUSES OF THE WAR- :. GERMAN PRIDE- ; ! No pride, not even that of the Ancient ■ ninians ever eoi.alled GermanjndeSy^Kin'lnTaUar^m:: : cou d heUton to contain their e^prev : and achieve the civilisation of the world; j "her shall realise the poe s words: One ■ da/the world shall owe its salvation to the German Empire.' " , The Kaiser also S nid: "The dear God 1 would not have taken such pains with ■ our Govman Fatherland had He not in etore for us n grand destiny; we are tho ■ salt of the earth; God has called us to civilise the world." And hero we see the strangest proof o ; German megalomania: the belief, the God has chosen the Germans, among all ■• JfaUonsas of old He choso the Hebrews, to reveal t« them His law and give them ; the mission to teach it vo and impose it : on a" nmnkind. Now thisi extraordinary ! Motion is an article of faith itliich thou- ' sands of priests and parsons teach their .'Sns-of adherents. It were easy lo ' quote most stranse and incredible words . ttered in pnlpits. Catholic and Protectant A few words -may be cited from : nne of Hie most eminent Protestant pn.<- ■ tors, who is, Emperor William himself,- : for the Kaiser is the head of the Pro- : testant ChuTch in Prussia, and lie ; preaches, and is eager to prwch, and this : is what he one day puM: "Tlip German . people is God's chosen people. His spirit : Is incarnate in mp. in my finality of Emperor. I am God's sword and representative on earth." It is bound, therefore, by God's behest,

to command the earth, and all, the earth. That is not only its duty but'its right; it is not merely authorised, but obliged. Were it to shir); this obligation, it would 1)B tinftiitlifiil to God, Who , took so much pains to create the German Fatherland. It would , deservo such punishment as bcfisl tho Jewish peoplo for* ignoring its divine vocation, and for rejoctinjj the Son of God when He came on earth. How many in Germany entertain such notions? Their number is probably very great. But ot course there is a legion of unbelievers, and they doubtless sneer at the pretended "divine vocation" of Germany and th& Emperor's mysticism. True, but they reach tho same vieivs by another way. They teach that the German is the superman, and he is so, they say, by his physical structure, by the height and tho breadth of his forehead, by the colour ot his eyes—arguments cjuito as grotesque as those of the theologian and the preacher. ■This set of infidels also believes Germany made for the domination of the world, and the pride of both classes is certainly one cause of the war. 111.—POLITICAL CAUSES OF THE . WAR: PRUSSIANISED GERMANY.

There is one more cause, and that most important: Germany lived on for a long while in the state of anarchy. She was composed of hundreds of States, each with its independent life. Tho Emperor's authority was alike pompous and worthless. Uiit anions those States one rosi> abovo the others—Prussia. At tho dawn of tho eighteenth century it was a poot tiny kingdom, having hardly two million inhabitants, and mado up of ecattereu fragments between the lihino and the Vistula, the two extremities of Germany. But in the lifetime of Frederick William and of Frederick II it became a military State. .Everything , was subordinate, to the needs of the Army. The finances were administered with estrcmo economy—luxury nowhere; everybody at work. lit other countries tho nobility had some pretence of independence; it defended itself against the Crown; it was at times rebellious. In Prussia it was subservient. Tho Prussian .Tunker (squireen) gloried in his service; it was his honour and pride. From father to son he served in tho Army. A -.Military caste was born in tie country, scorning the burgesses, harsh on the peasant, always docile to the master, ever standing with joint heels ond hand to forehead. In this State nono reasoned; nicht raisomiiren. "No reasoning," said the master. Therefore Prussia was organised for war. It needed war-that little Prussia split into minute parts. The forces required combination. Territories had to be conquered again, and again, and again. There was once a small history of Prussia made for primary schools. In it, alongside of each princeling, was .1 delineated square, in which was inscribed tho number of kilometres conquered by him. It was by necessity that wac became in 31irabeau's words, 'lhe national industry of Prussia."-

To sum up: . . A people lias become a huge industrial power, over-productive, ambitious, greedy. This people is a-ade with pride; it deems itself charged by God to rule and save the world; it believes that to be its duty, or else it believes that its natural superiority over all peoples mark it out for tho government of the world. Tho people is governed by a soldier. JSmporor, by heritage a soldier, by tradition a conqueror, and master of the greatest military might ever seen in the world. Combine all that, or rather contemplate it already combined—trade, philosophy, religion, militarism tend to the same end, German supremacy, religion, militarism tend-to the same end, German supremacy, German . hegemony. • And the leader, Kaiser William, while ho provokes our smiles by proclaiming himself-God's representative, may rightly affirm that he exactly represents his own people; for he honours trade, ho philosophises, he preaches, and he is tho War-lord. Never at nny period, or m any country, was there a people so bent on war as the Germans.

IV.-THE PROGRAMME OF GERMAN AMBITIONS. What this pcoplo wants, what it expects from war, it has declared again and again in every possible tone. It wanted the French departments of tlio north and of Calais, a part ot tlio department of the Somme, another of the department of Ardennes, the deportment of Meuth-ct-Mostlle, the arrouuissemjiit of Briey 'It wanted Verdun rnd Jielport. That is written textually in the famous memorial tendered to the Government by the six great industrial <<nd agricultural annexations, which comprise millions ot Germans, and in a manifesto published by high German notabilities, ihat is repeated daily by the Pan-Germans who control public opinion. They wanted, and still want, to obtain a wtvr indemnity; some have claimed 20 milliards, others 30; in March, 1017, the "Cologne* Gazette," tlio Government organ, claimed 100 milliards. . For them one of the mam objects of the war was the annihilation of France. "Wo must never more," wrote the pulhor (General Bernhardi), "again find Franco in our way." The wresting from her the richest of her departments, representing une-third ot her fortune, tlio crushing of her by, overwhelming contributions—that means the annihilation of France. And for Germany, what on increase of wealth; what an abundance of raw materials!—coals and ores from Prance. Already they thought ihcinselv.s possessed of rare. treasure. They spoke of expropriating all manufactures, all the owners in those annexed French^provinces, and the substitution of German owners; (hey spoke of transferring , into Gorman hands all the means and instruments of production. But who_ would indemnify the expropriated? "France," audaciously they lespouded. Of cotirst, they also estimated that the colonies would "be much better in.their hands than in the French. Moreover, they wanted a rich agricultural and industrial land; they wanted Holland, the Belgian and Dutch coasts, the French coast from the Somme; these were a necessity for tliam because they are opposito England, because they possess the mouths of the Escault, Meuse, and Rhine. By what right, forsooth, did the Dutch, thut little coustiil people, as they say, possess the mouth cf the llhine, tlio German river? So much for the enlargement on the West. On tho East they wanted to push the Russians far back in order to grasp the provinces bordering on the Baltic, to cut tleir communications with the Black S«a, and separate them from Kurope. In their extension on this side, they wanted the wheat lands,'so as to people them .villi German colonists. Thus they would provide thoinsrrves with wheat, and settle their surplus population. They would thus also restore iiio balance between their agricultural and industrial population. Finding themselves cramped they simply want to be at ease. By these means they would at the same tiino extend tho German land and increaso their inward power. They "wanted to use this force both promptly and colossally. . Ono of their greatest schemes was to open a way to Asia from Hamburg. The main stations would be Berlin, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Sofia, Constantinople, and Bagdad. Ginmuiy and Austria would subject the intervening countries,' Serbia, Bulgaria, and Turkey. To this region would be attached the North of France, Belgium, and then Holland, and afterwards, in due course, Scandinavia. Thus the storting point would bo the North Sea and the goal Ire Persian Gulf; and so the vhole world would form an Empire vaster than tho ancient Roman- Empire. The Germans saw themselves already ■at work in remote Asia, find thousands and thousands of colonies nould cultivate the region made famous by Nineveh anil Babylon. . Yet this plan was only one gigannc scheme. They wanted lo convert the Mediterranean "into a German lake. In (lift north, Trieste yould be the great outlet of the Empire. In the west, Tangicrs. would guard the entrance to the ski, for they naturally determined to pei/.f Morocco.' In the East, r.ll the coart would be 'German, since it would continue in possr-fioii of Turkey, Gerlr/iny'.* pprvpnt. Tn this Turkey «oiil(' !•■> r' l '!' ,, ! Kgynl, "Ffpi- the c; pulsion of "**■ "nclish. Besides Hie Germans knew and sai'l -that the Turkish Empire would not live forever; but wlio «-<>nM inherit Turkey fit Hiar Empire's dnu-nf.iil? Gorman v, of course. Tliik the whole nf ■Wrisi-'Mi A sin "'ould be Germanised.

AiiT nlreadyTiermnn enterprise had begun in Eastern Asi-i. Ire ''liinVa verv (i,in!c Rpritii'.ny ,1 Ihr- firlrw?of Kaio-chao. She had entered deeply into the economical life c-f that iin-

mense reservoir of forces—llio .Republic. jLttit the domination of .Europe and Asia did not Mitiiiw the Girnmu s.npetiU , . . in Africa, prior to the war, Germany possessed, in tho West, on the Atlantic coast, lite Unmeroons, mid, in the .bast, on tiio shore of tin.- Indian Ocean, this colony of Eastern Africa. A wide space separated these colonic, but that space was French Congo and■ ISelgian Congo; Germany, therefore, covttail both those Congos. And wlml business had Portugal, that small insignificant country, to : own colonies on the west, iilong the At- ■ lnntio coast, and, in the i-ust, along tno ' shores of the Indian Ocean? u was '■ u"surd, as Germany intended, soon to I show by ?raspiujf those lotonus also. I An immense German colonial empire would tJius be ■founded between tJio two oceans in Central Africa. Nor did Gt>rniatt ambition stop there. Germauy held for ct rutin, when she viewed rne future, that ono day, after the destruction of France, she would destroy Mglund and take her place in ter colonics. All Africa would then become Gorman. In America Germany coveted no territory, "but she- expected great results ! 11 oin her pacific penetration. Numerous are rho Girman emigrants in the two Americas. They remember they, are Ger- ! man and German above all things. Accordingly they are grouped m German associations and companies whose heads arc- the diplomatic representatives 01 the Empire, ambassadors and consuls. Close are their relations with the mother country, with the banks, the great commercial companies, and the Government. The pacitio penetration carefully distinI Kuialud between jSovUi »ml South Ame- ! rica. In South America, the land, as the ! Germans call it, of tattered Republics, ajjove wJiicJi emerged linml ami Argentina th-y hud no need to be particular. They exacted that the Germansi shoiml bo represented in the legislative assemblies, as Germans; that they should have their electoral lisis apart, a certain number of deputies in the chambers, a certain number of members in the Scnate-a minority it deed, but restin" on the might of the Umpire. In the United States such pretensions were impossible, but in this nation ot a hundred millions. Germans amount to twelve millions, mid nowhere was their organisation stronger than m the great Republic. Their unions and vtram swiirmcd; so did their commercial Urms, agencies, banks. . Very prosperous newspapers wore lavishly spread about, edited in German by Germans; and m certain American journals tho German propaganda was conspicuous. German pamphlets teemed through the Itnd. German agents and German tpies were settled iu all the fittest spots. Ihus Germany represented in tho United States by a "German nation, so perfectly organised, could rely, at tho outbreak of Uie war, on American sympathy, or if, by impossibility, tho United States declared against her, she could paralyse their action. Such, then, in hroad outlines, was the programme of German ambition. No doubt, you deem it exorbitant; you periiap.s 'imagine that for the needs of their cause, the enemies .of Germany exaggerate her foliy. But there is no tart of this programme for which we have,not precise German declarations; and-, for better proof than any words, look at the history of this war. "Undoubtedly, in regard to tho United States Germany .made a huge ( error of judgment, which marks her in-1 capacity to judge other people, and exhibited the monstrous infatuation which i impelled Aer to despise beforehand whatever is iiot herself. But the history ot these nearly four years' war has proved the power of German organisation . in America. Remember the Press campaign there, and the fierce fury of propaganda, and the many crimes, and the unheardof conduct of her military attaches, who suborned plots, and, finally, that Ainbassador who, on the very eve of his removal, undertook to propose to Mexico the dismemberment of the United States. What they wanted to do against the United States they did not, but they were bent on doing it, No doubt also, instead of extending their African Empire they have lost it. It has shipwrecked totally; but be certain that they still desire and hope to resume their forsaken , dream, and so they say, even by the voice of tho Socialists. Again, tho English have taken Bagdad, the terminus of the famous railway. But remember the long and broad zone projected between the North Sea and tho Persian Gulf; the Germans occupy a great part of it; the French departments in the north, Belgium, Luxemburg, and, at tho other extremity, Serbia, Kuinania, Bulgaria, and Turkey; since the last two Powers are vassals and subordinate. Now, j it may be safely affirmed, of all their j schemes this was the dearest; for they | knew that its realisation meant tho mas- j tery of the world. V.-CONCLUSION. After showing their words and their ! acts, ami marking that their acts con- j firm their words, wo conclude, in all ] safety of conscience, that "Germany I wanted lo become the mistress of the j world." , I Tor what, then, arc the Irench ; \'hey D aro fighting to defend their country, inherited from their forefathers, and to get bask iron; the enemy Alsace-Lor-raine, violently torn from them in 13<l. i despite the unanimous protestation ol tho | inhabitants,' enthusiastically French.) They arc lighting to avenge their deau, | to avenge llieir 'uins, to punish thosi! incendiary biindiU, murderers, restorers of ancient slavery, bandits of ii sort hitherto unknown; for they are armed with all the forces of science, and their barbarity is inspired, commanded, organised, and regulated. They are fighting, they and their Allies, to defend the liberty of their labour against an «neiny aiming ftt tno j subjugation of the whole world to the lik- j ings of his trade and industry. They i are fighting to defend the liberty of their . mind; for that Power wanted to usurp the intellectual and moral direction of mankind, on the plea of mankind's salva. , tion. A German bas eaid that Germany, • like Home of old, ought to dictate to men , "the forces ot their thoughts." Now surely nothing could be more unbearable ! than the domination over minds of a i Power maddened with self-infatuataon, scorning whatever is not herself, insolent, { brutal, whoso supremo thought is that , might is right. ] Finally, while they aro fighting against | tho most formidable •military force the j world has ever known, they are warring ; against war itself. They are determined' to organise peaco in such a way that any I disturbing nation shall be controlled and j subdued by the solidly armed will of | tho other nations. They are fighting for a decisive victory which may spare their children tho return of such, horrors as set nil humanity weeping.