"THE AIM OF GERMAN STATESMEN."

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14326, 23 March 1910, Page 9

"THE AIM OF GERMAN STATESMEN."

There is an irresistible .force driving Germany on. It.is not merely sentiment, it is not merely the Emperor's personal ambition and pride. The greatest motive power is the rapid growth of the population, which makes room for expansion an absolute necessity for the nation.- So excellent has been the trade of Germany in late years that emigration has been checked, and immigration has set in. But so rapid is the increase of population— millions, or 50 per cent., in the 25 years from 1870 to 1895-that this cannot continue. Germans aro an emigrating race, and havo been so since the Saxons . emigrated to this country. They are found in largo numbers now in every foreign country and colony. - -But those Germans who thus emigrate to lands peopled mainly by other nationalities have a great tendency to become absorbed into tho population among whom they dwell, to lose their German language and characteristics, and to become denationalised. This does not suit the views of German patriots. Societies havo been formed for the preservation of Germanism abroad, but anything they can effect will not permanently alter this racial tendency; and the aim of German statesmen is not to Germanise men who have emigrated to countries under other rule and belonging to other races, but to obtain countries of her own as a field for the overflow of _ her teeming and evergrowing population. Such countries must be suitable for Europeans; they must have fairly temperate climates; and when he surveys the world, the German, Emperor or peasant, sees that the habitable,portion of the globe is already divided up among the Powers, and that, if wo except China, the bulk of it belongs to Great Britain and tho United States. The Germans looked to South Africa falling into German hands; but that hope has been disappointed. Brazil, with a large German population, was a tempting bait; but the Monroe doctrine has barred the route, and the timo for a quarrel with the United States is yet far distant. If Germany is to obtain colonies there is only one nation from whom they can bo taken. Great Britain holds Canada,. Australia, South Africa, and tho best parts of Africa in the east and west. To paraphrase Mr. Ellis Barker, Great Britain has all the territory she wants, and,she strives only to preserve in peace what she has won by war. But Englishmen must be simple if they believe that Germany will rest satisfied with the fact' that Great Britain has JFactically all the colonics in tho world, while Germany has none. Wherever Germany is ready, the "British colonics must and will be her aim. And in that day wo must rely upon our own right arm alone, and if our navy is not equal to the herculean task that will be imposed upon it, we shall lose colonies and Empire.— Blackwood's Magazine.