Leading Articles in the Reviews. 



523 



ANGLO-AMERICAN ARBITRATION: 



The Reality It Expresses. 



A VERY notable paper is contributed by Roland G. 

 Usher to the Atlantic Monthly for .April on the signi- 

 ficance of the .Arbitration Treaties. He points out that 

 it is the close balance of power between rival nations 

 that makes the United .States a factor in international 

 politics. The United States is indispensable to England 

 and to France, and therefore an extremely desirable 

 ally for Germany. France and England see that they 

 control between them the bulk of Europe's funds 

 available for loan or investment, and this capital 

 places in their hands the control of the international 

 situation, because to wage a war would require larger 

 sums of ready money than any other single country 

 could furnish. 



HOW \V.\LI. STREET SAVED EUROPE FROM WAR. 



Thus in the summer of 191 1, the war scare which 

 caused the wholesale recall of English and French 

 loans in Germany and the sale of German stocks, bonds, 

 and securities on all the European exchanges, deprived 

 the Fatherland of the ready money needed to begin 

 an offcnsi\e war, and had, moreover, brought her 

 commercial and financial world to the verge of actual 

 bankruptcy. The German Emperor applied to the 

 trusts in Wall Street to supply the necessary war loan, 

 •but his request was declined because the United States 

 had been already pledged to England. 



ENGLAND ESSENTIAL TO THE UNITED STATES. 



The United States is indispensable to England, w hich 

 would star\-e even in peace without their aid ; and to 

 France, which would star\-e in war without their aid. 

 So far the .American will read with characteristic self- 

 complacency. Hut the writer goes on to .show that 

 England is as e.ssential to the United States as they 

 ■ ' her. He says : — 



Without the services of the English merchnnt marine to carry 

 our foreign trade, our factories must shut down. We arc at 

 present producing at a rale far beyond our own capacity to con- 

 sume, and the Knglich and French market for our surplus goods 

 would lie absolutely necessary to us, if European Mar should 

 divide that continent into two camps, one of which would be 

 closed to us by the presence of the English fleet on the olhir 

 side. 



Nor c.in we choose the side of Germany. We niu-t cling 10 

 the Power whicli owns /i,>//i the bulk of the merchant marine of 

 the world iimi the navy which can maintain an open rfm.i u, iis 

 own ports and those of its allies. 



imiTISH NAVA!. AIU. 



liut, above oil, we must ally with England if wc propose to 

 11 i\c colonies, dig canals, and have a share in the ixplniiation 

 of the Kat Kast. f)>'v crass ignorance of modern inndilions, 

 only a complete lack of imagination, could lead any one n> sup- 

 pose that we took possession of the I'liilippines, Hawaii, I'orio 

 Rico, anil Panama without English consent. Nothing, in fact, 

 but England's refii'>il to countenance interference prevented the 

 concerted action of Euiope against us in the Spanisli-.American 

 War. \Vr own colonies eight thousand miles away, largely by 

 reason of llic a.ssislance of the nation whose fleets control the 

 Br-i W'f iii'fd a iiiivv oiirselvr^, nnl s. i mimi It ii, tfi.i,iiri,ti ..■.. 



colonies in existence — for England will not countenance the 

 presence on the seas of a fleet large enough to dictate to her — 

 but to relieve the English fleet of the necessity of protecting 

 from other fleets than her own the ocean highway to America, 

 and our possessions in the Gulf of Mexico and the Far East. 



As a matter of fact, the present arbiiration treaties cannot 

 create an alliance between the United Slates and England, 

 because the alliance was consummated years ago, and we are 

 already enjoying its fruits. To be sure, the day had come 

 when the ambitions of the United States coincided well with 

 English plans. 



TREATIES O.N'LV A CONFESSION OF FACT. 



The arbitration treaties merely give formal notice to Ger- 

 many and Russia of the firm intention of the three contracting 

 nations to maintain their_/t'jv//('/- alliance at all costs, under all 

 circumstances. They say : we cannot afford to fight each other ; 

 everything, therefore, shall be siilnnitied to arbitration ; but the 

 fact of significance is not the arbitration, but the realisation that 

 their mutual interests make war impossible. The treaties are 

 merely a public confession of this fact. 



THE WOMEN'S MOVEMENT IN GERMANY. 

 In the Grande Revue ot iMarch 25 il. .Andre Tibal 

 writes on the Women's Congress recently held at 

 Berlin. 



The Women's Congress at Berlin. 



After summarising the \arious discussions, he con- 

 cludes his article with the words addressed to the 

 members of the Reichstag by Herr Delbriick, the 

 Secretary of State. Herr Dclbruck held up the Congress 

 as an example to the di\idcd parties in the Reichstag 

 and to the German people, who are prevented by rifal 

 doctrines and contradictory interests from working for 

 one national ideal. The remarkable thing about the 

 Congress was, he said, that its labours were not 

 restricted to economic questions, but that moral ques- 

 tions of the highest importance, interesting to the 

 daughter of the .Minister as well as to the daughter of 

 the working-man, had been dealt with, and that women 

 taking part in tlie discussions came from all classes, 

 professions, and religions. 



Is Political Life Unclean ? 



Several of the German leviews also contain articles 

 on the Congress. In the Pretissische Jahrbiuher Dr. 

 Dell)riick hastens to say that women are too good .for 

 politics. According to him politics arc a very necessary, 

 highly useful, and even blessed, but by no means pure 

 business, and the working of elections espci-ially stands 

 in an evil-smelling comer. It is a fatal delusion of 

 women's riijhlcrs to imagine they can raise their sex 

 by opening to them the arena of politics. Certainly 

 there is idealism in politics, and there may be a decided 

 impetus as well. Rut he is glad that in llerm.my there 

 is a large number of people who, from instinctive 

 inclination, keep aloof from all political affairs, and 

 that there is quite a considerable Xon A'oling Party, 

 Woe to us and woe to the finer iialf of hiimaniiy when 

 women's neutral activity liecomcs plunged in the 

 passionate electoral struggle, the struggle of political 

 interests I How can any woman see in woman sulTrage 

 :i (.pit ;uu| noble cause ? 



