Leading Articles in thb. Keviews 



645 



A CANDID GKKM AN ON I'Hb 

 MONROE DOCIRINK 



That Germany resented deeply the assumption by 

 the United State's of the overlordship of the American 

 continent is no news, but in the Grcnzbolcn we find 

 an articulate protest from the pen of Dr. Herbert 

 von Dirksen-l^onn. This writer thinks that the Monroe 

 doctrine is founded upon the catchword, " America 

 for the Americans " ; and declares that men use such 

 ( atchwords without thinking, and " easily succeed in 

 hypnotising foreigners and hindering them from testing 

 the grountis on which claims are made." " No people 

 have gone to such e.xtremes in the use of political catch- 

 words as the people of the United States in the almost 



J'licMetto.] 



Germany's New Suit. 



|1U,M, 



GER.MA.N Jim;o : " L/'ncIe Sam has no more right In lllc^c 

 clothes than I have ! " 



hundred - year - old phrase, ' America for the 

 Americans.' " 



This outspoken apostle of German aspirations and 

 hopes docs not mince matters in dealing with America 

 and her claims : — 



" Hy what ri^hl," he asks, "does .\mcrica allcnipt to check 

 the strongest expan>,ii)ii policy of all other nations of the earth ? 

 Is it because of over-population in the regions where expansion 

 is attcrnpteil ? Is it because the United .Slates has seized for 

 itself new outlets for the settlement of its people ? Hy what 

 right docs the United .Slates fall upon weaker peoples anil turn 

 into colonies regions with which it has neither trade nor 

 geographical relations? By what right docs it hinder other 

 great Powers from treating with the independent states of 

 South America? To all these questions the stereotyped 

 answer is returned: 'America for the Americans.' The 

 questioner i» of course nonplussed, remembers the Monroe 

 doctrine, and admilii the claim based on such nn iricxpugnablc 

 foundation." 



Ihe Monroe doctrine, the sacred palladium of the 

 American nation," he declares, is — 



not a revelation sent from heaven, not the outcome of the 

 divine inspiration of a prophet ; it is not something decided by 

 eternal justice, eternal truth, anything eternally inviolable. No, 

 it is simply a forward move on the political chessboard, a 

 reactive measure following a long series of political and diplo- 

 matic advances. ... . 

 "America for the Americans " must mean "We allow no 

 interference of foreigners in America, even as we do not inter- 

 fere in the afiairs of foreign countries." And yet the phrase 

 can hardly carry this meaning. If America belongs to the 

 Americans, just as Germany belongs to the Germans and 

 England to the English, the matter would be simple 

 enough, for no independent, self-respecting nation tolerates 

 foreign interference in its alVairs, nor would any prudent, com- 

 ppii'nt statesman think of attempting such interference. That 

 would be to violate the very foundation of international law. 



.■\fter explaining that the United States is doing in 

 South and Central America what the Monroe doctrine 

 forbids other nations to do, the writer proceeds to 

 encourage the European Powers to " up and at them ! " 



It is clear that the European Powers have really no need to 

 consider themselves bound to obey the dictates of this American 

 whim, which they can only interpret as a bid for the extension 

 of America's own trade. . . . The most important question for 

 (jermans to decide is a practical one. Germans must take 

 advantage of the negative side of the Monroe doctrine, which 

 kads to the conclusion that neither blulT nor pretension can 

 exercise compulsion over them. Every move of the adversary 

 ^Imuld lead them to take a firmer position. It is important 

 tliat we stand up against this Anglo-Saxon Republic which 

 wraps itself round in a mantle. 



It must be recognised that a firm and self-possessed policy 

 must be adopted towards the United States on account of its 

 Monroe doctrine. It should be carried out even if the 

 .■\mericans did not shrink from war. Hut it is to be remarked 

 that it would appear to be very questionable whether the 

 .•\mericans are in a condition to support their words by dec<ls— 

 " to back their opinion," if we may use their own jargon in 

 expressing the thought. In fact, there exists a well-grounded 

 suspicion that they have their hands full in the protection of 

 two oceans. That America's army of 100,000 men could not 

 cut a particularly distinguished figure in a serious war is clear. 

 Even the American Elect fails to make a very imposing impres- 

 sion. Erom all these considerations we express the wish that 

 Germany will no longer suffer herself as hitherto to be dazzled 

 by the commercial power of the United Slates upon which that 

 country bases such high claims, and that our Government will 

 return any attacks made not only in the domain of politics, but 

 also of trade. 



We hope that these views are duly appreciated on 

 the other side of the Atlantic, and will be taken as yet 

 one further proof of German desire for peace ! 



TiiK principal articles in the Oxford and Cambridge 

 Revird' are a long paper hy Mr. F. E. Smith on the 

 Home Rule Hill, and a \ehcment denunciation of free- 

 masonry by Elavicn Hrenier, secretary to the Erench 

 anli-Masonic League, as essentially anti-religious and 

 responsible for the Erench Re\()lution and all its 

 attendant horrors. " It was freemasonry that made 

 the Revolution. It organised the bl(>ody hecatombs 

 of the Tribunal, the wholesale shootings at Toulon. It 

 substiiuied for the ceremonies of religion the festivities 

 of the goddess Reason.' 



