1062 
THli WUre-A.lv NEW-YORKER 
August 20, 
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F OR the benefit of a number of your 
readers, tell ns briefly what were the 
causes of the war in Europe? It is 
hard to get it from the daily papers. 
INQUIRER. 
I wish I knew. I have tried to read 
history with care, and the history of Ger¬ 
many and France are specially interest¬ 
ing. Yet it seems difficult for Ameri¬ 
cans really to understand the point of 
view of most Europeans. The essay on 
Germany by Tacitus, written over 1800 
years ago, shows that even the Romans 
who conquered the world had a mighty 
respect for this slow, methodical.- obstin¬ 
ate and unimaginative people. On the 
other hand, books like Watson’s “Story 
of France,” make it clear that the French 
have ever been an emotional, imaginative 
people. There is evidence of this in the 
way they have kept alive the feeling re¬ 
garding Alsace-Lorraine, the two prov¬ 
inces which they lost 43 years ago in the 
former war. In some way the French 
people have been able to keep alive the 
poetry and national sorrow over the loss 
of these provinces in spite of all the 
years. Thus, it will be as hard for the 
busy American to understand the 
troubles of Europe as it was for the Eu¬ 
ropean to understand our politics or 
public questions. During our Civil War 
there were Englishmen, thought to be 
well informed, wlio insisted that it was 
a fight between North and South Amer¬ 
ica. They could not understand the idea 
of a single nation being split apart. I 
have talked with a number of educated 
Europeans and asked them why the na¬ 
tions are fighting. Many reasons are 
given as follows: 
These are what may be called basic or 
foundation causes for wars. Our Civil 
War, for example, was fought over the 
slavery question, which meant the indus¬ 
trial competition between free and slave 
labor. The war in Mexico is at the bot¬ 
tom a struggle over the land question. 
“Tiie Yellow Pertt..” —It is said that 
the Kaiser and a large part of the Ger¬ 
man people really believe that Europe is 
in danger of being overrun by Asiatics 
led by Russia. Personally I know of 
many worthy men who fully believe this 
danger is a real one. They claim that 
the Rible shows this danger. They say 
our present white races are failing in 
both physical and moral strength, and un¬ 
less some powerful man or nation can 
arise to give battle, the people of Asia 
will pour into Europe and spread oyer 
this country, and dominate civilization 
for centuries. The Kaiser, according to 
this theory, believes that he is the man, 
and that Germany is the nation to pre¬ 
vent this “Yellow Peril.” 
A Religious War. —Several Euro¬ 
peans tell me that at heart this war is 
essentially a conflict over the _ Greek 
Church. The people who live in the 
mountains of Southwestern Europe are 
dreamers, as all mountaineers are. The 
Greeks, as a nation, have little except 
dreams of a glorious past. These people, 
with the Russians to a less extent, 
dream of the time when the Greek 
Church will once more have its headquar¬ 
ters at Constantinople which Mahomet 
captured in 1453. The ordinary personal 
dream is made of very flimsy stuff, but 
when a great religious dream enters the 
hearts of millions of very stubborn peo¬ 
ple there is no such thing as changing it. 
But think how this war has mixed up the 
nations. There is Protestant Germany 
tied up to Austria. On the other side 
are Protestant England, Catholic France 
and Belgium, Greek Russia and Servia 
and pagan Japan. 
A Grab for Territory. — Another rea¬ 
son given for the war is the German 
need of colonies and a new outlet to the 
ocean. Germany Las developed wonder¬ 
fully as a manufacturing nation. Their 
ideas of development are too large for her 
territory. She needs new markets and 
new trade, and therefore must control 
the sea. She needs colonies abroad, such 
as England and France have established, 
and in order to carry out her schemes 
must have an outlet nearer to the At¬ 
lantic Ocean and also on the Mediter¬ 
ranean Sea. Belgium and a slice at the 
south of France would doubtless suit 
her well. This would give her a chance 
at England, a direct shipping port like 
Antwerp in Belgium, and reduce France 
to the condition of a second-class nation. 
On the other hand, England sees how her 
prosperity and national life would be 
menaced if Germany reached the North 
Sea. -France realizes that she is no 
match for Germany alone, but reasons 
that her only chance of gaining back her 
lost territory is to unite with England 
and Russia, when the time is ripe. 
Soldier or Socialist. —Napoleon 
gave Europe a century to become as lie 
put it, “all Cossack or all Republican.” 
What he meant to say was that Russia 
was th<‘ type of brutal autocratic gov¬ 
ernment, and that there could be finally 
no compromise between that and radical 
republicanism. It has got to be the auto¬ 
crat or a self-governed people. Think 
what a strange mocking of fate it is to | 
now find Russia on the side of the forces 
which stand against what Napoleon 
called the “Cossack.” For the past few 
years all Europe has been in a ferment 
over what we may call the “manhood” 
question. For many centuries the wom¬ 
an who gave birth to a son was taught 
to rejoice because she had given a man 
child to the king to fight or be killed as a 
soldier. The woman came to think that 
was practically all she was in the world 
for! What I call the “manhood” issue i 
is the idea which has slowly grown, from 
the mere thought which frightened the 
thinker, that plain, common men and 
women have higher unties to perform 
than merely to produce food and raise 
children to be fed to the cannon and the 
sword. It is a part of Napoleon’s pro¬ 
phesy slowly worked out. It has been 
helped by the millions of Europeans who 
have come to this country to work or 
find homes. Some of these take the 
money they have earned back to the old 
country. Others send ror their relatives. 
I know of one big Aim rican farm where 
practically all the workmen come from 
a village near the Danube River. Dur¬ 
ing the war between Greece and Turkey i 
a shipload of American tourists went ' 
through Athens. A regiment of Greek 
soldiers were lined up to salute them. 
As the Americans passed by those 
“Greeks” called out in excellent English 
“IIow is America?” 
“What news from Broadway?” 
“Will be back soon !” 
They were “reservists” who were work¬ 
ing in America when tie war broke out, 
and were called home to serve in the 
army. This mixing-up process has been 
going on all over Europe, and it is like | 
the leaven in the loaf. Men began to see 
that they were not born to be machines 
or cogs in a great, cruel military sys¬ 
tem. but that they have certain human 
rights. They are still kept down with 
an iron hand, and the trouble is that for 
centuries they have been bred and trained 
to do what they are told, and never think. 
It is part of an autocratic government 
from the ruling of a great nation down 
to the petty political bossing for the 
masses to work and for the ruler to do 
their thinking for them. When after 
years of such training an. breeding the : 
common people really try to do their 
own thinking, of course it is clumsy and 
often childish or narrow. It means 
growth, however, and beneath the iron 
rule of the monarchies. Europe is grow¬ 
ing into self-government. 
The War. —All these things and many 
more have helped start this war. For 
years they have all been simmering away, 
but not until a half-crazy student shot 
down the Austrian prince and his wife 
did they all flare up together. That 
tragedy fanned the religious feeling into 
a flame. Austria was foiced by this ex¬ 
citement to make demands on Servia. 
Both Germany and Austria are honey¬ 
combed with intellectual revolt—that is 
what I have called the “manhood” issue 
—a fairer chance for the common peo¬ 
ple. If you will read that old essay in 
Germany by Tacitus, you will see that 
the German people have always been 
noted for their strong, blind, unwavering 
devotion for the “Fatherland.” A war. 1 
or an appeal to patriotism, is the last 
resort of a strong military government, 
and both Austria and Germany had come 
to the point where such an appeal was 
needed to stop people from thinking for 
themselves. The moment the flame was 
started by that student’s pistol in Ser¬ 
via it found Europe like a tinder-box 
all ready for a blaze. France saw her ' 
only chance of regaining her lost prov¬ 
inces. Belgium saw her national integ¬ 
rity going. England saw he~* sea power 
menaced and treaty obligations in dan¬ 
ger. Russia saw her chance to gain 
territory and keep her subjects satisfied, 
the Balkan States and Greece saw their 
chance to strike at an old enemy, and 
even Japan in the Far East, saw that she 
might, perhaps, put England under ob- j 
ligation to her. So all of a sudden the 
fighting began. They had all prepared ; 
for it. for they knew it was coming. It 
had to come, as we see when we look 
over the things which have led up to it. 
Now it will probably be fought out to a 
finish, and not even the wisest student 
of history will attempt to say what that 
finish will be. The questions involved do 
not touch this country i xcept that a good 
proportion of our people come from Eu¬ 
rope and have brought some of their 
race feelings and national devotion with 
them. We should keep out of it. 
Farm Prospects. —While Europe has 
been plunged into war, the American 
farmer is engaged in the peaceful occu¬ 
pation of harvesting his earlier crops 
and cleaning up his late ones. This is 
not always as peaceful as the poet would 
have us believe. Bug and blight, 
drought or wet, and may put up a 
good battle. The middle of August finds 
us picking the Carman peaches and the 
early apples, beginning to seed the cover 
crops, potting strawberry plants and 
thinning the beets. There is plenty of 
work. There is a fair neach crop. The 
Carmans are brick red on the sunny side, 
and of fine flavor. There is a good local 
demand for them. The early apples have 
been slow of sale. No sale at all for the 
sweets. Our potato crop is the best we 
have ever had, and the corn looks well. 
The late apples promise a great crop, 
but we all understand that they must 
be handled with great care this year to 
get anything like a fair price. On the 
whole, our season promises to be a good 
one. n. w. c. 
Cut a clean smooth thread 
on that old battered 
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Don’t lose the time to go to the blacksmith 
shop. Don’t keep your team and hired hands 
idle. Don’t let your work suffer. 
Think how many bolts there are in your farm 
machinery and auto. Think how easy a thread 
gets battered-up so the nut won’t go on. 
Be ready for emergencies. Be ready to save 
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This set takes care of any size bolt 
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Send $5 for set of 8 dies, %" — °/V’_ 
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