December 14, 1916 
LAND & WATEK 
n 
Wealth, Robbery and War 
By Principal L. P. Jacks 
A RICH nation is a nation worth robbing. And 
since the inter-state code of morality is still at 
the barbaric stage (at least in certain quarters) 
the existence of great national riches, anywhere, 
is certain sooner or later to give rise to predatory war. 
The present war has arisen in that manner. It was 
caused by a rich robber State determined to enrich itself 
further at the expense of its neighbours. 
Germany, or rather the gang of plunderers who call 
themselves Germany, looked around and saw a number 
of nations which were ricli enough to be worth robbing, 
some of them almost defenceless, others more or less 
careless about their defence, among which was the one 
best worth robbing, the British Empire. And in due 
time the plunderers said to one another, " Go to now, 
let us make a raid — and if a day should come when 
appearances have to be saved, let us say we made the raid 
in self-defence." 
Now that we have grown wise after the event, we sec 
that the present war was brought about precisely in 
this manner. Two causes were needed to bring Europe to 
where it now is, and both were in active operation. The 
first was the existence, anywhere in Europe, of a Govern- 
ment (I do not say a people) composed of men with an 
instinct for robbery and with a genius for devising the 
means to rob. These conditions were amply provided by 
Germany. The second was the existence of some other 
State, or States, worth robbing and capable of being robbeci* 
This was also forthcoming. There was Belgium, well wortu 
robbing and easily robbed. There were France and Russia, 
still better worth robbing, though not so easily robbed. 
There was Great Britain, best worth robbing of all, and very 
doubtfully protected against robbery. On the whole it 
was a moment of golden chances for a robber State. It 
was the kind of situation, immensely extended, at which 
the mouth of Rob Roy or Bill Sykes would have watered. 
In view of the fact that there was one government at 
least in Eiu^ope, a powerful one, whose moral level was 
tjrat of Bill Sykes or Rob Roy, to say nothing of lesser 
governments like that of Bulgaria, whose moral level 
was even lower — in view of this it was as certain as any- 
thing under the sun could be, that a great raid would 
sooner or later be attempted on the wealth of the world. 
This we now see, having become wise after the event. 
It is the basal fact which underlies all other explanations 
of the war. All our study of past history, of the policy 
of Kaisers, War-Lords, Chancellors and other such 
phantoms, of diplomatic correspondence, of oihcial lying, 
of the Agadir crisis or the Serajevo murder or any other 
incident or explosion — all this, useful as it may be in fur- 
nishing sidelights, is wholly irrelevant unless it leads us to 
see ultimately and finally that robbery is the bed-rock 
of the whole business. 
It may seem that in what I have said I am merely 
abusing Germany. That, however, is far from being my 
object. It would be nearer to the truth to say that I am 
presenting a palliation of Germany's conduct — giving 
tlie devil his due, so to speak. It is certain that her 
Government would never have become the arch-robber 
it is had it not been that other nations, our own in par- 
ticular, had made themselves so well worth robbing. By 
their enormous accumulations of treasure, actual and 
prospective and of every kind, the other nations have un- 
wittingly surrounded Germany with the very temptations 
into which her abominable rulers were readiest to fall. 
With thieves in their midst these other nations have 
tilled their houses with cash and jewels ana let it be known 
where they kept the keys. I am not blaming them either. 
Suspiciousness is the lowest of the \'ices, and it is to the 
credit, rather than otherwise, of any nation if it refused to 
believe that civilisation could harbour such an unscrupu- 
lous robber as the German Government has turned out to 
be. But still the facts are as I say. ■ By making ourselves 
so well worth robbing we have made it ditiicult for the 
robber State to live the life of the honest State. It is 
certain that Germany would never have devoted fifty 
of her best years to making a fmc art of international 
blunder — for that is what her diplomacy, her armaments 
and her military science amount to — it is certain that her 
choicest intellects would not have been employed for a 
generation in proving to her people that a policy of 
plunder was the highest form of national righteousness, 
had it not been that the plunder in sight was on a scale 
sufficiently vast to justify these immense efforts and to 
provoke these enormous sophistries. The measure of 
Germany's crime corresponds to the bulk of the spoil 
that tempted her. The enormity of the one ecjuals 
the enormity of the other. Crime on a scale so vast pre- 
supposes an adequate temptation. An intelligent nation 
of seventy million souls does not go mad, nor, as in this case, 
permit itself to be ruled by a government which has gone 
mad, for the sake of a sixpenny-piece. An intoxicating 
prospect must have been held out before it. 
The intoxicating prospect has been provided for Ger- 
many by the immense golden fruit of the labours in 
which the industrial nations of the world have been 
engaged for more than a hundred years. It lies in the 
unimaginable accumulations of wealth which the peaceful 
efforts of peace-loving folk have piled up all round the 
earth in readiness for the spoiler. The robber policy of 
the German Government is the other side of the fact 
that the nations have made themselves so well worth 
robbing. , 
Blucher's Phrase 
It is said of Marshal Bluchcr that when he rode through 
the city of London, he uttered the exclamation " Mcin 
Gott ' What a city for to sack ! " This expresses, exactly, 
the attitude of mind in which the robber-chiefs of Ger- 
many have viewed for more than a generation the growing 
accumulations of wealth provided by the industrial 
enterprise of the modern world. This wealth has pre- 
sented itself to their minds, essentially and finally, as so 
much prospective spoil. Their " view of the world " 
was framed in those terms. The world presented itself 
to their eyes as filled, and overflowing, with unprotected 
wealth ready to the hand of the " Power " which haa the 
boldness and the means to steal it. This is the keynote, 
often unconsciously sounded, of their State-philosophy. 
Bernhardi's notorious book, reduced to its lowest terms, 
is a treatise on State-robbery, in which the Germans are 
methodically instructed in the most effective methods of 
rifling the hoards of their neighbours. Information is 
given- as to where the booty hes thickest and most easily 
got at. The education- of the thief is made much of and 
thoroughly planned out. The organisation of the robber- 
band is discussed and rules laid down for preventing the 
robbers from quarrelling among themselves. There is a 
chapter on ethics and religion, and the Germans are 
informed of the kind of ethics and the kind of religion 
best suited to thieves. In short, the whole world, now 
crammed with riches as never before, is frankly treated 
as a burglar's paradise. Bernhardi and his fellows do not, 
indeed, use this language — they are far too astute to give 
themselves away to that extent. But a child can see 
that this is what it all means. The motto of the book 
and of the whole class of literature to which it belongs 
and of German state philosophy in general should be 
" Mein Gott ! What a world for to sack ! " 
It would be interesting to make out a complete list 
of all " the kingdoms of the world " arranged in order 
according to the degree of temptation they severally 
offer to thie\es. We raay assume that the scientific 
plunderers of Potsdam have long had such a list for their 
own guidance and that they revise it from time to time 
as circumstances change. At the head of the list would 
stand the British Empire. Taking actual and potential 
wealth together, there is not a doubt that from the burg- 
lar's point of view the British Empire represents the pick 
of the basket. ^lein Gott ! what an Empire for to sack ! 
This is the hght in which the Empire, with its stores of 
wealth, has long presented itself io the eyes of the pco])lc 
who rule the roost in Germany — to the Cyown Prince for 
example — and it may be to others who arc not Germans. 
Reducing a complex situation to its simplest and 
