We have been measurably a free people.  If we were under the necessity of supporting vast military and naval establishments we should be that no longer, no matter how completely we adhered to our democratic political system and ideals.  It is not Kings, but what they do, which burdens countries, and the most burdensome, act of any King is to load his country up with non-productive, threatening, and expensive war machinery.

The Real Peril.

I fear that the American people as a whole have visualized only slightly, if at all, the real peril involved in this contingency; but I cannot feel otherwise than sure that soon they must awake to the great danger that militarism and navalism may be imposed upon them through no fault of their own.

American impulses trend away from armament toward peaceful development along industrial lines, but even now political leaders in Washington begin to see what may be coming.  The propositions which already have been made for considerable increases in our naval and military forces may be regarded as only the forerunners of what is to be expected later.

My sympathies and interests, in other words my patriotic sentiments, are definitely American.  I must repeat that I am of German origin, and that as regards the present struggle I am pro-German, yet it would be impossible for me to say that I am anti-English, although I am anti-Russian for reasons that are obvious.

I already have expressed the belief that the complete humiliation of England would be disastrous to us.  Now, it seems to me that if Germany should be completely successful, if she should be able to wear out the Allies, break down France, hold Russia in check, and cripple or even invade England, (which many German leaders actually believe can be done, incredible as it may seem to us,) Germany would acquire a position such as never has been held by any nation since the beginning of history.  Not even the power of the Roman Empire would approach it.

The advance which has marked the development of every means of communication, transportation, manufacturing, &c., since Rome’s day would give Germany, in the case of such an eventuation, a power which would have been inconceivable to the most ambitious Roman Emperor.  It would make her a menace not only to her immediate neighbors, but to the entire globe.

Could she be trusted with such power?  Notwithstanding my personal sympathies, which I have taken pains to clearly outline, I must admit that I cannot think so.  The German character is not only self-reliant, which is admirable, but it readily becomes domineering, particularly when in the ascendency.

In the role of a world conqueror Germany would become a world dictator—­would indulge in a domination which would be almost unbearable to every other nation.  Particularly would this be the case in respect to her relations with the United States, a nation with which she always has had and always must have intimate trade and commercial relations.