be difficult for it to
say: "What's Hecuba to me?" One thing should be clearly understood on
the shores of the five oceans, that the cause of this most terrible war
does not emanate from the dark Balkans, or from a Russian military
group, but from envy and hate which healthy, young and striving Germany
has aroused in her older rivals; not because this or that demand was
made by one Cabinet and refused by another, but because it was believed
there was finally an opportunity to destroy the hated opponent who
threatened to put the older Western European powers in the shade, and
for this reason England and France put their strength into the service
of criminal and brutal Servia. The following statistics will, perhaps,
throw some light on the development of the foreign trade of the
principal countries from 1870 to 1913 (in billions of marks):

1870. 1913.
Great Britain 9,180 23,280
France 4,540 12,300
Russia 2,000 5,580
Germany 4,240 20,440

In these forty-three years, which have been decisive in the development
of international economy, England, France and Russia have not been able
even to increase their foreign trade three times, while Germany and the
United States have increased theirs five times. The trade of Germany and
the United States has increased from 7.6 to 38 billion marks. If these
figures show nothing else, they show on which side the American sympathy
will be. This war, provoked by Russia because of an outrageous desire
for revenge, supported by England and France, has no other motive than
envy of Germany's position in economic life, and of her people, who are
fighting for a place in the sun. "Right or wrong, Germany must not
grow." That is the turning point of a policy which the French Republic
drilled into the Muscovites. Let us consider the adversaries of Germany.
Russia, the classic land of power and terrible exploitation of the
people for the benefit of a degenerated aristocracy. France, a type of a
nation in which there is not even enough enterprise to increase the
productiveness of the country. England, which has so long felt its glory
vanishing and in the meantime has remained far behind its younger rival
in financial and economic equipment. One can easily imagine the feelings
of these peoples when they observe the rapid and successful growth of
Germany, and wonders if these same feelings will not one day be directed
against th