Of this population 1,000,000, roughly, are subjects of foreign
powers. Five hundred thousand are from Austria-Hungary, 100,000 each
from Finland and Russia, nearly 100,000 from Italy, some 17,000
Americans, and so on. In 1900 the population speaking German numbered
51,000,000.

This compact little country is the very heart of Europe, surrounded by
Russia, Austria-Hungary, Italy, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Holland,
Denmark, and, across the North Sea, England. In the case of trouble in
Europe, Germany is the centre. Nothing can happen that does not
concern her, that must not indeed concern her vitally. She has fought at
one time or another in the last hundred years with Russia, Austria-
Hungary, Italy, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, and
England, and the various German states among themselves; or her soldiers
have fought against their soldiers, whether or not the various countries
named were geographically and politically then what they are now.

Russia's population in 1910 was 160,748,000, and including the Finnish
provinces, 163,778,800. Since 1897 the population of Russia has
increased at the annual rate of 2,732,000. The boundaries between
Russia and Germany are mere sand dunes, and by rail the Russian
outposts are only a few hours from Berlin. France is only across the
Rhine, and it is no secret that some months ago Great Britain had
worked out a plan by which she could put 150,000 troops on the
frontiers of Germany, at the service of France, in thirteen days.
Germany's ocean commerce must pass through the Straits of Dover, down
the English Channel, within striking distance of Plymouth, Portsmouth,
Dover, Brest, and Cherbourg. France, which has been looked upon as a
somewhat negligible quantity, has taken on a new lease of life. When
Napoleon died, in 1821, he left France swept clean of her fighting
men, whose bones were bleaching all the way from Madrid to Moscow.
France has recuperated and is almost another nation to-day from the
stand-point of virility. She far surpasses Germany in literature, art,
and science, and is taking her old place in the world. She led the way
in motor construction, in field-artillery, in aviation, and now she is
producing a champion middle-weight sparrer, and, marvel of marvels,
has actually beaten Scotland at foot-ball! She has always had brains,
and now her stability and virility are reviving. This has not passed
unnoticed in Germany. No wonder Germany looks upon her