a portion
of the German Empire, and that the inhabitants of the little country, to
a considerable degree, gain their livelihood by its being a land of
transit for German products. Nationally, the annexation is not to be
defended, but geographically, economically, and from a military point
of view it is comprehensible.

At the east front of the central powers very different conditions
prevail. _Austria has no desire to make the conquest of any territory_;
indeed, just the contrary, would probably be willing to cede a portion
of Galicia in favor of new States. _Germany has not the slightest
inclination to incorporate new portions of Slav or Lettish regions._
Both Germans and Austrians wish to establish free _buffer States_
between themselves and the great Russian Empire.

Not even the Baltic provinces, where Germans hold almost the same
position as the Swedes in Finland, form an object for the German desire
of conquest, but her wish is to make them, as also _Finland_, an
independent State. Furthermore, the Kingdom of _Poland_ and a Kingdom of
_Ukraine_ would be the outcome of decisive victories for the central
powers.

What Germany would demand of these new States, whose very existence was
the outcome of her success at arms, would simply be an _economical
organization in common with the German Empire_, an enormous central
European "Zollverein" ("Customs Union") with Germany at its heart. It is
only such a union, in the opinion of leading German statesmen, which
could hold the United States of North America at bay, and after this
present war, moreover, the world would only have to take into account
_two_ first-class powers, viz., Germany and the United States of
America.

A commencement of this new economical connection is being made by the
negotiations entered on by representatives of _Austria-Hungary_ and
_Germany_ concerning the proposed formation of a _Customs Union_. Since
this union would include 120,000,000 individuals, it must be evident
what an immense attraction it must exert on the surrounding smaller
nations. _Switzerland_ and _Holland_ can scarcely escape this
attraction, and the _Scandinavian countries_, it is said, would probably
find it to their advantage, together with a liberated _Finland_, to
form a _Northern Customs Union_, which later, on an independent basis,
could _enter in close union with the vast "Zollverein" of Central
Europe_.

This "Zollverein" would then include about 175,000,000 indiv