aintaining the feud over Alsace-Lorraine
has been a burden to both France and Germany, and the progress which
Germany has made in world affairs, despite the burden of militarism
which she has earned, is one of the marvels of the century. And the
situation compelled France to maintain a defensive military organization
which was as great a burden to her and barrier to world peace as the
military burden of Germany.

STRAIN BETWEEN GERMANY AND RUSSIA.

Whether Germany conspired to bring on the war so that she could wage a
campaign of aggression has not yet been made clear, but the strain
between Germany and Russia had been growing for some time, and the
assassination of the Teutonic heir, Francis Ferdinand, by a ward of
Russia, created an occasion which gave Germany an opportunity to fight,
without being compelled to directly precipitate the conflict. Russia
could do naught else but come to the aid of Servia, and Germany by
reason of her alliance with Austria must aid the latter country.

Germany anticipated the entry of Italy into the conflict as the third
member of the Triple Alliance, but Italy did not regard Germany's action
as defensive and declined to aid Austria. Germany had made overtures to
Great Britain, but England had an understanding with France, which was
in the nature of a limited alliance, and Germany might have kept England
out of the struggle; but Germany proceeded with a plan to invade France
by way of Belgium, which was in violation of international agreement
establishing Belgium's neutrality and independence. Germany had nothing
to gain by choosing the Belgium route, for the fact is that even had the
Belgian government approved the movement, there must have been a French
counter-movement, which would have made Belgium the theatre of war just
the same.

Pan-Germanism has been described as one of the underlying motives in the
world war, and Pan-Slavism has always opposed Pan-Germanism.
Pan-Germanism is described as a well-defined policy or movement which
seeks the common welfare of the Germanic peoples of all Europe and the
advance of Teutonic culture, while Pan-Slavism, represented by Russia,
seeks in the main the uniting of all the Slavonic folk for common
welfare. The contact between these two has always been seething, and the
racial differences made burdensome the arbitrary alignment and political
geography arranged by the Berlin Congress.

OUTLETS TO THE WORLD'S MARKET.

The commercial sid