rkey to her trade and her civilizing
influence.

In this she must clearly be supported by Germany. For only if Austria is
left free to exercise her natural protectorate over the Balkan States
can the passage between Germany and the Near Orient, one of the most
important routes of German commerce, be kept open.

Russia's unwillingness, then, to allow Austria a free hand in her
dealings with Servia was an open menace to Germany, a challenge which
had to be accepted unless Germany was prepared to abdicate all her
influence in the Near Orient and to allow Russia to override the
legitimate claims and aspirations of her only firm and faithful ally.

This formidable coalition of the three greatest European powers,
threatening the very existence of Germany, has now been joined by Japan,
openly and boldly for the purpose of snatching from Germany her one
Asiatic possession.

If any additional proof had been needed to make it clear that, if
Germany wanted to retain the slightest chance of extricating herself
from this worldwide conspiracy against her, she had to strike the first
blow, even at the risk of offending against international good manners,
this stab in the back by Japan would furnish such proof.

Dr. Sanderson Replies

_To the Editor of The New York Times:_

Although I hate to enter into a controversy with Prof. Kuno Francke, who
was once my excellent friend, I cannot refrain from answering his
article which appeared in last Sunday's NEW YORK TIMES.

How can any one say, in all fairness, that Germany's policy toward
France during the last forty-three years has been one of the utmost
restraint and forbearance, and has been dictated by the one desire to
make her forget the loss of the two provinces? What are the facts? We
know that not once, but again and again, since 1878, Germany has tried
to provoke France into war. We know that on one occasion Queen Victoria
herself threatened the Kaiser with Great Britain's intervention if he
did not desist from his intended attack on France. And to cite only the
two most recent instances, the Agadir affair and the enforced
resignation of the French Premier, Delcasse! Would Germany have
swallowed such insults?

This may be the German conception of "utmost restraint and forbearance,"
but it appeared to the French, as it did to the rest of the world, that
it required their utmost restraint and forbearance to remain calm under
the affronts.

The fact that Alsace-Lor