France The Peril, Says German Paper

New York Times 100 years ago today, March 11, 1913:
Semi-Official Cologne Gazette Says Relations with That Power Are Greatly Strained.
MONEY FAMINE CONTINUES
Gold to be Imported from This Country -- "End of French Culture," Says Anatole France of Army Bill.
By Marconi Transatlantic Wireless Telegraph to The New York Times.
    BERLIN, March 10.— The semi-official Cologne Gazette publishes an extraordinary leading article, headed "The Mischief maker," in which it says: "It will not be difficult for the German Government to justify the necessity for the army increase if it will only speak out plainly and, without mincing words, indicate the point from which danger is threatened — as all the world realizes, from France."
    The paper says nobody underestimates the gravity of the new conditions in the Balkans, but when the country is asked to make such heavy sacrifices chapter and verse must be given, and the Government's finger must point to the precise spot from which there is immediate peril — that is, France. It adds:
    "Never were our relations with our western neighbor so strained as to-day. Never has the idea of revenge been so openly flaunted. Never has it been so apparent that the French made their Russian alliance and their English friendship for the sole object of recapturing Alsace-Lorraine. "One thing is absolutely sure. Whenever the world catches fire the Germans will have to cross swords with the French. When that will happen nobody can tell."
    Wholesale realizations of foreign securities, notably Canadian Pacific Railway shares, are taking place in Germany in order to relieve the unprecedented famine of gold and money. The Stock Exchanges in Berlin and elsewhere in Prussia were closed to-day on account of the centenary of the nation's rise against the Napoleonic oppressor. To procure money investors are sacrificing their foreign holdings. This condition has been brought about primarily by the hoarding craze which has obsessed Germans since the outbreak of the war in the Balkans. It has not been lessened by the nervousness of their own Government, as manifested by the gigantic army increase. The sum now hoarded by timid Germans is estimated at between $112,500,000 and $125,000,000. Merchants and manufacturers report that it is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain the payment of bills even from customers who have never before been delinquent.
    Another aggravating factor is the deficit caused by the withdrawal of the immense balance which foreign banks formerly kept on loan in this country.
    A money famine can only be relieved from abroad. Gold must be imported. England was drawn on last week to the extent of $1,500,000, and still heavier importations are in process of arrangement with the United States.

By Marconi Transatlantic Wireless Telegraph to The New York Times.
    LONDON, Tuesday, March 11.— "It is the end of French culture" is cited as the opinion of Anatole France on the new French Conscription bill in an interview sent to The Daily News by Harold Spender from Paris. M. France is further quoted as follows:
    "This addition to the yearly conscription comes on us just when France is moving forward with new energy both in science and industry. It will be a grave blow to all our higher life. Medicine especially will be injured, for the medicine of the army is not the medicine of the civil State. French science requires the time of its young students, and that will be gravely curtailed. The demand for another barrack year from all young Frenchmen, imposed without exemptions, will draw off the best from every field of life.
    "It comes at a moment of great industrial development. It will check that development. It comes at a moment of expansion in our arts, especially in sculpture, and it will be a heavy blow. Sculpture is not practiced on the battlefield."
    Mr. Spender declares that the militarist spirit is at present supreme in France and that other voices are not likely to be heard, for the present, at least. The ordinary attitude of the Frenchman, he says, is one of resignation rather than aggression, but the cry "à Berlin," which resounded through the streets of Paris betöre 1870, has been raised again for the first time in forty years.

    LONDON, Tuesday, March 11.— The alarming development of European armament and the open references of the German press to the possibility of a French war of revenge have created a feeling of anxiety in Great Britain, and the London morning papers express disappointment at the omission in the King's speech at the opening or Parliament of any indication of the Government's intentions with regard to further defensive measures to meet the growth of Continental armaments.
    The subsequent debate on the address, however, brought an important statement from Premier Asquith. Lord Hugh Cicil had voiced the current rumors that the Government was embarking on a dangerous foreign policy, and had entered into an engagement in certain contingencies to throw a British expeditionary army across the Channel.
    The Prime Minister jumped up and said "I ought to say at once that this is not true."
    This explicit denial was received with loud cheers.