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Page 49
The venerable Field Marshal unrolled upon the broad surface of George
Washington's desk a beautifully shaded relief map of the United States,
and General Wood, ex-President Taft and Elihu Root bent over it with
tense faces and studied a heavy black line that indicated the proposed
boundary between the United States and the territory claimed by the
invaders. This latter included all of New England, about one-third of New
York and Pennsylvania (the southeastern portions), all of New Jersey and
Delaware, nearly all of Virginia and North Carolina and all of South
Carolina and Georgia.
"You observe, gentlemen," said von Hindenburg, "that our American
province is to bear the name New Germany. It is bounded on the north by
Canada, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by Florida, and
on the west by Alabama and the Allegheny Mountains. It is a strip of
land; roughly speaking, a thousand miles long and two hundred miles
wide."
"About the area of the German Empire," said ex-President Taft.
"Possibly, but not one-tenth of the entire territory of the United
States, leaving out Alaska. We feel that as conquerors we are asking
little enough." He eyed the Americans keenly.
"You are asking us to give up New York, Philadelphia and Washington and
all of New England," said Elihu Root very quietly. "Does your Excellency
realise what that means to us? New England is the cradle of our
liberties. New York is the heart of the nation. Washington is our
capital."
"Washington _was_ your capital," broke in General von Kluck, with a
laugh.
"I can assure your Excellency," said General Wood, keeping his composure
with an effort, "that the American people will never consent to such a
sacrifice of territory. You may drive us back to the deserts of Arizona,
you may drive us back to the Rocky Mountains, but we will fight on."
Von Hindenburg's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Ah, so!" he smiled grimly.
"Do you know what will happen if you refuse our terms? In the next few
months we shall land expeditions from Germany with a million more
soldiers. That will give us a million and a half men on American soil. We
shall then invade the Mississippi Valley from New Orleans, and our next
offer of terms will be made to you from St. Louis or Chicago, _and it
will be a very different offer_."
"If your Excellency will allow me," said Elihu Root in a conciliatory
tone, "may I ask if the Imperial German Government does not recognise
that there will be great difficulties in the way of permanently holding a
strip of land along our Atlantic seaboard?"
"What difficulties? England holds Canada, doesn't she? Spain held Mexico,
did she not?"
"But the Mexicans were willing to be held. Your Excellency must realise
that in New England, in New York, in New Jersey, you would be dealing
with irreconcilable hatred."
"Nothing is irreconcilable. Look at Belgium. They hated us in 1915, did
they not? But sixty-five percent of them accepted German citizenship when
we offered it to them after the peace in 1919, and they have been a
well-behaved German province ever since."
"You mean to say that New England would ever become a German province?"
protested William H. Taft. "Do you think that New York and Virginia will
ever take the oath of allegiance to the German Emperor?"
"Of course they will, just as most of the Spaniards you conquered in the
Philippine Islands took the oath of allegiance to America. They swore
they would not but they did. Men follow the laws of necessity. Half of
your population are of foreign descent. Millions of them are of German
descent. These people crowded over here from Europe because they were
starving and you have kept them starving. They will come to us because we
treat them better; we give them higher wages, cleaner homes, more
happiness. They _have_ come to us already; the figures prove it. Not ten
percent of the people of New York and New England have moved away since
the German occupation, although they were free to go. Why is that?
Because they like our form of government, they see that it insures to
them and their children the benefits of a higher civilisation."
My informant assured me that at this point ex-President Taft, in spite of
his even temper, almost exploded with indignation, while General Wood
rose abruptly from his seat.
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