Grand Forks daily herald., 1914-09-29
(By aerhart IIauptmann.

(Herr Hauptmann is generally re.
garded as the greatest living German
poet.)
Berlin, Sept. live are an emin.
emily peaceable nation. The shallow
Partisan feuilletonist Bergson may
call us barbarians as much as hi
pleases. The great poet and deluded
similar nice titles upon uS after hay.
ing called us the conscience of Eu-
rope" The world knows that we are
an old civilized nation.
Cosmopolitan Deep-rooted.
tism rooted deeper than with us. Look
at our literature of translations and
name me a nation that tries as hard
as we to- render Justice to the spirit
and the originality .of other nations
so aa to thoroughly understand their
SOULS. DID not Maeterlinck win most
Of his glory and his money with us ?
For a arlor-philosophaster like Berg
son, .of course. there'is no room in the
country Of Kant and Schopenhauer.
No Hatred for France.
I say it frankly: We have and we
had no hatred against France; we
ture, pictorial art and the literature
OF that country. =. For the worldwide
recognition Of Rodin. the way was
paved in Germany. We. admire An
atole France; Maupassant. F1aubert
andBalzac are read in Germany as II
they were German authors. We feel
a deep affection for the national life
Of southern France. Enthusiastic ad-
mirers Of Mistral. can be found even
In small German cities. amongst the
poorer population.
Should be Political Friends.
1t Is greatly to be regretted that
Germany and France could not be
political friends. They should have
been. since they are administrators
Of the continental productions OF the
mind and since thew are the two great
thoroughly cultured European master
nations.
Fate DEGREES Otherwise.
Fate, however. decreed otherwise.
In the year 1870. the German tribes,
by fighting, won for themselves Ger
man unity and the German empire.
These achievements guaranteed to our
nation an epoch of peace for more
than forty years. a time of budding,
OF growing, Of strengthening, OF thriv-
Ing. OF fruit-bearing. unparalleled.
From out a population which con-
stantly was growing more numerous,
there stepped forth individualities,
Not Among Barbarians.
Individual energy and general elas-
ITCHY created the great achievements
OF our industry, of our commerce, of
our transportation systems. I do not
believe that an American. English,
sETench or Italian traveller ever be-
.Meved himself lmonE "barbarians"
while visiting German. families, Ger
man cities, German hotels, German
aters, Bayreuth. German libraries or
German museums. We have travelled
in other countries and we have al
ways welcomed the stranger.
Armies for Protection.
Or course, our geographical situa-
ton with WenacinR powers in the east
and west compelled us to provide for
the safety OF our homes. For this
reason--and for this reason only
our army and navy were organized.
Towards this organization. the current
of German industry. efficiency and in
ventive power was directed to great
extent. At the present moment we
know better than we ever knew before
how necessary this measure was.
Kaiser Loved Peace.
But Kaiser Wilhelm. supreme
"Kriegsherr" Of the empire. did love
peace from the very bottom Of his
sou! and did maintain peace! Our
Well-trained army was organized for
no other purpose than defense. We
wanted to be prepared against threat
ening assaults. repeat. the German
nation, the German princes, Kaiser
Wilhelm, all Of them had no other
thought in maintaining the army and
navy, than to safeguard the beehive
OF the empire. the industrious, rich
activity Of peace.
..N Not His Fault
Without being boastful. and simply
expressing my deepest conviction, I
say that has always been a favorite
idea Of the kaiser--af idea. to which
he clung with heartfelt enthusiasm
to continue to the end the blessed
epoch of his administration as one of
absolute peace. It Is not his. not our
fault, that matters have turned out
otherwise.
War of Defense,
The war in which we are engaged
and which was forced upon us is a
war OF defense. Whoever wishes to
dispute this fact would have to do so
against his better knowledge. Look
at the enemy on the eastern, on the
northern, on the western frontier. Our
blood-fraternity with Austria means
nothing less than self-preservation for
ooth countries. That the sword was
forced into our hand plainly can be
seen from the dispatches exchanged
between the emperor and the czar, be,
tween the emperor and the king OF
England, by everybody who desires q
true understanding. not delusion. OF
course, now that we have taken ur
the sword, we are not going to lay II
down until we have proved our holy
right before God and men.
Enemies Conspired.
Who was 1t that conspired to hrina
about this war? who even whistled
for the Mongolian. for tho Jap to conn
and bite at Europe's heel viciously
and cowardly? Who but our enemies
who. surrounded by hordes OF Cos.
sacks, yettclain to fight for European
civtlization!