The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-12-11


 allied against her and the moral olo-. position aroused against certain of her acts and policies. Yet there is another thing a seeming trifle which has had a potent effect in causing misunderstanding of German thought and purpose. and misunderstanding is the parent of injustice and enmity.
 This handicap lies in the. difficulty of expressing German ideas with eN- actitude in other languages. and par Jicularly in English. Next to a demo- cratic form of government and a Somewhat higher conception of in ternatfonaI morality, Germanyss most. urgent need, we should say, is a com potent interpretation. An expert translator with sufficient authority to command attention and sufficient fla nliiiarity with both languages to rem der into idomatic English tn ephrase- ology of her public affairs and ut to the empire
 The possibilities of confusion that Turk ia hasty, i'll considered translat- tions from one tongue to another are really stup There are thoughts and ideas quite elementary to one people which members of another race cannot mentally vispalize with even approximate accuracy
 For example, the Japanese who speaks of his honorable grandmoth- err expresses a pious Veneration which reaches back into the dim regiens of antiquity and passes the borderland 0f religious sanctity. Yet a fictitious Japanese schoolboy of current Anerl- can humor makes the phrase lon gran dInother,' irrsistibIy confc- $ To give another instance from the same nation, a Japanese convert to Christianity rendered into his tongue the solemn words Rock of Ages Cleft for Me His intent was the most pious in the world, but his hear CTS among his own people were pro foundly puzzled by reading the J Jap- sanese equivalent of Very Old stone Split for My Benefit
 That Germany has suffered seri- ousIy by the perversity of translated words is not to be doubted. While no great damage to her stan ding was auparent. But no sooner had she be- came involved in war than her foes and her critics made Joyous use of distorted translations which had long been current.
 The kaiser. as the most noted ana most picturesque spokesman Of the nation. has naturally been the chief victim in this regard. His exalted r1,vstfciar1 and his profound conVlc- ! fsfsu Of his high mission in the world have exaggerated the widespread naIs- conception of some of his most Ia Ia rnfliaT lltterances- Phrases that to his own r,eople ring trle and are filled with kingIy nobility have been so 1narrer in being carried into other sxs,ue1Ies that they have sped round the world amid irreverent laughter,
 Supreme war lord thus as every body, knows, his imperial majesty IS sometimes ddressed. araesst nus ne. $ won't to name himself in his stirrtng g ex11ortations to his troops It Is 2 mouth filling term. worthy of the nall- fta1-v naagnificence and yVorshlpful nome that supposedly enveiop the kaiser, and has become SC enpeddeu fl1 popular thought that it " ould pc 13oneless to endeaHor to pry it OIL ss
 Yet inc fact is that the phrase as 1t l,as reached us is wholly n1isleading. g. wilhelm IT. never WAS hailed ana never described himself as Supreme war lord of the German people. The title he uses, with perfect right ana f,ropristv. is "Oberkriegsherr, and its sseai 4,1.sT.irey is pretty well rendered 4,zF commander in chief, a title which the president of the United States 4 bears in his capacity as head of the army and navy without arous1ng fears of imperiaIistfc designs
 Since the Beginning of hostil1t1es the emperor's words have been more closely scrukinized than ever by his foes. A perfect fusi1ade of criticism was leVe1ed at him a few weeks age by persons whose religious sensibili- ties had been shocked by a sentencs ! in an address to a regiment
 we shall vet destroy our enemies ran the report of the imperial speech Our old God up there will give II: the victory
 This was really too much. A belle in the divine right of kings is ba,e enough but is intoierable that the de fusion should be carried sso far that 2 man. however exalted, should invoke ra1fIiarity. The reference to seOur Goo fniIiarity The reference to tsOur olt God LID there seemed in wretcheC taste, and that the German people die not resent it proved. of course theil pagan depravity.
 Unfortunately for the value of thi criticism. however, the kaiser's wordi had no such meaning as was attri fbtted to them. His religious faith i one Of the passions of his life a.nt his pious veneration for sacred thing a habit founded upon deep conviction What he really said was Our ancien God on high will give us the victory and whatever may be the thought O his theory the most bitter opponen cannot justly complain of his phrase o1ogy
 But these examples of error in re gard to German ideas are trif1ini f compared to a miSconcept1on which even core baseless. If we were asket to name the one thing most hurtfu to the German cause we should -hesi tate whether o citeh the violation O BelgiuTnss neutrality, the sack of Lou vain or the phrase German culture
 Certainly the first two have create, a vast volume of unfayorabIe judg ment, but the third has had an in fIammatory effect upon the pub1i mind that is quite deadly. And al through a misunderstanding.
 The prominence of German ''Ku1 turs' in the controversy is due to it persistent emphasis by all spokes men for that side. The kaiser exhort his troops to defend the father1an and stKuftur.', It was Teutoni tsKu1tur's that was in peril from Rus sian barbarisrn. necessitating an inXa