The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1914-09-14
THE Two GERMANS.

German-American il that there are
two Germanys. writes Oswald Garri-
son Willard in the American Review
Of Reviews for September, and he con-
tinues: One Is that of the kaiser and OF
the military autocracy, those who be-
lieve in the divine right of rules. in.
the mailed fist, in government by arts-
tocracy. in might as against right. ana
have taught the doctrine that peace
can only be assured II all the nations
be armed to the teeth. Its adherents
are those who see in the Waffenrock
another hat of Gessler. before which
the public must bow. They uphold the
officers who cut down lame cobblers
or run through civilians at some fan
cied insult, and applaud those wearers
of the uniform who resort to the duel,
long since outlawed by the enlightened
sentiment of the world. These are the
Germans who entrench in power the
ennobled and enriched classes: who
are without trust in the people and are
utterly opposed to any extension of
democracy. relying for aid upon a sub
servjent bureaucracy; who support the
Prussian government in its refusal to
remove the inequalities among voters
within its Observation-Disclosures which
100000 Prussians protested last year
on a single day.
Incidentally they are of the type
that gives so much offense to the rest
of the world. They are arrogant and
supercilious and frankly without faith
in anything save the power of the
sword. 1t is they who have dictated
the foreign policy which has made
wi ~ q
they who under Bismarck's leadership
originally entered in 1882 the game of
taking the lands of backward races, In
which all their neighbors and We our
selves have INDUCED. 1t is they who
give the utterly false impression that
all Germany has been bent on con-
make a large part of the world forget
that the Germans are among the most
lovable. useful. and enlightened Of
people; that they are bound to US by
ties that ought to be indissoluble.
Have they not enriched our blood?
Did they not come to us by the hun
dred thousand, fleeing from home be-
cause Of a noble idealism which they
transferred to our country. pledging
their faith with their blood upon our
battlefields Of civil strife.-but always
on the side of the union and human
liberty? Surely no German-American
| who really believes In republican in
! situations. in popular government. in
the ideals of Washington and Lincoln.
can uphold this Germany.
But there Is another Germany be-
sides this one Of the autocrats.-total-
ly different. infinitely nobler. It IN
the Germany Of the great souls who
have really made the spirit Of the ma
ton, its thinkers, it's teachers, its
scientists. its civic administrators, its
poets. it's glorious musicians, its phil
osophers, its idealists, its patriots of
the wars for freedom and Of the lost
struggle for liberty in 1s48.
To this Germany thousands of
Americans owe a debt of never-ending
gratitude. From 1t hosts Of our teach
ers our professional men without
number, and others in every rank Of
life have drawn their most cherished
inspirations. To it we owe in consid-
cradle measure our university develop
ment; from it came in large degree the
impetus towards good civic govern
ment which has been one of the glor-
les Of our American progress in the
last two decades. From this Ger
many Lloyd-George has plagiarized
those plans for the improvement OF
the welfare Of the masses which have
made him at once the best-beloved and
best-hated man in Great Britain.
In the civic care of its own this Ger
many has led the world. with all to dc
1t reverence. 1t has known best how
to build the city beautiful and made
good and progressive government the
birthright of all its urban jewellers
In no other nation has science in the
same degree become the partner o.
commerce and OF industry. Nowhere
else has there been q keener, II Al
keen. an Intellectual freedom among
those whose lives are dedicated to thu
, pursuit of truth, or to the instruction
, of the young. Nowhere has there beer
! a greater reverence for the aristocracy
of intellect or as generous a recogni
ton Of its achievements. To sit a
r the feet Of its inspired teachers, mel
/ and women have come from all quar-
} tiers of the globe knowing that in
) hundred fields this Germany led tn
/ world.
= And 1t is this Germany which toda,
} lies PROSTATE before US. 1t is thi
Germany which Is being slaughtered
whatever the reason or the excuse 70
the war. On behalf of this German,
any really enlightened ruler must hav
Z stood for peace against the world. n
4 matter who might be mobilixing O
! where. To the support Of this king
dom the whole intellectual worl,
would have risen-it did in Englan
the kaiser but cried out its nee
and asked for allies to defend ana nc
to break the peace. For it anyone VIII
!. realized its moral grandeur and wort
n ought to have been willing to have ah
= Dictated rather than to plunge 1t int
the ahVsa the bal1 ~