Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1914-11-27
THE POLITICAL PRINCI- J.
PILES OF GERMANY.

Piles of Germany" It has peculiar in!
terest because the writer has spent, /
from time to time, nearly ten years.
in the different European countriesl
now involved in war. He has livedi
more than three years in Germany "asf
an interested student of her nationalf
life and character" DIR. Powell del
fines Germany's political principlesI
as follows: |
Official Germany builds on the as
sumption that nations are not fellow-t
citizens of the world who find theirt
fullest life in peaceful cooperation,
but are by a nature, what they havet
too often been in fact, warning rivals,
no one of which can realize its natur-
al powers without crushing its weak
er neighbors. Every nation that ap-
proximately, equals, or exceeds Ger
many in size is by that fact an
enemy |
"The writer was a student in Ger
many during the Spanish-American
War. He found not a single profess
sor or student who gave the, slightest
scredence to Americas ~declarationt
that she did not intend to annex Cuba. |
The thought seemed absolutely pre-
posterous. For believing in the SIN
cerity of our Government, I was look
ed upon either as a credulous imbecile
or as a lying h~yprocrite. As a foreign
student it was my privilege occasional
-ly to be a guest of one of the most
eminent philosophers of the present.
generation. When I tried to explain to
him that the war wa not as the Ger
mans seemed to think, q war of CON-
quest, and that the antecedent popu-
lar feeling had not been created by
the Government through q ssubsidiz-]
ed press, but was a spontaneous out
burst of popular indignation, my
words were received with mingled inn
patience and compassion
DR. Powell says that one Of the
causes of the present wal is Ger
many's measurless ambition, and that
Germany's ambition is not only
measureiess but also unscrupulous.
"For her ambition is fortified by al
philosophy which asserts that might
makes right. He continued, From
1.-THE point Of view of Germany's doc
trihe that might makes right, it is
Equite consistent in her to speak of
what she wants and hopes too get, as
though it were already hers by right
In this way she hasTlong been talking
about the mouth of the Rhine. Her
subjects have SO often been told that
the Rhine belongs to them, that they
after the outbreak of the present
VIII, / met in London an American
| physician who had just arrived from
Germany. He had previously studied
in, that country, and was nov return.
ing from a brief tour along the Rhine.
lone day as his vessel was passing
Through Holland he was standing
with several Germans OF the deck
When a boat flying the Dutch flag
went by. Pointing at 1t, one of the
Germans exclaimed: do you see
that? And on our river!' Why does
the lower Rhine belongs to Germany?
Because she wants 1t. England said
the son Of the famous Professor Enckr
en- to an English instructor at Oxford,
England ought to give Germany some
of her colonies, which, asked the
instructor. Canada was the signi-
fcant reply. Now why should Ger
many receive "a present Of British
colonies. The only d~iscoverable basis
of such a claim is that Germany wants
them" NoJ
Dr.. Powell believes that Germany
has become the most persistent med
fdlerS IN the affairs of others, and the
most conscienceless viliher of her re-
spectacle n~einhbors.s He finds justif-
cation for this belief In his under
standing Of Germany's methods of
government. He writes, "In Ameri-
ca and England public opinion directs
the government. In Germany the
lgovernmert directs public opinion
at least in matters relating to foreign
policy. 1t does so by control of the
tpress, That Bismark had at his dis
posal considerable funds expressly
sdtsipart for this purpose is q matter
of public knowledge; and that his me
ithods have been continued to the pre-
sent there is no want of evidence.
Bismark's contempt for real demo-
cracy he used to express by calling it
| government by the nursery, The peo-
ple must not govern, but be governed.
They r to be managed like children.
When it needs q given popular mood,
the Government creates it through the
inspired press. To accomplish its
ends in foreign relations, it does not
shrink from promoting campaigns of
calurnny against other nations or
from publishing incomplete and mis-
leading diplomatic correspondence.
at is one of the anomalies of con-
ditions in Germany that the govern
pent permits and fosters the great
est freedom of thought. in every field
of knowledge except politics. Hence
the pathetic spectacle Of famous Ger
man professors whose Independent
i minds in the field of their special in.
terests have added to- the permanent
treasures of human knowledge, re-
peating like parrots the baseless as
restions of a "spoonfed" political
press. Such eminent professors as
Encken, Wundt, and Won Liszt, in con-
cert with a host of sthelogians, solemn.
ly assure US on the authority of Ger.
man newspapers, and of their Govern
ment's partial and garbied account OF
fact, that for the sake of money sor-
did England drove her allies into
war;, and that with 'mercenary
troops she isTnow waging on German
culture as a business transaction"
/. COyTNTv ACpTcIrJ TIE AT AGENT