South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1915-07-06
German of the
Individual lie He Goes for Walk He Told Where He Should
Right o the What He May Do and Mustn't In
Germany the Government Thinks You and Guards YOU"


last great German musician was undoubtedly,
Wagner-pere, but he, though he survived for
some years after the German victories, was,
nevertheless the child of an earlier age, which
has now passed into eternity and his creations
are the expression not of the present, but of a
former Germany. Even the few exceptions
that be named, confirm rather than upset
the general rule The most brilliant Of them.
of course, is NietZsche, the one man Of very
great talent produced by Germany since 1871.
But it is just he who most wildly illustrates
what has been said above of the decay OF crea-
tive power in contemporary Germany
The whole of Nietzsche's strength and his
whole Importance consist entirely in negation-
in trenchant and eloquent protests against the
general vulgarizatiOn and shallowness Of So
ciety that was becoming Increasingly bourgeois
and shallow. And, at the same time, In
Nietzsche one finds the most complete absence
OF even the most primary elements Of positive
creativeness and of any sort of vitality construc-
tive ideas; his ideal of the blond beast is in 10
way superior to the ideal he repudiates OF
green pastures" and the stilted figure of his
"superman," not filed with any really super
human contents. reveals the perfectly empty
human heart which forms the only fruit con-
temporary German culture has produced. And,
enthusiastically enough, that which Is most
valuable in Nietzsche is not quite German The
very vivacity of his protest against mean vul-
garity reveals a temperament foreign to the
German, and inherited from his Polish ances-
tors-as he himself knew very we'll
Compared with Nietzsche the only two men
in contemporary Germany OF talent in another
sphere termann and Hauptmann-are OF
far less Importance; and it is hardly necessary
here to prove that their Importance also is en-.
tirely of the negative kind, consisting of de-
malls and of the exposure and denunciation OF
the mean bourgeois character af society to-day
which manifests itself in a particularly sordid
shape in Germany. OF really creative strength
the strength of an ideal-there is in their
works certainly not more, but if possible, even
less, than in the philosophy of Netzsche.
This failure of creative genius is related to
the impoverishment of individuality which
NietZsche commented upon Nietzsche saw in
1t worldwide tendency, but that opinion is
not proved. At any rate, the fact which he
dwells on-namely, the increasing absorption
of the individual in State affairs-is by no
means characteristic of a whole series of cul.
tures-for it is not characteristic of Anglo
Saxon culture, noted for its individualism or
OF Slavo-Russian culture, where the suppress
sion or individuality is also not noticeable. We
are here met by a characteristic peculiaritv OF
German culture distinguished from other
kinds of culture; nor can overlook the fact
that it is now showing itself on the field of
battle, and In way not favorable to Germany
do not wish TO deprecate the high qualities
OF the Germany army; but its qualities, like
its defects, are characteristic of modern Ger
many. In all that depends on the State in the
technical side of war Germany shows some SUI
periOrity over her opponents; while on the
other hand she is decidedly inferior to them
Justin those things which depend on the de-
artillery, the German armed motor cars and
trains, the German aeropanes and Zeppelins
are just the sort Of things in which the Ger
mans excel us and our allies. CThe superiority
of our light artillery is only an isolated excep-
ton to the general rule)
On the other hand superiority is shown
just where, till the war came, one would least
OF all have expected It: In the individual de-
yelOpment of the soldier. Despite the incon-
trOvertible courage of the Germans their in
fantry is certainly inferior to our infantry and
10 that of our allies. BY general report the
German infantryman is the least adapted for
the Open-Order fighting which IS required to-
day. He shoots badly, and moves in close,
deep columns, which results in his suffering
heavy losses. How is this 10 be explained?
Simply by the fact that his personality is
crushed by those characteristics of German
State-hypnOtsm which in the German army
have reached their highest expression Out.
side the general rank, personality counts for
nothing in that lies the fatal peculiaritv of the
German Government and of the German army
That is why the German soldier has no indi-
vidual initiative; he can only be a passive
weapon in the hands Of representative Of the
State-the officer who leads him
An unpreparedness for Open-order fighting
was formerly apparent among our Russian
troops; for instance, in the Japanese war; but
with US it resulted from quite other causes
and chiefly indicated a low level of mental de-
velOpment. To-day our soldiers prove to be- in
general, better developed than the Germans
and this shows what enormous progress the
mass or our people nave recently made. That
the Russian common people are generally more
gifted than the Germans especially in imagina.
ton, ingenuity and mental alertness, there was
even previously, not doubt at ALL But that
they should prove themselves more indepen-
dent more self-reliant, and TO that extent more
individually developed, has come as quite a
surprise 10 US. And that surprise indicates
the contrast between two different cultures. of
which the one always destroys individuality
while the other has the negative advantage of
not absorbing the personality Of its subjects
into the State but OF preserving at least their
spiritual independence toward IT,
It is not only in the peculiarities of the Ger.
man soldier, but also in the characteristics of
the higher German command (the staff) that
the fatal limit Of the German genius becomes
apparent. That command acts excellentlv as
long as it wages in the immediate neigh.
borhOOd of a well-deYeloped network f,rail.
ways and OF good roads, along which heavy ar.
tillery and motors can move easily In a word
It is a strategy that operates well on wheels
amid surroundings that the technical skin Of
the German Government has created for If
But beyond the bounds OF that limited military
survey the German commanders the lost As
soon as they get into our native atmosnb ere
of roadlessness and mud. where cannon and
60 -. a@NNNnns @ 3