The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1917-05-19

I6 man spirit has found one of its
~ most classical expressions in a col
iectlon of poems published by a German pastor,
Nonslstorialrat Dietrich Vorwerk, under the sig
nitcant title, Hurrah and Halleluiah' and / find
IN this combination something so absolutely char
acterlstic of the German spirit that l have adopted
1t as the title for this book"
Ihis book, in the opinion of Ralph Conner, who
mas written the preface to 1t, CONSTITUTES the most
terrific arrangement of Germany through her in
tellectual and religious leaders which has vet been
put 1orth. Out of her own mouth it is that she
stands before the world condemned. And the
tragedy of 1t all is in this, that these men (whom
Doctor Bang quotes) are sincere, deeply, pas
sionately sincere. And herein consists the awful
nemesis that has after so years pursuit at length
overtaken the German soul. For the crime Of
Germany today of which these sermons and lee
lures convict her is not hypocrisy; but the long
practice of hypocrisy has induced in her a spirit
uai blindness which has become at once her
calamity and her curse"
The allies" says Doctor Bang, 'have denounced
the Germans as barbarians. If this were meant to
Imply that Germany was not a civilized nation
Nhulturnaton) such an accusation would, of
course, be absurd. Germany is unquestionably a
clVlrzed nation and none Of the spokesman Of
the allied powers would think of denying that she
mas produced rich treasures of Kultur.' Wherever
the German mind has labored, wonderful riches
nave Deen the outcome. In the most diverse do
mains, but especially in those of music. of liter
allure, Of science and religion, it would be easv
TO mention names that shine with the luster of
renown throughout the whole world. But the
charge of barbarism points In an entirely different
direction. 1t points to a development within Ger
many which has been going on with headlong
rapidly, especially during the last so years. Even
the highest Kultur can turn to barbarism when
1t becomes subservient to utterly false and i'm
moral ideas. In Germany such q craving for
power, such a worship for mere strength, has
taken root and grown, that the claim Of right to
be a determining factor in international relations
has been entirely pushed aside. A colossal and
ever increasing standardization, a belief in the
glory of all things German, the surprising merits
of the German nature (Wesen), which alone has
the right to rule the world, a cynical, brutal asser-
ton that in relation to this claim all existing
treaties, all appeals to international law, all con-
sideration for weaker peoples, are of no signif-
canoe whatever-all this we have witnessed with
shuddering establishment.
Foretold BeIgium's Fate.
"The first place is due to Ernst Moritz Arndt,
the great German patriot of the time of the War
of Liberation. AS early as 1884 he declared In one
of his writings that the neutrality Of Belgium
could not possibly be maintained in a future war.
He wrote:
Belgium, the granary and armory, is predes-
tined to be the battlefield in the struggle for the
Mouse and the Rhine. / ask any general or states
man who has seriously considered the problems
of war and politics whether Belgium can remain
neutral in a European war-that Is to say, can be
respected as neutral any longer than may appear
e~xpedient to the power which feels itself pos
sessed of the best advantages for attack
"The German writer, G. Traub, makes the fol-
lowing inimitable comment on the above:
"'Thus an Arndt has, as far back as so years
ago, given us absolution for this so-called breach
of neutrality. having foreseen that it is here a
question of higher necessities, and that Belgium
herself, that "half French country" cannot pos
sibly remain neutral
1.-THE second German prophet is the well-known
philologist and theologian, P. de Lagarde. Already
in 1874 he expressed the view that Bismarck's
creation of the German empire was only an cpl
sode on the way to the formation of the Great Mid
die European state. He calls the German empire
Little Germany Even at that time Lagarde, as a
German has lately put 1t, formulated the national
demands which the Germans, not with unblush-
ing arrogance, but realizing the inherent neces-
sity of the case must consider as the ~indispen-
sable foundation for the German peoples cooper
alton In the history of mankind. These demands
are extensions Of frontier both towards the East
and the West.
"The greatest and most popular of all the new
German prophets is, however, the poet Emanuel
Geibel, whose centenary has recently been cele-
brated (born 1915, died 1880. 1t is he who has
given the classic expression to the new German
hope of Germany's victorious march through the
world. This has been achieved in the lines to
which I have already referred, and which are
quoted times without number in the newest Ger
man war literature:
"Und es mag am deutschen Wesen
Einmal noch die Welt genesenP
1.-THE world may yet again be healed by German
ismf The hope here expressed has become a GER
tainty for modern Germany, and the Germans see
In this the moral basis for all their demands. He
says:
Germany had set her mind upon building her
house in peace, but then came her hereditary foe,
puffed up with venom and envy. The blood so
criminally shed shall be upon him and his brood.
Nua dn nnt draam NJ an pasv victory. this war ia
a world Judgment, and strong is the spirit ofolies;
but he who was once the stronghold of our fathers
will again see us safely through 1t, be assured Of
thatl
"'God, who went before us in the flame of fire,
now grant our people strength for the last vic
.- -A.a.-4l- A. .OaA nnA Aha dnrE Good of laQ