The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1917-05-03
WHAT A|LS THE
GERMAN EMPIRE
LYMAN ABBOTT IN LETTER TO
FORMER PROGRESSIVE DAG.
NOSES CASE CLEARLY
WAR PARTY WISHES WORLD CONTROL
American Socialists Inconsistent In
Opposing War on kaiserism-So.
cialists Should Fight

The Register gives space to the fol-
lowing letter of Lyman Abbott to a So
cialist and progressive friend because
it is the clearest view Of the great
world war and what it means to hui
manity w have yet seen:
My Dear -:
In 1912 you and l were singing to-
gether 1.-THE Battle Hymn Of the Re-.
public" and in imagination were fight
ing the battle of Armageddon. We
had enlisted for life in the war against
social injustice. But now we have
separated. You are all peace and l am
still for war. Why have you chang
ed? Or have ! changed? Or has the
issue changed?
Professor Edward Meyer eulogizes
Germany as the most monarchial gov
eminent in Europe. The power of it's
monarch he says, must be unlimited,
and it cannot, therefore, be RESPONSE
Bile to man, but to God alone" He
wrote before the revolution in Russia,
but even then his statement was cor
rect. Absolutism was more appar-
ent in Russia, but more real i'm Ger
many. In December last a Russian
teacher in this country said to mel
am quoting from memory: "The in
tellectuals in Russia are democratic,
the spirit of the universities is demo-
cratic; the army is pervaded by demo-
cratic aspirations; the p%easantry have
learned in the communes the first les.
sons of democracy; when the next rev
olution breaks out in Russia it will
achieve its purpose with little blood
she'd" And the revolution of last
month proved him a wise student of
life.
But in Germany the whole structure
Of government-political. educational,
military, industrial-is autocratic.
At the head Of this government is an
emperor who with frank egotism has
tiuo III llS OWA ldCd Va ~ pOWNlo
"Only one is master of this country.
That is l. Who opposes me l shall
crush to pieces :. :. Sic volo, sic ju-
beo. :. We Hohenzo1lerns take our
crown from God alone, and to God
alone we are responsible in fulfllment
of duty. :, ..Suprema lex regis vol
untas."
There is a parliament. but the minis
try is responsible to the emperor alone,
not, as in England, France and Italy, to
the people through parliament.
There is universal suffrage, but that
suffrage is so adjusted that Prussia
controls the imperial parliament and q
few rich men control Prussia.
There is a public system of education
which is highly efficient for the pur.
pose for which it is organized, but that
purpose is distinctly autocratic. There
is compulsory education in free ele-
mentary schools, but they carry the
pupil only up to fourteen ear of age.
There are secondary schools which
carry the education on up to the uni
versities, but there is no open door be-
tween the elementary and the second
airy school. The elementary school
does not prepare for he secondary
school. The secondary school is not
free; entrance into the universities,
the professions, and the higher Offices
in the civil government, the military
organization, and the educational sys-
tenn is confined to graduates from the
secondary school, and eminent success
in the industries of the nation is ex-
ceedingly difficult for any others. No
private school can be maintained with
out government consent. The whole
educational system is admirably devils
ed to educate the few to govern and
the many to be governed.
Such is the constitution of Germany.
The emperor rules Prussia; Prussia
rules Germany; and now Germany is
attempting to rule the world.
That this is the attempt of Germany
The Outlook has heretofore made
clear to it's readers by quotations from
leaders of German thought and rulers
in the German state. One quotation
must suffice here: Germany" says
Professor OSWALD, thanks to her
genius for organization or social efici-
ency. has attained a state of civiliza-
ton far higher than that of all other
peoples. This wal will in the future