The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1917-10-10
o.PRUsSIAN POISON.
lChicago Times Oct. "a

l1HlCdgU 1lIlGS OCL. H.
We will keep meeting the sort of man
who exclaims, II How different this mod /
ern Germany from the Germany of |
Hcine S time. as if Heinc himself |
had not written, Christianity has in |
some degree softened, but it could not
destroy, the brutal German Joy Of bat |
tie. When once the tanning talisman,
the Cross, breaks in two, the savagerv
of the old fighters will gush up afresh.
That talisman is decayed, and the day
will come when it viii piteously col
lapse. Then Thor, with his giant s ham
mer, will at last spring up and shatter
to bits the Gothic cathedrals.
Mr.. c. F. Childs quotes this prophecy
OF Helne s III pamphlet called Prus
sian Poison, and traces the long. slow
process that has achieved its fulfllment.
We are not fighting a Germany sudden
ly gone mad. We are fighting Ger
many that has madness instilled into
| it by its leaders and teachers for a
| very considerable period. If the Cross
has - broken in two, it is not from
f" decay Heine was mistaken there.
1t is from the onslaught Of Germany s
leaders and teachers. For example,
| Nietszche.
Said Neitzsche, The mAiction Of an
INJURY, forcible subjugation exploita-
| tion or humiliation is not in itself a
wrong; cannot be such since life in its
essence, in its primary functions, is
nothing but oppression and annihiIa-
ton. Conditions of justice can new
er be anything but exceptional-eon
ditions, that is, as limitations Of the
real desire of life, the object of which
| is power. y ''The fight is not for life
or existence, but for power - Life
does not seek preservation, but self
increase or will to power. . 1.-The
love of fighting is for its own sake, in
contrast to the modern humanitarian
view Spare not thy neighbor =
Say not, l will do unto others as [
would they should do unto me. = DO
not believe thou mayest not rob- =
I"Christian pietv and ideals of equality
and peace are impossible, since life is
nothing but inequality and war.
Trietschke, professor and historian,
followed Nietszche, and argued thus:
l"It viii always rebound to the glory
of Machiavelli that he has placed the
Estate on solid foundation and freed
lit and its morality from the moral pre-
cepts taught by the church = German
| lAlelttt mas NIcSLIeu LOT centuries
Iagainst Christianity Must she forever
submit to this alien creed and borrow
y her religion? Germany, while pTepar-
ing for world empire, must also pre-
pare to create a world religion. It may
Ibe described as the religion Of Nalor $,
Then came Bernhard, with such max
inns as these: ''Our people must learn
to see that the maintenance of peace
never can or may be the goal Of a pol
icy . None OF the wars which Fred
erick the Great fought had been forced
upon him; none of them did he post
pone as long as possible. - - The right
to fight becomes the duty to make war.
Right is respected SO far only as Is
compatible with advantage. = Might
IS the supreme right, and the dispute
as to what is right is decided by the
Iarbitrament of war.
Germans contend that Bernhard was
never influential in Germany, vet Tho
crown prince has declared that every