The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1918-01-11

Imperial government found themselves
travelling an INSTRUCTED road. Leaders
|in the professions have by this sYs-
Item Of favors been lead 70 the sup
port of the Emperor. 1t is thus seen
to have been not unnatural that the
Kaiser's arguments defending the war
and excusing or denying German in
fiicted atrocities in Belgium were
signed by ninety-three Of Germany's
leading scholars. This is an illpstra-
ton Of the difference Of Ccrmary's
leaders to the will Of the Emperor.
Let us explain some Of the think
ing which furnishes the German will
to conquer. The writer most fire.
quently mentioned is Nietsche with
his doctrine of the superman. Met
sche is known to have had little re-
spect for the German peasant whom
he regarded as filled with the lassi-
tude of sausage and sauerkraut. The
utterances of Nietsche's character
Zarathustra hold up to the people the
ideal of the superman who is to rise
up and establish his superiority over
other peoples. This superman is to
be without ties which ordinarily bind
men to each other; he is to have no
respect for knowledge or truth or
reason as these things tie one to the
past, to precedents and to principles;
he is to have no regard for virtue or
pity or sympathy or religion as these
things impose restraint, and the
superman is ruthless being who pro-
ceeds on the theory that strength
alone makes right. The German
rulers have spread broadcast this
teaching of Nietsche's, and flattered
the people, whom Zarthustra's exhor-
alton was intended to criticize, into
believing that they were the super
men described. Bernhard saw in the
pressure of the population a need for
expansion for German territory as
biological necessity" which he des-
cr1bed as "the inword urge of every
living creature to expand it's own life
without regard to the life of Others"
He says cit is above morality, because
whatever is necessary is moral and
might proves itself the superman
right" Thus it has been that at all
Hague conferences German diplomats
have opposed the movement toward
internationalism. They have opposed
all humane improvements in warfare
such as the elimination of floating
mines when those improvements were
in any sense strategically disadvan-
tageous to Germany. The Crown
Prince in his book Germany in Arms"
praised Germany's military efficiency
and declared that Germany had ere
jected the dream of universal peace
throughout the world as non German"
In speech made in 1902 the Kaiser
declared it is to the empire of the
world that the German genius as
pires." Won Claustewitz, the for
most military writer of Germany de-
fined war as "the carrying out of a
nations policy by force of arms" and
many acts of frightfulness were de-
clared by him to be legitimate, no
matter if in violation of international
law provided these acts advanced the
cause of state. Treitschke said d
state was political entity with
power to exert ITSELF, and from that
point of view he ridiculed the idea of
the existence Of small states. He
thought it was significant that the
small and weak state of Belgium
should take the lead in expounding
the rights of nations under Internal
onal law; in his views nation should
De able to advance it's interests by
force, and should not stoop to claim
rights under principles of Internal
onal justice.
The history of the United States |
since 1776 has peculiarly prepared ;
her to be the foremost expounder of !
democracy and justice and humanity
n government. The history of Ger
many since 1870 has peculiarly pre-
pared her to be the foremost ex- ,
oonent of autocracy and irresponsible {
humanity in government. In the
history of the world autocracy and }
democracy have always been opposing }
principles and there seems to have
always been elements in each form of
government to react against it and !
.ause it to be supplanted by the other, Z
20 that the history of each has pur- !;
ued the course of a cycle. In this /,
he issue due to the improvement of I,
and communication, is /,
'ecoming a world issue instead of .
ocal issue as in the past. And the |;
dea of democracy seems to have found |;
avor. The Imperial government of r