Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1918-08-07
CONDITION OF GERMANY
LIKE RAKE'S PROGRESS
Theory That Empires Rulers Arc In
League With Devil Not
Borne Out.
THEIR AIM NOT DESTRUCTIVE
Failacy OF German Reasoning, Which
Places Force on Pedestal, Lies in
Assumption That Other Nations
VIII Not Meet 1t.
by CAPTAIN Il. =. =. ROWE,
OF the British Army.

LONDON. August 6.-To understand
an enemy 1t is necessary to put ones
self. as far as possible. in his shoes
The assumption that the controllers of
German policy were consciously in
league with the devil from the start
may appear natural to many It Is.
nevertheless. an Interpretation that no
intelligent reading OF human nature
can justify. Jonathan Wilde may exist
in real life as In fiction. but he is n
product cxceedinly rare
The militarists and professors OF
Germany who put force on Il pedestal
were not Jonathan wilds Though
they believed force to lie the necessary
arbiter in human affairs. they did not
aim deliberately At the destruction of
civilization. Their conception was OF
a world ruled by force to what they
considered to be wise ends. True. the
forcible-that is. the Germaus-were
to inherit the earth in undue propor-
ton, but their intentions were con-
structive and not based on an empty
malgnity. That much at least must be
conceded.
The conclusion to be drawn is obyi-
GUS 1t is the theory itself which ts ut
fault. and 1t has led its advocates TO a
pass which they did not foresee Self
ishness is the only sound foundati
for great State" said Bismarck. lie
believed presumably, In tho truth OF
his dictum, falling TO perceive that II
1t were true. and its truth accepted
the progress of mankind must neces-
sarily cease and turn presently to ret
repression.
Our people must learn to see that
the maintenance OF peace can never
be. and must never be. the object OF
policy" says BerHhardi. I'VE must
continue TO insist on the necessity. the
idea!ism and the blessing of war as at
once the inevitable and the progress
sive law OF development"
Here again the author OF the words
was obviously sincere. bu: re failed to
realize the logical conclusions OF his
own teaching. Only Clausewitz at
times conveys a hint Of vision with
which the typical Prussian bricks in
his philosophy. The combatant WHO
employs force with no scrupIe. and
with no regard for life, will
sooner or later gain preponderance il
the enemy does not act similarly"
In those last words lies the whole
iallacy OF reasoning which. though
not dictated by actual maievolence, Is
none the less due to blindness that
was criminal II was inevitable. from
the first that the exercise OF Prussian
principles would drive the rest OF the
world to adopt. however unwillingly
the only measures by which these could
be successfully resisted. Little by lit
tie like has been. and must increasingly
be, met by like.
The ultimate end to which this pro-
cess tends is evident. The last state Of
humanity will be a condition of uni
versal moral anarchy-a rule OF fang
and claw as complete as in prehistoric
agcs--unless the deadly enemy of the
human race is destroyed or converted
10 saner faith.
There is natural coroilary which
may serve to explain the fallacy more
clearly The Prussian theory depends
for its validity on the existence OF a
contrary practice opposed TO it, The
profit to selfish State lies in the altru-
ism OF other States. SIMILARLY it is
out of the pockets of the peaceful that
the militarist earns his dividend, since
the power gained by Dreparinc and