Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1918-03-30

X
world ls no longer left to lts handling"
president Wilson, August 27, 1917.
THE GERMANS AS A CHOSEN
PEOPLE.
The foundation cause Of this war is
Germany's firm belief that she alone
has the right to direct the progress of
the world and to exploit its resources.
For the last thirty years the military
autocracy of Germany has seen to 1t
that this belief was taught in the
schools, and today that autocracy is
reaping the benefits of blind obe-
dience to its will. German political
writing of recent years is full of the
idea that the German people is Gods
chosen people, destined to impose its
'Kultur' upon all other peoples"
"The German soul is the worlds
SOUL God and Germany belong to one
another" Germany is the center OF
Gods plans for the world" I'VE hope
that great mission will be allotted
to us Germans and this Ger
man mission is: to look after the
world" Germany is chosen, for her
own good and that Of other nations,
to undertake their guidance. PFovi-
dence has placed the appointed people.
at the appointed moment, ready for
the appointed task"
"The German people is always right,
because it is the German people, and
numbers s7,OO0,O0O souls" "Kultur is
best promoted when the strongest in.
dividual Kultur, that of q given ma
tion, enlarges its field of activity at
the expense Of the other national KuI-
tufs." "The attempt of Napoleon to
graft tho Kultur of Western Europe
upon the empire Of the MuscOvite
ended in failure. Today history has
made us Germans the inheritors Of the
NapoleOnic idea" "The further we
carry our Kultur into the East, the
more and the more profitable outlets
shall we find for our wares. Economic
profit is of course not the ryain motive
Of our Kultur- activity, but N is no un-
welcome by-product" Our belief is
that the salvation Of the whole Kultur
Of Europe depends upon the victory
which German 'Milltarism' is about to
achieve"
These quotations are but few of
hundreds of like expression, and the
last one cited is from a manifesto
signed by thirty-fUe hundred Germ0n
professors and lecturers. Reduced to
simple terms, the German belief at the
beginning of this war was: God di.
rects Germany. Civilization advances
only by combdtS between Kulturs in
which the stronger and God-directed
one has the right to prevail and must
prevail. The immediate and present
object Is to make cur Kultur prevail
in the East Tin 'Muscovy'), and in ac-
complishing this we shall also gain
economic advantages This Is the first
step in our world domination"
Where does America stand In this
theory of Chosen people,? America
denies that theory; she denies that
God has chosen any one people as
His own; she asserts rather that there
are many civilizations, each with its
own merits and defects, and that to
each must be left the working out of
its own problems.
We Americans are unable to under
stand, or sympathize with, a people
who conceive Of themselves as a chosen
people, chosen of Coda people to
whom all things and actions, however
inhuman or brutal, are regarded as
permissible, even holy, because of a
faith in their superior mission and
civilization. To as such belief Is
direct evidence. not Of a leading, but
Of logging ciUtIisation.
This German ideal, when expressed
merely in theory, even though taught
In Germany for the last thirty years,
stirred but Indifferent interest in other
European nations. In this war Ger
many has revealed in the application
of her theory lust for world power
at the expense Of other peoples, lack
Of good faith, a brutality that have
stamped her theory as involving re-
turn to barbarism.
By the application of German theory
we were forced, unwillingly, to go to
war. But today we know that there
was no escape from a war between two
contradictory ideals. Germany's eco
nomic objects are many and large
(they will be pointed out), but the basic
cause OF this war was the German ideal
Of dominant nation. That ideal,
by Germany's own challenge, is on trial
in arms. Against it we must prevail,
OF we shall perish.
This Is the first Of a series Of ten
articles by Professor Adams.