Sharp County record., 1918-06-14


the world war at all?
Do the people Of Germany, and those
Of the Teutonio alliance generally
sympathize with the aims and pur'
poses Of the German government Or
are they simply bowing to conditions
they are unable to mend-yieldtng un-
willing assent to war they would
not wage II they could have their Way7
What really caused the war; When
may the world hope for It's endins1
All these and hundreds Of other kin
dred questions have been answered
and are daily being answered. IN a
| dozen different ways. For the most
part, the answers are based upon su-
perfcial and very partial aspects OF
the matter, and are, necessarily, only
partly satisfactory and partly true
II we would really understand the
significance of the world war we must
delve among certain musty manu-
scripts that lie moulderng in the IL
braries Of the German universities. We
| must read what the masters OF the
Germanic philosophy have written. We
must learn what the Teutonic mind
has been taught-what It has been
thinking, in what It has been believ.
ing-and the reasons and the prin-
ciples upon which it has based It's be-
lief. We must get the mental setting
Of Germany past; for only IN the light
Of this shall we be able to actually
comprehend the mental phenomena
that underlie the attitude and the acts
Of the Germany Of the present.
Regardless Of any sympathy, or lack
Of sympathy, that may exist between
the German government and the Ger
man people-whether the blame for
the war, and In particular for Its un-
precedented brutalities, rests upon the
Hohenzollern caste alone or upon the
whole mass Of the people Of Germany
1T is to the philosophy Of Germany
that we must look for the real cause
Of this bloody iniouity. For. medistely
or Immediately, Germany has been
made the bloody instrument Of 3 false
philosophy-a philosophy that bloomed
In the blatant blasphemies OF
Nietzsche and fruited upon the blood
soaked fields OF France and Belgium
and Servia and Roumania and Meso-
potamia and Russia.
| This Is a philosophy that commends
U.boat outrages against undefended,
neutral merchantmen and passenger
slips upon the high seas; that sloats
over the mangled forms Of little chill.
dren slain ii Zeppelin roads upon non.
eombatants; that honors the Judas
am bassadors who stir up sedition and
| plot against the neutral nations to
which they have been accredited-un.
less they commit the unpardonsble or
tense Of falling to obliterate Complete
ly the evidences Of their dEplicity
It would be interesting, II space per-
mitted to go far back and trace the
development OF this fearful philosophy
and to Identify the channels through
which It has been transmitted from
great antiquity. For II had It's roots
many centuries ago and Ia not prod.
uct, merely. OF the present age. That
| { found q frendlJ environment among
he Teutonic peoples, and particularly
among their universities, many cen
uries ago, no one who reads history
with an unbiased mind will attempt O
deny.
But we must be content with men
ioning only two or three philosophers
u comparatively recent times. These
IRE cited, not so much for what they
originated as because they gathered
nto definite and transmlssibe form so
many OF these iconoclastlc doctrine,
'hIch, maturing slowly beneath the
mrfaee OF German thought. were des
tined to find their ultimate expression
the writings OF Frederick Nietzsche
| Iniquity knows no fatherland. Hence
| need cause no surprise that one oi
he most potent factors In shaping the
| itrmanlc philosophy was not OF Ger
nan origin. In Nicoolo Machiavelli
IN Italian oourtier Of the Renaissance
| .ppeared the unblushins champion o
uch braIen intrigue a. startled ever
no most >unsorupulons diplomats d
| lis day. II required the mellowing In
luence OF a century or two, comblnet
With the vanishing impaired by inter
oreters moro or less removed, to Al
ar soften his pernicious teachings NJ
o make thom Receptacle to any but Al
wowedly unprinciplcd people, Ye
Maehiavellrs prseepts, 30 soitened, un
iuestionably went far toward prepar
, ing German soil for the more vlril
aowins OF Nietssche, They tended, n
east. to break down lingering sorupu
lousness and to breed contempt 70
he moral law,
| In sehopenhausr NietIsohe foun,
his earliest master; and, although h
parted from him later on, II Ia Il
D ichopenhauer, principally, that h
yves his Characteristic doctrine OF IN
| Will 10 Power. In Schopenhauer, Il |