The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-08-04

has become an immobile system. Personal
initiative is inundated; individual prog
ress must pass the board of censorship;
institutions run themselves and general
conditions remain in statu quo; citizen
ship is filling ones appointed place in the
system.
Finally, the Germanic temperament is
tinctured with melancholy. There is an
unhappy strain floating through German
thought like the minor chord of tragedy.
1t has found expression in countless
poems and works of literature. 1t has
marred the life of many an artistic ma
ture until, filled with bitterness and dis
appointment, the tagging heart has
sought rest in self-desruction.
1t has throbbed in many political
longing for better things. While France
was successfully throwing off blooded
tyranny Germany was crouching in the
agony of her helplessness, too passive to
take the first step, too bitter TO be con-
tentedly resigned. Who does not recall
the unrest and disunion among the thirty
nine members of the federation during
the stormy years of the nineteenth GEN.
fury?
The dim reflection of the smaller
French revolutions, the great expectations
and the crushing disappointments of the
Frankfort convention, the long period of
dependency and languor-what were
they but the anguish of an unhappy racei
These Independent States were never
united by anything that approached
deep sentiment, mutually jealous, easily
enlisted against each other by foreign
influences.
And all the time. while they were vearn-
ing for liberty and the blessings Of life,
ambitious statesmen were fitting them into
the strangling clutches of a dehumanizing
Prussianism! Where, then, was the soil
darby Of Germany What had the COM
moners TO be thankful for7 The stua-
ton suggested no grounds for optimism;
il offered no remedy for melancholy
Germany's Future.
We find then, in general, that Ger
many's power and capabilities have been
greatly overestimated. Viewed rs can
didate for world leadership she has moth
ing extraordinary which could invite our
admiration or confidence As people she
has retained her sturdy peasant qualities,
of which thorOughncss is the most ciiarac-
teriStic
Among the masses this quality makes
efficient laborers and equips the individual
prominently TO serve; among the ruling
classes, however, it is not IN itself sufficient
TO produce men of administrative and ex-
ecutive calibre. As diplomats they bun
gle; they misjudge tie world; they fail
amazingly to understand human nature.
The Tirpilz. Zimmerman, Holweg,
Hertling type Of statesman is utterly I'M
fiji to shape the policies of great nation.
2 One factor has hitherto Offset these
shortcomings Of Germany's peculiar men
talIty-her military organization AT home
it has been supreme. 1t has made mod
ern Germany. Even Chancellor Won Beth
manu- Iollweg admitted to Mr.. Gerard
that in times of war the whole system
of civil authority was overruled by the
dictatorship of the High Command
With IT she has succeeded in intimdat-
ing surrounding nations, smaller and
larger. Her policy Of brutality has been
designed to tcrrorize. Her military risor
she has regarded an unfailing instrument
of victory. In the flash of steel she has
been blinded to her real and vital yp,L
nesSes. Her fall will be CORRESPONDENCE
complete and Illuminating.
A disarmed. unmilitary Germany is
from prince TO peasant only a nation Of
earnest, capable workers, destined to serve
rather than to rule