Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1918-07-11
Moral and Religious Ideas of Modern Germany
Council Of Defense.
By F. c. SHARP, Professor of Philosophy.
University of Wisconsin

was born for On the other hand, as
between state and state the only re.
straint upon doing what you want to
do is absence of power. States have
no more obligations to each other than
wild beasts. They will indeed often
find their interest in keeping their
treaties, and may even spare the en-
emy's country in order to turn him
into al ally, as Bismarck did with
Austria. But whether to do this or not
is pure matter of policy-the only
question is, Will it pay? So Treit-
schke laughs with scorn at the SIM
plicity of Frederick William w Of
Prussia, who marched into Saxony
and Bavaria to help his fellow kings
| crush the Revolution Of 1848, and
then, when he had these states at his
mercy, quietly marched out again
without seizing them.
There is nothing particularly orig.
| lnal in this doctrine of the relation of
states to each other. Savages usually
act upon it without scruple There are
men in every country still protesting
it today. But Christian civilization
was gradually outgrowing it, in Ger
many as well as elsewhere. Treit-
| schke has the unfortunate distinction
| of having done more than any other
man to make it prevail in his native
land. For twenty years or more he de-
Tended it, along with the other fea-
lures of his theory of the state, with
| great eloquence, in crowded class
rooms, at the University of Berlin,
becoming the favorite of the aristo-
cratic world as were none of his col
leagues. The writer was a student at
the University of Berlin during this
period and can vouch from his own
observation for the extent and depth
of his influence upon the student body,
that student body whose members are
now taking large part In ruling Ger
many
Nietzsche and Treitschke differ
widely, as we see, in many of their
views. The former breaches pure
unadulterated personal selfishness, un-
checked by moral scruples of any kind.
! Treitschke teaches, on the other hand,
that the individual is bound to SUBJ
nit his own will to the will Of the
State. But so far as war is con-
cerned the followers OF both men
come out at exactly the same place.
| If, as Nietzsche claims, life is a strug-
| SlO IOE power, 10 D0 pursued WITHOUT
any reference to considerations of mo-
rality, then of course that group Of
individuals called a state may use any
/ means whatever to increase theic pow
er over other peoples. On either view.
| then, as between one nation and an
| other, might makes right.
There can be no trust between ma
tions and no permanent peace on
earth till the people of Germany learn
I-and probably they will learn it only
through disaster and defeat-that the
gods which their new prophets have
been preaching are nothing but hide
Gus idols.
I A H Lawrence who has been a mer
chant In Beaver Dam since 1856 died
of appoplexy, aged IS years.
Arthur Denney, star forward of the
| La Crosse normal school basket bal
team, was elected captain for next
season. His home is in La Crosse.
Instead of the annual Junior prom,
Tomah High school gave a Liberty
| dance" The proceeds of the party
were donated to the Red Cross.