The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-01-16
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS

| This is the underlying strata upon which German kultur is built. This is not based upon what I have read from her
 enemies, but is the keynote running
 through the preachments of her own
 modern apostles of light.
 The official manifesto of one ot the 1 dominant parties has come to light and
 shows a strange blindness among lead CTS to what we may call conventional l morality Public decency is frequently
 defended even by those who are
 strangely lacking in private morals. 1 In all my studies of history l know of no instance so striking as is the re-
 version of the German people under the 1 intensive propaganda from the early days ! of Bismarck with his brutal cynicism
 down to the hypocritical outpouring Of 1 the Kaiser, who is always reminding his l people and the world at large what he and God are doing.
 Believing in the political dictum that "the beginning and the end is might, Germany has blind faith in the further | idea that strength at home will insure | strength abroad. Germany seems ob- sessed with the thought that the more the voice of the people joins in the cho- 1 rus of national interests, the more pleas ing will the song be to God.
 | The dominance of this view of Ger man kultur has produced that remarkable state of efficiency in every walk of life, l and of political and military strength, when it was communicated and directed | by the state for political or military pur- poses All thoughtful men have realized | that this outcome of German social and political conditions has produced ad- | mirable results in the prosperity and i power of the whole nation and the state l But the question I spring is, is the l Made in Germany''lxultur blessing or | menace to the world? l unhesitatingly answer that it is peril and not bene- l fit, for in making the state everything and the individual nothing, it has set
 aside private morality as weakness and apotheasized the public right to do what ever will further the nations interests, even though it means the breaking of
 it's own treaties as in the case of Bel gium.
 Even the l,urblind Won Bethmann-Holl- lweg, realized that Germany stood shamed before the world. gave deliberate express sion to the immoral principle-as though lal to law of nature-necessity knows no law. It was his moral justification of the crushing of q helpless neghbor with
 whom his country was bound by treaty not to violate it's neutrality. He was the mouthpiece of official Germany, and you would have thought his statement cynical
 enough to please the most rabid Prus-
 sian.
 i The stand that the survival of the
 strongest should be the law of nations,
 and that the strong owed no duties to
 the weaker that they could not defend,
 was a blow at internationalism and mo-
 tice tc the world that Germany was fighting for selfish reasons, and did not
 
 pretense that she was governed by higher
 aims. It was a public disavowal that Germany had any sense of fair play or
 expected to play the game according te the rules of civilized nations. but was
 running amuck, not becaused crazed but
 as a deliberate policy. But even Won
 Bethmann- Hollweg, in pleading before fa tl,ni "necessity knows no law was unsatis- factory to one of the leaders, who called it the courage of the political defensive not that Of the diplomatic offensive. He was demanding a more active states ; manship He chided the chancellor fol shoulder of Belgium, despite the fac
 that Belgium was neutral" He was | ashamed that it had been set down as { | military necessity It might create tht < impression that Germany had quailed al , her own courage in trampling helpless! Belgium without having gone througf the formality of declaring war agains 3 her. It was sign of weakness
 Now here is a responsible publicist
 who is outraged that the spokesman fo
 Germany was apologetic rather thar masterful in his statement to the worlt : regarding the rape of Belgium. He Wal against a passive diplomacy and wa: afraid that it would be misunderstood because it had not been able to free it U self from the scruples of private moral ity He wanted it made clear that Ger j. many was fighting to further German u kultur, and was not bothering hersel
 with the idea and the intention of pro U tecting the great treasures of human ity.
 n Germany is the only nation l hav' a ever known that glbly talks of carrying , on a war of "holy selfishness." She i a proud to let it be known that in thos , unforgetable days of August, 1914, sh' {, rallied to the flag millions in fulfilmen
 of the day when she was to give to tn 6 world her own precious kultur. It was :, according to her selfishness, in it's nobles . form She wanted it distinctly under :, stood that German soldiers were no :. going to give their bodies and the
 blood to fertilize the fields of Europe il
 the interest of anyone. save the Ger
 man people. The watchword wa
 "Deutschland Uber Alles' It was wa