Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-08-26
ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT

The German nation presents a case Of arrested de-
.velopment in all that pertains to human government. m
answer to the charges that Germany is persistently seek
ing the enslavement Of other peoples. and that she is
guilty of repeated and indescribable brutalities, her apol-.
ogists are fond Of pointing out incidents in the history Of
other nations. and by such comparisons they undertake.
to substantate the claim that Germany is no worse than
the other nations Of the world.
In the history of every nation there can oe found in
cidents Of wrong-doing without number. Primitive man
was removed but very slightly from the realm Of the ma
terial. and he had little conception of any rule Of conduct
save that originating in desire and governed by force.
The rule was that he should take who had the power,
and he should take who could. This applied to the seiz-
ure of visible possessions. to the occupation Of territory.
and to the assumption Of control over the persons and
fortunes of others. II we delve deeply enough into his
tory we shall find that we are all descended from an
cestors whose conceptions Of right other than that based
on might were Of the haziest character.
But men have learned. Gradually there has dawned
upon the human mind the understanding that thefe are
such things as right and justice, that these are immut-
able principles, and that upon their recognition depends,
in the last analysis. the real progress and security of the
race. Hence men have formulated for themselves certain
laws. and have insisted on good faith in the observance
of these laws. They have approached, If they have not
reached, the conception that in the largesense
all men are born free and equal and are endowed with
certain inalienable rights; and that the just powers Of
government are derived from the consent Of the govern
ed. va have seen. therefore, the strugglings of mankind
toward the realization of democracy. AS practices that
were once accepted as normal and proper among indi-
viduals are no longer tolerated, so the nations themselves
have made progress toward the realization of higher
ideals.
Germany alone, of all the greater nations, appears
to have stood still for centuries. In the things that re-
late to government and human rights her attitude is sub
and power her god. For her the individual exists in or
der that he may magnify the state, and the state is CEN
tralized in the little group Of men who. by their success
full exercise of power. have demonstrated their right to
rule.
In order to justify this comparison it is not necessary
to assume that all Americans, or all Frenchmen, or all
Englishmen have arrived at an exalted state Of perfec-
ton, or that in either their private relations or their ma
tional activities they are Immaculate. Neither is it neces-
sary to suppose that all Germans are living on the plane
Of the primitive brute. But the fact is that in the ma
tons which we usually term democratic there has been,
and is progress toward the ideal, and that this progress
is reflected In both personal and national relations. The
spirit Of freedom that has found expression in so many
ways Of late in the Allied countries is the real spirit
which animates those countriesA On the other hand, the
spirit Of Germany. as demonstrated by her acts, is the
spirit of former ages, from (which, for whatever reason,
she has not emerged.