The Evening Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1917-1920, 1918-09-23

: uetn century German; in tone ant
y point of view it has the detachment
l. cosmopolitan and critical poise of Ger
4 man intellectualism in the days Of
Goethe. 1t is not a political pamphlet
:. nor criticism of the follies of Ger.
il man diplomacy, but the daily confes.
;, sion of a high-minded German to his
!; own conscience of the sins committed
by the new intellectually perverted
: and morally debauched German against
the ancient German name. It is one
o Of the great documents of the war
, Extracts will suggest the style in
which DR.. Muhlon writes and may
point moral to America:
1T seems to me as il serious inter-
nal disturbances must come even dur
ing the war. The war enthusiasm,
which today affects all circles, will
soon die down. In my judgment the
; first great battles and losses will bring
about reaction to seriousness and
then to war WEAKNESS. Today many
go freely into the army to whom the
daily struggle for existence heretofore
has been too hard; who wish to escape
their obligations; who are eager to get
ahead rapidly and look for large new
opportunities in the period after the
war. There is a special keenness to
serve in the Landsturm, which has
been called out in part and which will
run no great bodily risks.
For many Germans it is an attrac-
tive prospect to be able to drift about,
supported for considerable period by
| the state, dressed in uniform and sur
rounded with comforts, freed also from
the necessity of giving any thought to
the responsibilities with which they
were previously burdened. The state
has called us out; it must provide for /
everything. State, city, and private \
associations are organizing thousand |
relief enterprises. Both now and lat
er, so the soldier believes, someone will
have to help him and his family. Both
now and later the state, the communi-
ty, and employers of labor will have
to show him exceptional consideration.
But this state of mind will not last
long. Opinion will change. Patriotic
nOise-makers will try to cry it down.
but the heart Of the masses will more
and more urgently demand the return
of the men in the field. The men in
the field will themselves long more
and more to get home, richer for
grisly experience and probably also for
a deep disillusionment.
lpro |
pullers wait after the war until this
is forgotten or is softened
so much in memory that they can make
an impression again on the people
with their fairy tales of imminent per-
i and their forecasts of glorious fu-
.ure? All, if the peoples of Europe,
represented by real leaders, chosen
rom among themselves, would take
heir fate into their own hands; if ,
hey would learn to know themselves =
Is they are; if they would formulate
or themselves the principles accord
ng to which they wish to live. they {
would suddenly discover that they all 4
hlnk alike and wish the same things. v
The whole continent would become a v
ingle nation, tariff barriers would \
disappear, everyone could speak his e
wn mother tongue, and no nation c
'ould want to Oppress, dismember, or
espise another. +
THE causes which still lead to wars h
o not grow out of the present-day s
Jews of the peoples of Europe and are n
OF the expression of their most vital
lstincts. 1t is the alien ideas of few
'r which the peoples must fight The a
My perils are those which these few
ave conjured up, but for which the c
lasses of the people also must bear s
ome responsibility. Credulous where N
leir rulers are concerned, the peoples Ii
low themselves to be made dIstrust-
Il of one another and remain stupid
leep, filled with uneasy fears and IL
lperstitions. Nothing is more IN
ightful than such dull herds, which J'
ly one, when need be- can inoculate
ith mental epidemics. They remain
ways intellectually blind; they do b,
differently what is bad or what is
'od, without any inner knowledge
ley yield to the mighty stream of Sa
ass movements. whether these move VII
ents are led by an angel, dominated no
a devil, or melted by a ghostly
anton.
There should be no more such mass &c
Ovements, either for good or for bad no
rposes. 1t should be as it is now we
tn religions and sects, which are ms
ady to set nations and families by EI
e ears, but by which no warlike erup-
N can any longer be staged in Eu-
pc, however intense and intolerant y
E religious prejudices of individuals io'
Iy be-" an
&C. P. Putnam's Sons. 2 West Forty ue
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ges; s1.50) NC
ine