New-York tribune., 1918-01-16


named, on account Of his great services y
asked me if it would not be possible to throw
bombs filled with cholera germs plague
hacilli behind the enemy front. When | re-
Piled that this seemed neither 81 profitable nor
very humane proceeding, he replied with u
contemptuous gesture: What have we to do
with humanity in this war? Germany has q
right to do whatever she pIeases
"And millions, unhappily, think with this
eminent parsonage. Thus Staff Sur
geon II. told me in Graudenz that "he had
cften wondered whether he could not make
his way into Russia in order to nocuate the
Russians with living bacteria. Against such a
pack everything was permissible.' Such de-
generates no longer see in the enemy their
fellow creatures. Or. rather, they see in them
precisely their fellow creatures, for they see
in them beasts. Hate has become to hem
religion"
The Uncultured and Superstitious
Dr. Nicolai's direct references to the all
highest are few; but feels that, like the
sailors parrot, If he says little he thinks all
the more. Here is one passage, however, in
which the personal allusori is scarcely yelled: ::
THE belief that God gives His assistance in
war has long been on the wane. VIZ know tha,
God is the side of the big battalions
Nevertheless, the idea that something like
justice prevails in war appears to be in
oradicablc, although very little reflection
shows that confidence in the Just cause can
only rest a belief in the active interven-
ton Of a higher principle representing JUS
tice.
The cultured believer will scarcely hold
that this just and almighty principle can be
swayed by the forco Of arms But the un-
cultured and superstitious man, who thinks
he can exploit his God for his egotisttc ends,
will still use Him as the palladium Of his
right, whether real or imaginary"
Palladium Of his right" be it noted-not
'of his rights" We shall scarcely do Dr.
Ncolai's thought an injustice if we insert
divine" before right" This we can do with
all the more confidence since DR.. Nicolai, in
other places, quite frankly adheres to Kant's
doctrine that peaceful world must be, to all
lntents and purposes a republican world
DR.. Nlcolai begins by examining the COM
mon argument that the fighting instinct is so
deep seated and ineradicable in human nature
that 1t is futile to dream of a peaceful world
lhls argument proceeds the assumption
that instinct is infallibe, and that it is
CRIME or folly to attempt to thwart it, Not
so, says DR.. Nicolai. An instinct has ALWAYS
been, at one time, helpful to the species pos
sesslng it, else it would never have been ac-
quired but we see thousands Of cases in
winch an instinct survives its usefulness and
becomes, like the appendix, a source Of dan
ger. The species which cannot adapt its in
stincts to new conditions is in periIous pre-
alcament "One race OF animals after an
cther has perishcd because it could not
change. Is man now to perish because he will
not change %
War and Civilization
The combative instinct is not fundamental
lE man. On the contrary, he owes his very
existence to the horde instinct the social in
stinct. 1t has enabled him, the most defence
less OF animals, with neither horns nor
langs, neither claws nor hoofs, neither cuirass
nor poison glands" to survive and subdue the
earth. There was 81 time no doubt, when war
promoted his development, just as there was
4 ll'ne "hen civilization could scarcely ,have
advanced except upon the basis of slavery
indeed, the two phenomena are correlative:
livery war which has led to any practical
result, and was not entirely purposeless, has
necessarily ended in the enslavement of a
portion of mankind. Hence it follows that
war was justified only so long as men held
themselves justified in demanding slave SER
wee, in one form or another from the van
culshed. 1t further follows that war serves a
useful purpose only SO long as the victor re-
mains in a position to cXtort these slave SOP
vices"
DR.. Nicoa, of course. recognizes that in
IDENTITIES and tribute" mean the partial en-
slaVement OF the people compelled to pay
them. lie recognizes, too, that, under mod
ern conditions, slavery of this sort is the
most Improbable, the most nsanelv waste
ful, OF all forms OF explotation-"it bank