Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-03-29
DEMOCRATIC GERMANY
REMAINS 4 MENACE
English Journalist Says Republic Has
Same Principles as
AutOCracy

HNHOSE who have never understood
l. either the war or the peace are now
everywhere telling us to forgive, in the
sense of forget, says G. K Chesterton in
the illustrated London News. But they
miss the fact that there is really no
question of forgetfulness Nobody is
going to forget that Nerdun is battered
or Belgium laid waste
1t is not question of reparation or
no reparation; it is a question of i'm
posing the labor of it on those who
sinned or on those who suffered. Some
body will pay to rebuild the house that
was burnt if We do not punish the in
cendiary, we shall punish the house
holder. This moral point is childishly
plain but when it is urged the answer
is, of course, to draw a distinction be-
tween the Prussian Government and the
German people. But this contention also
depends on a somewhat similar falacy.
which it will be we'll even now to note.
There is very simple question to ask
about how far most Germans had any
responsibility for fighting. 1t is to ask
how many Germans had any delicacy
about winning Many doubtless had an
increasing dislike of losing, and have
now a very full and final disl Ike of hav-
ing lost But all would agree that,
whether or no the game was worth play
ing, it was certainly not worth losing.
Common sense will take it for fact
think. that Germans would have
unanimously welcomed a full German
mastery of Europe. The great query OF
the future Is whether they still desire
what they sc lately demanded, and
whether they will again demand it. 1t
| is here that 1t is so vital to emphasize
the more fundamental nature of the Teu-
| tonic claim. 1t is not, and it never was
mere despotism or mere militarism. II
is much more deep and in a sense a
much more defensible, sophistry 1t is
indeed, a denial of democratic equality
| but what it denies Is rather the equality
| of races than the equality of men. II
was never SO much the right Of Hohen
zollerns to rule Germans as the right Of
Germans to rule non-Germans. It is nc
more difficult for a German President
| to invoke humanity than for German
emperor to invoke God. The king claimed
God for the work OF the most atheist,
of kings, Frederick the Great. The pro
fessor may claim humanity for the worl
of the most inhuman of professors. Kar
Marx.
The theory remains that the state Il
the only absolute IN morals-that is
that there Is no appeal from 1t TO Coz
or man, to Christendom or conscience
to the individual or the family or th
fellowship Of all mankind. The yer.
theory that was the ethical excuse of al
their crimes in the past is the first prn
ciple of their political philosophy for tn
future The fact Is surely very relevan
to the problem of any remaining menac
from the Germans. In practice the
cannot at present equip themselves witt
the power to attack Europe. But the,
have at least equipped themselves wit
a theory which is suitable for any sue
purpose With their intellectual theorie
we are still at intellectual war, thoug
we can all hope that 1t, will remain n
intellectual war. The conversion of Ger
many would doubtless be a greater thin
than tho conquest of Germany; but Ger
many must be converted to somethn
more common to mankind than to on
Of the cold fancles of one of her ow
fantastic professors.