Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-07-10
THE GOWNSM4N
A Case OF Arrested Development

a Case OF Arrested peveIopment
GO PEACE has come at last, and Ger
~ many, after many wry faces and protes-
tations, has signed a treaty which Is verify
the bitter fruit of the deadly tree of predatory
war which she planted. That the treaty Is
substantially just, few save Germans are
likely to deny. Full reparation Is vastly be-
yond any human power; but reparation SO
far as possible is the essence Of elemental
justice, and it is just this reluctance to re-
pair the evil done, this recalcitrancy to abide
by the inevitable, to take the medicine, to
use a homely phrase. which distinguishes the
German whipped from most other men in r.
similar predicament. The German is bad
sport Before the game he is cocksure and
boastful; in success he Is. ungenerous and
overbearing; when he loses he sulks and
grumbes and questions the decisions of the
referee.
TT WOULD seem that this, with the Ger
l. man Callousnpss and the worse things that
came of it, were born of his darling doctrine,
ingrained for generations, that of German
superiority in all things, no matter what.
This begot an intolerance, fittiugly to be de-
scribed only by the favorite German word,
Colossal" In small things Ms in great the
German way was the right way, any varia-
tion from it preposterous and a certain evil
dence of inferiority. The German in writing
an address gives first the country. then the
city, next the street, followed by the num-
Der. "How ridiculous :" is his exclamation
at the inverse order Of our usage, as though
it mattered in the least. The Lilliputiuns
were divided into two parties. at deadly en-
nifty as to whether 1t was proper to break an
egg on the big end or the little. And the
Little cndians ostracized the Big endians
T. tbar 30 eor;ouc uupctiop of
breeding il you crack an egg with spoon {;
even more. should you stand it on the table
as did Columbus. You must cut it across
with knife; that is the German and there
fore the only way.
DE SELF -COMPLACENT and at the
- same time strong of will, and the gods
may grant you talent, cleverness. industry
and all other gifts that make for success in
the world, and ultimate success will not be
yours. The self complacent man, however
strong he may be, is built of material which
is lacking in temper. He may break at last
but he will not bend, for of suppleness and
adaptability to conditions which are outward
he has nothing and he will not learn. 1t
seems unwarranted to call the German un-
imaginative with his imposing, if vulgar,
dream of universal empire, in which, after
a short. effective and therefore frankly brutal
triumph. when he had become master of the
world, he was to mete out German kultur
to the subject races in proportion as their
inferiority might be able to receive that
benefcent balm to their slavery. But all
this the veriest barbarian could learn from
the column of Trajan or any Roman tri-
umphal arch. The German is unimaginative
because he lacks the first condition of the
imaginative way of looking at things. and
that is the simple ability to put yourself in
another'S place.
A Nd now Germany is having trouble with
1 \ the role Of a defeated nation. 1t does
not seem natural or proper to be the under
dog and it is abominaby disconcerting But
as to this, it is always to be remembered that.
however outrageously the German people was
msled by its military caste. it was only too
willing to be so misled, with the possessions
of conquered enemies in view and that
higher USE to which Germany felt that she
was called upon to put those possessions in
bright prospect 1t is easy to understand
war lord mad to try the efficiency of his toys
of war in actual conflict. And it is easy to
understand Rcynard the Diplomat, trained to
n game of chicanery in which provinces are
the stakes. What is more difficult is to grasp
the attitude of enthusiastic assent to all this
by Germans whose status in the world of
science and letters might have given them
more humanitarian outlook. And could there
be found in England, France or America any
body of manufacturers and men of business
who would have lent themselves to a plan
for the deliberate destruction of the machin
cry of their rivals? Or are there women in
other countries who could receive with de-
light the loot sent home by their marauding
husbands and brothers. the household goods,
~, 81 &c III.