The Washington herald., 1920-11-14
Making Bismarck the Scapegoat.


The shadow of the great Napoleon was
so oppressive that for decades after his
downfall France sickened in it, and was de-
livered into atmosphere OF sun and health
again only after a national disaster had rid
her of the nephew-pretender and her own
obsession together. Bismarck built the.
German Empire. 1t was his personal crea-
ton almost as much as a work of art is
that of the artist After his disgrace and
dismissal, did his ire operate Indignantly
to impair what he had reared, did he vir-
.tually arrange to have pulled down after
him what he would deny as usufruct to his
enemies?
Something likesthattis the latest apology
for the Hohenzoilerns, who, having proved
themselves ingfates. now would make the
great Minister the scapegoat for their
errors. The plea is plausible, inasmuch as
Bismarck did design a dynasty OF mayors
of the palace, to be begun with his son,
Count Herbert. Young William IFS re-
sentiment against his grandfather's imperi-
Gus servant and master is explained by
the fact
woods, sputtered in wrath and derision at
the Emperor and his policies. Bismarck
intrigued, -inveighed, until the day OF his
death. His Vaccinations are supposed to
have ended two chancellorships. His min
ions still in the bureaucracy are said to
have frustrated some of the best intentions
of the court. And even after his death, his
nouer dominated h;,;ctars tr;ad 70
initiate him to their chagrin, or to show
themselves superior to his example to their
sorrow. The third Hohenzollern's reign
was divided between a vain defiance of the
Bismarcsian precedent and a vain endeavor
to emulate the great tradition.
There is penalty attached to the ad-
vantage of great genius operating in a
country's behalf. After Cromwell, the
wave, followed Charles II, the trough.
After Napoleon's glory came the medioc-
rity of the Restoration and the shame of
the Third Empire. Bismarck, by his gen
ius, exalted Germany which has now fallen
an equal depth from its height. There may
be some rhythm of compensation and of
cost that makes a Bismarck fatal to his
country. And the moral for popular re-
public is to beware OF overpowering genius
and to cling to commonplace leaders of
sober talent.
There is injustice as well as venom in
this Hohenzollern apology at the expense
of the great Chancellor. If the Old Man
of Varzin suffered from spleen, as no doubt
he did, he had good reason for his rancor.
The policies he had laid down for Germany
he saw abandoned for what he deemed
dangerous adventures, and the event of
November II, 1918, demonstrated that his
judgment was correct and his denunciation
justified. The imperial dilettante ins order
to show the superhuousness of the expert,
took pains to disregard the lessons the old
man had given him and TO cross diametri-
cally the pet Bismarckan policies And it
fairly can be argued that Williams levity
downfall of the steel monster the Iron
Chancellor had constructed
Aside from those minor factors of
tragedy, however, there is to be considered
the major and inevitable fatality. What
Bismarck had created, required a Bismarck
to keep going. A like fatality attended Ma
poleon, as it did Cromwell Therein is
contained the defect of the paternalistic
and benevolent despotism. Constructed
and operated by genius, its direction inev-
itably falls to mediocrity, and mediocrity
is incompetent to operate it without pro-
ducing deterioration or disaster
Far better is popular government by Or
dinary talents, which despite its errors, in
efficiency and waste, avoids capital mis-
takes and gradually corrects its venial ones.
Minneapolis Journal