The American issue. [volume] (Westerville, Ohio) 1912-19??, 1922-09-22
GERMANY
Berlin, May 5, 1922

The trip from Prague to Dresden
is beautiful in itself-the scene, the
sense of history, and of the present
breaking down OF walls OF prejudice
and ancient misunderstanding and the
clearing of new ways" for the new
world citizenship to dwell in. The
Elbe flowing between riprapped
banks, or solid walls of masonry from
the heart OF Europe up to the North
Sea, carries trade such as we never
see on Our greater rivers. The little
garden like which we also never see
in America backing from the waters
edge to the SUBMITS, so far as | can
see, are fully equal to the intensive
farming of Japan or China. Not a
twig nor a leaf seems to be wasted.
The twigs, in little bundles, so to
what we would call the wood-pile i,
the leaves to the compost heap. The
farmstcads look like little villages.
Buildings Plaster-Covered
The buildings are brick-not good
brick, because the clay or the region
lacks something, or has too much of
something, and coat OF plaster is
laid over them and they look like heavy
stone houses, as they fly backward
past the car windows.
Joys of Railway Compartment Travel
But ones enjoyment of such things
depends upon the mood he may be in
the ability, at the moment, to see
and remember and think, in terms of
enjoyment. And as it happened
thanks to the European railway cars,
that shut half dozen passengers to-
gether facing, three and three, and
nearly touching knees-I fell in with
a flock OF Czechs--a delegation OF
representative men, going to Dresden.
They could all speak Czech, French
and German and one knew English.
A spirit of dog-like curiosity and
friendliness was in the place, because
we were the kind of men we were.
We looked each up over, shifted and
smiled and were off, In a minute or
two, in a fine little adventure of
cosmopolitan fellowship. | smashed
the natural reserve by asking about
political conditions in -Slova-
kia, and they said that they could not
be worse, except that there was no
corruption and the new officials would
learn.
| asked what was. the explanation
of uniting Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia,
Carpathia and Slovakia in a separate
state. Then the big man in the
corner who spoke English nearly
made a speech. He said that there
was no sense in that segregation, nor
any separation of countries, that the
great need of the world is to discover
itself as one thing and the people one
people. He said that the only
obstacle, in Europe, to prosperity and
peace, is the cultivated dislike that
has existed and still exists between
countries, without any present reason
and without any possible outlook, but
futile and ruinous wars. Everybody
agreed and so it was moved, debated
and carried without any motion,
debate or vote, that a citizen ought
to honor and serve his own country,
because he lives there, but that also
he should love the world because his
country lives there.
Americas Opportunity
The trip from Dresden to Berlin
is scenic Sahara, fat as pancake
and barren of any historical sug-
gestion and had plenty of time to
reflect upon the events of the morn
ing.
One thing that | thought of was
this We worry about the mixture
of races in America, when we orEht
to have vision enough to perceive that
thus we are working out one of the
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