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AN IMPORTANT STRONGHOLD IN THE RUSSO-GERMAN-AUSTRIAN WAR ZONE The photograph shows the Market Square of Cracow, a city in western Galicia which is figuring largely in the despatches from the front. Cracow is an ancient town with a checkered history; it was once the capital of Poland; it constituted a free republic from 1815 until 1846; it was then annexed by Austria

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AMERICA AND THE WAR FROM THE GERMAN POINT OF VIEW 829

present possess. The idea of settling by arbitration the question as to whether a hungry man may take a loaf of which he has full physical strength to possess himself is chimerical and quixotic. So with the national needs and impulses that bring on war, which is simply the last expression of organized force, the balance-wheel of progress."

So with the cause of Germany, which today is undergoing its supreme test of physical efficiency. Not one-man power or lust of conquest drives men to action, but the primitive necessities, protection and sustenance, direct the desires of the people, and through them the course of their government. To destroy the monopoly in restraint of trade which Great Britain has established on the highways of the seas, to secure the essentials of national supply which we need for the maintenance of our ever-growing people, we wage war-with no apology to cosmopolitanism! How few Americans have studied the history of German civilization, and how many know us only through British spectacles! How few understand the essence of our political philosophy, and how many condemn us without grasping even its fundamental principle! It is not surprising to see German institutions abused by the great multitude of critics, whose sense of justice is dulled by ignorance, inherited animosity, business depression, or hostile influence. But it is strange to see men of intelligence, even scientists, compare effects without examining causes, enlarging upon results without consulting origins and sources of trouble.

Obviously, no two countries can be governed alike, because the political system, like the national ideals, is but the natural efflux of the different circumstances under which the people live and have their being. Character, tradition, and environment are controlling factors. So is size of country and natural isolation. A big cake is easily so divided up that every hungry mouth in the family has a fine sufficiency. With a small cake-contended and vied by hostile neighbors-it requires more severity, more system, and more restraint on the part of the governor to make everybody satisfied. Here lies the root of our political dissension: " republicanism" on the one side, "militarism " on the other.

Give us freedom from alarm, immunity from bondage to historical reminiscences, and a country only one-tenth as large and safe and resourceful as your own, and we

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shall be as militant in the arts of peace as to-day we are military in the arts of warfare. Give us time and security of existence, and be sure that in fifty years the German people will be freer politically, just as to-day they are more efficient in industrial pursuits and social service, than other nations. Prussian militarism is not a cause, but a result. There was a time when Voltaire's bon mot was well expressive of our attitude: "England rules the seas, France the land, Germany the clouds." We were idealistic to the point of folly and individualistic to the point of selfdestruction. Our sentimentalism was exceeded only by our intemperance. But we were harmless- -as long as we were cosmopolitan and, though ridiculed, were tolerated by our neighbors, who used to settle their differences on German soil. At last we awoke to national consciousness, and-after centuries of dissension, humiliation, and derision-put forth our powers. What is more natural than that we should become a "peril" to all those who profited by the maintenance of political balance! I do not care to excuse our attitude, but to explain. The military bureaucratic system of Germany is the result of want and adversity. It was forced upon us by considerations of national expediency, and it has its grave defects in catering more to the powers of the State than to the pleasures of the people. But it also has its tangible advantages, because, under "Prussian rule," Germany has become not only the despair but also the wonder of other nations. So that we may say in defense of our system that in its own imperfect way it grapples with the situation, whereas your more ideal system of government does not. It also has a larger margin of political potentiality. For we can temper discipline with liberty whenever the time is ripe for it; but you cannot temper liberty with discipline, though the exigencies of the hour may some day require it.

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In the last place, all dispute about the superiority of one system of government over the other is futile; because it is not the form of government which counts, but the character of the people by whom it is administered. "There is no form of government," says Franklin, "but what may be a blessing to the people if well administered." And there is no system that may not become a curse. Whether individual initiative or organized action is the preferable expedient of statecraft is a matter of

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circumstances. Conduct is the thing, after all, not the name. The only real guaranty against oppression by capital or mob lies, not in the programme or constitution of the country, but in the maintenance on the part of the people of national integrity and public-spiritedness.

Why, after all, should the German people abandon their political system, which has proved successful to the Commonwealth, and adopt American institutions, which are notorious for the contrast or discrepancy between recognized political principles and actual political life? If we apply the acid test of experience, which George Washington calls "the surest standard by which to test the real tendency of the existing Constitution of a country," to American institutions, we find that the prevalent interpretation of the fundamental laws of the Republic is out of all harmony with the Puritan ideals which inspired them. And we find, further, after the sovereign power of the land has been capsized by commercialism, that the American people are trying in vain to regain possession of their Government.

Instead of one tyrant, of whom the Pilgrim Fathers wanted to rid themselves by establishing "a government of laws, not of men," there are now five hundred, who hide their faces in the twilight zone of legal technicalities. Or what else did the eminent historian Woodrow Wilson mean when he declared: "The most striking fact about the organization of modern society is that the most conspicuous, the most readily wielded, and the most formidable power is not the power of government, but the power of capital"?

Few Americans realize how carefully the executive circles in Germany are watching the democratic experiment in the New World; how in matters of immigration, amalgamation, emancipation of women, separation of Church and State, conciliation of capital and labor, last, not least, in the most debateful of all questions, popular government, they are keeping close record of promises and events. For thirty years we have been sitting at your feet and learning of your composure. I am even bold enough to say that the admiration for the stanch defenders of human liberty who adorn the history of the United States is as fervent in Germany as it is in America.

But for all the noteworthiness of the ideals which they cherished and of the institutions which they helped to create, we can

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not close our eyes to the fact that the great Republic did not keep in practice what it promised in theory. "Jefferson's fundamental doctrine," says Charles W. Eliot, "was the political and economic value of individual liberty.' But the forces which were once so strong during the framing of the Constitution were in the course of time overruled by an even mightier force, namely, by the chieftainship of business, "which builds its power on the collective strength of economic forces and has won the battle in the three great departments of personal and social activity-industry, education, and government."

Now, if the absence of adequate rule in America offers so feeble a guarantee against the complete reversal of the fundamental principles of government-from individualism to collectivism, and from democracy to plutocracy-not to speak of corruption in its various forms; if the enlightened people of America, working as they do under the most favorable auspices of heredity and environment, with all their political liberties have been unable to preserve their economic independence, how can it be surprising that the German people hesitate to commit their country to the same policy of laissez faire?

Germany, in order to preserve her national existence, must remain strictly an empire of efficiency. She must continue to learn from the experience of other countries, and cannot afford to adopt unreservedly a constitution which is "all sail and no anchor," as Macaulay put it. She cannot tolerate a political system which leaves so wide a margin between aspiration and accomplishment, besides being the most expensive system of government on earth. The political emancipation of the German people is proceeding by the scientific process of logical evolution. instrument is obedience and its law is reason. With the blessings of constitutional government it combines the privileges of a strong executive, which stands high above the clamor of parties and acts free from slavery to instant gain. It enthrones public service above private initiative. It bridles the freedom of the individual constituent, inasmuch as such interference is requisite for the freedom of

all.

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This principle of executive efficiency, which is the essence of Prussian statecraft and the secret of Germany's remarkable successes, both military and civil, is being more and more appreciated and extolled even by American statesmen, who recognize that the source

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AMERICA AND THE WAR FROM THE GERMAN POINT OF VIEW 831

of all trouble in the United States is the minimizing of government and the magnifying of Business. "The danger to American democracy," says Theodore Roosevelt, "lies not in the least in the concentration of administrative power in responsible and accountable hands, since concentrated power is palpable, visible, responsible, easily reached, quickly held to account. The danger lies rather in having the power insufficiently concentrated, so that no one can be held responsible to the people for its use."

No people can glory in their freedom from control unless they are fit to make the best possible use of that freedom. No form of government, however universal, can bear good fruit unless the voters are capable of exercising their functions reasonably. No country, however situated, can afford to surrender its destinies to the ballot unless it is sure that the intelligent overrules the blatant. Hence, in the last place, it is not politics but education which decides the great issues of civic policy and determines the rank and respectability of a people among the nations. The country which encourages popular edu

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cation prepares also the way for popular government. For enlightenment is the death. of indolence, just as humanity is the death of egotism.

But Rome was not built in a day, and even the United States, after a hundred years of experimental democracy, is still far from the realization of democratic ideals. Wherefore Americans will not reproach us for our political preferences, because we value freedom which is born of discipline higher than liberty which is born of chaos. And they will not blame us for our war of independence, because a century ago they fought it themselves. Whatever be the established form of government in a country, aristocracy or democracy, and whatever be the dominant power, bureaucracy or plutocracy, it is well for the leaders of all nations to be ever mindful of this essence of political philosophy: "An exclusive government may be pardoned if it is efficient, an inefficient government if it rests upon the people. But a government which is both inefficient and exclusive incurs a weight of odium under which it must ultimately sink" (James Bryce).

II-THE AMERICAN POLICY A BLUNDER

BY DR. ERVIN ACEL

POLITICIAN may commit a crime, but he must never make a mistake.

The crime by means of which the threatened doom of a country is averted will be forgiven by history's goddess; but she never pardons a political blunder which causes the ruin of a nation's future. As to the bloody, smoke-laden European conflict, it seems to me obvious that the American people and the American press commit an unpardonable mistake in sympathizing with the Allies and in not siding with Germany. Let us suppose that the Kaiser's cause were opposed to the ethical standards of the world, and therefore it must now bear the weight of the neutral peoples' criticism; but, even if this were true, Uncle Sam's very interest requires that he stand by the German cause. It is very fine and does the United States much honor that she, sitting on the high chair of a world court, lends an ear to the complaints of the warring nations and judges of living and dead. But the war, sooner or later, will be ended; and then Uncle Sam will be pulled down from his high station to take his place

in the whirling confusion of the egotistic political hand-to-hand fightings.

Surely the war will at last be over. And what will happen if Germany is crushed, England victorious, and Japan has seized Kiaochau and the German Pacific Islands? What will happen if Japan refuses to turn Kiaochau over to China? And surely she will refuse to do this. That egotistic people living in the poetical land of the rising sun never yet fought for nothing, and is not fighting for nothing now. She fights, bleeds, wastes her money and treasure; and, without fail, she will send her account in. Every man realizes that this account will require that Japan shall enter into possession of the German colonies. She would be crazy to fight without any resulting benefit. She will hold the territory conquered with the blood of her oblique-eyed sons. I know it, you know it, Washington knows it-everybody knows it.

Before Japan threw the old Samurai sword in the balance of the conflict she assured us that she did not intend to retain Kiaochau,

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