(1918) right above race

8/9/2019 (1918) Right Above Race

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RIGHT ABOVE RACE


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RIGHT ABOVE RACEBYOTTO H. KAHN

"We will not permit the blood in ourveins to drown the conscience in ourbreast. We will heed the call of honorbeyond the call of race."

NEW YORKTHE CENTURY CO.1918


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-yi^

Copyright, 1918, byThe Centuey Co.

Published, April, 1918

MAY -3 iSiS-CI.A495955


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FOREWORDI have seen no other utterances so

clearly setting forth the attitude of theGerman-born American as those thatare here presented. Mr. Kahn writeswith a knowledge of German condi-tions,the ambitions, the capacities andthe history of the German people. Hedrives home the strength of the Ameri-can position in a manner that makes anirrefutable argument for the righteous-ness of this nation's attitude. His viewis more than American, it is interna-tional, a view that looks to the conse-quences to the world if the things doneby Germany and the spirit which nowcontrols her go without check. Indeed,


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Forewordhe speaks on behalf of a new and betterGermany with which the world may livein concord.

Franklin K. Lane,Secretary of the Interior.


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CONTENTSPAGE

Letter to a German 3Americans of German Origin and theWar ,65Prussianized Germany ..... 77The Poison Growth of Prussianism . 91Frenzied Liberty 131The Myth of "A Rich Man's War" . 151


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RIGHT ABOVE RACE


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LETTER TO A GERMANThis letter was written in June, 1915, to a

prominent business man in Germany. A few ofthe passages contained in the letter as here givenare taken from an earlier letter (March, 1915)written to the same person.The original letters were in German. Thefollowing translation was made by the author.


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RIGHT ABOVE RACELETTER TO A GERMANNew York, June 28, 1915.

Dear X.Many thanks for your very interest-

ing letter of April 27th. The spiritwhich animates Germany is indeed agreat and mighty one. It is a spirit ofunity and brotherhood among her peo-ple, of willing sacrifice and heroic striv-ing, coupled with the passionate convic-tion and faith that her cause is just andrighteous, that it must and will win, andthat not only is victory a necessity fornational existence, but that in its trainit will bring blessings to the whole ofthe universe.Wherever and whenever in theworld's history such a spiritborn of


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4 Right Above Racethe stirring of the profoundest depthsof national or religious feeling^hasmanifested itself, it has invariably beenattended by a more or less marked fa-naticism among the people concerned;by a condition of mind easily compre-hensible as a psychological phenomenon,yet acutely prejudicial to the ability topreserve an objective point of view, andto arrive at an impartial judgment.

It is but natural that in the atmos-phere which surrounds you and underexisting circumstances, a man even ofsuch sober, clear and independent men-tality as yourself, should think and feelin the way manifested by your letter.Even if it were in my power, I wouldnot try at this time to shake your faithand patriotic determination. Since,however, you ask me to continue this ex-change of opinions, I will endeavor fur-ther to make plain to you my ideas as to


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Letter to a German 5this most deplorable and accursed war.The views I am expressing are, I be-

lieve, the views as well of the great ma-jority of thinking people in America.And I would remind you that Americaas a whole, by reason of the racial com-position of her population, is essentiallyfree from national prejudice or racialbias. With her many millions of in-habitants of German origin, her dispo-sition could not be anti-German in theordinary course of affairsand indeednever was so before the war.With her millions of Jews and her

liberal tendencies she cannot be pro-Russian. With her historical develop-ment in the course of which her onlyserious wars have been fought againstGreat Britain (which country, more-over, during certain critical periods inthe Civil War between North andSouth, evidenced inclination to favor the


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6 Right Above RaceSouth and thus aroused long continu-ing resentment in the Northern States)and for many other reasons, her dispo-sition cannot be that of an English par-tisanand was not so before the war.The predominant sentiment of theAmerican people in the Boer War wasanti-English ; in the Balkan War theirsympathies were pro-Turkish; in theItalian-Turkish War, anti-Italian; inthe Russo-Japanese War, pro-Japa-nese, although it was fully realized thatfrom the point of view of America'smaterial and national interests, thestrengthening of Japan was hardly de-sirable.

It may sound to you very improbable,yet it is none the less true that America,of all the great nations, is probably theone least swayed by eagerness to attainmaterial advantage for herself throughher international policies. I do not


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Letter to a German 7claim that this arises necessarily fromany particular virtue in her people. Itmay be rather the result of her geo-graphical and economic situation.America returned to China the in-

demnity growing out of the Boxer Re-bellion. To Spain, conquered andhelpless, she paid, entirely of her ownfree will, $20,000,000 for the Philip-pines. She refused to annex Cuba.In spite of strong provocation she ab-stained from taking Mexico.Although not a land as yet of thehighest degree of culture, America is aland of high and genuine humanitarian-ism and of a certain naive idealism.I hear your ironic rejoinder, "and outof pure humanitarianism, you supplyarms to our enemies, and thus prolongthe war"The answer lies in the accentuation ofthe last four words, which can only


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8 Right Above Racemean that, but for the American supplyof arms, the Allies, from lack of am-munition, would speedily be defeated,i, e,j America is to co-operate in preserv-ing for that country which has mostextensively and actively prepared forwar, the full and lasting advantage ofthat preparation.

That would put a premium on warpreparationson an armed and there-fore necessarily precarious peacesinceit is but human nature that, given adifference which he considers seriousenough for ground for a quarrel, a manarmed to the teeth would be less in-clined to settle the matter peaceablythan one who is not so well prepared fora fight.Apart from this, the German com-

plaint about the prolongation of thewar through the American supply ofarms is proof in itself that the refusal of


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Letter to a German 9such supplies would constitute a posi-tive act of partiality in favor of Ger-many.And the great majority of Americansare convinced that the ruling powers of

Germany and Austria, though not per-haps the people themselves, are re-sponsible for the outbreak of the war;that they have sinned against humanityand justice; that at least France andEngland did not want war; that there-fore its advent found them in a com-paratively unprepared state, and that itwould constitute a decided, serious andunjustifiable action of far-reaching ef-fect against the Allies if America wereto put an embargo on war munitionsespecially so in view of the fact that asa direct consequence of the treaty-de-fying invasion of Belgium you are inpossession of the Belgian arms factoriesand iron mines and of about 75% of all


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10 Right Above Racethe ore-producing capacity of France.For neutrals to supply war materials

to belligerents is an ancient, unques-tioned right, recognized by internationallaw and frequently practiced by your-selves. To alter, during the course of awar, a practice sanctioned by the law ofnations and hitherto always followed,would constitute a flagrant breach ofneutrality, in that it would necessarilyhelp one side and harm the other.The fact that at one time we forbade

the export of arms to Mexico aff'ords noargument in favor of the German con-tention, for there it was not a case ofwar between nations, but of civil war.There was also the danger that sucharms might eventually be used againstAmerica herself, given the possibilitythat intervention by us in Mexico mightlater on become necessary.

Commissions from Germany for the


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Letter to a German 11supply of arms would have been as ac-ceptable to our factories as were thosefrom the Allies. It is not America'sfault if the German fleet does not breakthrough the British cordon and openthe way for sea conmiunication withGermany. The superiority of the Brit-ish fleet and the resulting consequencesmust have been known to Germany be-fore she permitted the outbreak of thishorrible war. She has no more right tomake a grievance of these consequencesthan the Allies have a right to complainof Germany's superior preparednessand the greater perfection of her in-struments of war.To believe American pubhc opinion

influenced by the profits which come tothis country from the supply of arms, isto misunderstand completely the Amer-ican mode of thought and feeling.Moreover these profits go to very few


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12 Right Above Racepockets, and public opinion here beinganything but unduly complacent to-wards large corporations and capitalistsis by no means inclined to view withfavor the gathering in of these hugeprofits by a very limited number of in-dividuals and concerns.You quote with approval General

von Schlieffen's remark that "in war,after all, the only thing that matters isthose silly old victories."You would surely not say that in the

individual's daily struggle for existenceor in competitive industrial strife, "theonly thing that matters" is success.Rather you would be the first to grantas you have always demonstrated inyour acts, that there are certain ethicallimitations laid down by the conscienceand the moral conceptions of himianity,which must be respected in the strugglefor success, however keen, even though


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Letter to a German 13the very existence of the individual andthe maintenance of wife and child be atstake.

Schlieffen's utterance, in the meaningwhich your quotation gives it, throwsoverboard everything that civilizationand the humanitarian progress of cen-turies has accomplished towards lessen-ing the cruelty, the hatred and the suf-fering engendered by war, and towardsprotecting non-combatants, as far aspossible, from its terrors. It is tanta-mount to the doctrine of the fanati-cal Jesuit: "The end justifies themeans."And it is something akin to this verydoctrine which Germany has made her

own and applied in her conduct of thiswar as she has done in none of herprevious wars. The conviction thateverything^ literally everything, whichtends to insure victory is permitted to


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14 Right Above RaceheVj, and indeed called for, has now evi-dently assumed the power of a nationalobsession. Thus, the violation of inno-cent Belgium in defiance of solemntreaty; the unspeakable treatment in-flicted on her people ; the bombardment,without warning, of open places (whichGermany was the first to practice) ; thedestruction of great monuments of artwhich belonged to all humankind, as inRheims, and Louvain; the Lusitaniahorror, the strewing of mines broadcast,the use of poisonous gases causing deathby torture or incurable disease ; the tak-ing of hostages ; the arbitrary impositionof monetary indemnities and penalties,and so forth. It is these facts that thenon-combatant nations charge againstGermany, and quite apart from the re-sponsibility for the war, it is in themthat may be found the main reason whypublic opinion in neutral countries has


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Letter to a German 15more and more turned against Ger-many as the war has continued.

I say "innocent Belgium," for it isentirely evident that the Belgian-Eng-lish pourparlers, of which Germanydiscovered documentary evidence, re-lated merely to the eventuality of Ger-many's violating Belgian neutrality andtherefore in no way constituted a re-linquishment of neutrality on Belgium'spart. In so far as these pourparlersdid not keep strictly within these limits(manifestly as a result of excessive zealon the part of the English military at-tache in question) they were formallyand categorically rejected and dis-avowed, by both the Belgian and Eng-lish Governments. This is shown byofficial papers which have been pub-lished. It cannot be doubted that theseproceedings of disavowal were entirelybona fide, for they took place at a time


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16 Right Above Raceand under circumstances such that noone could possibly have imagined thatthe correspondence evidencing themwould ever see the light of day. Inas-much as you mention these Anglo-Belgian pourparlers as among the rea-sons justifying Germany's invasion ofBelgium, it is worth pointing out thatthis treaty defying invasion was perpe-trated before Germany had discoveredthe existence of the documents whichevidenced that such pourparlers hadtaken place.Germany's reasoning that she was

compelled to take the initiative in vio-lating the treaty of neutrality in orderto avoid the imminent danger that Eng-land and France would do so first andthereupon advance troops against herthrough Belgium, is, even if such rea-soning were morally admissible, no validargument; for, only a few days before,


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Letter to a German 17England and France had solemnlypledged themselves in the face of thewhole world to respect Belgium's neu-trality.

If, as you believe, England had beenplanning for years to attack Germanyvia Belgium, would she not then havehad in readiness an invading force some-where near adequate for such an under-taking? Instead she had the merebagatelle of 75,000 or 100,000 men,which in the first months of the waractually constituted her whole availablecontinental fighting force.To any one of unprejudiced judg-

ment there remains, therefore, no choice. but the conclusion that Germany's viola-tion of Belgium did not even have theexcuse of being a measure of self-de-fence, but, as the Chancellor in effectadmitted in his first speech on the sub-ject in the Reichstag, was undertaken


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18 Bight Above Racesimply because "in war the only thingthat matters is those silly old victories."

Not, as you say, in obedience to Eng-land's command (what power had Eng-land either to command or enforce hercommands?), but from a compellingimpulse of national honor did Belgiumoppose the German breach of neutralitywith force of arms, though it wouldevidently have been to her material in-terest to comply with Germany's sum-mons or at any rate to offer merelynominal resistance.

Holland and Switzerland would havedone the same thing under similar cir-cumstances, as would any other self-respecting nation. Moreover, whatweight could Belgium attach to Ger-many's promise of immunity in case sheyielded, when at the very moment Ger-many, by her own act, was demonstrat-ing but too clearly how little she con-


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Letter to a German 19sidered herself bound by her promise orindeed by a solemn international treaty?What the Germans have accom-

plished on the battlefields, as well aswithin their own country, is proof ofsuch great national qualities, that itcompels the tribute of admiration, evenfrom your enemies. These qualitieswould indeed have gone far tojustify her claim to hegemony, had theynot been linked unfortunatelyat leastamong your ruling classes and intellec-tual leaderswith ways of thought andaction which are anti-humanitarian, op-pressive and generally intolerable to therest of the world.The theory of "frightfulness" in theconduct of warfare which Germany nowpreaches and practices is no new dis-covery. On the contrary it is a veryancient oneso old, in fact, that longago it had come to be discarded and


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20 Bight Above Racesuperseded in European warfare andpassed into the limbo of forgottenthings. There, until resurrected byyour countrymen, it lay for generations,along with much else which the humanrace had overcome and left behind inthe progress of culture and humanitya progress achieved by strenuous toil,sacrifices and suffering in the course ofmany centuries.

Such words and ideas are met withcontempt and derision by your spokes-men and termed mere phrases and senti-mentality. If these are mere 'phrasesthen the whole upward struggle of theworld for endless years past has beenbased upon and aiming at phrases andsentimentality,

I read recently an article in a Germanpaper written by one of your professorsof international law, in which he main-tained, evidently quite unconscious of


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Letter to a German 21the incredible monstrosity of his logic,that, because the Russians in their in-vasion of East Prussia had acted likebarbarians, you therefore had the un-questioned right, as a measure of re-prisal, to bombard and destroy Oxfordand CambridgeAnd what have you gained from your"frightfulness"? Your victories have

been due to quite other qualities. Byyour "frightfulness" you have steeledyour enemies to the utmost limit ofsacrifice; you have embittered neutralopinion; you have disappointed andgrieved your friends and "sown drag-on's teeth," the offspring of which willarise against you many years even afterthe conclusion of peace.How differently would you be judgednow if you had tempered your mightypower with mercy and self-restraint ; ifwith the consciousness and use of su-


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22 Right Above Raceperior strength and ability you hadcoupled chivalry and generosity!You say that Germany is the only

great power which has kept the peacefor forty-four years, and made no con-quest of territory of any kind by forceof arms. It is pertinent to recall inreference to this statement, that in thecourse of these forty-four years Ger-many virtually by force has taken astrategically important piece of China,waged war against the Hereros and an-nexed colonies in Africa and in the Pa-cific (receiving in exchange for one ofthem the strategically most valuable is-land of Heligoland). Yet, speakinggenerally, the world is bound to recog-nize with gratitude and admiration thatfrom 1871 to 1914 Germany has re-frained from using her enormous mili-tary power in attempts at conquest.Has she had cause to complain of the


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Letter to a German 23results of this wise and farseeing policy?During that comparatively short

period of time she had grown more pow-erful than any other country. In thewell-being of her people, in her wealthand prestige she had advanced andflourished as no other nation. Her in-dustries, her merchant marine hadbrought her conquest and triumph un-equalled in the world's economic his-tory, which find a parallel only in thewonderful military achievements of theNapoleonic era.Without firing a gun she had turned

Holland and Belgium practicallyinto German dependencies. She hadachieved predominance in Turkey andestablished a firm footing in Asia Minor.Her influence in South America andAsia was increasing by leaps andbounds. Even in the British coloniesthe victorious efficiency of the German


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24 Right Above Racecommercial conquerors was making it-self felt more and more.And as to this newly discovered naval

militarism of England which, you say,''is seeking to force England's will uponthe whole world by the force of hermighty fleet," what has it ever done tobar the way to your commerce? Ab-solutely nothing. A few days ago Iread a letter of an American traveler,from which I quote the following ex-tracts :

"Not many years ago I sat on the club ver-anda at Singapore and counted twenty-five fun-nels of a single German steamer line. FromSingapore I went to North Borneo; there wasbut one line^, a German, and that line carriedthe British mail. Later I went to Siam fromSingapore. It was on a steamer of this sameGerman line, carrying British mail. There wasno other. Thence I went to Hongkong by thesame excellent German line. Later I went toAustraliait was by one of this same line. ToJava and the Eastern Archipelago, to Penang^it was always this vast German company.


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Letter to a German 25doing not only all the German, but the Britishmail service as well. The German traders, withwhom I mixed freely, marveled at the infantilegenerosity with which Great Britain opened allher ports to German enterprise, although long-headed people shook their heads at the thoughtof German skippers having a better acquaint-ance with British waters than their own people."Nowhere in the British colonial world have

I found the slightest evidence of commercialmonopoly and certainly no favoring of English-men at the expense of Germans. Even in Indiathe German commercial traveler has roamed atwill and driven Englishmen out of businessunder the very noses of the Calcutta Council.

**In the Imperial German colonies, on theother hand, competing English traders havebeen treated to a systematic course of petty of-ficial restrictions so vexatious that finally theyhave given up the attempt to do business underGerman conditions. When I was in GermanNew Guinea this official persecution went so farthat a British trading steamer was even for-bidden to get water in order to force it to aban-don trade with the natives of that neighbor-hood."Some British colonies, it is true, do now dis-

criminate in favor of the mother country, but thecolonies who do that are self-governing andtherefore beyond the mother country's control in


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26 Right Above Raceeconomic matters, like Canada. But in so-calledCrown colonies like Hongkong, the Germantrader has the same advantage as any other/'

England has not abused her power atsea, at least since the eighteenth cen-tury, any more than you, previous tothis present war, have abused yourpower on land. Not only has she notstood in the way of your development,but on the contrary she has given youfair and free access to her markets, withunparalleled liberality.That England should now make

every endeavor to carry on a strict seablockade against Germany and shoulddo so in a manner which takes accountof the existing circumstances and novelinstruments of naval warfare, is, in theopinion of our leading lawyers, her per-fect right, as far at least as it is a mat-ter only between her and Germany.In the same way the North, during the


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Letter to a German 27four years of the American Civil War,did all in her power compatible withthe law of nations to prevent, both di-rectly and indirectly, export and im-port traffic through Southern harbors.

It is true that dissatisfaction has beencaused in this country by the interfer-ence of England with American com-merce. In fact such dissatisfaction ison the increase and is likely to lead inthe early future to a vigorous proteston the part of our Government. Butthe objections to England's practice inno wise depend on any idea of ques-tioning the right under internationallaw of a complete and effective block-ade.To call this perfectly natural and

legitimate and frequently practicedmeasure of warfare "a war of starva-tion" against women and children is agood deal of an exaggeration. Though


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28 Right Above Raceinconvenienced, you are very far fromthe danger of starvation. Indeed, allyour spokesmen not only admit this factbut defiantly proclaim it.That against that blockade as well as

for the destruction of English commerceyou are making use of your amazinglyperfected submarines appears to me en-tirely justified, so long as in that useyou keep within the limits of legitimatewarfare. Nor do I deny that England,in certain respects, has arbitrarily andit seems rather fatuously interferedwith the rights of neutrals ; that she hasemployed against you some irritatingmeasures of petty and apparently pur-poseless chicanery and given you causefor resentment by certain vindictive andperhaps unfair provisions and proce-dures enacted at the very start of thewar against German firms and Germaninterests within English jurisdiction.


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Letter to a German 29It must also, I believe, be admitted

that you were justified in looking uponsome of the boastful edicts of WinstonChurchill, with reference to the conductof English merchant vessels, as provo-cations which gave you legitimateground for retaliation within recognizedlimitations.But that Germany should have used

these provocations and this phrase of"starvation warfare," as a basis for re-prisals which actually do constituteWarfare against women and children, isa blow in the face to the world's con-science.Against England's infringements of

the strict limits of neutral rights andagainst the subjecting of neutrals tocertain unjust, irritating and rathersenseless annoyances, America has notfailed to protest. She has in severalcases received satisfaction and accept-


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30 Right Above Raceable assurances. She should, and, Ihave no doubt, she will insist firmly onher rights in the cases still under dis-cussion. Butand that makes thevast difference between the English andGerman infractions of the rights of neu-trals in no single case have such actson the part of England involved thesacrifice of a human life.You say that Germany is not re-sponsible for the war. It is neverthe-less a fact that it was Germany who firstdeclared war. Perhaps it would havecome even if not declared by Germany,but in that "perhaps" lies a fearful bur-den of responsibility.You speak of the vast *'Austro-

German inferiority" in fighting men, ascompared to France and Russia, whichyou had to counteract by rapidity andinitiative of proceeding.

First, this inferiority of your 120


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Letter to a German 31millions to the Franco-Russian 200millions (the English, at that time,could not have entered into your reck-oning) is not such a "vast" one, evenon paper, when one considers how manymillions of the Russians could not formany months be included in the reck-oning, in consequence of the huge dis-tances separating them from the sceneof action.

Secondly, you had the enormousadvantage of strategic railroads, whichthe Russians lacked.

Thirdly, you and the Austrians oc-cupying contiguous territory and hold-ing the inner lines were able to moveyour troops from East to West, andvice versa, as occasion demanded, whilethe Russians and French were separatedand had to fight on the outer lines ; andFourthly, every one knows that inmodern warfare far less depends on the


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Letter to a German 33marck termed "imponderabilia" againsther. And it would be an insult to Ger-many's efficiency to question that shecould have found measures short ofrushing into war, to meet and offset foranother few days the menace of Russianmobilizationapart from the fact thatthere is some reason to suspect that thisRussian mobilization on the Germanfrontier was deliberately provoked bycertain Machiavellian manoeuvers inBerlin.On the 30th and 31st of July, respec-tively. Sir Edward Grey telegraphed asfollows to the English ambassador inBerhn for transmission to the ImperialChancellor

**. . . You should speak to the Chancellorin the above sense, and add most earnestly thatone way of maintaining good relations withEngland and Germany is that they should con-tinue to work together to preserve the peaceof Europe. If we succeed in this object, the


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Letter to a German 35would he unreasonable if they rejected it, Iwould support it at St. Petersburg and Paris,and go to the length of saying that if Rus^siaand France would not accept it, his Majesty'sGovernment would have nothing more to do withthe consequences; otherwise^ I told the GermanAmbassador, that if France became involved weshould be drawn in."

Is this the language of one seeking aquarrel? Why did not Germany actupon the suggestions put forth so ur-gently, ringing so manifestly true andbearing so evidently the stamp of goodfaith? Why was the calamity of warthrust upon the world in such hot haste,that you did not even previously in-form, far less consult, your then allies,the Italians, in spite of the provisions ofthe Triple Alliance?

Is it not proved by declarations ofGiolotticertainly no enemy to Ger-many^before the Italian Parliamentsome six months back, that Austria


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36 Right Above Racewanted to make war upon Servia asmuch as two years ago, that is to say,long before the assassination of theAustrian heir-apparent afforded thepretext for an ultimatum which spelledwar? I know sufficient of the senti-ment prevailing in England and Francebefore the war, as well as of the tenden-cies of the political leaders and otherleading men in those countries, to be ab-solutely positive that, apart from a fewindividuals given to noisemaking, butnot possessing weight or real influence,the people and the Governments ofFrance and England were very far in-deed from w^anting war.On the other hand, I agree with you

in believing that the Pan-Slavist partyin Russia did plan to bring on war.However, they did not want it yet andit is altogether doubtful whether theywould have succeeded in their design


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Letter to a German 37had they been met by a firm, wise andconciliatory policy on the part of Ger-many and Austria.

These opponents (the Russians), hythemselves, as results thus far haveshown, and as seemed evident in ad-vance to sober observers, you need neverto have considered as your peers in amilitary sense.Rather than take the awful respon-

sibility of initiating war, and thusuniting England, France and Russiawholeheartedly against you, you couldwell have afforded, in calm confidencein your superior efficiency and prepara-tion, to take the lesser risk of letting theRussians come on whenever, in fatuousarrogance, they might have believedthemselves strong enough to tackle youand Austria.In an offensive war, undertaken byRussia, France would have joined, if at


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Letter to a German 39particularly a reckoning with England.Many of your intellectuals and par-ticularly many of the teachers of youryouth, had come to preach the deifica-tion of sheer might. They proclaimedwith fanatical arrogance the doctrinethat the German nation being thechosen people, superior to all others,was therefore not only permitted, but,indeed, called upon, to impose the bless-ings of its civilization and "Kultur"upon other countries, by force if neces-sary, and to help itself to such of theirpossessions as it deemed necessary forthe fulfillment of its destiny.

I believe it is not too much to saythat that doctrine and the spirit whichbred it are very much akin, in their in-tolerance, self-righteous assumption ofa world-improving mission, lack of un-derstanding of and contemptuous dis-allowance for the differing viewpoints,


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40 Right Above Racequalities and methods of others, to thedoctrines and the spirit that lay at thebottom of the religious wars throughoutthe long and evil years when Catholicsand Protestants killed one another andwrought appalling bloodshed, destruc-tion and ruin, for the purpose of con-ferring upon their respective countriesthe blessings of "the true religion."

Liberal press organs and calm-think-ing men in Germany frequently beforethe war expressed their disapproval of,and misgivings at such preachings andthe tendencies and agitation of thejingo party, though naturally you nowall stand together and have put asidefor the time being the party differencesand conflicting opinions and points ofview which prevailed prior to the war.

I agree with you in believing notwith-standing the machinations of the warparty, that the Kaiser and the Chancel-


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Letter to a German 41lor, up to a certain fatal moment, whenthey yielded their judgments to others,meant, bona fide, to preserve peace. Iam quite persuaded as well that themass of the German people did not wantwar and are entirely honest in theirpractically unanimous belief that Ger-many is not responsible for the war,although, unfortunately, the facts provethe contrary.

It is conceivable that you might havebeen justified in coming forward boldlyand straightforwardly and saying to theTriple Entente"We are 70 million strong. We have

demonstrated to the world our capabili-ties in every department of human en-deavor and human achievement. Werequire (or, at least, our people believe,rightly or wrongly, that we require)wider territorial scope for our growththan we possess in our own country and


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42 Right Above Racein our colonies. We require, too, anassurance of greater security as to theconditions of our national existenceand our economic development."You have pre-empted the best part

of the world. It is far more than yourequire. Either see that an appro-priate provision is made for us, or, fail-ing that, give us a free hand to concludemutually agreeable arrangements withBelgium, Portugal or Holland with re-spect to their over-sea possessions."You will then find us ready to con-

clude an understanding with you, inorder to ensure peace and to make anend, at least, to these continually re-curring alarms of war, which are wear-ing out the nerves and the purse of thewhole world. To this end let us call aconference. Meanwhile, no one is to in-crease the armaments they at presentpossess, let alone mobilize. But if you


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Letter to a German 43are not willing to give us a fair showpeaceably, then we warn you look outfor trouble."In my opinion, such a warning would

not have had to be translated into ac-tion, for in due course things werebound to come your way by the veryforce of cause and effect. With a littleskill and tact and insight (which traits,as you will probably admit, have hardlybeen outstanding features of Germandiplomacy since Bismarck), togetherwith a little patience, everything youcould reasonably ask would have beenyours in the course of the next ten orfifteen years.But if the Triple Entente had met a

request in the nature of the foregoingwith a non possumus, or had madeno reasonably acceptable offer, and you,after fuial warning had resorted to thearbitrament of war, your case would


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44 Right Above Racehave worn a very different aspect fromthe present one. Many unprejudicedmen amongst neutral people wouldhave looked upon your viewpoints andconduct as not devoid of justification,instead of turning away with disgustfrom the sophistries of.your writers, whoseek to demonstrate that you poor in-nocent lambs were fallen upon in orderto be dragged to the slaughter-house.As a matter of fact, however, it is my

belief that such a declaration dehveredby you to the Triple Entente, firm anddetermined in spirit and meaning, butfriendly and persuasive in language,would have led not to war, but to alasting understanding.

SUMMARYTo sum up:

1. Until ten years ago, England'srelations with you were goodindeed


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Letter to a German 45more than good, as is shown, for in-stance, by the cession of Heligoland.If, as you assert, hate and envy and ill-will, because of Germany's phenomenaldevelopment, and of her increasingstrength and push as a competitor in themarkets of the world, had been themoving force in shaping England's at-titude towards you, the motive for hos-tile conduct would have existed at thattime just as at present.As a matter of fact, England's senti-ment towards Germany changed only

with your aggressive program of navalconstruction, and as a consequence ofthe manifestation in word, in writingand in deed, of certain alarming andmenacing tendencies, to which, it is true,more significance and importance prob-ably were attached abroad than inGermany itselfmore, perhaps, thanthey deserved.


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46 Right Above RaceThat program England came to con-

sider, naturally, as directed mainlyagainst herself and as a serious menaceto her most vital interests and to theconditions of her very existence.Would not Germany have become

uneasy had Russia suddenly announceda policy of concentrating an enormousfleet in the Baltic? (The parallel,though, is far from perfect, in that foryou, sea power is not nearly as vital anelement as it is and must be for Eng-land.)Your naval policy, together with the

arguments which the German Govern-ment's spokesmen adduced for it, andthe above-mentioned manifestations andagitations, caused very serious and last-ing apprehensions in England. Theygradually drove her to the Entente withFrance, and through it, unfortunatelyperhaps, but necessarily, also with


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Letter to a German 47Russia,not as an offensive, but as adefensive measure.Let me say, in parenthesis, that in

the interest of England and France andof the peace of the world, I have alwaysfelt inclined to doubt the wisdom of thisgrouping, however comprehensible andnatural it was under the circumstances.Likewise, I have always doubted thewisdom of the creation of your enor-mous fleeta view which was sharedby some of your best political thinkersand which appears to have been justi-fied, by results.

2. The genesis of the war lay in thefixed idea by which Austria was pos-sessed, since her foreign Minister Aeh-renthal succeeded in reaping easy andquestionable but profitable laurels someyears ago, that she could and ought toadopt a ^'dashing" policy. There isnothing more dangerous than the foolish


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48 Bight Above Raceand reckless daring of feebleness, when,as happens at times, it is suddenly seizedwith a mania for heroics.

In fact, as I gleaned from a letter re-ceived here within a few days of the out-break of the war and originating froma particularly authoritative source inVienna, Austria entirely failed to real-ize the portentous significance and theinevitable consequences of her unheard-of ultimatum to Serbia.

She believed that she would be leftundisturbed to play the conqueror at theexpense of that poor little country.Unfortunately, Germany did not see fitto put a stop to that extremely danger-ous playing with fire. On the contrary,the German Ambassador in Viennaseems to have encouraged it, activelyand deliberately.

3. When finally the crisis had come,


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Letter to a German 49with all its terrible meaning, Austria'snerves, at the very last moment, beganto give way. She wavered in the faceof a world catastrophe.But your Junkers and other jingoesneither wavered nor hesitated. Theysaw in their grasp the opportunity forwhich they had been plotting thesemany years and they were not mindedto let it escape them. They consideredthe moment pecuUarly propitious be-cause of the internal preoccupations ofEngland and France.And they succeeded in sweeping the

German Government off its feet as wellas the sober and sensible thinking ma-jority of the German people. Theysucceeded in rushing your Governmentand people into the belief that theRussian mobilization signified a menacedangerous to Germany's very existence.


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50 Eight Above Raceand that every day of delay in meetingthat danger might mean disastrous eon-sequences.

This was not the first time that anattempt had been made by that partyto bring the Kaiser and his people sud-denly face to face with a situation whichthey meant should spell wara warwhich they felt certain would end in aquick and decisive German victory. Ofat least one flagrant example of suchmanoeuvering I have personal knowl-edge.

That the jingo party, against what Ibelieve to have been the tendencies ofthe Kaiser's and the Chancellor's poli-cies, thus succeeded at last in theirfateful and atrocious designalthoughthe manifest interests and, doubtless,the inclination of the masses of yourpeople were for the maintenance ofpeaceis explainable only by the Ger-


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Letter to a German 51mans' amazing lack of understandingfor the deeper qualities, sentiments,ideals, modes of thought and character-istics of other nations as distinguishedfrom their outward peculiarities, meth-ods and habits.

This lack of understanding doublyamazing in a people so intelligent andinstructed and so successful in its com-mercial dealings with the rest of theworld is strikingly exemplified in yourcomplete misjudgment as to the co-hesive power of the British Empire andas to the loyalty of its component partsand subject races; by your gross under-estimate of France and by your generalmiscalculation as to how the peopleschallenged by you would react to thesupreme test of war.That Austria and Russia through

their mobilizations and other measuresoriginating from a mixture of bluff and


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52 Eight Above Racefear, managed to get each other into anutterly unreasoning state of nerves, isentirely comprehensible. They did nottrust each other, and above all, they didnot trust themselves, their own strengthand preparedness.But Germany, in the knowledge of

her powerful moral and military superi-ority, and of her incomparable war ma-chine, perfect and ready in every detail,could have, and should have dominatedthe confusion and danger of the situa-tion with the sang-froid and self-confi-dence born of strength, instead of al-lowing herself to be swept along by thesinister currents leading to an ocean ofblood.And if Germany, with trembling

Europe hanging on her words, had pro-claimed boldly "There shall be peace,"and thus by her veto had saved theworld from the curse of this war, she


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Letter to a German 53would not only have done a splendidlymeritorious deed, unequalled in theworld's history, which would havebrought her immortal fame and wouldhave been greeted by the joyous acclaimof all peoples, but she would havegained by that very act the uncontestedleadership amongst the nations. Fromtheir gratitude for being freed from thenightmare of war's menace, she wouldreadily have obtained (as intimated bySir Edward Grey in his telegram) com-pliance with any reasonable demand shemight have put forward for the exten-sion of the scope of her developmentand influence.

4. Once the Entente existed it seemsto me so obvious that England in anaggressive war waged by Germany andAustria against France and Russia wasbound to throw in her lot with the lattercountry, that I was quite unable, at the


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54 Right Above Racetime, to understand Germany's outburstof surprise and fury against England.Alliance or Entente, call it what youwillhad England backed out in thatcrisis it would have been a miserablebreach of faith on her part, by whichshe would have forfeited her place in theworld's respect and which would havebeen bitterly resented by her formerfriends and left her completely isolatedhenceforth.

Moreover, apart from all moral obli-gations and the compelling force ofpolitical considerations, she could havefelt all the less tempted to enter into aseparate agreement with Germany atthat critical juncture and remain neu-tral, as the latter at that very momenthad demonstrated that she did not con-sider herself bound by any treaty, whenmilitary interests seemed to her to makethe breach of such treaty advisable. In


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Letter to a German 55the face of Germany's violation of Bel-gian neutrality, how could Englandhave felt assured that, if an arrange-ment between the two countries hadbeen effected, it would be respected byGermany, in case at any given momentit might appear to the German Govern-ment to be requisite from the point ofview of military necessity or even mereadvantage, to ignore such agreement?You call it a hideous crime and eter-

nal shame that the English "called totheir aid" against you the Japanese andthe Indians.As far as Japanese military aid is

concerned, it has been practically lim-ited to action in China, and thus has notto any material degree influenced theEuropean war.And with regard to the relatively in-

considerable nimiber of Indians thatEngland brought over, the simple fact


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56 Eight Above Raceis that these few brigades or divisionsform part of the small standing armythat she possessedthe very smallnessof which is further proof of how httleshe had contemplated war. In hercritical situation, and with her greatlack of trained troops, she called inthese detachments which were com-manded by English officers.

I feel certain that an imprejudicedjudgment can see neither crime norshame in that act. If there were, youwould be no less subject to reproach foraccepting the mihtary aid of Turks andArabs.

5. When a coimtry in so short a timehas made such unexampled progress asGermany, and through her own capac-ity and the favor of fate has achievedso much of wealth, power and well-being for her people, she can well afford


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Letter to a German 57to indulge in the luxury of modesty anda conciliatory disposition.A nation thus blessed ought tothank God that all is going so well withher, and should recognize that such bril-liant success is bound to produce a cer-tain amount of irritation and jealousy,just as it does in the case of an emi-nently successful individual.While rejoicing in her achievement,

she ought carefully to refrain fromboasting or flaunting her superiority inthe face of the world.While unceasingly continuing to

strive and build up, she ought to do sotactfully and with all possible consider-ation for her less successful neighbors.

She should know how to restrain her-self and wisely to keep her ambitionswithin bounds; to live and let live; toregard without jealousy or envy, pos-


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58 Right Above Racesessions which are the heritage of othersless efficient than herself; and to leaveit to time, slowly but surely, to do itswork in rewarding merit and punishinginefficiency and sloth.Have you thought and acted thus?Have you not, on the contrary, in the

justified consciousness of your greaterefficiency and more strenuous effort al-lowed the fact of the great inheritedadvantages possessed by others to be-come a thorn in the flesh, and an everrankhng bitter grievance, whichdimmed your contentment and souredthe joy at your achievements?Have you not estranged and af-

fronted and antagonized other nations^not by success in open competitionwith them, which I grant was far frompleasing them, but to which in the endthey had come to accommodate them-selves as to an unavoidable evil^but by


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Letter to a German 59the manner and matter of your writing,speaking and acting? Have you notmade such nations your enemies bythrusting before them aims and visionsof the future, calculated to arouse inthem most serious alarm and apprehen-sion, and thus eventually caused them tounite against younot, as you think,through envy or hate, but through themuch more powerful motives of self-preservation, and of fear of your aimsand intentions ?In this letter, which, I am sorry to

say, has assumed formidable propor-tions, I have tried, next to expressingmy own convictions, to represent toyou, as I see them, what are at thistime the predominant and control-ling views and sentiments among theAmerican people. I have met withmuch the same ideas among the greatmajority of neutrals with whom I have


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60 Right Zihove Racediscussed the subjectneutrals frommany countries whom I have met herein the last six months.

If I have expressed myself freely,in some respects even bluntly, I hopeyou will make allowance for thehonest and deep anger and grief thatmove me when I see how, through aneedless war wantonly started, Ger-many and England-France, the threecountries of Europe whom the worldmost needs, the three races from whomhumanity has most to expect, are en-gaged in tearing one another to piecesin senseless fury.I have welcomed with hope certain

signs in the last few weeks which seemto indicate that more moderate, fairerand calmer sentiments, a more correctunderstanding, and more far-sightedviews are beginning to get a foothold incertain circles in Germany.


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Letter to a German 61You have so incontestably vindicated

the prowess of your arms, and so im-pressively demonstrated the power,courage, self-sacrificing patriotism andhigh ability of your nation, that nopossible suspicion can attach to you ofyielding under compulsion, should yourise to the moral heroism of taking thefirst step towards dispelling the dread-ful misery which weighs upon Europethrough this appalling war.What is done, is done. The guiltwill be adjudged by history. Eleven

months ago it was you who spoke thefateful word that meant war. Will itnow be you to first speak the redeemingword that shall bring hope of peace?Whether such a word from you

word, not of victorious peace, but ofrighteous peace, a word of human feel-ing and of political moderation, of con-ciliation, aye, and of atonement where


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62 Right Above Raceduewould now be listened to by youropponents, in view of their bitterness atyour actions and their mistrust of yourintentions, and would actually bringpeace, I do not know.But of this I am sure: that such a

step would be welcomed with gratitude,gladness and sympathy by all at leastof the non-combatant nations, and thatit would be set down as a moral asset foryou in the ledger both of history and ofcontemporary opinion. Nor can Idoubt that, even regarded merely fromthe point of view of politics, it would bewise, well-judged and timely.

Yours sincerely,(Sgd.) Otto H. Kahn.* * *

Note: To this letter a short note merely ofacknowledgment was received, containing theintimation that, in view of the wide divergenceof views between the writer and the recipient,no useful purpose could be served by continuingthe correspondence.


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AMERICANS OF GERMANORIGIN AND THE WAR


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Extracts from an address before The MerchantsAssociation of New York at its Liberty

Loan Meeting June 1, 1917


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AMERICANS OF GERMANORIGIN AND THE WARWE have met to-day in pursuanceof a high purpose, a purposewhich at this fateful moment is one andthe same wherever, throughout theworld, the language of free men isspoken and understood.

It is the purpose of a common deter-mination to fight and to bear and todare everything and never to cease norrest until the accursed thing which hasbrought upon the world the unutterablecalamity, the devil's visitation of thisappalling war, is destroyed beyond allpossibility of resurrection.That accursed thing is not a nation,but an evil spirit, a spirit which has

65


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66 Right Above Racemade the government possessed by itand executing its abhorrent and bloody-bidding an abomination in the sight ofGod and men.What we are now contending for by

the side of the splendidly brave andsorely tried Allied Nations, after infiniteforbearance, after delay which many ofus found it hard to bear, are the thingswhich are amongst the highest and mostcherished that the civilized world hasattained through the toil, sacrifices andsuffering of its best in the course ofmany centuries.They are the things without which

darkness would fall upon hope, andlife would become intolerable.They are the things of humanity,

liberty, justice and mercy, for whichthe best men amongst all the nationsincluding the German nationhavefought and bled these many generations


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Americans of German Origin 67past, which were the ideals of Luther,Goethe, Schiller, Kant, and a host ofothers who had made the name of Ger-many great and beloved until Prus-sianism came to make its deeds a by-word and a hissing.

This appalhng conflict which hasbeen drenching the world with blood isnot a mere fight of one or more peoplesagainst one or more other peoples.

It goes far deeper. It challengesthe soul and conscience of the world.It transcends vastly the bounds of racialallegiance. It is ethically fundamental.In determining one's attitude to-

wards it, the time has gone byif itever was^when race and blood and in-herited affiliations were permitted tocount.

A century and a half ago Americansof English birth rose to free this coun-try from the oppression of the rulers of


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68 Right Above RaceEngland. To-day Americans of Ger-man birth are called upon to rise, to-gether with their fellow-citizens of allraces, to free not only this country butthe whole world from the oppression ofthe rulers of Germany, an oppressionfar less capable of being endured and offar graver portent.

Speaking as one born of Germanparents, I do not hesitate to state it asmy deep conviction that the greatestservice which men of German birth orantecedents can render to the countryof their origin is this: To proclaim,and to stand up for those great idealsand national qualities and traditionswhich they inherited from their ances-tors, and to set their faces like flintagainst the monstrous doctrines andacts of a rulership that has robbed themof the Germany they loved and in which


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Americans of German Origin 69they took just pride, the Germanywhich had the good will, respect andadmiration of the entire world.I do not hesitate to state it as my

solemn conviction that the more unmis-takably and whole-heartedly Americansof German origin throw themselves intothe struggle which this country has en-tered in order to rescue Germany, noless than America and the rest of theworld from those sinister forces thatare, in President Wilson's language, theenemy of all mankind, the better theyprotect and serve the repute of the oldGerman name and the true advantageof the German people.

Gentlemen, I measure my words.They are borne out all too emphaticallyby the hideous eloquence of deeds whichhave appalled the conscience of thecivilized world. They are borne out by


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70 Bight Above Racenumberless expressions, written andspoken, of German professors em-ployed by the State to teach its youth.The burden of that teaching is that

might makes right, and that the Ger-man nation has been chosen to exercisemorally, mentally and actually, theover-lordship of the world and must andwill accomplish that task and that des-tiny whatever the cost in bloodshed,misery and ruin.The spirit of that teaching, in its in-

tolerance, its mixture of sanctimonious-ness and covetousness, and its self-right-eous assumption of a world-improvingmission, is closely akin to the spirit fromwhich were bred the religious wars ofthe past through the long and darkyears when Protestants and Catholicskilled one another and devastated Eu-rope.

I speak in sorrow, for I am speaking


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Americans of German Origin 71of the country of my origin and I havenot forgotten what I owe to it.

I speak in bitter disappointment, forI am thinking of the Germany offormer days, the Germany which hascontributed its full share to the store ofthe world's imperishable assets andwhich, in not a few fields of en-deavor and achievement, held the lead-ing place among the nations of theearth.And I speak in the firm faith that,

after its people shall have shaken offand made atonement for the dreadfulspell which an evil fate has cast uponthem, that former Germany will ariseagain and, in due course of time, willagain deserve and attain the good-willand respect of the world and the affec-tionate loyalty of all those of Germanblood in foreign lands.But I know that neither Germany


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72 Right Above Racenor this country nor the rest of theworld can return to happiness and peaceand fruitful labor until it shall havebeen made manifest, bitterly and unmis-takably manifest, to the rulers who bearthe blood-guilt for this wanton war andto their misinformed and misguidedpeoples that the spirit which unchainedit cannot prevail, that the hateful doC'trines and methods in pursuance oftvhich and in compliance with which itis conducted are rejected with abhor-rence by the civilized world, and thatthe over-weening ambitions which itwas meant to serve can never beachieved.The fight for civilization which we all

fondly believed had been won manyyears ago must be fought over again.In this sacred struggle it is now ourprivilege to take no mean part, and ourglory to bring sacrifices.


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Americans of German Origin 73Our one and supreme task, the one

purpose to which all others must giveway, is to bring this war to a successfulconclusion. One of the means towardthat end is to make the Liberty Loan averitable triumph, an overwhelming ex-pression of our gigantic economicstrength.To accomplish that, let each one of

us feel himself personally responsible,let each one of us work as if our life de-pended on the result. And, in a veryreal sense, does not our national life, aye,our individual life depend on the out-come of this war?Would life be tolerable if the powerof Prussianism run mad and murder-

ous, held the world by the throat, if theprimacy of the earth belonged to a gov-ernment steeped in the doctrines of abarbarous past and supported by a rul-ing cast which preaches the deification


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74 Right Above Raceof sheer might, which despises liberty,hates democracy and would destroyboth if it could?To that spirit and to those doctrines,

we, citizens of America and servants,as such, of humanity, will oppose oursolemn and unshakable resolution ''tomake the world safe for democracy,"and we will say, with a clear conscience,in the noble words which more than fivehundred years ago were uttered by theParliament of Scotland:

^'It is not for glory, or for riches,or for honor that we fight, butfor liberty alone which no goodman loses but with his life"


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PRUSSIANIZED GERMANY


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From an address before the Harrisburg, Pa.,Chamber of Commerce September 26, 1917


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PRUSSIANIZED GERMANYI SPEAK as one who has seen thespirit of the Prussian governingclass at work from close by, having atits disposal and using to the full practi-cally every agency for moulding thepublic mind.

I have watched it proceed with re-lentless persistency and profound cun-ning to instill into the nation the de-moniacal obsession of power-worshipand world-dominion, to modify andpervert the mentaUtyindeed the veryfibre and moral substanceof the Ger-man people, a people which until mis-led, corrupted and systematically poi-soned by the Prussian ruling caste, wasand deserved to be an honored, valued

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78 Bight Above Raceand welcome member of the family ofnations.

I have hated that spirit ever sinceit came within my ken many yearsago; hated it all the more as Isaw it ruthlessly pulling down a thingwhich was dear to methe old Ger-many to which I was linked by ties ofblood, by fond memories and cherishedsentiments.The difference in the degree of guilt

as between the German people andtheir Prussian or Prussianized rulersand leaders for the monstrous crime ofthis war and the atrocious barbarism ofits conduct is the difference between theman who, acting under the influence ofa poisonous drug, runs amuck in madfrenzy and the unspeakable malefactorwho administered that drug, well know-ing and fully intending the ghastly con-sequences which were bound to follow.


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Prussianized Germany 79The world fervently longs for peace.

But there can be no peace answering tothe true meaning of the wordno peacepermitting the nations of the earth,great and small, to walk unarmed andunafraiduntil the teaching and theleadership of the apostles of an outlawcreed shall have become discredited andhateful in the sight of the German peo-ple; until that people shall have awak-ened to a consciousness of the un-fathomable guilt of those whom theyhave followed into calamity and shameuntil a mood of penitence and of adecent respect for the opinions of man-kind shall have supplanted the sway ofwhat President Wilson has so tren-chantly termed "truculence and treach-ery."God strengthen the conscience andthe understanding, the will and the

power of the German people so that


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80 Right Above Racethey may find the only way which willgive to the world an early peace, theonly road which, in time, will lead Ger-many back into the family of nationsfrom which it is now an outcast.From each successive visit to Ger-

many for twenty-five years I cameaway more appalled by the sinis-ter transmutation Prussianism hadwrought amongst the people and by theportentous menace I recognized in itfor the entire world.

It had given to Germany unparal-leled prosperity, beneficent and ad-vanced social legislation, and not a fewother things of value, but it had takenin payment the soul of the race. It hadmade a ''deviVs bargainfAnd when this war broke out in Eu-

rope I knew that the issue had beenjoined between the powers of brutalmight and insensate ambition on the


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Prussianized Germany 81one side and the forces of humanity andliberty on the other; between darknessand light.Many there were at that timeand

amongst them men for whose characterI had high respect and whose motiveswere beyond any possible suspicionwho saw their own and America's dutyin strict neutrality, mentally and actu-ally, but personally I believed from thebeginning of the war, whether we likedall the elements of the Allies' combina-tion or notand I certainly did not likethe Russia of the Czarsthat the causeof the Allies was America's cause.

I believed that this was no ordinarywar between peoples for a question ofnational interest, or even national honor,but a conflict between fundamentalprinciples, aims and ideas. And so be-lieving I was bound to feel that thenatural lines of race, blood and kinship


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82 Bight Above Racecould not be the determining lines forone's attitude and alignment, but thateach man, regardless of his origin, hadto decide according to his judgment andconscience on which side was the rightand on which was the wrong and takehis stand accordingly, whatever thewrench and anguish of the decision.And thus I took my stand three yearsago.But whatever one's views and feel-

ings, whatever the country of one's birthor kin, only one course was left for allthose claiming the privilege of Ameri-can citizenship when after infinite for-bearance the President decided that ourduty, honor and safety demanded thatwe take up arms against the ImperialGerman Government, and by action ofCongress the cause and the fight againstthat Government were declared ourcause and our fight.


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Prussianized Germany 83The duty of loyal allegiance and

faithful service to his country, even untodeath, rests, of course, upon everyAmerican. But, if it be possible tospeak of a comparative degree concern-ing what is the highest as it is the mostelementary attribute of citizenship, thatduty may almost be said to rest with aneven more solemn and compelling obli-gation upon Americans of foreign ori-gin than upon native Americans.For we Americans of foreign ante-

cedents are here not by the accidentalright of birth, but by our own freechoice for better or for worse.

We are your fellow citizens becausewe made solemn oath of allegiance toAmerica. Accepting that oath as givenin good faith you have opened to us ingenerous trust the portals of Americanopportunity and freedom, and have ad-mitted us to membership in the family


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84 Bight Above Raceof Americans, giving us equal rights inthe great inheritance which has beencreated by the blood and the toil of yourancestors, asking nothing from us inreturn but decent citizenship and adher-ence to those ideals and principles whichare symbohzed by the glorious flag ofAmerica.Woe to the foreign-born American

who betrays the trust which you havereposed in himWoe to him who considers his Ameri-

can citizenship merely as a convenientgarment to be worn in fair weather butto be exchanged for another one in timeof storm and stress!Woe to the German-American, so-

called, who, in this sacred war for acause as high as any for which ever peo-ple took up arms, does not feel a solemnurge, does not show an eager determina-tion to be in the very fore-front of the


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Prussianized Germany 85struggle; does not prove a patrioticjealousy, in thought, in action and inspeech to rival and to outdo his native-born fellow citizen in devotion and inwilling sacrifice for the country of hischoice and adoption and sworn alle-giance, and of their common affectionand pride.As Washington led Americans of

British blood to fight against GreatBritain, as Lincoln called upon Ameri-cans of the North to fight their verybrothers of the South, so Americans ofGerman descent are now summoned tojoin in our country's righteous struggleagainst a people of their own blood,which, under the evil spell of a dreadfulobsession, and. Heaven knows ! throughno fault of ours, has made itself theenemy of this peace-loving Nation, asit is the enemy of peace and right andfreedom throughout the world.


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Prussianized Germany 87for which any people ever unsheathedits sword.He who shirks the full measure of his

duty and allegiance in that noblest ofcauses, be he German-American, Irish-American, or any other hyphenatedAmerican, be he I. W. W. or Socialistor whatever the appellation, does notdeserve to stand amongst Americans or,indeed, amongst free men anywhere.He who tries, secretly or overtly, to

thwart the declared will and aim of theNation in this holy war is a traitor, anda traitor's fate should be his.


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THE POISON GROWTH OFPRUSSIANISM


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Address at a Mass Meeting in Auditorium^ Mil-waukee, Wisconsin, January 13, 1918


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THE POISON GROWTH OFPRUSSIANISM

THE speech I am about to makeis attuned to the spirit and thefact of war.A few days ago, as you all know,President Wilson once more spoke tothis nation and to the world in a greatand noble message of splendid visionholding up a veritable beacon light ofright and justice for all peoples.We all pray with eager and earnesthope that the German people willrecognize the spirit and meaning ofthat lofty utterance and that, castingaside the odious leadership of the mili-tarists, they will grasp the hand

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92 Right Above Racestretched out to them in such generousand unselfish meaning.Even as I speak the leaven of that

great message may be working in Ger-many with potent effect. I have noinformation other than what you allhave, but I hope I am not oversanguinein giving heed to a feeling that someparts of what I am going to say areperhaps in process of being supersededby events that may be forming.Let us all trust that it be so, and that

we may soon be enabled to substitutefor the harsh accents of arraignmentand enmity the feelings and the lan-guage of peaceful intercourse and ofthat new relationship which the Presi-dent's leadership is seeking to bringabout amongst all the nations.But until that "consummation de-

voutly to be wished" is attained, let ustake care lest we permit the hope of it


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Poison Growth of Prussianism 93to diminish our effort or to weaken ourdetermination. Neither hope nor any-other motive or influence must besuffered for one moment to divert usfrom the stern and resolute pursuit, tothe utmost of our capacity, of our highand solemn purpose as it has been pro-claimed in the great messages ofAmerica's spokesman and leader.

In attempting to deal with the ques-tions that I shall discuss, I must apolo-gize for using the personal pronoun agood deal more than would seem con-sonant with due modesty. My excuseis that whatever weight my observa-tions may have with you, lies mainly inthe fact that I am of German birth,that until the outbreak of the war Ikept in close touch with German menand affairs, that I loved the old Ger-many and that the conclusions which


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94j Right Above RaceI am about to state I have reached ingrief and bitter disappointment.For these reasons, also, what I shall

say from personal knowledge and ob-servation and in a personal way mayhave some effect upon those amongmy fellow citizens of my own bloodwhose eyes may not have been openedfully to the difference between theGermany they knew and the Germanyof 1914, and who, owing to insufficientand incorrect information, may not yethave discerned with entire clearness thepath of right and duty nor perceived thetrue inwardness of the unprecedentedtragedy which has befallen the world.

IIThe world has been hurt within

these past three years as it was neverhurt before. In the gloomy and accus-


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Poison Growth of Prussianism 95ing procession of infinite sorrow andpain which was started on that thriceaccursed day of July, 1914, the hurt in-flicted on Americans of German descenttakes its tragically rightful place.The iron has entered our souls. We

have been wantonly robbed of invalu-able possessions which have come downto us through the centuries; we havebeen rendered ashamed of that inwhich we took pride; we have beenmade the enemies of those of our ownblood; our very names carry the soundof a challenge to the world.

Surely we have all too valid a title torank amongst those most bitterly ag-grieved by Prussianism, and to alignourselves in the very forefront of thosewho in word and deed are fighting torid the world forever of that malignantgrowth.Heaven knows, I do not want, by


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96 Right Above Raceanything I may be saying or doing, toadd one ounce to the burden of theworld's execration which rests alreadywith crushing weight upon the rulers ofGermany and their misguided people.Nor do I seek forgiveness for my Ger-man birth by demonstrative zeal in ac-tion or speech.

I was and am proud of the great in-heritance which came to me as abirthright and of the illustrious con-tributions which the German peoplehave made to the imperishable assetsof the world. Until the outbreak ofthe war in 1914, 1 maintained close andactive personal and business relationsin Germany. I was well acquaintedwith a number of the leading person-ages of the country. I served in theGerman army thirty years ago. I tookan active interest in furthering Germanart in America.


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Poison Growth of Prussianism 97I do not apologize for, nor am I

ashamed of, my German birth. But Iam ashamedbitterly and grievouslyashamedof the Germany whichstands convicted before the hightribunal of the world's public opinionof having planned and willed war; ofthe revolting deeds committed in Bel-gium and northern France, of the in-famy of the Lusitania murders, ofinnumerable violations of The Hagueconvention and the law of nations, ofabominable and perfidious plotting infriendly countries and shameless abuseof their hospitality, of crime heapedupon crime in hideous defiance of thelaws of God and men.

I cherish the memories of my youth,but these very memories make me cryout in pain and wrath against those whohave befouled the spiritual soil of theold Germany, in which they were rooted.


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98 Right Above RaceI revere the high ideals and fine tra-

ditions of that old Germany and thetime-honored conceptions of right con-duct which my parents and the teachersof my early youth bade me treasurethroughout life, but all the more burn-ing is my resentment, all the moredeeply grounded my hostility, againstthe Prussian caste who trampled thoseideals, traditions and conceptions in thedust.Long before the war, I had come to

look upon Prussianism as amongst thedeadliest poison growths that eversprang from the soil of the spirit ofman.When the war broke out in Europe,

when Belgium was invaded, I searchedmy conscience and my judgment insorrow and anguish, the powerful voiceof blood arguing against the still, smallvoice of right.


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Poison Growth of Prussiamsm 99And it became clear to me to the

point of solemn and unshakable con-viction that Prussianism, in mad in-fatuation, had committed the crowningsin of outraging and defying the con-science of the world and of challengingright to mortal combat against might,and that the cause which the Allieswere defending was our cause, becauseit was the cause of peace, humanity,justice, and liberty (aye, liberty, eventhough Russia, then under autocraticrule, happened to be arrayed on thatside, and even though diplomats andrulers made that sacred cause the basisand excuse for territorial barter andtrade and spoils hunting)

In accordance with this conviction,a conviction that is unshakable,I have acted and spoken ever since,but I did not feel that it would be eitherright or fitting for me publicly to state


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100 Right Above Raceand agitate my views so long as ourcountry was neutral.Now, America, the never-defeated,

has thrown her sword into the scale, be-cause to do so was indispensable for thevindication of the basic and elementaryprinciples of right and peace amongthe nations, no less than for our ownhonor and our own safety, the preserva-tion of our institutions and our verydestiny.To co-operate towards the success-

ful conclusion of the war is the one andsupreme duty of every American, re-gardless of birth, of sympathies andof political views. The American ofGerman descent who, in this time oftest and trial, does not serve the landof his adoption with the utmost meas-ure of single-minded devotion and withevery ounce of his power, perjured him-


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Poison Growth of Prussianism 101self when he took his oath of allegianceand proves himself guilty of treacher-ous duplicity.Thank Heaven! the number of those

lukewarm in their patriotism, or failingin loyalty, is very small indeed, far toosmall to affect the record of Americansof German birth for good citizenshipand service to the country in peace andwar.

There is abundant evidence that theoverwhelming majority, indeed all butan insignificant minority, meant whatthey said when they swore full and soleallegiance to America, that they willprove themselves wholly worthy of thehigh privilege of citizenship and of thegenerous trust of their native fellowcitizens, and that they will not fail orfalter under any test whatsoever.We will not permit the blood in our


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102 Eight Above Raceveins to drown the conscience in ourbreast. We will heed the call of honorbeyond the call of race.We will wear as a badge of honorthe abuse and spite of those who placeanother cause, whatever it be, abovethe Nation's cause and who see hypoc-risy or hidden motives behind the plainprofession of unconditional loyalty onthe part of the American of foreignbirth, because unconditional Americanloyalty is not in them.

Yet, it is not enough for us Ameri-cans of German descent to do our dutyby our country and fellow citizens,however fully and unreservedly, if wedo it in resigned and oppressed silence.I believe we should speak out. Wemust give voice to our unflinching loy-alty and to our deep conviction of thejustice of America's cause.

It is hard indeed, for us to arraign


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Poison Growth of Prussiamsm 103publicly the country from which wesprang and to turn against our ownkith and kin, however deep our detesta-tion of their wrongdoing under thespiritual and actual sway of the Prus-sian caste and however sincere our al-legiance to America. It will be easilyunderstood by all fair-minded menthat right thinking persons will shrinkfrom so speaking and acting as to laythemselves open to the accusation ofbeing time-servers or popularity seek-ers, and to expose their motives to mis-construction.These scruples are honorable, and

they are felt by many whose patrioticloyalty and devotion are beyond allquestion. But, to my thinking, theyare stamped out by the iron tread ofthe times.

I believe that we should speak out,we Americans of German birth, because


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104 Bight Above Racewe have been misrepresented to ourfellow citizens and to the world by asmall minority of professional spokes-men and pernicious agitators, by nomeans all of German birth.We must protect the German name,as far as it is in our keeping, in Amer-ica, if, alas, we cannot protect it else-where.

It has always, and rightly, been anhonored name here, and those whobore it have ever done their full sharefor the common weal, in the works ofpeace no less than in every crisis of theNation's history. Let us do what in uslies to preserve the names we bear inhonor and good standing amongst ourfellow citizens.I believe that we should speak out,

because our voices may reach the earand the conscience of the German peo-ple when no other voices can, and be-


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Poison Growth of Prussianism 105cause they will reach the ear of itsrulers. These, I know, counted uponthe moral, if not the actual, support ofthe German-born in America to theextent, at least, of preventing our join-ing the war, and now, when we havejoined, they count upon that supportto agitate for an inconclusive and un-righteous peace.

I believe that we should speak out toconvince our native-born fellow citizensthat our fundamental conceptions ofright and wrong are like theirs, thatthe taint is not in the German blood,but in the system of rulership, that weare with them and of them wholeheart-edly, single-mindedly and unreservedly;because if we failed in conveying tothem that conviction in the hour of ourconmion country's stress and trial, therewould ensue the calamity of a spiritual,if not an actual, breach between them


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106 Right Above Raceand us which it would take a genera-tion to heal.

IllThere are some of you, probahly,

who will still find it hard to believe thatthe Germany you knew can be guilty ofthe crimes which have made it an out-law amongst the nations. But do youknow modern Germany? Unless youhave been there within the last twenty-five years, not once or twice, but atregular intervals; unless you havelooked below the glittering surface ofthe marvelous material progress andachievement and seen how the soul ofGermany was being eaten away by thevirulent poison of Prussianism; unlessyou have watched and followed theappalling transformation of Germanmentahty and morahty under the ne-


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Poison Growth of Prussiamsm 107farious and puissant influence of thepriesthood of power-worship, you donot know the Germany of this day andgeneration.

It is not the Germany of old, theland of our affectionate remembrance.It is not the Germany which men nowof middle age or over knew in theiryouth. It is not the Germany of thefirst Emperor William, a modest andGod-fearing gentleman. It is not theGermany, even, of Bismarck, man ofblood and iron though he was, who hadbuilded a structure which, whilst notfounded on liberty, yet was capableand gave promise of going down intohistory as one of the greatest examplesof enlightened and even beneficentautocracy; who, in the contemplativeand mellowed wisdom of his old age,often warned the nation against thevery spirit which, alas, came to have


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108 Right Above Racesway over it, and against the very warwhich that spirit unchained.The Germany which brought upon

the world the immeasurable disasterof this war, and at whose monstrousdeeds and doctrines the civilized na-tions of the earth stand aghast, startedinto definite being less than thirtyyears ago. I can almost lay my fingerupon the date and circumstances of itsill-omened advent.

Less than thirty years ago, a "newcourse" was flamboyantly proclaimedby those in authority, and the term"new course" became the order of theday. With it and from it there came atruly marvelous quickening of theenergies and creative abilities of thenation, a period of material achieve-ment and of social progress, in short, anational forward movement almostunequalled in history. The world


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Poison Growth of Prussiamsm 109looked on in admiration, perhaps notentirely free from a tinge of envy.Germany was conquering the earth bypeaceful penetration; and no one stoodin its way. It had free access to allthe seas and all the lands.But with that "new course" and

from it there also came a new god, afalse and evil god. He exacted as sac-rifices for his altars the time-honoredideals of the fathers, and other high andnoble things. And his commands wereobeyed.

There came upon the German peoplea whole train of new and baneful in-fluences and impulses, formidably stim-ulating as a powerful drug. Therecame, amongst other evils, materialismand covetousness and irreligion; over-weening arrogance, an impatient con-tempt for the rights of the weak, amania for world dominion, and a


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110 Bight Above Raceveritable lunacy of power worship.There came also a fixed and irrationaldistrust of the intentions of other na-tions, for the evil which had crept intotheir own souls made them see evil inothers, and that distrust was nurturedcarefully and deliberately by those inauthority.And, finally, there came "the day"

in which the "new course," fatally andinevitably, was bound to culminate.There came the old temptation, as oldas humanity itself. The Tempter tookthe Prussian and Prussianized rulersup a high mountain and showed themall the riches and power of the world.Showed them the great countries andcapitals of the earth teeming with peace-ful laborBrussels, Paris, London,aye, and New York, and told them:"Look at these. Use your power ruth-lessly and they are yours." And those


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Poison Growth of Prussiamsm 111rulers did not say: "Get thee behindme, Satan;" but they said: "Lead on,Satan, and we shall follow thee." Andfollow him they did, and brought uponthe green earth the red ruin of hell.And with rejoicing they greeted "the

day." It was to bring them, as oneGerman in an important position hereexpressed it to me, in August, 1914, "amerry war and victory before the yearis out."

IVTruly, history affords no parallel to

the spiritual poisoning and the result-ing horrible transmutation of a wholepeople, such as Prussianism wroughtin the incredibly short period of onegeneration. Nor would I believe thatsuch a dreadful phenomenon could pos-sibly take place were it not for the


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112 Right Above Raceevidence of my own eyes and my ownears.My observations led me to think,however, that Prussianism had reachedthe crest of its influence some yearsbefore the war and that liberal tenden-cies were beginning to make headwayagainst it.There were many men in Germany

before the war who were opposed to andsaw the dangers arising from militaristambition and jingo teaching and raisedtheir voices against them in warning.There was the ever-increasing Socialistvote whichalthough Socialism in theGerman Empire does not mean what itmeans in Russia and amongst theextremists in our countrydid meanopposition to Junker met

(1918) right above race

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