I have often felt a bitter grief at the thought of the German
people, which is so noble individually and so wretched as a
whole. A comparison of the German people with other nations
gives us painful feelings, which I try to overcome by all
possible means; and in science and art I have found the wings
which lift me above them. But the comfort which they afford
is, after all, only a miserable comfort, and does not make up
for the proud consciousness of belonging to a nation strong,
respected, and feared. However, I am comforted by the thought
of Germany's future. Yes, the German people has a future. The
destiny of the Germans is not yet fulfilled. The time, the
right time, no human eye can foresee, nor can human power
hasten it on. To us individuals, meanwhile, is it given, to
every one according to his talents, his inclinations, and his
position, to increase, to strengthen, and to spread national
culture. In order that in this respect, at least, Germany may
be ahead of other nations and that the national spirit,
instead of being stifled and discouraged, may be kept alive
and hopeful and ready to rise in all its might when the day of
glory dawns.

If I am not mistaken, these words of Germany's greatest poet express
accurately what the German people during the last hundred years has been
striving for--national culture and national pre-eminence in every field
of human activity. To advocate the reduction of Germany to a land of
isolated scientists, poets, artists, and educators is tantamount to a
call for the destruction of the German Nation.

KUNO FRANCKE.

Harvard University, Sept. 5, 1914.

DR. ELIOT'S SECOND LETTER

The Stout and Warlike Breed

_To the Editor of The New York Times:_

There is nothing new in the obsession of the principal European nations
that, in order to be great and successful in the world as it is, they
must possess military power available for instant aggression on weak
nations, as well as for effective defense against strong ones.

When Sir Francis Bacon wrote his essay on "The True Greatness of
Kingdoms and Estates" he remarked that forts, arsenals, goodly races of
horses, armaments, and the like would all be useless "except the breed
and disposition of the people be stout and warlike." He denied that
money is the sinews of war, giving preference to the sinews of men's
arms, and quote