f Germany's army and navy. To the American, as to almost every other
foreigner, the German army means only one thing: war. We all hear one
thing:

"And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
Ancestral voices prophesying war."

I believe this is a half-truth, and dangerous accordingly. This army
has been in existence for over forty years, and has done far more to
keep the peace than any other one factor in Europe, except, perhaps,
the British navy.

The German army protects the German people not only from external
foes, but from internal diseases. It is the greatest school of hygiene
in the world, on account of its sound teaching, the devotion, skill,
and industry of its officers, the number of its pupils, and its widely
distributed lessons and influence.

Culture taken by itself is livery business, and when combined with
much beer and wine drinking, irregular eating and a disinclination for
regular exercise, culture becomes a positive menace to health. Of this
danger to the German, their own great man Bismarck spoke in the
Abgeordnetenhaus in 1881: "Bei uns Deutschen wird mit wenigem so viel
Zeit totgeschlagen wie mit Biertrinken. Wer beim Fruehschoppen sitzt
oder beim Abendschoppen und gar noch dazu raucht und Zeitungen liest,
haelt sich voll ausreichend beschaeftigt und geht mit gutem Gewissen
nach Haus in dem Bewusstsein, das Seinige geleistet zu haben."

("The Germans waste more time drinking beer than in any other way. The
man who sits with his morning or his afternoon glass of beer beside
him, and who, in addition, smokes and reads the newspapers, considers
that he is much occupied, and goes home with a good conscience,
feeling that he has fully done his duty.")

"Jeden Feind besiegt der Deutsche:
Nur den Durst besiegt er nicht."

Which I permit myself to translate into these two lines:

"The German conquers every foe,
Except his thirst, that lays him low."

Even if the German army were not necessary as a policeman, it could
not be spared as a physician by the German people. It is to be forever
kept in mind that the German is brought up on rules; the American and
the Englishman on emergencies. Emergencies provide a certain
discipline of themselves, and our philosophy of civilization leaves it
to the individual to get his own discipline from his own emergencies.
We call it the formation of character. The German thinks this method a
hap-hazard method, and burdens men with rules, and the army is
Germany's