ious demands of honor, to abstain from all mention of
discoveries or conversations made under the roof of hospitality, for
nothing could well be more enlightening than a description of a chat
between the great war-lord of Germany and a leading pacifist: the one
completely equipped with knowledge of the history, temper, and
temperament of his people; the other obsessed by a fantastic
exaggeration of the power and influence of money, even in the world of
culture and international politics, and preaching his panacea in the
land, of all others, where even now mere money has the least
influence, all honor to that land!

Spinoza, the greatest of modern Jews, and the father of modern
philosophy, writes: "It is not enough to point out what ought to be;
we must also point out what can be, so that every one may receive his
due without depriving others of what is due to them." And in another
place: "Things should not be the subject of ridicule or complaint, but
should be understood." Those who know little of the history of the
development of Germany, and particularly of Prussia, cannot possibly
understand another reason for the political apathy of the Germans and
their pleased support of their army. It is this: they have been
trained in everything except self-government, in everything except
politics. Perhaps their governors know them better than we do. Their
progress has come from direction from above, not from assertion from
below. The art or arts of self-government, throughout their
development as a nation, have been forcibly omitted from their
curriculum. Every step in our national progress, on the contrary, has
been taken by the people, shoulder to shoulder, breaking their way up
and out into light and freedom. There is little or no trace of any
such movement of the people in Germany, and there is little taste for
it, and no experience to make such effort successful. We, who have
profited by the teaching of this political experience, do not realize
in the least how handicapped are the people who have not had it.

One hundred years ago half the inhabitants of Prussia were practically
in the toils of serfdom. It was only by an edict of 1807, to take
effect in 1810, that personal serfdom with its consequences,
especially the oppressive obligation of menial service, was abolished
in the Prussian monarchy. Caste extended actually to land. All land
had a certain status, from which the owners and their retainers took
their politic