e, and yet,
despite all his struggle, the disease must come out. Slowly the surgical
process goes on. One root at Verdun was cut, and now another is being
sundered in the West. Much blood flows, but the blood is black and foul.
Every cell in the German body-politic seems to be diseased. Medicines
must be found. The stimulants of sound ethics and morals must be
invoked--after that it is a question of the recuperative forces of
intellect and conscience in the German people. These forces alone can
heal the wound left after the foul cancer has been cut away. To-day, men
with a large mind, blessed with magnanimity, kindness and good-will must
stay their hearts upon history, that shows us that in the past in our
own country slavery was a cancer cut out by the surgeons of war, and
that after a long time the great South recovered its health, its beauty
and its usefulness.

5. Polygamy and the Collapse of the Family in Germany

The unexpected influences of this war upon Germany herself is a striking
consideration. Few men anticipated the far-off results of the Kaiser's
alliance with the Sultan and his polygamous philosophy. During the past
two years the German newspapers, magazines and debates in the Reichstag
have been filled with startling suggestions concerning the family. The
_Berliner Lokalanzeiger_, on March 7, 1916, published a statement urging
that "every girl should be given the right on reaching twenty-five
years to have one child born out of wedlock, for which she should
receive from the state an annual allowance."

Dr. Krohne, in his address before the House, says: "The decline of the
birth rate in Germany has proceeded three times as fast as in the
preceding twenty-five years. No civilized nation has hitherto
experienced so large a decline in so short a time. Our annual number of
births falls already to-day by 560,000 below what we had a right to
expect. We should have to-day 2,500,000 more inhabitants than we have."
Commenting thereupon, the _Berliner Lokalanzeiger_ demands that
"illegitimate children should be put socially and morally on a level
with the legitimate."

When, therefore, the Kaiser cast about for an alliance with some man who
could be his bosom friend and could love what he loves, the Kaiser chose
the Sultan with his polygamy and the Moslem teaching with its harem. No
British or French officer, therefore, was surprised when documents like
the following began to be found on the dead bodies of yo