German
world-empire, extending from Hamburg to Bagdad, had already taken
possession of the American mind long before the war; and in the
United States it was feared that the next step would be that this
world-empire would infringe the Monroe Doctrine and found colonies in
South America. Professor Baumgarten, in an entertaining book, has
pointed out to what extent the publications of the Pan-German party
contributed towards promoting such conceptions in America.

Our Press was a little too fond of making attacks on the Monroe
Doctrine in particular. I was always of the opinion that we ought,
openly and officially, to have recognized this American article of
faith. As regards the Monroe Doctrine, the question is not one of
Right, but one of Power. We certainly had not the power to infringe
the Monroe Doctrine, even if we had had the intention, which was never
the case. It would, therefore, have been more wise to acknowledge
it, and thus to improve the political attitude, towards ourselves,
of a country on which we were so very much dependent for a number
of our raw-material supplies. I have often wondered whether the
Imperial Government would not have regarded it as its duty to avoid
war at all costs, if our economic dependence upon foreign countries
had been more clearly recognized. German prosperity was based to
a great extent on the Germans overseas, who had settled down in
every corner of the earth, just as in former days the Greeks had
settled all over the Roman Empire. The Germans overseas constituted
a colonial empire, which was a far more precious source of wealth
than many a foreign possession belonging to other Powers. In my
opinion not sufficient allowance was made for this state of affairs.

Finally, a further cause of misunderstandings, as I have already
mentioned in the Introduction, was to be found in the general disfavor
with which American pacifist tendencies were regarded in Germany.
Nine-tenths of the American nation are pacifists, either through their
education and sentimental prepossession in favor of the principle,
or out of a sense of commercial expediency. People in the United
States did not understand that the German people, owing to their
tragic history, are compelled to cultivate and to uphold the martial
spirit of their ancestors. The types of the German officer of the
reserve and of the members of the student corps are particularly
unsympathetic to the American, and, for certain German foibl