the people and by the portentous menace I recognized in it for
the entire world. It had given to Germany unparalleled prosperity,
beneficent and advanced social legislation, and not a few other things
of value, but it had taken in payment the soul of the race. IT HAD
MADE A DEVIL'S BARGAIN."

When the war broke out, in 1914, Otto Kahn did not hesitate for a
second on which side to take his stand. For him, neutrality in the
fight between light and darkness, between right and atrocious wrong,
was unthinkable. And as he felt and thought, being a man of honour, of
courage, and of decision, so he acted, totally regardless of the
consequences to himself. He had "searched his conscience in sorrow and
in anguish"; and where it led him there he followed unhesitatingly.
Although his most important business relations were in Germany,
although he knew that he would be attacked in Germany and by all
pro-Germans as a renegade, and would have to face a very difficult
position even in America as long as America was neutral, he at once
became a firm, open, and active adherent of the cause of the Allies,
and threw his entire influence, personal and financial, on their side.
No work for the Allies remained without his support. The calculated
expectations of the German Government on German-American aid,
particularly their reliance on access to the money market of America,
were disappointed and defeated; the chief part of the credit for that
vital result was due to Otto Kahn.

But, perhaps the greatest service to the Allied cause which Mr. Kahn
rendered--which he was the first, as well as the most prominent,
American of German blood to render--was his oratory through the United
States. There are about twelve million Americans of German descent in
the United States, and many more millions spring from races more or
less affiliated with them. Most of these went to America over
twenty-five years ago; they did not know modern Germany; they did not
believe the accounts of German atrocities as reported in the Press;
they were unable to realize the hideous change which had come over
Germany since they or their parents had left it; they did not
understand the origin, the cause, and the meaning of the war. And many
Americans, especially in the West, held the like views.

Mr. Kahn, notwithstanding threats and malignities, went out to speak
to them--individually, through newspaper articles, or at great mass
meetings. He brought to bear the authority