eded to prove to the
Italian Government that Italy did not want to fight for the Triple
Alliance, and would not fight for it. The fact was known; it was
immanent in the air, beyond all arguments and persuasions. Italy
breathed a negative, and war was not. So in Germany the mass of Germans
have for years breathed war, and war is. The war may be autocratic,
dynastic, what you will; but it is also national, and it symbolizes the
national defect.

*How About the Leaders?*

Does the German conscript believe in the efficacy of his leaders? I mean
when he is lying awake and fatigued at night, not when he is shouting
"Hoch!" or watching the demeanor of women in front of him. Does no doubt
ever lancinate him? Again I would answer the question from general
principles and not from observation. The German conscript must know what
everybody knows--that in almost every bully there is a coward. And he
must know that he is led by bullies. He learned that in the barrack
yard. An enormous number of conscripts must also know that there is
something seriously wrong with a system that for the sake of its own
existence has killed freedom of the press. And the million little things
that are wrong in the system he also knows out of his own daily life as
a conscript. Further, he must be aware that there is a dearth of really
great men in his system. In the past there were in Germany men great
enough to mesmerize Europe--Bismarck and von Moltke. There is none today
that appeals to the popular imagination as Kitchener does in England or
Joffre in France. Alone, in Germany, the Kaiser has been able to achieve
a Continental renown. The Kaiser has good qualities. But twenty-four
years ago he committed an act of folly and (one may say) "bad form"
which nothing but results could justify, and which results have not
justified. Whatever his good qualities may be it is an absolute
certainty that common sense, foresight, and mental balance are not among
them. The conscript feels that, if he does not state it clearly to
himself. And as for the military organization of which the Kaiser is the
figurehead, it has shown for many years past precisely those signs which
history teaches us are signs of decay. It has not withstood the fearful
ordeal of success. Just lately, if not earlier, the conscript must have
felt that, too.

What is the conclusion? Take the average conscript, the member of the
lower middle class. He is accustomed to think politically, beca