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Show Miscellamj German Culture By John D Barry An adm rer of he I a ser recently talked o me about he wonder qf Cer rna y as a country German cu ture eada the world So do Germa eff c ency an 1 Gern an m tary equ pment and dis c p ine Everyth ng n Germany is man aged w th economy and ski Tvith perfect syste n It shows even n t e appearance of the s reets Among a 1 the nat ons of t e uio d Germany s eas( y pre eml nent Though perfectly to concede t at some of t ese pra ses m ght be true I ad to confess that I was no v, g to agree that they estab shed Ge n any s easy p e eminence In fact the ta k about eu pre eminence struck me as be nt cur ous y o d fashioned I suggested a nat on su rounded with a great fence shutt ng tt off from the other riat ons Th s k nd of s tuatlon is hap p j mposslb e at t Is per od of the wor d s g o vth Even the -great wa 1 of CI na is obso e e T ere Is no such h ng as a civl zed iso ated nat tan and there- s o such th ng as a nat on pre em nent among th nat ons Ra lwajs and steam i sh ps the te egraph the te ephone and wire ess have drawn a t e at ons to gether What is best in the progress or Germany stimu ates the p ogress of a the other nations The discovery of a German sc entist Is g ven to t e who e wor d S m a y Ge many draws o the who e wor d what the wor d does of hu man alue To say that Germany was pre em nent iu a departmen s of culture or of advance i know edge or of meth ods of work would be absurd To no na t on be ongs such pre em nence The na tion of cu ture of true cu turo far from des r ng o keep her best to e se f Is eager to d ssemlnate it e erywl ere There is someth ng hun oroys n the ta k just now about German cul ure One m ght th nk t was a com nod ty that had ts or g n and 1 s g owth n Germany a one But it s In tin ate y re ated to a) u tu e If it were not t wou d be r 3 cu o sly m ted and paroch a One of he worst betraya s of ts weakness es n s se f consc o sness and e f 'is se on If a nd v dua fent about boas g o s u tu e he wou d be auf, d ad suspe ed of ack ng cul u e As a ma er of fac Gern an cul re m de p of Eng sh o u e and F en cu t e and fapan sh cu tu e and Ru s a cu e not o speak of many o he k ds of cu e or nat ona ts houg u e s of en spoken of as na t ona Essen a y t is founded o nu nan y a arge v thou eference to boundar es and essent a y t is opposed to en sunde s a d ngs and the d ffer ences that dlv de uman ty In all the war ta k there are no argu ments no e elm ow and wrong n nded t an those a m ng hat the nar is 1 defense of Ge n an cu ture As If Ger man cu ture or any other cu ture needed to be defended by force of a ms and as if all cu tu e and war were not In tl elr nature host le. It is true that what ts ca ed German cu t re and the war sp rit grew side by side in Germany But they ve e not n any was re ated On the contrary one o ke 1 for na row and se f sh idea s he o er worked for idea s that ere un ve s If Germa cu ure h d ansth ng to do with the war it viou d not deserve he name of cu ture As for the eff clency of Germany what is most pathetic about it has been the n sd rect on Wle e It has ee se d ec ed it has been an exa np e and a s uus o t e nhoe word The sp en d d n anagen ent of he G man es o e amp e as been a guide to some of ur own c t es But t e sp rit of m ta sm has been 1 ke a d abo ca re gion or rather ke a re igious nan a It has spread such uneas ness among the ne g o ng na ons as to crea somet ing of s w madness No wonde Fu ope was sudden y conve ted into a bed an And so eas a 1 e ene gy beh nd he ou bur6t m ght have been s ored and used not fo des u t on but for const uction not for angv s but for app ness no for waste bu for increase Tne e ire tl ose wo in th s cr s s hope t at Germans wi I fal and be crushed They are the resen ful peop e of as judgmen As a matte of fact Ce many canno be crushed and can o fa t e rea Ge nanv the Ge man tha exorosses he c aracter and the force of t e German peop e Thou the kalse may fa the German peop e w II rema n And they w go on march ng w th the prog ess of the wor d. In be ng free from the soke of m tarism they wi be not less eff e eat than before but more eff clen not farther removed f om the rest of the wor d but more c ose y re ated Wash inton He al |