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Show Lieut-General John M. Schofield. The Literary Digest has a translation of an article by one Frederick Regamey, a Frenchman, giving a French picture of German patriotism. Of course the article is not friendly to Germany, and is filled with French satire, but it is interesting interest-ing nevertheless. He says German writers, con- tend German patriotism dates from 1870, that up to that time Germany was nothing hut a group of hostile though nominally united states. He quotes Bismarck as saying: "The Germans are no good until they are united by common hatred of some other race or by force. Then they are excellent, irresistible, invincible; otherwise, they like to do each as' they choose." Then he says patriotism is taught to the Germans from the very cradle. The German school books are filled with verse and prose, eulogies of everything in Germany. Ger-many. And he quotes from a description of Germany Ger-many by a professor in the Royal Normal School of Halle: "Among the Germans honor is ao sen-sative sen-sative a thing it is very easily wounded. For instance, in-stance, a German who is vicious feels the prick of conscience in quite a different way form the unbridled Latin. The German never loses the feeling that vice is a contradiction to his real nature." na-ture." So intense is the patriotism of Germany that even inanimate things are Germanized. We read of German oak, German ash, German house. The conviction is formed that everything, virtue, affection, courage, people, trees, mean something . that is special, unique and impossible to be found In any other nation. The consequence Is the German Ger-man is filled with a national pride that is indestructible indes-tructible as it is unreasonable. This writer says that the second and the next step in educating the young German Is to teach him the inferiority of other races, not only the Slavs, Czechs, etc., but especially the French. The French are always represented in the German school books as vain, fickle, volatile, envious and -perfidious always bent on persecuting the peaceful peace-ful Germans. They have no use for the arts, the sciences or the literature of France. One writer tells them that "French music is distinguished more by its grace than by its depth and feeling." In painting, a fine judge of French art has said that it is a French characteristic to love the horrible, hor-rible, so that "of three pictures one at least would contain a corpse." Then he quotes from a German Ger-man manual of geography, "Like all his conferes, the writer first of all establishes the point that at least a third of France ought justly, to be annexed to Germany, since the inhabitants of those provinces prov-inces are of German origin, though he. admits there are in France some real French provinces, but says of them: Tt is in this Gallic center that we meet with the Frenchman of a most Ill-made and stunted type.' " He quotes from another work just out, wherein the. writer "sketches the future events which are destined. to take. place in order that Germany, victorious over almost all European countries, may at last be enabled to occupy the position which belongs to her of right, and which wicked nations have hitherto prevented her from enjoying. Now that the great Slav power of Rus- sia is utterly crushed and absolutely incapacitat- ed for doing any harm, the Germans will vie- toriously spread themselves from Muldavia to the Adriatic. Large sections of teritory will also be taken from France and from Russia to form buffer states on our eastern and western frontiers, from which the native population is to be banished; then we will extend our colonial empire." H It Is a clear case that the French and Ger- mans do not love each other very much. And it Is not strange, with the literature of Germany crowded with such stuff as the above, that hm-peror hm-peror William is at times a little arrogant and ap-parently ap-parently threatening to the outside powers. Br the teaching of German children and young men and women of patriotism until it gets to be a na-tional na-tional passion is a good thing. That is what made possible Japan's victories, it is the highest attrib-ute attrib-ute that can possibly be given to the people, and our own country ought to copy so much of that as ulll give the children in our schools a clear idea of what their ancestors did,, a clear idea of the principles of our government and a clear idea of the duties of citizenship In a Republic like ours. |
