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Show H CALLING TEUTON DONS TO RE- H PENTENCE H Unless Germany's educators fromally H confess their own and their nation's sins H ' and do deeds meet for repentance the H scholars of the entente world will not ad- H mit them to fellowship. H This is perfectly normal attitude on the H part of those who have suffered from H Teutonic aggression, but in some respects H it is not without its humor. H Apparently Nicholas Murray Butler, H speaking, like President Wilson, on behalf H of humanity and the good angels, banlsh- H es the German professors from the intel- H lectual league of nations. German pro- H fessors who do not kneel before the edu- H cational entente, and contritely ask for- H giveness for "thirty-one" cou,nt 'cm H 'thirty-one kinds of crime," must remain H ostracized from the good will and charity . H of Saxon and Latin .illuminate H The doctor's maledictions arc wcll- H phrased and impressive and one cannot H but sympathize with him in his horror of H the deeds and in his demand fpr repent- H "We ImVe not forgotten," he writes, H "the amazing prostitution of scholarship H and science 'to national lust marked by H the formal appeal to the civilized world H made by the German professors in Sep H tember, 1914. That appeal was an unmix- H ed mass of untruths: and the stain which H it placed on the intellectual and moral in- H tegrity of German scholars and men of H Science will forever remain one of the H most deplorable and discouraging events H of the war which German militarism and H Prussian autocracy forced upon the H peaceful and liberty-loving nations of the H world." H That is a ringing "Get thou behind me H Satan" nrayer of the purified. We ap- H prove of its general tenor; in fact, we ap- H proved of its sentiments before Germany H started out on its career of thirty-one H " lands of clminality. But neither Nichol- HJ as Murray Butler nor the great Ameri- H can universities disapproved ofi German- H ism in American education prior to 1914v H Those very doctrines of pagan morality" H "which led to the "thirty-one" crimes now H so appalling to Doctor Butler were H preached not only by the kaiser's ex- H change )rofessors but by scores of Amer- H lcry professors throughout the length H and breadth of our land. German educat- H ors were esteemed above all others in the H "world. Their false doctrines were permit- H; ted to percolate through all grades of our H, own educational system. Nor can it be H; -said that the poison did no harm. Our Hj opinion is that it had already contamin- Hj ntcd business, politics and religion with H its selfish outlook upon life. When the K European war broke out and when we V "went to war we discovered much pro-Ger- H manism among our intellectuals from Bl dons to bishops. B We seem to remember that Doctor But- B ler was an exchange professor in Ger- ' many, but we do not cite it as a fact be- H cause our memory may be seriously at B fault. We recall, however, that Doctor ' Butler delivered a series of lectures in H' Germany about ten years ago. These H lectures are extremely interesting in the B retrospect because they contained a B warning quite unintended to the Ger- B man people. The doctor pointed out to the B Germans that despite the popular impres- B sion to the contrary Americans were the B most idealistic people in all the world. B How true that is the Germans now real- B ize to the full, for it was American ideal- B 3sm, as opposed to German materialism, H that won the war. B Geramn professors are a bad lot, no H doubt. Theyvsoldtheir souls to a false? H Tierated despp'tisni for a mess of pottage. . But American educators who Knelt at the . r- Teutonic shrine and worshipped the ido(o of Odin and Thor could well afford to assume an attitude of repentence along with the aforetime reverdd brethren of Berlin, Leipsig, Heidelberg and Jena. Goodwin's Weekly. a Hi m |
