it not possible that the American is analyzing the origin of the war
in his own way? That he looks upon Belgium's fate with other eyes than
the German? That he groans over "the army as an end in itself" and over
"militarism"? That he does not understand us any quicker than the German
Michel understands him? And that he puffs furiously when, after a long
period of drought, the war, a European one, now spoils his trade?

Only for months at the worst, Sam; then it will spring up again in
splendor such as has never been seen before. No matter how the dice fall
for us, the chief winnings are going to you. The cost of the war
(expense without increment, devastation, loss of business) amounts to a
hundred thousand million marks or more for old Europa; she will be
loaded down with loans and taxes. Even to the gaze of the victor,
customers will sink away that were yesterday capable of buying and
paying. Extraordinary risks cannot be undertaken for many a year on our
soil. But everybody will drift over to you--Ministers of Finance,
artists, inventors, and those who scent profits. You will merely have to
free yourselves from dross (and from the trust thought that cannot be
stifled) and to weed out the tares of demagogy; then you will be the
effective lords of the world and will travel to Europe like a great
Nuernberg that teaches people subsequently to feel how once upon a time
it felt to operate in the Narrows.

The scope of your planning and of your accomplishment, the very rank
luxuriance of your life, will be marveled at as a fairy wonder. We,
victors and conquered and neutrals, will alike be confined by duty to
austere simplicity of living. Your complaint is unfounded; only gird
yourselves for a wee short time in patience. Whether the business deals
which you grab in the wartime smell good or bad, we shall not now
publicly investigate. If law and custom permit them, what do you care
for alien heartache? If the statutes of international law prohibit them,
the Governments must insure the effectiveness thereof. Scolding does
not help. Until the battle has been fought out to the finish, until the
book of its genesis has been exalted above every doubt, your opinion
weighs as heavy as a little chicken's feather to us. Let writer and
talker rave till they are exhausted--not a syllable yet in defense.

We do not feel hurt, (haven't spare time for it;) indeed, we are glad
that you gave ten millions each month for Belgium, that you in