knowledge of the people. We have perhaps acted childishly and foolishly
toward other nations by too great confidence. But in the consciousness
of the entire German Nation the ominous feeling was living and working
with mighty power, that only if every one of us devotes his entire
strength to the post assigned to him, and works until the exhaustion of
his last mental and physical power, only then can we as a national whole
retain our high level and, surrounded by dangers on all sides, create
sufficient room for ourselves to breathe and live.

*The Military and the Socialists.*

Two mighty organizations exist among us which were opposed to each other
until recently--the military and the Social Democratic. The world sees
with amazement the perfection which has been reached by the military
organization of our army. Its achievements have only become possible
through the above-mentioned philosophical conception of the sense of
duty which raises it far above any systematic obedience and lets it
appear in the light of religious ideal. Duty becomes in these serious
and energetic minds a voluntary adaptation to a carefully organized
whole with the knowledge that to serve this whole at the same time
produces the highest achievement of the individual personality. The
Social Democratic organization, opposed though it is to the military
organization, is also composed of Germans and is, therefore, directed by
the same basic principles as the military organization, although for
entirely different purposes. For this one reason it was almost a matter
of course that the Social Democrats offered their services for the war
at the moment when they recognized that it had become of imperious
necessity to set aside personal wishes and ideals and to put in the
foreground only the duty of the defense of their country. The idea of
our opponents, that they would find a support in the Socialists of our
country, rested on a complete misunderstanding of the German character.

A foreign woman wrote to me in the days of the mobilization: "I do not
understand the German enthusiasm for war--how it is possible that one
can become enthusiastic about murder!" The woman only saw the exterior
and superficial phase of things.

In its endeavor to unite itself with the world the German soul had
suddenly come upon the wildest hatred * * * numerous high ideals of
culture fell to ruin within a few hours. Deeply wounded, it was hurled
back into its most persona