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Page 29
"Ask your readers in the London Times, Mr. Langston, why it was that in
the fall of 1915 Germany had been able to put into the field nine million
fully equipped, highly efficient soldiers, whereas England, with nearly
the same population, counting her white colonies, had been able to send
out only two and a half million, a third of these being physically
defective? Why was that?
"Was it lack of guns and ammunition? Lack of officers and training?
Partly so, but something else was lacking, I mean patriotism among the
English masses that would give them the desire to fight for England, also
a high standard of physical excellence that would make them able to fight
effectively and to endure the hardships of the trenches.
"Now why should there be more patriotism in Germany than in England? Why
should the masses of Germany excel the masses of England in physical
vigour?
"I will tell you why, and the answer applies in some degree to America;
it is because the German system of government is better calculated to
create patriotism and physical vigour, just as it is better calculated to
create an efficient war machine. In Germany we have concentration of
power, a benevolent paternalism that knows the needs of the people and
supplies them whether the people wish it or not. For example, in Germany
we have to a great extent abolished poverty and such degrading slum
conditions as prevail in English and American cities. We know that slums
lead to drink, vice and physical unfitness. We know that we must kill the
slums or see the slums kill efficiency and kill patriotism.
"In Germany we hold the capitalist class within strict bounds. We allow
no such heaping up of huge fortunes as are common in America through the
exploitation of the weak by the strong. We Germans protect the weak and
make them stronger, but you English and Americans make them weaker by
oppressing them. You make slaves of children in a thousand factories,
crushing out their strength and their hope, so that a few more of you can
become millionaires. Do you think those children, grown to manhood, will
fight for you very loyally or very effectively when you call on them to
rally to the flag? What does such a flag mean to them?"
"What does the American flag mean to thousands of American steel workers
forced to toil at the furnaces twelve hours a day for two dollars? Twelve
hours a day and often seven days a week lest they starve! Why should
these men fight for a flag that has waved, unashamed, over their misery
and over the unearned and undeserved fortunes of their task masters,
Andrew Carnegie and J. P. Morgan? Why should the down-trodden miners in
Colorado fight to perpetuate a John D. Rockefeller system of government?"
"What does Your Imperial Highness mean by a John D. Rockefeller system of
government?"
"I mean the English and American system of individualism gone mad--every
man for himself and the devil take the hindermost. The result is a
trampling on the many by the few, a totally unfair division of the
products of toil and such wicked extremes of poverty and riches as are
familiar in London and New York but are unknown in Germany.
"In Germany the masses are well housed and well nourished. In all our
cities cheap and wholesome pleasures abound, music, beer gardens, great
parks with playgrounds and dancing pavilions. It is literally true that
work at fair wages with reasonable hours is provided for every German
citizen who is able to work. And those unable to work are taken care
of,--pensions for the aged, homes for the disabled, state assistance for
poor mothers. There are no paupers, no factory slaves in Germany. The
central government sees to this, not only as a matter of humanity, but as
good policy. We know that every German citizen will fight for the German
flag because he is proud of it and has personal reason to be grateful to
it, since it represents fair play, large opportunity, a satisfactory life
for him and his children."
The prince maintained that here were new elements in the problem of
Germany's conquest of America. Not only were the invaders more valiant
warriors possessed of a better fighting machine, but they came with a
moral and spiritual superiority that must make strong appeal to Americans
themselves.
"After yielding to us by force of arms," he went on, "your people will
come to welcome us when they see how much better off, how much happier
they will be under our higher civilisation. Mr. Langston, we understand
your nation better than it understands itself. I assure you, Americans
are sick of their selfish materialism, they are ashamed of the degrading
money worship that has stifled their national spirit."
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