which consists merely of small selfmanaging bodies of peasants placed side by side over the country, with no traditions, with nothing which seems to aid a great nation to extricate itself from all the difficulties which are serious even to the most advanced countries which have gone through a revolution. And you have it lying there in Europe and in Asia, surrounded by small communities of different race, of different language, of different religion, all of which formed part of the empire under the autocracy, but each of which now desires that its own destinies shall be carried out in accordance with the principle of selfdetermination.

No problem more difficult has ever presented itself to the Russian statesmen, and when you come to try to put it right from the outside when an appeal is made to those who are not Russians to get Russia out of her internal difficulties, the problem grows in complexity and increases in obscurity, and the man who says he sees his way clearly in the midst of this formless and chaotic welter to reorganize a new free, self-governing, and constitutional Russia is in my opinion grossly deceiving himself. But with Russia in this state of social chaos, how is it possible, with the communications which now join all civilized societies, that there shall not be evil influences radiating from it to other districts and to neighboring nations? And those neighboring nations, what is their condition? These unhappy populations find themselves

threatened with this vicious circle.

Suffering, hardship, starvation bring inevitably in their train social discontent; the wild striving for anything that is new in the desire to destroy everything that is old. The next stage is that these elements of disorder get their way, and the country, which had been already suffering because, through the absence of credit and the disorganization of industry, it could not produce, finds its credit still further shattered, its powers of production still further diminished, suffering still further increased, discontent from the storm of suffering growing yet apace, and so in this vicious circle, this appalling whirlpool, we see what were flourishing parts of Europe now threatened with even greater destruction.

I confess that it is impossible for any man to look at what is now going on in Central and Eastern Europe without deep anxiety for the future for many years to come. We cannot disinterest ourselves from these problems, and yet, although we cannot disinterest ourselves from them, we are, of course, far less well equipped for dealing with them than we were in the full tide of our pre-war prosperity. Therefore, it is that the task of those responsible for guiding the external policy of the country is one of great anxiety and difficulty. It is one that taxes them to the uttermost of their resources and one which they cannot hope, in any reasonable time, to bring to anything that can be called a dramatically triumphant conclusion.

[Die Zukunft, September 27, 1919] GERMAN EDUCATION BEFORE THE WAR

BY MAX HARDEN

LITTLE Willy Krause's favorite playthings were soldiers. His first ones were made of wood and were very ugly, so he tired of them. But when little Willy took a fancy to the dolls of his sister, and amused himself by dressing and undressing the plump, blond ladies with their red cheeks and blue eyes, his father said: "That won't do for a boy.' And so next Christmas Eve Willy found two boxes of tin soldiers under the tree. Afterwards he got many lead soldiers, excellently made blue dragoons, red hussars, white cuirassiers with gold and black breastplates, infantry, artillery, real cannon, gray warships with torpedo tubes, even a whole brigade of marines. These were glorious. Little Willy soon could identify every uniform, every mark of rank, all the chevrons, shoulder straps, stars, and medals. He had reviews on the floor; he manœuvred, had naval battles, and repelled landings with shore batteries. He strutted about in a helmet, uniform, and cavalry boots, with an unsheathed, trailing sabre. When he grew a little older he wore a sailor-suit with a cap having on the ribbon-His Majesty's ship Wörth.' As soon as he could read, he devoured books praising wars and warriors, and describing battles in such a way that he saw only their glory and never their cruelty and misery.

After school, when the boys played 'robbers' and 'soldiers' he never wanted to be a robber, but always to fight for justice and order. He assumed as a matter of course that soldiers never fought for anything else than justice and order. Since he early ob

served that the sturdy pupils who were good at athletics and fighting were more highly regarded by their comrades and teachers than the physical weaklings who wore glasses and excelled in Greek or mathematics, he soon concluded that physical strength was the source of all honor.

He had to study a great deal. Since his parents did not know what career to choose for him, he was packed full of humanistic lumber and scientific facts.

There was no coeducation, so that young men and women might learn to appreciate each other's character and capacities. The 'Einheitschule,' where children of every class and rank of society associate with each other for at least the first years of their course, was still a thing of the future. Consequently the boy learned to respect neither the other sex nor the common people. He was not allowed to talk even to the maidservants, because this was contrary to domestic discipline; and if he asked why the son of the porter, although a remarkably bright lad, was permitted to go only to the 'Volkschule' and then set to work in the factory, he was told that he ought not to question the divine institutions of society, and to devote his attention to forwarding his own interests instead of bothering his head with useless speculations about others. His parents, relatives, and teachers united in exhorting him to be strong and courageous and to get ahead and earn money, and to win high position.

To be sure, this did not fully accord with what he was taught in school concerning religion. Humility and simplicity and honor were given some formal attention there, and he heard of the vanity of heroism and warlike success and earthly attainment; but he gained the impression that this doctrine applied to another world, or at

least was limited to Sundays and holidays. These were the only occasions when a man really ought to follow Christ. The person who was peaceloving and sympathetic on workdays and not centred on making money, who had love for his fellow men and was ready to share his plenty with the poor, would never get forward, and was headed straight toward life in an attic. Religious instruction and the rest of the school course were not correlated. The total effect of school influence was to leave him with an impression that the old Germanic gods still ruled in heaven.

History covered a broad field-at least, what they called history. (Is there really such a thing? Is it anything more than the vision of an individual temperament, than a tradition an accepted fairy tale which is inherited from generation to generation? Just imagine what the history from the years 1914 to 1915 will be in different countries, if things go on as they always have done!) He was saturated with patriotism like a sponge with water. His own country was always divinely right and always did greater things than any other country. He had to memorize multitudes of dates and royal names. History was a record of kings and commanders and wars and soldiers. This did not apply to what was taught the boys alone. His sister Bertha went to the Gymnasium. In her junior year she was required to draw the strategic plan of deployment for the battle of Dennewitz, where the Prussian general von Bülow defeated Marshal Ney in 1813. Alas, for the boy who did not know all the principal battles from Cannae to Sedan! It was not necessary to know much of peoples, their character and modes of thought, and their intellectual and economic development. All his teaching was Germanocentric,

VOL. 17-NO. 851

and the two national holidays of the year, the Emperor's birthday and Sedan Day, were always observed with formal speeches 'Because the German is the most industrious and most competent of men he is hated. For centuries his cunning neighbors prevented him in his innocence and good nature from attaining national unity. The bravest of his race had to fight for this ideal with the sword. They became the leaders of the new advance. Now the Germans have reached the summit of power and are more hated than ever. Any day the hour may strike which forces them to draw the sword. That sword must always be sharp enough to defend their holiest possessions. Consequently, the spirit of combat must be made the very core of our nature. Universal service, a high, strong sense of honor, a powerful monarchy, strict discipline, absolute obedience only these institutions and qualities assure our national future from the designs of our neighbors. If we maintain our ascendancy the words of the poet will become true: 'At last the world will reach perfection on the German model." Thus in substance spoke the festal orators.

"The republican form of government is inevitably corrupt and betokens a deteriorating and declining nation. The French are vain, hot-headed, decadent comedians or dancing masters. The English are cunning beasts of prey with long canine teeth, exploiters of the world and bloodsuckers of nations. The Italian loafs idly in his gondola, plays the mandolin, eats rissoto and macaroni, and supports himself on the bounty of the foreigners who visit his art galleries and museums. The Americans kneel in worship of the almighty dollar in every story of their lofty skyscrapers. A whole ocean separates them from the high ideals of Europe, and they owe to German im

migrants, from Steuben to Carl Schurz, all the better qualities of their character.' This is the view of his neighbors which was inculcated in the heart of every German school boy. Was that not called 'history'? And every dissenter was stigmatized as unpatriotic and unworthy of respect.

The obligation of patriotism was drilled into every German boy from the time he played with lead soldiers. He was not taught to rejoice, indeed, in his own national qualities and to endeavor by every means to ennoble them, but also to rejoice that other flowers bloomed in the garden of humanity. No, his only duty was to regard his own people as the ultimate, perfect product of human evolution and the crown of creation. The word 'international' which radiates from all Christian history, all art, and all science, was with him a word of reproach, synonymous with lack of patriotism. Humanity was an empty phrase, smuggled in from the West by nations who would befuddle the German Samson with pleasant words, in order to shear him of his locks.

[Berliner Tageblatt, December 11, 1919] THE KAUTSKY DOCUMENTS

BY GRAF MAX MONTGELAS

It is not the purpose of this article to review critically the German documents concerning the origin of the war recently published, or to pass judgment upon the political leadership of the German Empire and of its allies and enemies during the fateful July days of 1914. I purpose simply to describe what two editors, Professor Schücking and myself, conceived their task to be and how they fulfilled it. From the outset we were fully agreed that nothing should be done without a perfect understanding with Mr. Karl

Kautsky, who had been entrusted with the publication of the documents during the period from November 1918 to May of the present year. Above all, no document, however insignificant, was to be omitted without Kautsky's consent. On the other hand, each of us retained the privilege of insisting upon the publication of any document which he considered significant enough to be included in the collection.

The result of our common survey of the material was the selection of 937 documents for complete publication and of 186 documents, the contents of which should be summarized in the notes. The total is, therefore, 1123 documents with more than 3000 annotations. Contrasted with this, the Russian Orange Book contains 79, the French Yellow Book, omitting duplications from other publications, 159, and the English Blue Book, including five parliamentary speeches,

166.

In addition to the correspondence mentioned in the preface, we published first of all 22 new documents, part of which were not in the Foreign Office files but in the archives of other imperial departments. Furthermore, we printed in the appendix 35 reports, telegrams, and memoranda of telephone conversations from the records of the Bavarian Embassy in Berlin. These Bavarian reports give a comprehensive picture of the state of mind in the governing circles at Berlin during the last decisive days. They picture clearly the alternating war enthusiasm and hope of peace.

We were able in addition to review the documents which we received early in October this year from the archives of the German Embassy in Vienna, for the purpose of clearing up certain inconsistencies between the original Vienna drafts and the deciphered messages in the Foreign Office,

and to establish the precise hour at which the more important Berlin telegrams were received by our Embassy in Austria. The serious delays in telegraphic communication over the crowded wires are illustrated by the following example. A long dispatch of 447 words sent at 2.55 A.M., July 30, urging the imperative necessity of limiting the military operations of Austria-Hungary to Belgrade and its immediate vicinity, did not reach the Embassy in Vienna until 9.30 P.M. The message was deciphered and brought to Graf Berchtold at breakfast the following day. He had it read He had it read over twice, sitting 'pale and silent' until it was concluded, when he said that he would immediately inform the Emperor of its contents. A decision was then postponed until the arrival of Graf Tisza on the 31st. However, news of the general mobilization of the Russian army arrived the same morning. About six minutes after 1 P.M. that afternoon, or an hour after issuing the order mobilizing his own army, the Emperor Franz Josef telegraphed Kaiser Wilhelm, who had supported Grey's proposal of the previous day by personal telegram: "The movement of my army against Serbia cannot be stopped by the threatening and challenging attitude of Russia.' Mediation thereupon became impossible.

The text of the documents has not been abbreviated or modified. It should be particularly noted that we have not changed the wording as is customary in order to protect the secrecy of our ciphers. Even mistakes in copying have been reproduced. We have also shown in the notes wherever the first draft of the writing differs from its final form. There is no justification, as anyone familiar with the way business is transacted in high government circles knows, for drawing conclusions from such modifications; for the person

who first drafts a dispatch or memorandum is not always the real author, and is frequently following sketchy instructions from his superior. Moreover, subsequent modifications are not invariably the work of the person in whose hand they are written.

The historical student will find his labors greatly facilitated by numerous cross-references from one document to another, which will enable him to pick up at once all the passages relating to the same incident or transaction.

The documents have been published in strict chronological order, and the date of dispatch was taken wherever it was known. it was known. We should observe, however, that a cipher telegram delivered to the telegraph office at 11.00 A.M. may have been actually drafted at 10.00 A.M., or before a cipher telegram received at 10.00 A.M. could be deciphered and read. Moreover, an urgent or a short cipher telegram dispatched at 10:00 A.M. may sometimes go on the wire later than a less urgent or a long cipher telegram that did not leave the Foreign Office until 10.30 A.M. We were not able to judge, therefore, the precise hour at which every dispatch was written. An attempt to do so would have led to an arbitrary arrangement. The editors have, therefore, assumed the hours entered for the arrival and dispatch of telegrams in the Foreign Office as the determining hours for their chronological order. In case of the telegrams and letters of the Kaiser, we took the recorded hour of their departure or arrival at the palace. It should be noted further that the time given for Petrograd dispatches is one hour later, and for Paris dispatches one hour earlier, than Berlin time.

Documents that were not received by telegraph were recorded at the Foreign Office merely with the notation 'Forenoon' or 'Afternoon.' Con