state, or the municipality. While I have never seen a performance at 

 the Comedie Francaise in Paris, or at the Schauspielhaus in Berlin, 

 from all that I have heard I should infer that the best French acting 

 surpasses the best German, biit, away from Berlin and Paris, there can 

 be no comparison. The capital of each little duodecimo German state 

 had its court theatre, where all possible trouble was taken to have a 

 creditable stage. In the larger cities, where I made a longer or shorter 

 stay, Leipsic, Dresden, Munich, Frankfort, Mannheim, theatre and 

 opera were admirable, especially in the high level of all the company. 

 Our system of stars was unknown, every role was competently filled 

 and there were no long runs, the bill changing almost every night. 

 Prices were very low, not a quarter of those demanded in London or 

 New York. In my day, the stage was eminently decent, but by 191 1 it 

 was evident that the pornographic wave that was sweeping over the 

 world had washed up on the German stage. Of German music, it is 

 not necessary to speak; its supremacy was taken for granted. 



Germany was a very well administered country; many people thought 

 it the best in the world. Public works of all kinds were excellently man- 

 aged and the post office, in spite of the ill-mannered officials, was the 

 best with which I ever had any dealings. The cities were well lighted, 

 paved and cleaned and, when I first got home, American cities seemed 

 incredibly slovenly, by contrast. Though they knew their work and did 

 it conscientiously and well, German officials were, for the most part, 

 exceedingly unpleasant people to deal with, for they were typically 

 bureaucratic and considered that the public had no rights. Policemen 

 made themselves very obnoxious in a quite unnecessary way; the 

 friendly attitude of the New York and, more especially, of the London 

 police was something that I never saw approximated in Germany. 



The outstanding, conspicuous feature of life in Germany was the 

 army. A hackneyed old proverb says that fire and water are good ser- 

 vants, but bad masters; that is pre-eminently true of the army and, 

 under the Empire, the army was emphatically Germany's master. Yet, 

 the German military system had much that was admirable about it and 

 I came home a firm beUever in universal military service. For the great 

 majority of the recruits, the army was an excellent school; they were 

 taught healthful habits and (relative) cleanUness; their self-respect and 

 efficiency were so improved, that they had much better chances of 

 civihan employment, when the term of service was over. The abuse 

 and ill-treatment of the privates, of which one heard and read a good 

 deal, was due to the improper authority given to the noncommissioned 



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