officers, many of whom were brutal tyrants; but that was no necessary 

 part of the system. 



What a wonderful military machine the German army was, was 

 obvious to every one who lived in the country, and was completely 

 demonstrated in the World War. The great objection to it was its 

 dominating power. As Heidelberg received no garrison until after we 

 had left, I had little personal experience of military arrogance, but I 

 heard a great deal. True, during my student days, Bismarck held the 

 monster in check, but his control was political only. Socially, the officer 

 caste was the highest, most influential, most admired of any class in 

 the nation. The public state of mind was a curious mixture of civili- 

 sation and barbarism; the warrior caste was as exalted as in any savage 

 tribe, while, on the other hand, the scholar, the man of science, or the 

 artist, was held in much higher esteem than in the commerciaUzed life 

 of England and America. 



The arrogance and contempt of the officer toward the civilian were 

 such as would not have been tolerated in a completely civilized land, 

 such as France. When some fledgling wounded or killed a civilian in 

 defence of his "honour," he escaped with very light punishment. Sev- 

 eral such cases occurred, while I was in Germany. The military outrages 

 in Saverne (Zabern) shortly before the War, which are famiUar to 

 every one, shocked the whole world and even stirred the slow wrath 

 of a great many Germans. Never was the impotence of the civil gov- 

 ernment before the army so strikingly displayed and never was the 

 real character of the Reichstag as a mere debating club made so mani- 

 fest. It is a very significant fact that the emperors, as well as the heads 

 of the federated states, kings, grand dukes, etc., were, first of all, officers 

 and passed most of their Uves in uniform. Bismarck is quoted as saying 

 that he took more pride in being a Prussian major than in being chan- 

 cellor of the empire and that his army commission was essential to his 

 authority as minister. 



As compared with England, there was but little social life in the 

 Germany that I knew and this I attributed to the poverty of the country. 

 I think, too, that this poverty and the consequent intensity of the 

 struggle for place and career were responsible for the hard egoism and 

 envious disposition which characterised so many Germans. An Ameri- 

 can lady, who had lived several years in Frankfort, said to me : "I don't 

 like the Germans; they will so seldom put themselves out to do a kind- 

 ness." I returned home very conscious that we had a great deal to 

 learn, but entirely satisfied that the better sort of Americans were finer 



