RELATIONS BETWEEN UNITED STATES AND GEEMANY, 539 



brought together by what I might call natural gravitation. Each 

 can lend to the other light and blessings of all kinds as international 

 comity may demand and require, and it is therefore idle and irrele- 

 vant to dispute as to which may hereafter be the Aveightiest and most 

 permanent organism. That rests in the bosom of time. It is enough 

 that, judging by human foresight, they can not injure each other. 



The task which, for both peoples and states, arises from this con- 

 dition is that of etfecting as close a union as possible and of avoiding 

 everything that may tend in any way to injure existing harmony, for 

 onlv so will both secure in the fullest extent the advantages which, as 

 one may say, spontaneously arise. 



The relations between peoples and States are manifold, hardly to 

 be followed out and specified in detail. They can only be considered 

 in large comprehensive groups: The international political relations 

 and actions toward, with, and against each other; the relations with 

 a third party, the military relations, and above all the commercial 

 and industrial relations. These all deal Avith questions as to bare 

 existence. But in the lives of cultivated peoples, as soon as a cer- 

 tain stage of development is reached, there are engendered many 

 higher relations, such as those of morality and religion, art and 

 science. In these matters, peculiar to man alone, lies that which 

 makes life worth living. It is these that we are now to con- 

 sider, especially the scientific relations between the United States 

 and Germany, touching the others only in so far as they have a 

 scientific basis or belong to history. I must, however, entirely omit 

 the latter, as it would lead us much too far afield. 



How should we conduct ourselves toward America in the great 

 domain of science? In advance I will say one thing: If two peoples 

 are to cooj^erate in the advancement of culture as also in the recijn'o- 

 cal demands of material interests, they must respect each other. Each 

 nuist have something good and self-achieved to oifer, each must pre- 

 serve its own individuality without obtrusive ostentation, but Avith 

 quiet certainty, such as that given by the natural feeling of one's own 

 health and strength. He who does not have confidence in himself 

 will soon lose the confidence in others. To our American brethren 

 sprung from German stock I make this appeal in relation to the 

 departments of art and science as Avell as those of morals and man- 

 ners. Do not form an exclusive clan in a great State — but be a ]K)w- 

 erful root that brings healthy sap to the mighty, spreading, gigantic 

 tree to Avhich Ave may liken the Union. In this Avay you Avill obtain 

 the regard as well as the full confidence of your fellow-citizens of 

 Anglican stock, Avho, changed and transformed by the climatic ex- 

 igencies of North America, make the nucleus of what Ave call the 

 "American nation." 



