IMAGERY IN SOCIAL GROWTH 335 



philosophy and their social philosophy were not the 

 same. They evidently recognized, more clearly, per- 

 haps, than their critics, that a cumulative system of 

 social benevolence is an essential factor in all social 

 growth and social preservation. 



IV. Germany's Militant Kultur 



It was this false, shortsighted philosophy of the bi- 

 ologists which was so largely responsible for the world 

 war. German scientists were among the very first 

 freely to accept the Darwinian theory of evolution; 

 and German leaders were the first frankly to incorpor- 

 ate into their politics, their business, their philosophy, 

 and their religion, the most pernicious teachings of the 

 struggle for existence and the survival of the fittest. 



Germany's concept of world politics was the result 

 of her deliberate application of scientific principles, 

 particularly of biological science, to international life. 

 Her international policy was a purely scholastic effort 

 to profit by a clearer understanding, and better imita- 

 tion of animal life and natural laws. In that respect 

 her purpose was wholly justifiable, and her efforts com- 

 mendable. That her concepts of nature-action were 

 false is pardonable; in that she did not, and does not, 

 stand alone. But the practical application of her the- 

 ory of social life, with all its sordid, heartless, and 

 criminal details, could have been possible only by an 

 unimaginative people, whose moral instincts and so- 

 cial idealism were too immature, or too firmly sup- 

 pressed, to rebel against the logic of its demands. 



Germany is the unfortunate victim of her own pol 

 icy, faultlessly executed. She has proved the falsity 



