19103 A Wise Scholar 



At the "Congress of Free Christianity "held in Paris 

 in 19 1 3 , we were differently treated ; the fact is, we were 

 not "treated" at all, and except for the evangelical 

 clergy, few in number, no attention whatever was 

 paid to us, references in the press even being very rare. 



While in Berlin this year I made the acquaintance 

 of the late Dr. Wilhelm Forster, the eminent professor F5rstfr 

 of Astronomy in the University. Him I found per- 

 sonally agreeable, wise, and tolerant, with a keen in- 

 sight into public affairs, though then well past seventy 

 years of age. He was very strongly opposed to the 

 protective tariff system as doing serious injury to 

 Germany by robbing the many for the sake of the few. 

 More than that, he thought a protective tariff the 

 chief obstacle to friendliness between nations. That 

 there was need or occasion for war with either Great 

 Britain or France he did not believe, but he feared 

 that the weakness of the Tsar and "the semi-bar- 

 barous condition" of the Russian people might induce 

 the Kaiser to attack Russia by way of relieving him- 

 self of home problems. As a matter of fact " the project . 

 was already being discussed by the Berlin Junkers." 



Forster was not satisfied with the treatment of 

 Alsace-Lorraine. In a personal letter he afterward 

 wrote as follows: 



Germany has throughout treated the people of Elsass-Loth- 

 ringen in embittering fashion. By this means the painful 

 influence of the conquest on the feeling of the French people 

 has been kept alive and constantly renewed. In spite of this, 

 a vote by the people of Alsace-Lorraine would now (September, 

 1913) probably show a majority in favqr of remaining part of 

 Germany. This would mainly be on economic grounds, as the 

 fruit and wine industry of Elsass-Lothringen is in closer relation 

 to the interests of Germany than those of France. 



C 301 3 



