GERMANY AND HER NEIGHBORS 239 



rate it is terribly formidable to its enemies. It is a sign of great 

 strength of will, and of a power to endure which is the greatest 

 of assets in a struggle that tests a nation's power to the limits. 

 The German devotion to the national cause is like that which made 

 early Rome so formidable. In a mistaken way it is the spirit that 

 animated our revolutionary ancestors in early New England. 

 Although they were ardent individualists, they were ready to 

 sacrifice everything to what they believed to be the public welfare, 

 and they had the will to stick to that determination. 



I am not praising the Germans. I am merely trying to point 

 out what seems to be one of the great causes of their power. So 

 far as they direct their course toward right ends the energy and 

 alertness which seem to result from their environment are highly 

 admirable. So far as they pursue wrong ends those same qualities 

 are the world's greatest danger. Because the Germans are so 

 strong and live in such a wonderfully favorable environment, the 

 Allies should strive the more mightily to help Germany to set her 

 house in order. For the moment this is the chief lesson to be 

 learned from a study of climate and health. The world's most 

 favored regions have been divided into two great camps. Both 

 owe much of their strength to the favorable environment. One 

 camp has stood for a policy which is genuinely great in its em- 

 phasis on the duty of the individual to sacrifice himself for the 

 good of the state, but which is despicable in other ways. It stifles 

 the individuality which is the root of all progress; it inculcates 

 scorn of all that is not its own ; it leads to brutal cruelty, and to 

 a system of public and private morals that would make the world 

 unlivable. The other camp likewise has its faults, but at least 

 it tries to give all men a chance. It does not hold that its own 

 system is infallible, but it does believe that the world will make 

 progress only if we stimulate all men to their best, and encourage 

 each individual and each race to make its contribution to the 

 general welfare along its own chosen lines. 



This completes our survey of the course followed thus far by the 



