"
But for our present purpose I must concentrate attention on another
institution which has had an even more direct and practical bearing
on the character of the German people--and this is the enforcement
of military service. This, like every other institution, must be
judged by its effects on the character of those who are subject
to it. The writer of the letter holds that "the only good thing
about the German nation" is the "national service through which
all men pass, and which makes soldiers of all not physically unfit,
and which inculcates patriotism, loyalty, obedience, courage,
discipline, duty." Now, these words, read in connexion with the
description of the German people quoted above, suggest a puzzling
problem. The Germans are cruel, brutally arrogant, deceitful, and
cunning, and "the Prussian will always remain a beast." Yet these
same people have all passed through a discipline "which inculcates
patriotism, loyalty, obedience, courage, discipline, duty." Doth a
fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Does
the same system make men patriotic and cruel, loyal and arrogant,
obedient and deceitful, courageous and cunning, dutiful and beastly?
Perhaps it does.
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