The Blot on the Kaisers Scutcheon | Page 9

world-parliament all the races shall be represented as
equals; then the earth that has long been a battle-field shall become an
Eden garden, where all are patriots towards the world-kingdom, and
scholars towards the intellect, and self-sufficing towards the family,
and obedient towards their God.
3. German Superiority a Myth That Has Exploded
Several years before the great war began a Dutch humorist wrote a play
on German megalomania. He portrayed a German schoolroom in
Prussia. Thirty or forty embryonic Prussians are at the desks and a

Prussian schoolmaster is in the chair.
"Children, what is the greatest country in the world?"
All shouted vociferously, "Germany!"
"What is the greatest city in the world?"
"Berlin!"
"Who is the greatest man in the world?"
"The Kaiser!"
"Should there ever be, children, a vacancy in the Trinity, who is best
fitted to fill the position?"
"The Crown Prince!"
"Who are the chosen people of the good old German God?"
"The German people!"
Never was there a finer bit of sarcasm and yet the Germans were never
able to understand the play. The Kaiser, the War Staff, the Cabinet,
down to the last wretched creature working in the stables and the
sewers, reading the play, exclaimed:
"What is the man driving at? Why, of course the Germans are the
greatest people in the world--we admit it!"
Now, during the last few years the Germans have spent untold millions
in propagating this myth of superiority, and yet the German intellect
has never even had a second-rate position. Call the roll of all the tools
that have redeemed men from drudgery and you will find that
Germany's contributions are hopelessly inferior to the other nations.
The new industrial era began with the locomotive and steamship; James
Watt invented the one and Stevenson the other.

The new era of physical comfort began with the loom; a Frenchman
named Jacquard and an Englishman named Arkwright made men warm
for their work in winter. Garments within the reach of the poor man in
forest and factory, field and mine, means the cotton gin, and that gin is
the gift of an American. The sewing machine changed woman's
position, but the world owes that to our own Elias Howe.
We owe the telegraph to an English inventor and, in part, to Morse. We
owe the cable in part to Lord Kelvin and, in part, to Cyrus Field. We
owe the telephone to Bell and the wireless to Marconi.
Holland invented the submarine, Wright the airplane, McCormick the
reaper and Edison the phonograph.
An American invented the German submarine; an American invented
the German torpedo; an American invented the German machine-gun;
an American invented the Murphy button, the yellow fever antitoxin,
the Dakin solution.
An English physician discovered the circulation of the blood, Jenner
gave us vaccination, Lister antiseptics, France the Pasteur serums and
the Curie radio discoveries, while a Bulgarian, Dr. Metchnikoff,
discovered the enemies of the blood.
It was from France, England and the United States that Germany stole
the typewriter, the steel building, the use of rubber, the aniline dyes,
reënforced concrete bridges, air-brakes, the use of electricity.
One of the most amazing volumes in the world is the "History of Tools
and Machinery." We have all known for a long time that there is not
one single German name among the eight great masters of painting that
begins with Rembrandt and includes men like Velasquez and Giotto.
We have long known that there is no German sculptor of the first class
nor a German sculptor that is within ten thousand leagues of Rodin,
Michael Angelo or Phidias. We have long known that Schubert and
Schumann and Rubinstein and Haydn and Chopin were all Jews, and
that three-fourths of the other so-called German musicians were Jews
whose ancestors suffered such frightful political disabilities in

Germany and were so regularly looted of all their property that they
gave up their Hebrew names and took German, just as now thousands
upon thousands of Germans in this country, ashamed of their names,
are Americanizing their family title.
The simple fact is that if a Jew will only write the creative music, like
that of Beethoven, a German whose gift is detail will conduct the
orchestra.
The German can standardize a machine, providing an Englishman, a
Frenchman or an American will first invent it. The German will gather
up the remnants and scraps and odds and ends in a clothing factory--but,
oh, think of an American gentleman having to wear the coat that was
cut by a tailor in Berlin or Munich! Having during ten different
summers looked at their garments, all one can say is that the German
men and women are covered up but not clothed.
For thirty years the Germans have paid their representatives to stand on
the corner of the