The Daily News. THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 1915. GERMANY'S ABSENCE OF HUMOR.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 185, 14 January 1915, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 1915. GERMANY'S ABSENCE OF HUMOR.

If we take a retrospective glance at] German history during the last hundred years, and especially at those great figures who have dominated Prussian philosophy, we seareli in vain for that saving sense of humor which lias ever helped British and American statesmen to steer a middle course, and to avoid those extremes which might ultimately endanger the safety of tho .State (writes the Christehureh Star). Instead the Prussian mind seems to be imbued with such an altogether irrational conception of Germany's importance that it has been blinded to the ridiculous capers sometimes cut by the fervent patriots of the Fatherland. Could we imagine in any other country than Germany a mili- | tary class so egotistic that it imagined it was engaged in a holy mission? Such

assumptions on the part of military people in Britain and America would at once be laughed to scorn. Hut in Ger-

many the rank and file seems to have followed sheepishly the lead of tile military class. The Kopenick affair that convulsed the world a lew years ago, and the Zabern scandals, illustrate this point. Had the German people realised the humor of Kopenick's audacious move of masquerading as an officer of high rank, and deceiving the military dupes, they should have pensioned the man, instead of imprisoning him in a fortress. The extraordinary utterances of the

Kaiser in times of peace; his invocations of the Almighty's aid into every venture the State undertook; his absurd belief that God and the Emperor of Germany were identical, convinced everyone outside of Germany that this very noisy ruler was without a vestige of real humor. The "Myself and God" motto is unheard of in any other country but Germany. A Stuart King was the last ruler in England to lay claim to a Divine authority for all his acts, and the English people showed their faith in this claimant of "Divine right" by driving him from the throne to the scaffold. Charles 1., like Wilhelm 11,, had undoubtedly convinced himself of the reality of his Divine mission, but the English, being a practical people, took a different view, and lather than have their ancient Constitu; on upset, they removed Charles abruptly. Had the Kaiser been on the throne of England lie would in all probability have shared the same fate. His mind, with all its superficial modern culture, is essentially mediaeval. His ideals are the ideals of the ancient House of llapsburg, and his main endeavor seems to have been to increase his despotism with the material machinery of civilisation, Tho strange thing is that the German people should have been led to put their trust in a man whose utterances were often so ludicrous as to excite the laughter of mankind. But perhaps the binding together of what was until quite recently a loose conglomeration of States by the blood and iron policy of Bismarck aci counts for this peculiar mental attitude

of the Germans. The consolidation of the Empire was not the result of the slow growth of democratic principles, but was achieved by strong, sometimes unscrupulous, men, with the aid of a stringest militarism that guaranteed the rule of the many by the few. In these

circumstances there grew up in Germany two classes, the military class, or the rulers, and the proletariat, or the ruled. Prussian*philosophers and statesmen pointed to the former class, and

taught those pernicious doctrine- made familiar to us by Clausewilz, Trcitse'nke, and in our own day by Bernhardt With the reputation of being such a "thorough" people, it is wonderful how German thought was inlluenccd by these extremists. They preached a gospel of war unrestrained by the action of any law other than that of expediency. They extolled Cue German State and Germany's mission until militarism had the

force of a religion. They engendered a kind of popular fanaticism in their country's invincibility that was fatal to minds endeavoring to estimate things in their true proportion. The mental outlook of the German people was thus narrowed, anil became focussed on the fixed idea of German's mission as the leader of the world. It was impossible, therefore, that the people should see anything ludicrous in the wild statements of their leaders and philosophers, and in the utterances of their Kaiser, who exalted himself to terms of equality with God. Stranger, too, and not a little humorous to the looker-on, is the spectacle of the great German people humbly accepting the doctrines of Xeitzsche and Bernhardt, the former a Pole, the latter an Italian

BOROUGH ELECTION.

Nominations for the vacant scat on the Borough Council close to-day, at noon. Very little interest ia being evinced, but it is to be hoped that the apathy will not be such as to allow the poll to close without a candidate coming forward. If ever there was a time in Nc".' Plymouth's history when a stron;. Council is an absolute necessity, that time is now. We are engaged in constructive works such as never before been attempted in Taranaki, and the, wise development of our resources at this time will have an important effect upon the future of the borough. It is to lie hoped that the right man will come forward, and take his right place.