Harper's Weekly Editorials on Carl Schurz/Germany in New York
GERMANY IN NEW YORK.
The German Peace Festival in New York
was one of the most significant days in the history
of the city. During four hours the great
procession passed through the chief streets,
under a summer sky, and amidst the applause
of thousands of persons crowding balcony and
window and roof. Flags were every where
flying, and there was never a more conscious
sense of general public enjoyment than on that
day. Hitherto our great celebrations have
been American or Irish. But Americans are
always ashamed to enjoy themselves, and the
Irish don't know how. The English Sunday,
which we in this country inherited, and which
ought to be the happiest and brightest of holidays,
is the gloomiest of days; and an Irish
fair or feast is famous for the shillelah and
broken heads. But the Germans have the genius
of enjoyment. There is many a citizen
of Dresden, or Munich, or Hanover, or Berlin,
or Leipsic, or of the smaller towns, who gets
more enjoyment out of an income of five hundred
dollars than most Americans from twenty
or forty times as much. In the national character,
at large, this appears, perhaps, as
self-sufficiency. But it is just that quality, well
trained, which brought King William of Prussia
to be crowned Emperor of Germany at
Versailles.
Every part of the pageant on Easter-Monday showed the spirit of the whole. Crossing the city in the morning, we met a little rill flowing along a side street to join the main stream. A band of music, merrily playing, marched before, and a banner borne by a stout arm announced that the little procession was the workmen of a certain cigar factory. They walked in ranks, neat, smiling, sturdy, every one smoking. Then came a huge wagon canopied with flags, and festooned with flowers, in which a group of workmen, with all their material and tools, were busily making cigars, which were scattered among the crowd upon the sidewalks. Another wagon followed, in which other men were making cigar-boxes as tranquilly as if they were sitting in the factory. It was a small procession, a mere handful, but it symbolized the whole. Its impression was unavoidable. It was that of steady, intelligent industry. It was a glimpse of that quality which has made Germany the greatest of Continental powers.
Indeed, in looking for the explanation of the immense superiority which the Germans have shown in the late war with the French, we must consider not only the civil system and the military system, but the educative and industrial system. It is not enough that the bayonets are sharpened and symmetrical; they must also think. There was a great deal of fun made of the German soldier in spectacles solacing himself with a little Hebrew when he was relieved on guard; but the foundation of the jest is as significant a fact as any in the explanation of the German spectacle. The best military system in the world will not make the best soldiers out of worthless men. It is as impossible to get the finest results from human shoddy as the finest cloth from woolen shoddy. The observation of the French officer, Colonel Stoffel, after a long and profound study of the Prussian military system, that the quality which especially characterizes and strengthens the Prussian army and people is “a sense of duty,” is a remarkable recognition of the value of moral forces from a military critic. And it is a striking coincidence that a thoughtful article in the January number of the Edinburgh Review, written perhaps by the Marquis of Salisbury, attributes the decline and fall of France to the spirit of the revolution of 1892 which, by insisting solely upon equality, has destroyed in the French mind the sense of duty, and consequently of responsibility.
The Nation wisely asks why this great German element of industry and intelligence should not be politically combined with American industry and intelligence in the city of New York under Republican auspices. Wherever the German element is powerful, as in the Northwest, and in certain parts of Texas, even, the Republican faith is in the ascendant. The Democratic leaders could never do much with the Germans, who naturally rejected slavery, and they therefore turned to more promising proselytes. But the intelligence, the respect for order, the love of liberty, which underlie the Republican faith, and make it, therefore, in the truest and most comprehensive sense, the national party, are naturally agreeable to the Germans; and at this moment one of the most philosophical and powerful defenders of that faith is a German, Senator Schurz.
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.
This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
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