These reasons have come out
of the past, and are intrenched in all the present ideals and practices
of the American Commonwealth. They inevitably lead Americans to object
strongly and irrevocably to certain German national practices of great
moment, practices which are outgrowths of Prussian theories, and
experiences that have come to prevail in Germany during the past hundred
years. In the hope that American public opinion about the European war
may be a little better understood abroad it seems worth while to
enumerate those German practices which do not conform to American
standards in the conduct of public affairs:
(a) Americans object to the committal of a nation to grave measures of
foreign policy by a permanent Executive--Czar, Kaiser, or King--advised
in secret by professional diplomatists who consider themselves the
personal representatives of their respective sovereigns. The American
people have no permanent Executive, and the profession of diplomacy
hardly exists among them. In the conduct of their national affairs they
utterly distrust secrecy, and are accustomed to demand and secure the
utmost publicity.
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