Even those dread instruments of war, the revolver and the
machine gun, the turreted ship, the torpedo, and the submarine, are not
due to the military ardor of the Germans. It would seem as though the
Germans had been lacking in the inventiveness which is so marked a
feature of our modern civilization.
In this inquiry there has been no desire to deny the value of the German
contributions to the arts and to the sciences. These contributions are
known to all; they speak for themselves; they redound to the honor of
German culture; and for them, whatever may be their number, the other
nations of the world are eternally indebted to Germany. But these German
contributions are neither important enough nor numerous enough to
justify the assumption that German culture is superior or that Germany
is entitled to think herself the supreme leader of the arts and of the
sciences. No one nation can claim this lofty position, although few
would be so bold as to deny the superior achievement of the French in
the fine arts and of the English in pure science.
Nations are never accepted by other nations at their own valuation; and
the Germans need not be surprised that we are now astonished to find
them asserting their natural self-appreciation, with the apparent
expectation that it will pass unchallenged.
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