Excerpt from Germany: The Welding of a World Power
Now that the United States is reaching out for the markets of the world, and taking the measure of its great rivals, England and Germany, the appearance of a book like the present seems peculiarly timely. For with England the people of this country are more or less acquainted by history and identity of language, and are thus fairly able to form a rather exact estimate of that country. But Germany is a less known quantity. Vague ideas exist of the high culture of Germany, of the thorough technical training, and of the enormous capacity for taking pains, which qualifications the typical German possesses in a high degree. These characteristics might be expected by an outsider to give Germany a decided superiority in the struggle for material and political development. Those, however, who have lived on the inside know that these great advantages are offset by dangers and weaknesses.
It is on these points, therefore, as on others, that the writer wishes to give his views and experiences to the country of his adoption.
The German, while possessing an unusual power of application, yet lacks that daring initiative which is rather the concomitant of a nation bred in the full light of individual and public liberty.
This book aims to tell the truth. It is free from bias. The writer, however, frankly avows that his viewpoint throughout is that of one whose political and social convictions are American, not German, not European.
A recent long residence in Germany, in a position which enabled him to come in close contact with every phase of German life, and to ponder constantly the things seen and heard, afforded exceptional opportunities for obtaining a faithful reflex of rapidly changing conditions. This work aims to deal fairly with everything and everybody, to weigh motives and make due allowance for the historic past and its peculiar political and social bent. Out of it the Germany of to-day has grown.
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