96 THE KING’S BUSINESS a war from the evolutionary, philosophy. For example,, Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, to whose philosophy more than that of any one else the German state of mind that led to this war is due, says in his hook “The Joyous Wis- : dom,” Section 377, “We children df the future . . . do not by any means think it desirable that the kingdom of righteousness and peace should be estab lished on the earth. . H We rejoice in all men who, like ourselves, love danger, war, and adventure. . . . We count ourselves among the con querors; we ponder over the need of a new order of things, even of a new ^slavery—for every strengthening and elevation of the type man also involves a new-form of slavery.” Of course, the whole meaning of this is that .the sur vival of the fittest, Darwinian evolution in its extremest form, is a benehcial thing and demands war as a beneficent institution. Klaus Wagner m his book • called'“War,” page 183, says, “Unless we choose to shut our eyes to the neces sity of evolution we must recognize the necessity of war. We must accept war, which will last as long as development and existence; we must accept eternal war.” Prof. Ernst liasse says, ‘“ War is the father of everything, sáysUerac- litus. It will be the father of the new German race of the future. (.Die Zukunft des deutschen Volkstums, page 126). This was written ás long ago as 1908. The evolutionary origin of-this opinion is evident to any one iamiliar with evolutionary teaching. General von Bernhardi, to whose teaching muc ^ of the war spirit in Germany was due, says in his book Germany and the Next W a r” page 34, “The efforts directed toward the abolition of war must not only 'be termed foolish, but absolutely immoral, and must_ be stigmatized as unworthy of the human race. . . . The weak nation is to have the same right as the powerful and,vigorous nation! The, whole idea represents a pre sumptuous encroachment on the natural lazvs of development.” This may sound like Darwinian evolution gone mad, but it is really the evolutionary hypothesis carried to its logical issue. General von Bernhardi says again m the same book, on page 18, “War is a biological necessity of the first importance, a regulative element in the life of mankind which cannot be dispensed with. . . . v\ ar is the father of all things.’ The sages of antiquity, long before Darwin, recog nized this . ‘To supplant or to be supplanted is the essence of lite, . says Goethe, ‘and the strong life gains the upper hand.’ ” Heinrich Treitschke whbse teaching shares with that of Bernhardi and Nietzsche the dishonor of being chiefly responsible for the present ruthless war spirit in Germany, says in his book, “Politics,” Volume 1, page 121, “The Germans let the primitive Prussian tribes decide whether they should be put to the sword or thoroughly Germanized. Cruel as these processes of transformation may be, they are a blessing for humanity. It makes for health that the nobler race should absorb the inferior stock.” Of course, such a philosophy is clearly evolutionary, Prof. Vernon Kellogg of Leland Stanford University, in an interesting article in the Atlantic Monthly, shows very clearly how German ruthlessness grows logically and necessarily out of the Neo-Darwinian theory. Prof. Kellogg was a repre sentative for northern France of the American Relief Commission, and lived with the German Headquarters’ Staff, and in this position had very unusual opportunity for learning thé German view point. Furthermore, he had many long talks with a German professor who was an old 'fellow-worker of his own at the biological laboratories at the University of Leipsic, and whom he describes as “one of the most brilliant of present-day biologists. As an outcome of the conversations that they had and. the things that he observed in his position,
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