But underlying, you
will find a deeply practical sense and appreciation of material
benefits. The German Socialist is in fact a practical dreamer, quite
in contrast to his mercurial, effervescent Latin prototype. The
rulers of Germany have learned the lesson that the stability of a
throne rests in the welfare of her people and everyone must admit that
they have succeeded in this respect better than any other dynasty
known to history. Germany without doubt is the most uniformly
prosperous and civilized country in the world. And therein lies the
danger, as no sane and prosperous business can afford to stand still.
Neither can a solvent virile nation such as Germany, mark time. For
this reason: Two things must happen in the near future. Germany must
expand peacefully in Europe, to the northeast and west; or there will
be war. The reasons for this I gave in the chapter on "The Isolation
of France."
And that the chances of peaceful and really sensible adjustment are
thoroughly discounted among German men of affairs, must be pretty
obvious to the careful reader. An intensely practical and saving
people such as the Germans would not spend billions in money, a vast
amount of time and labor, in perfecting and keeping up a fighting
machine without being thoroughly convinced of the necessity of this
investment. Strong, wealthy and powerful as Germany is to-day, the
strain is tremendous and for this reason alone existing political and
geographical conditions in Europe must undergo a decided change.
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