WHO ARE THE HUNS?

322 The Americans and Ourselves.
in this war, of the moral and military attitude of its army of
the people, and especially of the lofty ideals of culture and
citizenship which pervade Young Germany. Every educated
American, conversant with conditions in Germany, knows what
tremendous havoc is committed in the ranks of truth by means
of a world-wide press organized to perfection for the purposes
of propaganda, and what a horrible and distorted picture of
German views and conditions, of the causes leading to the war,
and of the way the war is conducted, such a press is capable of
spreading through out the world. 1
We must insist upon a proper conception of the realities,
not only for the sake of the past but also for the sake of the
future.
From the time of Frederick the Great during the war of
Independence up to the War of the Rebellion and the present
day, the rise of the United States to a world power has been
followed with the most sincere interest and sympathy by the
German nation. The German Emperor has been able to see,
1 See the protest addressed by the Central Committee of Americans
living in Europe to the Department of State at Washington. It culminates
in these fine and ringing words:
"We protest against the destruction of America's integrity, America's
business interests, America's security, which must result from such a onesided
"neutrality." We also protest in the name of humanity against this
horrible war being prolonged through our country."
Also see the "American Notes in Munich," issued by Dr. Leslie Bissell
in the Bavarian capital. The Americans in that city have repeatedly expressed
themselves in these words: "Whoever knows Germany as it really is, loves it."
According to a communication of the "Daily Telegraph," a regular campaign
for the boycott of American goods is supposed to be taking place in
Germany. The Committee of the German-American Association of Commerce
emphatically refutes this charge of the "Daily Telegraph." That the impossibility
up to the present time of the United States continuing its neutral
trade has aroused considerable surprise, and that the delivery of munitions
to the enemies of Germany has created a strong feeling of bitterness among
the German people is certainly true. Nevertheless nothing is known in Germany
of a campaign for the boycott of American goods. If the United States
are at present practically cut off from the German markets, then this is to
be attributed to the measures taken by the English. It is nothing less than
a stupid distortion of the facts to pretend that a condition created by England
and passively submitted to by the United States, is to be attributed to an
alleged boycott on the part of Germany !