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A Straight Deal-Part3_Owen Wister(1860-1938)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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labelled "made in St. Louis," "made in Kansas City," her "army of spies"



is at work here and everywhere to undermine those nations who have for

the moment delayed her plans for world dominion. I think the number of



Americans who know this has increased; but no American, wherever he

lives, need travel far from home to meet fellow Americans who sing



the song of slush about forgiving and forgetting.

Perhaps the man I heard talking in front of the bulletin board was one of



the "army of spies," as I like to infer from his absence of "come-back."

But perhaps he was merely an innocent American who at school had studied,



for instance, Eggleston's history; thoughtless--but by no means

harmless; for his school-taught "slant" against England, in the days we



were living through then, amounted to a "slant" for Germany. He would be

sorry if Germany beat France, but not if she beat England--when France



and England were joined in keeping the wolf not only from their door but

from ours! It matters not in the least that they were fighting our



battle, not because they wanted to, but because they couldn't help it:

they were fighting it just the same. That they were compelled doesn't



matter, any more than it matters that in going to war when Belgium was

invaded, England's duty and England's self-interest happened to coincide.



Our duty and our interest also coincided when we entered the war and

joined England and France. Have we seemed to think that this diminished



our glory? Have they seemed to think that it absolved them from

gratitude?



Such talk as that man's in front of the bulletin board helped Germany

then, whether he meant to or not, just as much as if a spy had said it--



just as much as similar talk against England to-day, whether by spies or

unheeding Americans, helps the Germany of to-morrow. The Germany of



yesterday had her spies all over France and Italy, busily suggesting to

rustic uninformed peasants that we had gone to France for conquest of



France, and intended to keep some of her land. What is she telling them

now? I don't know. Something to her advantage and their disadvantage, you



may be sure, just as she is busy suggesting to us things to her advantage

and our disadvantage--jealousy and fear of the British navy, or



pro-German school histories for our children, or that we can't make dyes,

or whatever you please: the only sure thing is, that the Germany of



yesterday is the Germany of to-morrow. She is not changed. She will not

change. The steady stream of her propaganda all over the world proves it.



No matter how often her masquerading government changes costumes, that

costume is merely her device to conceal the same cunning, treacherous



wild beast that in 1914, after forty years of preparation, sprang at the

throat of the world. Of all the nations in the late war, she alone is



pulling herself together. She is hard at work. She means to spring again

just as soon as she can.



Did you read the letter written in April of 1919 by her Vice-Chancellor,

Mathias Erzberger, also her minister of finance? A very able, compact



masterpiece of malignant voracity, good enough to do credit to Satan.

Through that lucky flaw of stupidity which runs through apparently every



German brain, and to which we chiefly owe our victory and temporary

respite from the fangs of the wolf, Mathias Erzberger posted his letter.



It went wrong in the mails. If you desire to read the whole of it, the

International News Bureau can either furnish it or put you on the track



of it. One sentence from it shall be quoted here:

"We will undertake the restoration of Russia, and in possession of such



support will be ready, within ten or fifteen years, to bring France,

without any difficulty, into our power. The march towards Paris will be



easier than in 1914. The last step but one towards the world dominion

will then be reached. The continent is ours. Afterwards will follow the



last stage, the closing struggle, between the continent and the over-

seas."



Who is meant by "overseas"? Is there left any honest American brain so

fond and so feeble as to suppose that we are not included in that highly



suggestive and significant term? I fear that some such brains are left.

Germans remain German. I was talking with an American officer just



returned from Coblenz. He described the surprise of the Germans when they

saw our troops march in to occupy that region of their country. They said



to him: "But this is extraordinary. Where do these soldiers of yours come

from? You have only 150,000 troops in Europe. All the other transports



were sunk by our submarines." "We have two million troops in Europe,"

replied the officer, "and lost by explosion a very few hundred. No






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