German Impressions                     
 
 
 In 1914 at the outbreak of the war I was pretty well acquainted
with Germany. I had first visited the country in 1895, had spent four 
semesters in a German university in 1902, '03 and '04, and later had
returned for fairly long visits four times in the summer. But since the
war I had beenin Germany only once for a single week, under
circumstances that made it difficult for me to form clear impressions.
Accordingly, when I went to Germany this summer my qualifications as an
observer were good only in certain respects, for I had no more than a
vague impression of the great changes that had taken place in the last
two decades. It is true that I had at least the advantage of being well
aware of my ignorance of these changes. One experience in particular
served as a warning of this ignorance: I had noticed from time to time
that some of my old German acquaintances whom I had seen in this
country had quite honestly forgotten many of their prewar opinions and
points of view.
 
 
 The circumstances of my visit were especially favorable in that I
was to meet several important Germans in a quasi-official capacity and
that
I was to see a good many others with whom I had professional relations
or,
directly or indirectly, personal relations. In all, I had
conversations, most of them long conversations, with some 25 people,
many of them professors and also many in other walks of life. One was a
former minister of state. Another was a former member of the Reichstag,
who holds a very responsible position in one of the heavy industries,
another a leader of the Protestant church in Prussia. There were two
students, there were the wives of several
 
 
Note: Where I purport to quote remarks of other persons or of myseif it
is 
obvious that I am at best paraphrasing. I use this form for
convenience. 
The statements must not be regarded as precise reproductions of the
original remarks.