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too large." Thereupon there was a good deal of discussion, and at the
end
everybody agreed that I was probably right. For my part I have no doubt
of
it. My opinion that the Germans in most respects underestimated
Americans
before the war is no new one and is probably today generally
recognized. As
for their overestimate at the present time, at least in the case of the
kind
of people whom I saw, it seemed to me almost as obvious as the
extravagance
of the unfavorable criticism of America that one encounters in the
daily press.  Needless to say, I can form no estimate of how widely
this new respectful admiration of America is distributed, but I should
think it probably the characteristic of a very small element in the
population of Germany and for the present a factor of absolutely no
political importance. To one accustomed to the attitude of younger men
twenty-five years ago, with whom I naturally associated at that time,
the contrast is today, however, almost comic.  Twenty-five years ago I
often had a feeling that it was necessary to treat many of my
contemporaries among the German on the intellectual level because of
their naive self-satisfaction, much as one treats the newly rich on the
social level. Today I feel the need to guard myself against
over-respectful admiration of America on the part of the Germans.
 
 
 The atmosphere of fear, though it is perhaps exaggerated by liberals
in Germany and here, is pretty conspicuous in the universities, and
there is
good ground for it. I was told the following story under circumstances
which
made the report seem entirely trustworthy. About a year ago two
professors
of the University of Leipsic found themselves at the end of the
afternoon in
the Professors' Room at the University, and one of them noticed as they
were
leaving that a colleague had forgotten his brief case lying on the
table. They decided that they ought to look inside to find out the
owner in order to return