secrets of german progress

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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: 3 § I g i| | | : : : | I; I I; I - E I - E I :: I :: I E I - E I for exercise which it did not previously possess. Unity has been its opportunity, progress its abounding fruit. But while a state is the resultant of the character of its citizens, it is much more than an average of their qualities, indeed the morale altitude of a state approaches the altitude of the greatest conception of its greatest citizen multiplied by the morale force of all its citizens. v The force of a great conception animates every individual, widens his horizon, inspires his actions and gains for him the added reassurance that others being similarly inspired, are by their devotion adding to the greatness of the state. This interaction raises the power of the state to a high coefficient and is the final expression of unity. It is on a vast scale the fable of the seven sticks, but in the case of national unity, the alliance not only gains the value of the union of the individual forces but the individual force is so intensified that each stick becomes a rod of steel. Such is German unity. And the conception that has had perhaps the most powerful effect on German progress is that expressed by Frederick the Great and later re- enforced by Bismarck, the duty of the state to the citizen. Many nations satisfy themselves with the theory that the duty which the citizen owes thestate is the only duty that needs fulfilling in their mutual relations. But the German conception is that the state having been served by the citizen is in duty bound to serve the citizen in an equal if not greater degree. This conception is an additional bulwark of strength since the citizen feeling that the state is a friend and not a mere parasite is inspired to still greater sacrifices. This conception is ...
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393668149X

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