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Show "W" by brute force. I have never liked German methods-but I have always given them full credit for their perseverance and abillty. Unfortunately we have all been too apt to accept the German at the face value put on by himself without carefully examining his intrinsic merit or demerit as the case may be. Germany has produced no genius, there is no scope for individualism, her work is the collective wisdom of commonplace savants, she has never produced nor is ever likely to produce a super-man, there has By ARMANDO PALACIO VALDES LA LEYENDA DEL REY ALBERTO En llos s-zgloi‘venideros [as madres contam'n a sus hijos en las largas noches dc mvezrno la leyenda del rey Alberto." " UNA vez era un rey, hijos mios, que reinaba sobre un pequefio pueblo industrloso, noble y bravo. Y este rey era noble entre los mas nobles y scourges be eliminated? Surely their existence can be of no value to the higher evolution of the race. The blasphemous speeches of this monarch bravo entre los mas bravos. Cerca de e'l vivia un gigante temeroso que reinaba sobre un gran pueblo de guerreros. Este gigante mantenia en suspension y espanto a cuantos le rodeaban y rebosaba de poder y de orgullo. Ademas poseia un canon maravilloso, grande como una catedral, con el cual arrasaba los campos y pulverisaba las ciudades. Vecino del pequefio pueblo vivia otro rico y feliz que el gigante codiciaba. " Déjame pasar por tus estados," le dijo un dia a nuestro rey. " Quiero aplastar y reducir a la servidumbre a esa nacion que cerca de ti se halla. Si me dejas el paso libre tendras dinero, participaras del botin que recoja, algunos de los estados de esa nacion pasaran a tu poder. Si no me lo dejas arrasaré tu pueblo y sere'is todos esclavos. " No pasaras sino sobre nuestros cadaveres," respondio el rey valeroso. " Mi pueblo, que es uno de los mas présperos del orbe, estima mucho sus can have no divine sanction, and should not be allowed to mislead a deluded fabricas, sus riquezas, sus grandes ciudades, sus hermosos monumentos, nation ; the only beneficial efl‘ect which they can have may be to lead the guilty to their destruction. The Allies have shown their manhood and the capacity to rule, we must not therefore rest satisfied with the conquest of Germany, the establishment of peace and the rehabiliment of Belgium, but we must also raise imperial races whose influences will be felt for good throughout the world. We must pero estima mas su honra. Las piedras pueden colocarse otra vez las unas sobre las otras ; pero g quién alzara de sus ruinas el honor derrumbado P Guarda tu dinero, toma el mio y el de mis compatriotas si te hace falta, arrancanos si quieres la vida, haznos esclavos. No lograras hacernos viles. . ." " Entonces el gigante cruel cayc') sobre aquel diminuto pueblo, destruyo sus ciudades, quemé sus aldeas, degollo a muchos de sus habitantes y sembro por doquier el espanto y la desolacion. " El rey magnanimo salio de sus estados, pero ] caso extrafio ! los encontré mucho mayores. Todos se declaraban sus vasallos. Donde quiera que iba se le aclamaba como a un emperador victorioso. Las mujeres deshoja- ban flores sobre su cabeza, los hombres agitaban sus sombreros gritando : 1 Viva el rey ! " Al fin, rodeado de un pufiado de soldados heroicos, penetro nuevamente en sus estados y comenzo la reconquista. Muchos hombres le ayudaron, los unos con su espada, los otros con su pluma, los otros con sus oraciones. Los angeles del cielo le abrian paso. Y palmo a palmo en lucha tenaz y sangrienta se fué apoderando de su perdido reino. Cuando a1 cabo logro sentarse otra vez sobre su trono, e1 universo entero dejo escapar un grito de alegria. Porque la justicia habia quedado triunfante, la ley de Dios cumplida y el poder de las tinieblas vencido. " Hijos mios, este rey fue' después dichoso sobre la tierra y ahora lo es en el been no evolution of the higher and nobler nature of man, the race has nor received that internal push, as Bergson would say, which has carried life by more and more complex forms to higher and higher destinies. There has been no cultivation of the spirit of altruism, that highest product of human evolution which is shown by sympathy with our fellow-beings in their suffering. On the contrary the worst and most brutal characteristics of the Huns were evolved and developed in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, and have now been perpetuated in an even more accentuated form in the present war. The German Emperor emulates and out-Herods the conduct of Attila, " the Scourge of God." When, 0 God, when can such raise healthy, vigorous manhood and womanhood, men and women who will hold their own in the battle of life with any other nationsv-we want nations of stalwarts. This can all be rapidly attained byintelligent artificial selection, and the nation which produces the finest, noblest, and most intellectual race will win in the long run. Bacon said : " The principal point of greatness in any State is to have a race of military men." He did not then contemplate the Prussian braggadocio. We are getting more peaceable since Bacon's days. Some are preaching peace, eternal peace, forgetting that there has been a constant and incessant struggle on the earth since the first appearance of life thereon, and the surest way of any nation preserving the peace is to be always ready for a fight. If the Allies had been ready Germany would not have attacked them. The health of a nation is its most valuable asset, and I should like to see every man between the ages of 20 and ()o able to handle a rifle and a bayonet, and, if needs be, take part in the defence of his country. In King Albert we have a worthy ruler of an imperial race, and 1 hope he may live long to rule over such a self-reliant and noble people. ‘ 1 3) C16 0 MAM-J19 43de Mae/‘4' 179 178 ‘___----- IUIUJCV$VE |