CHAPTER II

OBSTRUCTION FROM WITHIN

It is true of nations as of individuals that the avail­able value of their energies does not equal the sum of their abilities, but only the surplus of their positive over their negative qualities. Napoleon I compressed his judgment of men into the sentence, that to ascertain a man’s usefulness one should subtract his vanity from his ability, and reckon only with the balance. Nations should be judged accordingly. Their historical fate and the psychology of their character, shaped or in­herited, develop their strength or their weakness, and the amount of positive strength which is needed to equalize their negative tendencies determines the size of the balance which can be placed at the service of the national idea.

Among us Germans the strongest negative force threatening our national idea, both in the political and in the social life, is our lack of appreciation of big things done jointly. We are unable to resist the blandishments of individual political and social interests. To put it directly, the powerful tendency of developing what is peculiar in the individual, the tribe or any other group

38