The two friends listened with astonishment to this description of the
future which Teutonic superiority was offering to the world. Every
individual submitted to intensive production, the same as a bit of land
from which its owner wishes to get the greatest number of vegetables.
. . . Mankind reduced to mechanics. . . . No useless operations that would
not produce immediate results. . . . And the people who heralded this
awful idea were the very philosophers and idealists who had once given
contemplation and reflection the first place in their existence! . . .

Hartrott again harked back to the inferiority of their racial enemies.
In order to combat successfully, it required self-assurance, an
unquenchable confidence in the superiority of their own powers.

"At this very hour in Berlin, everyone is accepting war, everyone is
believing that victory is sure, while HERE! . . . I do not say that
the French are afraid; they have a brave past that galvanizes them at
certain times--but they are so depressed that it is easy to guess that
they will make almost any sacrifices in order to evade what is coming
upon them. The people first will shout with enthusiasm, as it always
cheers that which carries it to perdition. The upper classes have no
faith in the future; they are keeping quiet, but the presentiment of
disaster may easily be conjectured. Yesterday I was talking with your
father. He is French, and he is rich. He was indignant against the
government of his country for involving the nation in the European
conflict in order to defend a distant and uninteresting people. He
complains of the exalted patriots who have opened the abyss between
Germany and France, preventing a reconciliation. He says that Alsace and
Lorraine are not worth what a war would cost in men and money. . . .
He recognizes our greatness and is convinced that we have progressed so