Itmaybeargued，anditmaybetrue，ofcourse，thatmuchofthisfailureofintelligenceandspiritualforceamongGermany’smenoflearningisofthenatureofatransienteclipseoftheirpowers;thatwiththereturnofsettledconditionsthereisduetocomeareturnofpoiseandinsight。Butwhenalldueargumenthasbeenheard，itremainstruethatthedistrustsetafootinthemindoftheirneighbours，bythishighlyremarkableexhibitionoftheirpersonalequation，willlonginuretothedisabilityofGermany’smenoflearningasaforcetobecountedoninthatteamworkthatisoftheessenceofthingsfortheadvancementoflearning。Ineffect，Germany，andGermany’sassociatesinthiswarlikeenterprise，willpresumablybefoundbankruptinthisrespectonthereturnofpeace，evenbeyondtheothernations。
Theseothershavealsonotescapedthetouchoftheangelofdecay，butthevisiblecorruptionofspiritualandintellectualvaluesdoesnotgothesamelengthamongthem。Norhavetheseotherssufferedsoheavyatollontheirprospectivescholarlymanpower。Itisallamatterofdegreeandofdifferentialdecline，coupledwithafailureofcorporateorganizationandoftheusagesandchannelsofcommunionandco—operation。
Chauvinisticself—sufficiencyanddisesteemoftheirneighbourshaveapparentlyalsonotgonesodeepandfaramongtheothernations;althoughhereagainitisonlyarelativedegreeofimmunitythattheyenjoy。
AndallthisholdstrueoftheAmericansinmuchthesamewayasoftherest;exceptthattheAmericanshave，atleasthitherto，notbeenexposedtotheblightinanythinglikethesamedegreeasanyoneofthoseotherpeopleswithwhomtheycomeincomparisonhere。Itis，ofcourse，noteasytosurmisewhatmayyetovertakethem，andtheotherswiththem;butjudgedonthecourseofthingshitherto，andontheapparentpromiseofthecalculablefuture，itisscarcelytobepresumedthattheAmericansareduetosuffersoextremeadegreeofdilapidationastheEuropeanpeoples，——evenapartfromtheaccentuatedevilcaseoftheGermans。Thestrainhashithertobeenlighterhere，anditpromisessotocontinue，whetherthefurtherdurationofthewarshallturnouttobelongerorshorter。TheAmericansare，afterall，somewhatshelteredfromtheimpact;andsosoonasthehystericalanxietyinducedbytheshockhashadtimetospenditself，itshouldreasonablybeexpectedthatthispeoplewillbeablesoberlytotakestockofitsassetsandtofindthatitsholdingsinthedomainofscienceandscholarshipare，inthemain，stillintact。
Notthatnolosshasbeenincurred，northatnomaterialdegreeofderangementistobelookedfor，butincomparisonwithwhattheexperienceofthewarisbringingtotheEuropeans，thecaseoftheAmericansshouldstillbethebestthereistobelookedforandthebestisalwaysgoodenough，perforce。Soitbecomesaquestion，whattheAmericanswilldowiththebestopportunitywhichthecircumstancesoffer。Andontheirconductoftheiraffairsinthisbearingturnsnotonlytheirownfortuneinrespectoftheinterestsofscienceandscholarship，butingreatmeasurethefortunesoftheiroverseasfriendsandco—partnersintherepublicoflearningaswell。