G. D. Osgood an Ernst Haeckel, Leipzig, 3. September 1914
Sept. 3, 1914
Herrn
Professor Doktor Ernst Haeckel,
Jena.
Sehr verehrter Professor!
I see by the papers that you and Professor Rudolf Eucken have issued an appeal to American professors to support Germany. I know the sentiment among them, and I am very sorry to have to inform you that they would most undoubtedly ask the following highly impertinent question if they could: -
You would kill men and ruin the happiness of women with your militarism, whereas the English shopkeepers would rob you of your means of sustenance and impoverish you into submission. Which were the nobler exhibition at God’s judgment: dead men, weeping women, and no prosperity, the fruits of organized murder, or else impoverished men, angry women, and an overworked posterity, the fruits of organized robbery?
I disclaim all personal responsibility for this widespread opionion and also the current belief among American professors that German government is a disgrace to such a cultivated people as the Germans. I merely transmit this feeling to you in the shape of a pointed question for consideration.
Hochachtungsvollst!
G. D. Osgood.
Querstrasse 14,
Leipzig.