The loss of racial purity ruins the fortunes of a race for ever ; it continues to sink lower and lower in man¬ kind, and its consequences can never be expelled again from body and mind.
Thus, all attempts at reform, and all social work in aid, all political efforts, every increase of economic prosperity, and every apparent addition to scientific knowledge went for nothing. The nation and the organism which made life possible for it on this earth —i.e., the State—did not grow sounder, but waned visibly more and more. The brilliance of the old Empire failed to conceal the inner weakness, and all attempts to add strength to the Reich came to nothing each time, because they persisted in ignoring the most essential questions of all.
That is why, in August, 1914, a nation did not rush full of determination into the battle ; it was merely the last flicker of a national instinct of self-preservation face to face with the advancing forces of Marxism and pacifism, crippling the body of our nation. But since in those fateful days no one realized the domestic foe, resistance was all in vain, and Providence chose not to reward the victorious sword but followed the law of eternal retribution.