AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPT SIGNED (AMS): "Germany's True Greatness" with a TYPED LETTER SIGNED (TLS)
[August - September 1914]. Manuscript. A 13-page working draft in pencil with corrections, mostly on rectos of 5-1/2" x 9" sheets, SIGNED by Burroughs at the conclusion. Written in response to a statement published by two German philosophers defending their country's invasion of Belgium at the outset of World War I. Burroughs contrasts Germany's cultural spirit with its military ambition, praising the country's many contributions to the arts and condemning its militarism. Burroughs notes that American public opinion is nearly unanimous in its opposition to the invasion of Belgium, and he predicts that great changes will occur in Russia as a result of its participation in "the war for the liberation of humanity.... A vast population however bound & tied cannot be set in motion & swayed by new & great impulse, without being in some manner emancipated from past conditions." Along with a letter dated 20 October 1920 to Rev. L. M. Powers. In part: "I do not recant anything I have said about the Germans, and never shall. No array of words can paint them as black as they were. Probably it is all a lie that they sank the Lusitania, that they bombarded hospitals, that they gassed their enemies, and that their submarines were guilty of unspeakable atrocities! Of course we must accept the Germans as a part of the universe, as we do any other evil.... As individuals I have always liked them, but as a nation, I detest them." With a typed transcript of the article. Paper a little brittle, some pages with small chips and tears. Very Good. Item #020101
Price: $3,500.00