Ballin, Vorsitzender des Direktoriums der Hamburg-Amerika Linie, Hamburg. Fuerst von Buelow, Hamburg. Dr. R.W. Drechsler, Direktor des Amerika-Instituts, Berlin. D. Dryander, Ober-Hof-und Domprediger, Berlin. Dr. Freiherr von der Goltz, Generalfeldmarschall, Berlin. Von Gwinner, Direktor der Deutschen Bank, Berlin. Prof. Dr. von Harnack, Berlin. Fuerst von Hatzfeldt, Herzog zu Trachenberg. Dr. Heineken, Direktor des Norddeutschen Lloyds, Bremen. Fuerst Henckel von Donnersmarck. Dr. Kaempf, Praesident des Reichstags, Berlin. Prof. Dr. Eugen Kuehnemann, Breslau. Prof. Dr. Lamprecht, Leipsic. Dr. Theodor Lewald, Direktor im Reichsamt des Innern, Berlin. Franz von Mendelssohn, Praesident der Handelskammer, Berlin. Fuerst Muenster-Derneburg, Mitglied des Herrenhauses. Graf von Oppersdorff, Mitglied des Herrenhauses und des Reichstags, Berlin. Graf von Posadowsky-Wehner. Dr. Walther Rathenau, Berlin. Viktor Herzog von Ratibor. Dr. Schmidt, Ministerialdirektor, Berlin. Prof. Dr. von Schmoller, Berlin. Graf von Schwerin-Loewitz, Praesident des Hauses der Abgeordneten. Wilhelm von Siemens, Berlin. Friedrich Fuerst zu Solms-Baruth. Max Warburg, Hamburg. Siegfried Wagner, Baireuth. * * * * * Try to realize, every one of you, what we are going through! Only a few weeks ago all of us were peacefully following our several vocations. The peasant was gathering in this Summer's plentiful crop, the factory hand was working with accustomed vigor. Not one human being among us dreamed of war. We are a nation that wishes to lead a quiet and industrious life. This need hardly be stated to you Americans. You, of all others, know the temper of the German who lives within your gates. Our love of peace is so strong that it is not regarded by us in the light of a virtue, we simply know it to be an inborn and integral portion of ourselves. Since the foundation of the German Empire in the year 1871, we, living in the centre of Europe, have given an example of tranquillity and peace, never once seeking to profit by any momentary difficulties of our neighbors. Our commercial extension, our financial rise in the world, is far removed from any love of adventure, it is the fruit of painstaking and plodding labor. We are not credited with this temper, because we are insufficiently known. Our situation and our way of thinking are not easily grasped.