I translated the word as loyalty to duty.
"Yes, that may be correct, but it does not ring true. _Pflichttreue_ has an ethical significance which your translation does not convey.
"I have noticed that your conductors shed their uniforms the instant they leave their trains, as if they were ashamed of their job. With us, any uniform, whether a railroad conductor's or a general's, is gloried in, and honored because of the work it represents."
The Nebraskan thought us too democratic for uniforms, which is the reason we do not value them more than we do.
"It is not the uniform, it is our work in which we glory. A shoemaker with us is as proud of his job as the Emperor is of his. He is Emperor by the grace of God, because he believes it is a God-given task to which he must be faithful, and we once had a shoemaker who called himself with equal pride, 'Shoemaker by the grace of God.'
"This pride spiritualizes the simplest and commonest work by making every man a conscious part of the state, and he works for its glory and power. It is a glory shared by his wife and family," and the Herr Director pulled from his pocket a German newspaper. "Look at this funeral notice. The widow signs herself not only as the widow of a particular man, but as the widow of a man who did something of which she is still proud. While she remains a widow she will sign herself _Amalia Henrietta Schmidt Koenigliche Hof Opern Obo Spieler's Wittwe_."
"How can we be proud of our jobs," queried the Nebraskan, after his hearty laugh at _Amalia Henrietta Schmidt_, "when we never have a job which we expect to hold permanently? I started out with school teaching, then I got hold of a good thing in the way of Carborundum and made grindstones. That's what took me to Europe. When that business went bad, I bought out the livery stable in my town, and now I am in the moving picture business. If I could sell out at a good price I'd do it and take up any old thing as long as there is money in it."
He was right. Our work is not sacred to us, for too often it is only the means to an end, and frequently a very selfish end. Because Germany has had centuries of carpenters and tinkers and shoemakers who planed boards and mended pots and shoes "by the grace of God," and swung the hammer as if it were a sword, they are now wielding the sword as if it were a hammer.