^.i^CCa .40ST INTERESTING MAN m EUROPE, THE CENTRAL FIGURE IN THE GREAT WAR. DC FROM THE BENNO LOEWY LIBRARY COLLECTED BY BENNO LOEWY 1854-1919 BEQUEATHED TO CORNELL UNlVERStTY T^_ ..RR '^'l^^date shows when this volume was taken. To renew this book copy the call No. and give to the librarian. HOME USE RULES All books subject to recall All borrowers must regis- ter in the library to borrow books for home use. All books must be re- turned at end of college year for inspection and repairs. Limited books must be returned within the four- week limit and not renewed. Students must return all books before leaving town. Officers should arrange for the return of books wanted during their absence from town. """"^-^^^ Volumes of periodicals and of pamphlets are held in the library as much as possible. For special pur- poses they are given out for a limited time. ~ Borrowers should not use their Hbrapy privileges for the benefit of other persons. Books of special Value and gift books, when the giver wishes it, are not allowed to circulate. Readers are asked to re- port all cases of books marked or mutilated. Do not deface books by maibs and writing. Cornell University Library DD 229.D55 Kaiser: 3 1924 028 222 309 o.io,a«i XI Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028222309 THE KAISER ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^v ^ dMHHJI^^^ .^V^H^ ^^^HH^^^m^^^^^^^^^^^^H ^■^^^^K^p^^ ^Mjk|te,,^i^^^^^^H ^^^^^^^Ej^T^o^^^^^^'^^v ^j^l^^^lE^^^Hi^^^ '' s^^^^^^l ^pS^^SlBjMf ^^^j^j^^jjp: ' '^^H Hv' "!^^'t^^ .^"^l^Bk ^^^1 ^^^V m^S^ - :mS^^\ • '^'^"' ' '^S^^^lk' ;^^^^^l ^^^^■jl^^^^^^^pv^'.y/^l^ ■IMe^ ^^^^fSB)^mma„I^^y^S^^^tlt^^ ' ^^^^^^^^^1 H^^H^^^^^^' ^ _^B "^^MMp''B^^^KjN' ' - ''^^^IH R^^^^^^^^^r 'it . *'*^"^Mk SHd^^^HH^S^^^^HflBL. ' >^^^^^ w-^^^.^;/ m. '^^Lz:^m^^mki^s^ \ li^Hi^^il m u^^^^^l^^- ^MiU ^^^Hj^^^^'^^ /^M il^^^^^^^H|B>'i#^^H ^H^HBp^ v^M^^^n^^^^^HHjjH^Ut^J^H ^H ^ VK^E ^'^B vl^BS^HBiP^V ^' ""^^^^^^ J^^^^ ^m ■" ^m "VHK#B^ ^.dlil^M^aBWr JF ' "-^^^p^ : I nr ^Klfc, .JImHIf' "% ■^ /i d^BlHt'''^^l^^'' '■''''"" ,.,..j ■I^^HK^B^ ' flf HLJ^^Fj^^v.- -'^2 ^^^^^^^^hSe ^^^^^^^^^Bt ^^^I^^^^hL' ''^i:^^i>^''"-'^-«^- ..^diH^^^H ^B^^^^O^^BpP^^'i' ^^p^f^^a0^igSjjmjai^^^^tam^^^^ ^^K^^^ afe^^^P ^^^^^^S?^^ ''■' ^'^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^1 HP ^|k ;,,^,^^^^9|ki^ H. - 1 '^Hj^^^^ii^^^^H ^^B -^ j^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^l ^gi^i^gii^^i^^B^^B^^H^B THE KAISER AS A ROMAN EMPEROR AT AIX, IN 1902, IN COMPARING THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE WITH THE PRESENT GERMAN EMPIRE, THE KAISER SAID: "'nOW ANOTHER EMPIRE HAS ARISEN. THE GERMAN PEOPLE HAS ONCE MORE AN EMPEROR OF ITS OWN CHOICE. WITH THE SWORD ON THE FIELD OF BATTLE HAS THE CROWN BEEN WON. . ." THE KAISER A BOOK ABOUT THE MOST INTERESTING MAN IN EUROPE EDITED BY ASA DON DICKINSON ILLUSTRATED GARDEN CITY NEW YORK DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 1914 Copyright, 19H, by DOUBLEDAT, PaGE & COMPANT All rights reierted. including that oj translation into foreign languages, including the Scandinavian PREFACE Not since the days of Napoleon has one man so captured the pubHc imagination; never in the past century has a nation been so personified in one being; not since the time of the "Corsican Ogre" have the woes of Europe been so frankly attributed to one ruler; never has a man been so universally vihfied and lampooned, both in word and drawing. The cartoonists have been busy. We have seen him as the brutal horseman riding Europe, which bucks beneath his spur (Italy forming the booted heel, Denmark the spiked hehnet, and Spain the lowered head of the enraged broncho). We have seen him as Mona Lisa, as Mars, as the imscrupulous War Lord unleashing his iron battahons. Bulletin board and hoarding, newspaper and maga- zine, proclaim from coast to coast this popular conception of the Kaiser, imtil even his attempts to assist Americans stranded in Germany be- come part of a gigantic plot to hoodwink the United States and win her potent sympathy for a brutal cause. Then there comes the necessary reaction to this swift generahzation. We hear that voice crying aloud to the people of Berhn — " Sie haben mir das Schwert in die Hand gedruckt: ich kann nicht anders" — ("They have forced the sword into my hand, I cannot do otherwise.") We are told that the War Lord stained the call to arms with tears. We recall the undoubted services this man has rendered to his nation. Is it possible that we were mistaken.? Is Germany really a peace-loving nation, whose peace-loving sovereign has been goaded into war by jealous and unscrupulous rivals.? Where is the truth? Like it or not, the United States has become the Umpire. With one accord the warring nations, as they draw swords and plunge into the din, cry out to us to watch the struggle and see fair play. Here in the golden days of a beautiful autumn work goes forward as usual and we sometimes forget the horrors of that struggle. But, whether rightly or wrongly, public attention has focussed on the Kaiser as the one who might have halted the trouble and did not. Europe turns to us — determined neutrals — expecting an impartial verdict. It behooves us, then, the people of the United States, while holding fast to our neutrality as enjoined by our President, to inform vi PREFACE ourselves concerning this strong man and his accompKshment. He has done good. He has done evil. So much will probably be granted by all. But does the good or ill predominate.? This book is the result of an honest endeavour by several men to marshal fairly and present without prejudice the significant facts about Wilham II, German Emperor, the most interesting figure in the world to-day. Each contributor has treated that period or aspect of the subject upon which special study and reflection have quahfied him to speak with authority. If admiration or contempt shines through the narrative here and there, it is only because such feehngs must inevitably be inspired by any serious study of the Kaiser's personahty. November, 1914- CONTENTS CHAPTBB PAGE I. The Kaiser as a Man 3 II. The Kaiser's Background^ — a Biologist's View ... 23 III. The Kaiser's Accession to the Throne and the Dis- missal of Bismarck 28 IV. The Kaiser and His Army 39 V. The Kaiser and His Navy 51 VI. The Kaiser's Foreign Pohcy 63 VII. Commercial and Industrial Progress of Germany Under William II 78 VIII. The Kaiser and the Government 97 IX. The Kaiser and the Reichstag Ill X. The Kaiser and the SociaKsts 132 XI. The Kaiser and German Culture 157 XII. William the Vain, Versatile, and Indiscreet . . . 162 XIII. The Kaiser— in His Own Words 178 Chronology 196 Index 199 vii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS The Kaiser as a Roman Emperor Frontispiece FACING PAGE The Kaiser's boyhood 4 The Kaiser grows up 12 Four generations of HohenzoUerns 16 The Kaisier's mother, the Empress Friedrich 20 Bismarck and William II 24 "Dropping the Pilot" 28 Taking on the pilot 28 Kaiser for four years — 1892 32 The Kaiserin in 1892 36 The Kaiser at thirty-eight (1897) 40 The Kaiser and the Kaiserin 44 The Kaiser as a yachtsman in 1904 48 Kaiser for twenty years — 1908 52 Two of the Kaiser's residences 56 The Palace at Berlin — ^interiors 60 The Kaiser in costume 64 The Palace at Corfu 68 The Kaiser at dinner with his generals 72 Some of the Kaiser's imiforms 76 The Kaiser and General Helmuth von Moltke 80 The Kaiser in the uniform of the Body Guard 84 A group of royal relatives 88 With King George at an army and navy tournament ... 92 The Kaiser with his medals 96 The Crown Prince 100 The five yoimger sons of the Kaiser ........ 104 The Kaiser's only daughter 108 The Kaiser and his six sons ....... . . ._ . 112 ix X LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FACING PAGE Three HohenzoUerns 116 The Kaiser and his grandsons 120 Young HohenzoUerns 124 On the Meteor 128 On the annual Norway cruise 128 A Christmas party at the New Palace at Potsdam, in 1913 . . 132 On the captain's bridge 136 A sermon on the Hohenzollern, June, 1901 136 The Kaiser with King Haakon of Norway 140 The Kaiser and Theodore Roosevelt 144 Reviewing his troops 148 The Kaiser in 1908 152 An imconventional portrait 156 The Kaiser at Corfu 160 The left arm 164 The War Lord 168 The Kaiser in citizen's dress 168 The Kaiser in jovial mood 172 The Kaiser with the Czar 176 The Kaiser with King Albert of Belgium 176 The Kaiser, the Czar, and Grand Duke Nicholas .... 180 The Kaiser and Count Zeppehn 184 The two Kaisers 188 The Kaiser and Franz Ferdinand 192 THE KAISER THE KAISER CHAPTER I THE KAISER AS A MAN ENDLESS are the contradictions we read about William of Hohen- zoUern. Alfred Fried won a Nobel Prize for telling us that "The War Lord is developing into a Peace Maker." Norman Angell begs us to discredit the legend that the only ruler who has main- tained peace throughout his reign is so disturbing an element. On every hand our German friends tell us that war was forced upon them, and that the Kaiser was the true friend of peace; that a merchant does not make war upon his customers, and that the German Empire only desired economic prosperity. But even after a wave of noise and horror, so many newspaper head- lines and so much arguing, the cool small voice of common sense re- asserts itself. Are we to beUeve that the chum of Krupp, the darUng of the Prussian army, and the godfather of the German navy is really the world's greatest pacifist? There is at least one solid ground on which we can set foot amid all this welter of reeling civilization and cries of pain. It is this: that the si vis pacem para bellum doctrine is once for all ex- ploded. Never again shall that hoodwink us. Never again shall we believe that the sure way to prevent accidents is to load the gun. W^ith so gigantic a bloodhound as the German army straining on the leash, the cord was boimd to snap sooner or later. WilUam, who has been practising wearing uniforms ever since he put off petticoats, may now do so in earnest. But there is no need to be dismayed by these contradictions. It is foolish to demand of our rulers a consistency that we never find in our- selves. A king is only a plain man in an exceptionally trying position. And because the Kaiser was esteemed a valiant fighter for peace is no reason why he should not be (once aroused) an equally valiant fighter for war. Fried's book ("The German Emperor and the Peace of the World") makes sad reading to-day, but its picture of the Kaiser is prob- ably a true one. William II has fought hard for peace, just as s 4 THE KAISER he has fought hard for everything. "I only wish that European peace lay in my hands. I should certainly take care it should never be dis- turbed." He said that four years ago. Undoubtedly he meant it when he said it. The fierce light that beats upon a throne need not dazzle us in our estimate of the Kaiser. If we met him in business we would find him a pugnacious, honest, and vigorous merchant; tireless, shrewd in the ob- vious things but totally lacking in finesse, and incapable of realizing his own Hmitations. Interested conscientiously in the arts and sciences but without the finer perceptions, physically strenuous, sometimes annoyingly pushing, and a loud singer of hymns on Sundays, he would prove in the long run a tiresome companion. And yet in the naif vigour of his body and the uncomprehending doggedness of his mind there would be a certain courageous mortal clay that we must admire. As a travel- ling salesman he would have been immense. He has that firm grasp of the obvious that makes tolerable hundreds of miles of club-car stories. At the present time no man's person is better known to the world. The keen, resolute face, with its carefully drilled sternness, its rather cold gray eyes, and well-groomed brown moustache (which years of sagacity have brought back almost to a level; the preposterous curve, like some other youthful folhes, is a thing of the past), are vividly filmed in every man's mind. Physical vigour and alertness are patent in his every action. If he were an American business man we would hear him talk- ing of efficiency. In spite of the withered left arm (which he so cunningly conceals in most of his poses) he can ride, swim, row, and shoot. At fifty-five he is as active as ever. "Indefatigable" is the stock adjective for sovereigns who, after all, rarely travel on foot; but it does seem that the Kaiser does not spare himseK. Speeches, reviews, regattas, a company of savants to be lectured, or a roomful of artists to be lessoned in their technique — ^he is ready for it all. He has all the worst foibles of the self-made man. He is a gold mine for the humourists. And yet he has the shining virtue which Price Collier imputes to him: he is a man in love with his job. There has never been the slightest doubt about this. The Kaiser is an emperor and proud of it. It is inter- esting that in this second decade of the twentieth century there is still a man who is heartily proud to be a hereditary monarch. Being in love with his job, he has a rare zest in its performance. We are told that he is frequently out of bed by five o'clock in the morn- Pliotiij^fr.iph by Brown Brothers ONE YEAR OLD, 1860 Pliotugraph by Brown Brothers EIGHT YEARS OLD, 1867 ~1 Pliotograpll Ijy Brown Brothers FOI'RTEEN YEARS OLD, 1873 THE KAISER'S BOYHOOD THE KAISER AS A MAN 5 ing and has put considerable work behind him by his 6:30 breakfast. From his EngUsh mother, perhaps, he inherited the British passion for cold baths which does not come naturally to every Teuton. In this connection an amusing story is told of his youth when he used to balk at the tub — so much so that the nurses had to complain to his father. Crown Prince Frederick. The Crown Prince thereupon directed the sentries at the palace gates not to salute the boy when he was taken out for his daily airings. The child promptly noticed the omission and complained to his father. The latter explained to the future Kaiser that "sentries were not allowed to present arms to an unwashed prince." The stratagem is said to have been wholly successful. Before attempting to give some idea of how the Kaiser spends an average day it may be of interest to outUne his usual division of the year. January is generally spent in Berhn, as this month is the height of the court season. The New Year festivities, balls, receptions, and the im- perial birthday on the 27th help to pass the time. The Berlin season extends until well on into February. The latter part of this month and most of March he generally spends in Potsdam, motoring into Berlin when necessary. ' April and part of May are spent at "Achil- leion," his villa at Corfu. Toward the end of May the Kaiser returns to Germany and goes to Wiesbaden for the operatic festival, but he is back in Berlin at the end of the month for the spring parade of the Berlin and Potsdam garrisons. In June there comes the famous yachting week at Kiel, of which he is so constant a patron; then the annual tour in the HohenzoUern along the coast of Norway. It was from this trip that he returned suddenly when the international crisis developed at the end of July, 1914. In more peaceful years the Norway trip would last until September; then comes the return to the fatherland for the autumn manoeuvres. October and November are devoted to shooting at one of the various imperial hunting lodges or to visits among distinguished noblemen and captains of industry. The whole of December is generally spent at Potsdam, where Christmas is celebrated in the good old German way. Some such programme as this, interspersed with innumerable incidental activities — a trip to London, reviews of the fleet, christenings of new ocean greyhounds, speeches, dinners, receptions to famous visitors, musi- cal festivals, sermons, and stage-managing of operas — such are a few of the things that help to make time pass easily for this Admirable Crichton among monarchs. 6 THE KAISER From a recent biography of the Kaiser we quote the following description of the BerUn and Potsdam palaces: "It is difficult to communicate an impression of the court, whether at the Schloss in Berlin or the New Palace in Potsdam, and at the same time avoid the dry and dusty descriptions of the guide-books. If the reader is not in Berlin, let him imagine the fragment of a medieval town, situated on a river and fronted by a bridge; and on the bank of the river a dark, square, massive, and weather-stained pile of four stories, with barred windows on the groimd floor as defence against a possibly angry populace, and a sentry-box at each of its two lofty wrought-iron gates. It may be, as Baedeker informs us it is, a 'handsome example of the German renaissance,' but to the foreigner it can as equally suggest a large and grimy barracks as the five-hundred-year-old palace of a long line of kings and emperors. And yet, to any one acquainted with the blood-stained annals of Prussian history, who knows something of the massive stone buildings about it and of the people who have inhabited them, who strolls through its interior divided into sombre squares, each with its cold and bare parade-ground, who reflects on the relations be- tween king and people, closely identified by their historical associations yet sundered by the feudal spirit which still keeps the Crown at a dis- tance from the crowd, above all to the German versed in his country's story — ^how eloquently it speaks ! "When one thinks of the Court of Berlin one should not forget that the New Palace, the Emperor's residence at Potsdam, sixteen miles distant from the capital, is as much, and as important, a part of it as the royal palace in Berlin itself. The Emperor divides his time between them, the former, when he is not travelHng, being his more permanent residence, and the latter only claiming his presence during the winter season and for periods of a day or so at other parts of the year, when oc- casion requires it. It is only during the six or eight weeks of the winter season that the Empress and her daughter (the Duchess of Brunswick) go into residence at the Berlin royal palace. There is a railway between Potsdam and Berlin, but since the introduction of the motor-car the Emperor almost always uses that means of conveyance for the half- hour's run between his Berlin and Potsdam palaces." We spoke of the Kaiser as a travelling salesman. He is in fact known as the Reise-Kaiser (travelling Kaiser) and is continually whirl- THE KAISER AS A MAN 7 ing from one part of the empire to another, impressing his subjects with his continual activity. There is no doubt, of course, that the sea is his favoixrite relaxation, and doubtless he is never happier than on Simdays aboard the Hohenzollern when he can preach the grandiloquent sermons in which he takes such whole-hearted delight. But most of his journeying is naturally done by rail. Many years ago he thought it necessary to explain himseK publicly in reference to the idea, prevalent among his people at the time, that he was travel- ling too much. "On my travels," he said, "I design not only to make myself acquainted with foreign countries and institutions, and to foster friendly relations with neighbouring rulers, but these journeys, which have been often misinterpreted, have high value in enabling me to ob- serve home aflFairs from a distance and submit them to a quiet exami- nation." He expresses something in the same order of thought in a speech telling of his reflections on the high seas concerning his responsi- biUties as ruler: "When one is alone on the high sea, with only God's starry heaven above him, and holds communion with himseK, one will not fail to appreciate the value of such a journey. I could wish many of my coimtrymen to hve through hours like these, in which one can take reckoning of what he has designed and what achieved. Then one would be cured of too much self-esteem — and that is what we all need." From a recent book we borrow an interesting description of his mode of railway traveUing: "When the Emperor is about to start on a journey, confidential telegrams are sent to the railway authorities concerned, and immedi- ately a thorough inspection of the line the Emperor is about to travel over is ordered. Tunnels, bridges, points, railway crossings, are all subjected to examination, and spare engines kept in immediate readiness in case of a breakdown occurring to the imperial train. The pohce of the various towns through which the monarch is to pass are also com- municated with and their help requisitioned in taking precautions for his safety. Like any private person, the Emperor pays his own fares, which are reckoned at the rate of an average of about four dollars a mile. A recent journey to Switzerland cost him $1,000 in fares. Of late years he has saved money in this respect by the more frequent use of the royal motor-cars. The royal train is put together by selecting those re- quired from fifteen carriages which are always ready for an imperial journey. If the journey is short, a parlour-car and dining-car are deemed 8 THE KAISER suflScient; in case of a long journey the train consists of a saloon car in addition, with two parlour-cars for the suite and two cars for the baggage. The train is always accompanied by a high official of the railway, who, with mechanics and spare guard, is in direct telephonic commimication with the engine-driver and guard. The carriages are coloured alike, ivory-white above the window-line and lacquered blue below. "All the carriages, with the exception of the dining-car, are of the corridor type. A table runs down the centre of the diaing-car; the Emperor takes his seat in the centre, while the rest of the suite and guests take their places at random, save that the elder travellers are supposed to seat themselves about the Emperor. If the Emperor has guests with him they naturally have seats beside or in the near neighbourhood of their host. Breakfast is taken about half -past eight, lunch at one, and dinner at seven or eight. The Emperor is always talkative at table, and often draws into conversation the remoter members of the company, occasionally calling to them by their nickname or a pet name. He sits for an hour or two after dinner, with a glass of beer and a huge box of cigars before him, discussing the incidents of the journey or recalling his experiences at various periods of his reign." Of course it is hard to map out a programme which will give a faithful impression of the Kaiser's average working day. So versatile and vigorous a man is not boimd by official routine, but he is eminently a business man and realizes the value of system. Otherwise he could never get through his multifarious tasks. The Kaiser's day, as suggested above, begins at a very early hour; the time appointed for breakfast is generally about 6:30. Getting up means a real getting up for the Kaiser; he never dallies in a smoking jacket or lounging-robe. In fact, as he once remarked, "We Hohen- zoUerns know nothing about dressing-gowns." Probably he never read in bed in his Ufe! The Emperor and Empress have their breakfast alone. The meal is generally a simple one, for while the Kaiser appreciates the dramatic value of kingly pomp, his personal tastes are quite frugal. Coffee, omelette, hot rolls, and cutlets are the usual menu — the Empress pre- pares the coffee with her own hands in a "coffee machine."* By eight o'clock the Emperor is in his study ready to attack the formidable array * On the Continent every American novelty is a "machine." A coffee percolator is a "coffee machine"; a typewriter a "literary machine," and so on. THE KAISER AS A MAN 9 of mail and state papers which his secretaries have already classified. He is exceedingly conscientious, and in his office hours shows a marked resemblance to his famous grandmother, Queen Victoria of England. Like her, he permits no document to pass through his hands before he has mastered its contents and annotated his verdict in a big scrawling hand. The Kaiser takes a real joy in his work, and in that early morn- ing session in his study, still glowing from the cold bath and full of his characteristic aggressiveness, he accomphshes a quantity of work which any American business man might envy. The first hour passes quickly, and about nine o'clock Emperor and Empress generally go for a drive, or if the Empress is indisposed to do so the Kaiser will have one of his many beautiful horses saddled for a canter in the Thiergarten, Berlin's most beautiful pleasure ground. Some- times, on a particularly inviting morning, Kaiser and Kaiserin will go for a stroll in the park afoot, accompanied by a few officers. This outing lasts an hour or so, and about ten o'clock follows the real work of the morning. First comes the marshal of the court to re- port on affairs of personal importance to the royal household, and to present a programme of social and state engagements and journeys to be made. This business dispatched, the Kaiser is closeted with various ministers. Perhaps it will be General von Moltke, the chief of staff; Admiral von Tirpitz, head of the Admiralty; then Herr von Bethmann- HoUweg, the Chancellor, whose face shows the Faust-like sorrows of a scholar and philosopher who has sold his soul to the devil of Prussian Militarism. From time to time will come in a secretary of state or perhaps an audience with a distinguished civilian. These three hours from ten to one are the Kaiser's greatest working hours, and in the in- timate discussions with his ministers he displays to the full that briisque, vigorous density which is his most characteristic quality. He is a vi- vacious arguer, emphasizing his points by emphatic gestures with his right arm. Often he moves restlessly about the room, and puflfs a cig- arette. His statesmen find him a hard man to manage, because so often when he differs from them he is right. But his limitations are obvious. He constantly "talks down" to his people — is forever in- structing them in the rudiments of German citizenship and history — and is prone to think that an aspect of pohtical science which is new to him is new to every one else. By one o'clock the morning's work is over, and at half -past one the Emperor and Empress sit down to Mittagessen. This meal is generally 10 THE KAISER held in the Hall of Columns, and certain high functionaries of the court are usually present. A soup, fish, entree, and roast with side dishes and Rhine wine is the usual programme. The Emperor is very particular about having German wines served on his table, being imbued with the common economic fallacy that it is necessarily a good thing to encour- age home industries. In this way he contrasts with bluflF old Bismarck. The iron Chancellor was dining one day with the Emperor when the latter noticed that the statesman was not drinking the German cham- pagne (which he particularly detested). The Kaiser protested at Bis- marck's "lack of patriotism," to which the latter replied: "Your Majesty, my patriotism doesn't extend to my stomach." After luncheon coflfee is served in the Kaiserin's apartments; then, if there are no special arrangements (which there generally are), the royal pair will go driving, attend a concert, visit the studios of sculptors and painters, or perhaps motor out to Potsdam for tea, which English cus- tom is now common in German high society. It is in the afternoon that the loyal Berliner is most likely to see one of the famous primrose coloured motor-cars flashing down Unter den Linden toward the Bran- denburger Thor, while every military man within sight jumps to the salute. The exceptional rapidity with which the Emperor is always driven through the city streets is said to be in order to make anarchist attempts more difficult. Be that as it may, only one serious attack on the Emperor's life has ever been made. This happened in Bremen in 1901, when a half-witted youth flung a piece of railway iron with such accurate aim that it hit the Kaiser beneath one eye, inflicting an ugly cut. By dusk time — ^half-past five or six — urgent affairs of state again occupy the Kaiser, or perhaps he visits one of the foreign ambassadors. This particular time of the day, when the lights are first fit, is his fa- vourite time to be alone in his study to look over the newspaper clippings which have been cut out for him. He is a voracious reader of current periodicals and loves (sometimes) to follow the comments on himself in foreign magazines. These articles are often the subject of vigorous remarks when he is visited by a member of the nation where they have originated. It may be merely a bit of artifice, but the English caller on the Kaiser often finds that he has just been reading the English Review or the Spectator; the American visitor will see on the table a copy of Scribner's or the New York Evening Post; to the Frenchman he will talk of recent articles in the Revue des Deux Mondes. This harmless little THE KAISER AS A MAN 11 trick of impression, however, is not all blufif, for the Kaiser is a genuine and enthusiastic reader, not only of the German authors, but of all modern works on history and economics, of the serious reviews of all nations, and of the classics, particularly Homer and Horace. His voice, which is strong and resonant (the throat operation in 1903 did not injure the vocal organs, maUcious rumours to that effect notwithstand- ing), lends itself to reading aloud, which he loves to do and does well. He will often pick up a book and read aloud for an hour or an hour and a half at a time, for the pleasure of his family circle or a group of in- timates. This late-afternoon session with his books and papers often lasts as long as two hours, but dinner is not as late as in English royal circles. Often after dinner there is a theatre party or a card game; if, however, an evening at home is planned a number of guests are asked to join the party. The Kaiser is insatiable in his desire to meet and talk with all kinds of men whose knowledge may be valuable or interesting to him. When he is face to face with them, however, it is frequently he who does most of the talking. This is not to say, however, that he is not a charming host, and in- nvmaerable anecdotes are told of his geniality and friendliness, particu- larly to visitors from the United States. An American is always persona grata to the Kaiser, who has done so much in the past dozen years to promote commercial and intellectual intercourse between the two nations. For this reason it seems particularly unfair to attribute the recent efforts of the Kaiser to insure the safety of Americans in Ger- many in war time to merely pohtical motives. Stanley Shaw, in "William of Germany," a recent and most inter- esting volume, tells a pleasant story of Mr. W., an American who met the Kaiser recently. Mrs. W. with her children had several times met the Emperor at Kiel, and had been very kindly greeted by him. Mr. Shaw tells the story thus: "Mr. W. was summoned with his friend, General Miles, to an audi- ence of the Emperor in Berlin. Before going to the palace Mr. W^. went to a well-known picture-dealer in the city and bought a small but artistic painting costing about £1,000. He had the picture neatly done up, and carried it oflf under his arm to the hotel where he was to meet General Miles. As they were leaving for the palace the General asked Mr. W. what he was carrying. 'Oh, only a trifle for the Kaiser!' was the reply. 12 THE KAISER The General was horrified, and tried to dissuade his friend from bringing the picture, telling him that the proper procedure was to ask through the Foreign Office or the American Embassy for the Emperor's gracious acceptance of it. Otherwise the Emperor would be annoyed, he would think badly of the American manners, and so on. Mr. W., however, was not to be deterred, and insisted that it would be 'all right.' While waiting in the reception-room for the Emperor, Mr. W. imwrapped the picture and placed it leaning against the wall on a piano. By and by the Emperor came in, and almost the first thing he said, after shaking hands, was to ask what the presence of the picture meant. Mr. W. ex- plained that it was a mark of gratitude for the kindness the Emperor had shown his wife and children at Kiel. The Emperor smiled, said it was a very kind thought, and wilHngly accepted the gift. The story has a sequel. A day or two after a court official called at the hotel, to get from General Miles Mr. W.'s initials, and after another few days had passed reappeared with a bulky parcel. On being opened the par- cel was foimd to consist of a large silver loving-cup, with Mr. W.'s name chased upon it, and imderneath the words, 'From Wilhehn II.'" Appropriate, while we are describing the course of the Emperor's day at home, is an account given by Mr. Shaw in the same book of an informal dinner party at the royal palace : "The Emperor seems to take pleasure in displaying himself to Americans in as republican a hght as possible, and when he desires the company of an American friend, stands on no sort of ceremony. The American's telephone bell may ring at any hour of the day or evening, and a voice is heard — 'Here royal palace. His Majesty wishes to ask if the Herr So-and-So will come to the palace this evening for dinner.' On one occasion this happened to Professor Burgess. The telephone at the Hotel Adlon in Berlin rang up from Potsdam about six in the after- noon, and there was so little time for the Professor to catch his train that he was forced to finish his dressing en route. Or the invitation may be for a glass of beer after dinner, about nine o'clock. "If it is a dinner invitation, the guest, in evening clothes, with his white tie doubtless a trifle more carefully adjusted than usual, drives or walks to the palace. He enters a gate on the south side facing the statue of Frederick the Great, and tmder the archway finds a doorway with a staircase leading immediately to the royal apartments on the Photograph by Brown Brothers AT TEX, 1869 Photograph by Brown Brothers AT TWENTY, 1879 Photograph by Brown Brothers AT TWENTY-TWO, 1881 Photograph by Brown Brothers AT TWENTY-NINE, HIS CORONATION YEAR, 1888 THE KAISER GROWS UP THE KAISER AS A MAN 13 first floor. In an anteroom are other guests, a couple of ministers, the Rector Magnificus of the university, and perhaps a 'Roosevelt' or 'exchange' professor; and if the party is not one of men only, such as the Emperor is fond of arranging, and the Empress is expected, the wives also of the invited guests. Without previous notice the Emperor enters (an American lover of slang might almost say 'blows in') with quick steps and a bustling air that instantly fills the room with life and energy, and showing a cheery smile of welcome on his face. The guests are standing round in a half or three quarter circle, and the Emperor goes from one to the other, shaking hands and delivering himself of a sentence or two, either in the form of a question or a remark, and then passing on. When it is not a bachelors' party, the Empress comes in later with her ladies. A servant in the royal livery of red and gold, on a signal from the Emperor, throws open a door leading to the dining-room, and the Emperor and Empress enter first. The guests take their places accord- ing to the cards on the table. If it is a men's party of, say, four guests, the Emperor will seat them on his right and left and immediately op- posite, with an adjutant or two as makeweights and in case he should want to send for plans or books. On these occasions he is usually in the dark blue uniform of a Prussian infantry general, with an order or two blazing on his breast. He sits very upright, and starts and keeps going the conversation with such skill and verve that soon every one, even the shyest, is drawn into it. There is plenty of argument and divergence of view. If the Emperor is convinced that he is right, he will, as has more than once occurred, jestingly offer to back his opinion with a wager. 'I'll bet you!' he will exclaim, with all the energy of an EngUsh schoolboy. He enjoys a joke or witticism immensely, and leans back in his chair as he joins in the hearty peal about him. When cigars or cigarettes are handed round, he will take an occasional puff at one of the three or four cigarettes he allows himself during the evening, or a sip at a glass of orangeade placed before him and filled from time to time. When he feels disposed he rises, and having shaken hands with his guests, now standing about him, retires into his workroom. A few moments later the guests disperse." After a busy day of the kind described, we can imagine that the Kaiser is not a very late sitter. Generally he retires before eleven o'clock unless it is a gala night of some sort. "Rast ich, so rost ich," is the Kaiser's motto ("Rest means rust"); 14 THE KAISER and every reader of the newspapers knows how often his ceaseless bustUng gets him into print. A vivid idea of the way he spends his time can be gained from the Index of the New York Times for the first six months of 1914. And we must remember that the events there recorded are simply such of the Kaiser's doings as found their way into the Ameri- can press. The catalogue is well worth reading. Here is the Kaiser's record for six months: January 3d. — Will pay $1,000,000 in taxes. January 6th. — Reduces the Crown Prince to subordinate rank on General Staff because of telegram to Zabern commander. January 7th. — Seems anxious to remove impression of breach with son. January 10th. — ^Telegram sent to Crown Prince when the latter left his regiment. January 10th. — ^Intervenes to avert rate war between Hamburg-Ameri- can and North German Lloyd Unes, January 10th. — New York Times editorial: "Like Sire, like Son." January 11th. — Orders that his menus be written in German, January 13th, — Chops wood to reduce weight. January 16th. — Orders investigation to determine whether decree authorizing military to ignore civil officials is still in force. January 21st. — Orders that army officers must not take arms of women companions in public. January 25th. — Estimate of his fortune. January 27. — Praises the Crown Prince. Receives bequest of $125,000 from Vahldick, artist, for expansion of navy. Celebrates fifty- fifth birthday; confers honours. January 29th. — Sends wireless message to President Wilson, opening new German service. Praises American women. January 30th. — Receives messages from President Wilson congratulating him on his birthday and on inauguration of new wireless service. January 31st. — Will appoint a royal prince as Viceroy of Alsace-Lorraine. February 1st. — ^Allows son to attend christening of Frau Krupp's son. February 7th. — Berhn newspaper hints that he began war on German branch of American Tobacco Company because of desire to irri- tate America. February " 8th. — Decorates "Parsifal" players; sends sons to various parts of the country to broaden their views and cement friend- ship between provinces and royal houses. THE KAISER AS A MAN IS February 12th.— Narrowly escapes injury in automobile accident. February ISth.— Orders police to promulgate regulations to check speed of motor-ears. February 14th.— Is angered by objections to plan for Royal Opera House; is pleased by review of Berlin Fire Brigade. February 17th. — ^Agreement between Hamburg-American and North German Lloyd lines due to him; he invites both managers to dine with him. February 19th. — ^Report that he has arranged the match between Greek Crown Prince and Princess Ehzabeth of Roumania; will attend wedding. February 28th. — Orders German Embassy at Washington to send repre- sentative to funeral of Putnam Griswold. March 4th. — Orders new competition for plans for Washington Em- bassy. March 12th. — Will meet king of Italy at Venice; signs commission advancing General von Plueskow to command of Eleventh Army Corps. March 15th. — ^Dinner at Austrian Embassy. March 19th. — Will go to Brunswick to see his grandson. March 20th. — ^Abandons plan to go to Brimswick. March 23rd. — ^Leaves BerUn for Corfu, will confer with Austrian Em- peror and Italian King; attends dedication of Royal Library and Academy of Science in Berlin. March 24th. — ^Insures labourers on his Cadinen estate. March 25th. — ^Arrives at Venice. March 26th. — Meets King Victor Emmanuel. March 27th. — ^Belief that his attitude caused Crown Prince to abandon trip to Africa; institutes dinner reforms. March 28th. — ^Praises F. Eglinski, father of thirty-five children. April 5th. — Report that he has expressed anti-CathoKc views in letter to Landgravine of Hesse officially denied. April 9th. — ^Writes to Czar of Russia on behalf of three German aero- nauts in prison in Russia. April 11th. — Confers order of the Red Eagle on Jules Blanck. Promises to name new Hamburg-American Line vessel. April 12th. — ^Amusement caused by daily bulletins of his archseological activities at Corfu. His attitude toward temperance in the navy. April 15th. — ^Adopts a new motto. 16 THE KAISER May 12th. — Ends rate war between German shipping lines. May 16th. — ^Prussian Diet disapproves his plans for Royal Opera House. May 17th. — Does not like his army officers to play polo because of dangers involved. Discusses modern dancing with Mme. Anna Pavlowa. May 18th. — Checks Herr Balhn's movement for exhibit at Panama- Pacific Exposition after hearing of Anglo-German agreement. May 29th. — Has a cold. May 30th. — ^Will not enter elevators unless assured of their safety; tests invention of "hve targets" and has them installed in cadet and training schools. June 2d. — ^Attends the "white roll" feast of the German army. June 20th. — Exchanges wireless message with President Wilson. Sends Bible to German Evangehcal Church in New York. June 23d. — ^Advises Prince Wilham of Wied to resist insurgents in Albania. June 25th. — Will give cup to winner of yacht race at Panama-Pacific Exposition. June 26th. — ^Visits British flagship at Kiel. June 27th. — ^Annoyed by arrest of Lord Brassey at Kiel. June 28th. — ^Approves Crown Prince's trip to the colonies; praises popu- lar sports. June 29th. — ^Returns to Berlin from the yacht races after hearing of assassination of Archduke Ferdinand. Jxme 30th. — Will attend funeral of the Archduke. Of the Kaiser's habits there is none more pronounced than his zeal for being photographed and for wearing uniforms. This, however, is not merely personal vanity. The Emperor firmly beUeves that the consohdation of German feeling is assisted by the placarding of his picture in every possible place. In every railway station, restaurant, every public office, all over the empire the familiar features recur. Un- doubtedly the personification of the German bureaucracy in the figure of the Kaiser, thus continually reimpressed upon the minds of the people, does quicken a sense of the all-pervading activity of the govern- ment. One of the small riddles of German daily life is the question why the royal face does not appear on the stamps and coins as it does in Eng- land. But this omission is more than made up for by the Kaiser's speeches. They have already overflowed four fat volvunes. The Photograph by Paul Thompson FOUR GENERATIONS OF HOHENZOLLERNS EMPEROK WILHELM I HOLDING THE PRESENT CROWN PRINCE; ON HIS RIGHT, THE LATE EMPEROR FRtEDRICH; ON HIS LEFT, THE PRESENT EMPEROR THE KAISER AS A MAN 17 English make fun of the Kaiser as a spellbinder, but the American who appreciates the arts of the stump cannot help admiring the vigour and readiness of these public addresses. Egotistical and imperative as they are, they are none the less clear, logical, and terse, epigrammatic and full of historic allusion and moral fervour. Now and then the Kaiser rises to a real height of oratory, as will be seen in another chapter. In nothing is the Kaiser's contrast with the English King more in- teresting than in his hobby of uniforms. A recent article in the World's Work contained thirty-two different photographs of him: only six showed him in civilian costume, and three of these were juvenile pictures. Nothing is more significant of the temper of German life than this ever- lasting uniform business, with which Englishmen and Americans have very httle sympathy. The King of England does not appear in military costume unless the occasion demands it, whereas the Kaiser prac- tically always wears it, except when playing tennis, of which he is very fond. Even then a miUtary cloak covers him as soon as the game is over. The agihty with which one uniform is changed for another and the frequent transformations would do credit to any of our vaudeville knockabouts. But, as G. K. Chesterton has pointed out in his whimsical book, "Varied Types," we must not scold the Kaiser because he enjoys wear- ing his uniforms. It is part of his job, and (as we said before) he has the distinction of enjoying his job and being proud of it. Most royal persons avoid the invidiousness of being kings by trying to be something else. King Leopold became a haunter of stage doors and ran a scandalous villa in the Alps. Edward VII was a man about town. The late Emperor of Japan became a poet. Each of these gentlemen was proud not of being a ruler but of being something else. But the Kaiser finds his hereditary job absorbing enough. He is the Kaiser, and that takes all his time. Simply that and nothing more. If you reply that he is also a stage director, a composer, a painter, and an ad- miral in the British navy, it is necessary to explain that he considers all these things an essential part of his job as Kaiser. Mr. Chesterton's defence of the Kaiser is so excellent a bit of foolery and contains withal so sound a germ of sense that it is pleasant to quote. After praising him as a twelfth-rate poet, Chesterton continues: "Most assuredly we ought not to abuse the Kaiser because he is fond of putting on all his uniforms; he does so because he has a large 18 THE KAISER number of established and involuntary incarnations. He tries to do his duty in that state of life to which it shall please God to call him; and it so happens that he has been called to as many different estates as there are regiments in the German army. He is a huntsman and proud of being a huntsman, an engineer and proud of being an engineer, an infantry soldier and proud of being so, a light horseman and proud of being so. There is nothing wrong in all this; the only wrong thing is that it should be confined to the merely destructive arts of war. The sight of the German Kaiser in the most magnificent of the imiforms in which he had led armies to victory is not in itself so splendid or delight- ful as that of many other sights which might come before us without a whisper of the alarms of war. It is not so splendid or delightful as the sight of an ordinary householder showing himself in that magnificent uniform of purple and silver which should signalize the father of three children. It is not so splendid or delightful as the appearance of a young clerk in an insvirance office decorated with those three long crim- son plxunes which are the well-known insignia of a gentleman who is just engaged to be married. Nor can it compare with the look of a man wearing the magnificent green and silver armour by which we know one who has induced an acquaintance to give up getting drunk, or the blue or gold which is only accorded to persons who have prevented fights in the street. We belong to quite as many regiments as the German Kaiser. Our regiments are regiments that are embattled everywhere; they fight an unending fight against all that is hopeless and rapacious and of evil report. The only difference is that we have the regiments., but not the uniforms. "Only one obvious point occurs to me to add. If the Kaiser has more than any other man the sense of the poetry of the ancient things, the sword, the crown, the ship, the nation, he has the sense of the poetry of modem things also. He has one sense, and it is even a joke against him. He feels the poetry of one thing that is more poetic than sword or crown or ship or nation — the poetry of the telegram." The last leads us on to another trait of the Kaiser which the late Price CoUier (in his admirable "Germany and the Germans") indicates by dubbing him "The Indiscreet." It is not necessary to enlarge upon this here, as the topic will be discussed in another chapter; but Chester- ton's Httle dig at the Kaiser's habit of strewing telegrams is a palpable hit. Desiring that no question of importance shall be decided without THE KAISER AS A MAN 19 Germany and Germany's ruler having a say, he has taken it upon him- self to distribute praise and blame by electric current in all parts of the world and in the most uncalled for fashion. The telegraphic bestowal of his Order of Merit upon both Stoessel and Nogi when Port Arthur fell is only a minor instance of this. Other and better known telegraphic indiscretions are not far to seek. S. S. McClure in his recent autobiography speaks of having seen a portrait of the Kaiser which he had presented to an army officer. It had been autographed "Cave, Adsum." This pugnacity of the Kaiser forms an interesting topic. By nature a fighter, quick to ob- serve and slow to comprehend, stiff-necked and tough-fibred, he has never had the salutary drubbings that the world gives to the more fortunate — the "celestial hail of thwacks" that George Meredith ex- tols. It must be remembered, too, that his boyhood was spent amid the unparalleled military glory of the Franco-Prussian war and the endless hurrahing of the newly founded empire. The chef d'oeuvre of his adolescent paintings was a water colour of a combat between an armoured ship and a torpedo boat. What H. G. Wells calls "tram- pling drilhng foolery" has echoed round about him all his hfe. It would be strange if he were not a "war lord." He probably finds in the wars of the Old Testament a supreme justification of the arts of carnage. His belief in "our good old God" who will grant victory to the German Eagles is undoubtedly sincere. There is nothing more char- acteristic of one side of his personality than the portrait of himself as Mars, painted under his own direction by Eberlein. Astride of a white charger, brandishing a dagger not unHke the classical thunderbolt, ejaculating lightnings from the imperial eyes — thus, doubtless, he wants Prussia to remember him, and in some such guise he perhaps intends to be perpetuated in that avenue of HohenzoUern cartoons, the Siegesallee. The usual cant of journalists ascribes to the Kaiser a "very com- plex" character. As a matter of fact he is simple enough. Mrs. Gatty in her excellent moral tales for girls explains that a weed is only a vege- table out of place. The Kaiser is only an excellent business man out of place. A sovereign by divine right is now three hundred years too late. The doctrine of lese majeste cannot coexist with the telephone and the aeroplane and the anti-diphtheritic serum. The very name betrays it: it is the Roman LoBsa majestas; and as we no longer speak Latin we can 20 THE KAISER no longer live under Roman theories. The Holy Roman Empire, which he refers to so often and so fondly, is not to be revived. It needs to be insisted that the Kaiser as a human being is not a bad fellow. Something of the lovableness of "unser Fritz," his gentle father, and something of the cold-water virtues of his English mother, wrestle for utterance in the Prussian bureaucrat. His chivalrous dis- position, his indomitable energy, his wholesome delight in living, his perpetual interest in new discoveries, and his admirable illusions as to his own artistic appreciation' — all these are endearing human qualities. A life so brisk and Spartan as his has left no room for scandal. He neither overeats nor overdrinks; his virtues are military. And how he has personified his nation in himself! Was there ever a book on Ger- many published without a picture of the Kaiser as frontispiece.'* What if he does consider himself the chosen instrument of the Lord.? The President of the Universe can afford to smile at that. He has forced upon the lethargic German nation a spice of the English love of sport and has sought to preach the English doctrine of fair play. And after all we should remember that it has been much more easy for England to play fair than for Germany. England's island position, girdled by the blue and bracing sea, has enabled her to give points to her rivals. But, to adopt an Enghsh metaphor, it's hard to play fair on a bumpy pitch. However we regret Prussian militarism, we must remember that it was forced upon Prussia originally. She has had to create for her- seK forests of bayonets to take the place of England's barrier of sea. Fate has driven Germany into a bitter position, and every thinking heart must bleed for her " Volk " to-day. As William Morton FuUerton says in "Problems of Power" (published 1913): "Germany deserves our sympathy. She Hes in the centre of Europe, an enemy on each hand; and when she lifts her eyes from her eyrie of Heligoland she beholds in the distance an island fortress manned by men whose one principle of international action has been to prevent any single power from dominating Europe. ... In inter- national relations Germany is reduced to a day-by-day, almost a minute- by-minute, policy of opportunism. . . . Meanwhile the youthful optimism of the plutocratic German oligarchy dreams of improvising a Titanic civilization superior to any that has preceded it. The Pan- German centaurs in the spirit of the Valkyrie outriders are ready to plunge roughshod over the Gallo-Roman fields on which they gaze from 14. iSf . i 1 PhotOfrraph by Brown Brothers THE KAISER'S MOTHER, THE EMPRESS FRIEDRICH SHE WAS A DAUGHTER OF QUEEN VICTORIA OF ENGLAND, AND POSSESSED GREAT INFLUENCE OVER THE KAISBR's FATHER. THEIR PRO-BRITISH SYMPATHIES WERE ABHORRED BY BISMARCK AND THE PRESENT KAISER, WHO THEN STOOD TOGETHER IN EVERYTHING THE KAISER AS A MAN 21 the summits of the Vosges. Thence, traversing the Atlantic, they are braving the Monroeism of the North Americans in Costa Rica, Guate- mala, Nicaragua, and in three great states of southern Brazil. , . " In this very able book Mr. FuUerton shows with convincing logic how before the present war not only did the peace of Europe depend on Germany, but Germany's prosperity lay in her own hands. If she possessed the force of character to abandon the aggressive pohcy of the last ten years' — "if she were to repudiate the majestic dreams of Pan-Ger- manism, the theories of the Bernhardis, she could quietly take the most brilliant and practical revenge for all the humiliating rebuffs of Tangiers and Agadir. She could, if she hked, outstrip all the powers in the ac- cumulation of wealth and in world expansion." Here, alas ! lies the real indictment of the Kaiser and his ministers. They failed to see that Germany's problem was an economic and not a military one. The iron mines of Germany will be exhausted (so it is said) in another forty years. But iron-fields aboimd just over the Franco-German frontier, in the department of Meurthe and Moselle. "In the basin of Briey there is iron enough to last for 250 years," Mr. FuUerton tells us. But, on the other hand, the coal needed for the iron- works of France comes from Germany. Here, then, is simple basis for a commercial entente which would in the end make France and Germany the masters of the world. But German statesmen have ignored this solution to their problems and have kept open the old wounds. At a time when it was essential for her to regain the confidence of the world, Germany has continued to trumpet her faith in the divine right of brute force. More than that, the Kaiser, inheriting the Bismarck pol- icies, has hopelessly muddled them. Would Bismarck have permitted Germany to go to war without a single friend in Europe save the dubious Dual Monarchy.? The Kaiser, in yearning for a place in the sun, has put himseK in a fair way to get sunstroke. Andrew Carnegie in a recent interview in the daily press reminds us that when the war situation arose in July, 1914, the Kaiser was away on his Norway yachting trip. "Be- fore he got back the miUtary clique had made the war inevitable. He was the most sorrowful man in the world when he realized that war could not be averted," says Mr. Carnegie. That may be true, and still the Kaiser may be the one man on whose shoulders responsibility for Germany's sorrows is most likely to be placed. Some day, undoubtedly, a great book will be written about William 22 THE KAISER II, which will collate all his letters, speeches, and state papers, give au- thoritative information about his intimate hfe, and set before posterity a vital, vivid portrait. That of course is impossible now, and the usual twaddle of royal biographies we wilHngly omit. What can it profit us to know that on a given day the imperial kitchen consumed fourteen fillets of beef, fifteen pounds of veal, twelve pounds of beef suet, two hundred pounds of roasting beef, etc. ? The decorations of the Kaiser's hand-painted menus, the picturesque features of the famous Jasper Gallery where dinner is served when he is in Potsdam, the table decora- tions, etc. — these trifles the reader may imagine for himself. Any judgment we may now make of William II can be only pro- visional. But with all our regret for his notable errors, the worst we can say is that he has been a faithful cog in a system into which he was born and to which he took only too kindly. At best, we see in him something rather fine and clean-minded, something of the irrepressible energumen, but also something of the conscientious pilot. He has the defects of his high quahties. A broad-minded judgment of the man must take cognizance of so brilliant a character sketch as Price CoUier's, who sums up: "I believe in a man who takes what he thinks belongs to him, and holds it against the world; in the man who so loves life that he keeps a hearty appetite for it and takes long draughts of it; who is ever ready to come back smiling for another round with the world, no matter how hard he has been punished. I believe that God beheves in the man who beheves in Him, and therefore in himself. Why should I debar a man from my sympathy because he is a king or an emperor? I admire your courage, sir; I love your indiscretions; I applaud your faith in your God, and your confidence in yourself, and your splendid service to your country. Without you Germany would have remained a second-rate power. Had you been what your critics pretend that they would like you to be, Germany would have been still ruling the clouds." But Germany needed a calmer hand than his at the tiller. And what will the great war do to the Kaiser and to Germany.? As yet, no man knows; but one thing is sure^ — 1914 has added one more Annus Mirabilis to the history of the world. If worthy Emma Hobbs, the Enghsh midwife who assisted at the Emperor's birth, is still living, what does she think of it all? CHAPTER II THE KAISER'S BACKGROUND— A BIOLOGIST'S VIEW THE attitude of the Kaiser toward the rest of mankind is not by any means a personal whim, but must be regarded as the product of heredity and environment. It is a fact that kings are a peo- ple set apart — a race peculiar to themselves. The old world tradition that sees in the person of the ruler of the state a being who is diflFerent from the common herd is not so far wrong as a people accustomed to the brisk succession of rulers in a democracy may imagine. The heredi- tary right to rule, coupled with the other great fact that marriages are contracted only with branches of other similarly ruling families, has its inevitable result in breeding up a race apart and different from those around. It is recognized to-day that special kinds of plants and animals can be developed through the systematic selection of certain individuals that measure up to a given ideal standard. Given time, a sufficient num- ber of generations^ — and certain attributes (appearing first as sporadic or unusual instances) become fixed and permanent characteristics so long as the strain is kept pure. It is by a process something like this that the present Emperor of Germany has been produced. Generations of his race set apart, and developed as a ruUng clan, run back from to-day to the early days of the ZoUern family, which ages ago deliberately set out to become a ruling family in Europe. Tradition has had its bearings and influence, too, in the actual upraising and training of royal children. We can look at a trio of European rulers who are now making his- tory — the Kaiser Wilhehn, the Czar Nicholas, and King George — and see them against a background of a thousand years. It is impossible to separate these three from each other, nor for that matter can they be much separated from the whole lot of the reigning monarchs of Europe. Intermarriages among the several branches of their family have occurred so often that to-day the relative power of the one as compared with the others is largely a matter of the particular nation in which the individ- ual finds himself placed. 23 24 THE KAISER These living leaders of the family of kings are the product of long lines of ancestors who have made notable records in the world's history — William the Silent, Frederick Henry of Orange, Mary Queen of Scots, Catherine II of Russia, Peter the Great. Each individual among us stands, so to speak, as the tip of a mighty cone of converging lines, which represents the culminating point of all his ancestry. Each receding generation may be represented by a ring of a greater diameter than that which it supports. Modern scientific research teaches us that by applying the so-called Mendelhan theory we can to a certain degree forecast the results in future generations, provided the development progresses along the preconceived channels. By just this means has the world attained wheats that are hardier and heavier grained than the average. By just such means has the race- horse family been brought to its wonderful perfection of speed and en- durance under high pressure. Similarly have we developed "breeds" of poultry, diflferent "races" of farm and garden crops, and "strains" of flowers and vegetables. But it should be borne in mind that the ideal must ever be kept in view. No outside influence may be admitted from a deficient or different race, strain, or breed. All this has a decided bearing on our present subject. The present Kaiser stands at the apex of his cone, and the widening rings below spread outward and outward, overlapping the whole fabric of the royalty of Europe. We can look back to a definite starting point in the sixteenth century, when the family of seven brothers, having among their posses- sions the city of Luneburg, laid the foundations of the dominating Ger- man family of kings. Central Europe had seen the conflicts of rulers of small territories striving ever for more territory, more power. The acquisition of land meant power to them, and then as in all time families were often united in marriage for the purpose of conserving or enlarging their landed estates. These seven brothers on the border of the Black Forest were in an unsafe situation. According to custom the family lands would be divided among the seven, making just so many puny little dukedoms, whose individual influence could not amount to anything at all; yet whose weight, if united, would count for something in the political affairs of these central European states. (The same fundamental idea it was that welded the present German Empire under the leadership of Emperor William I.) The seven brothers did a remarkable thing: BISMARCK AND WILLIAM II THE ORTGTNATOR OF THE BLOOD AND IRON POLICY AND THE POWER BEHIND THE "MAILED FISt" THE KAISER'S BACKGROUND 25 They agreed among themselves that six of them should retire in favour of the one who should thus be designated as the one and only repre- sentative of the family. The chosen brother (the sixth) thus established the family, and his children entered into a similar agreement among themselves. Thus was modern eugenics practised unwittingly all those years ago. And in this way were laid the foundations of the family of kings. Ernest Augustus, Bishop of Osnabriick, was the selection of the family to bear the family title and property. He married Sophia of Palatine. Their son in due course succeeded to the estates and added to these some others that had come into the line through his mother and otherwise. This son married his cousin; and the existence of this cousin makes it necessary to explain that one of the brothers had broken the pact and married. It was his daughter that became the wife of the head of the family, thus helping to fix the strain. This son of the Bishop of Osnabriick became George I of England, and their daughter married the King of Prussia. Thus in the person of Sophia Charlotte did the Osnabriick race of kings combine with the ZoUern family. For five centuries the various branches of the family of the Count of ZoUem have been dominant factors in the affairs of Central Europe. The HohenzoUerns, as the reigning Prussian branch of that family is now called, have been equally developed by a definite effort toward political control and kingship. Thus we see that the modern Hohen- zoUerns are the direct result of the combination of two family strains dehberately bred for generations toward the ideal of a ruling breed. Of this family are: Albert Achilles, John Sigismund (the Great Elector to whom the Kaiser often compares himself), Frederick the Great (to whom other people most generally compare the Kaiser), and that Mar- grave of Brandenburg whose direct descendant after more than five hun- dred years now occupies the dominating position on the Prussian throne. To the student of the modern. science of heredity there is nothing at all remarkable in the fact that WiUiam II is the sort of man he is; in- deed, the wonder would be were he not the personification of kingship, as he is to-day's representative of perhaps the most highly bred king strain of the human family.* An enumeration of the Kaiser's relatives *NOTB ON THE KAISEE's HOTAL RELATIVES George V, Kiag of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, is the Kaiser's cousin; George's father, Edward VII, being a brother of the Kaiser's mother, Victoria; Edward and Victoria both being children of Queen Victoria of England. So the Kaiser has seen the British throne occupied successively by his grandmother, his uncle, and his coiisin. 26 THE KAISER would be a tedious but impressive demonstration of the preponderance of the royal quaUty in his blood. This successful breeding of the king variety or strain is merely a duplication of what the agriculturist and horticulturist are constantly doing in other fields. It is curious to note that the intermarriage of cousins has not pro- duced the disastrous result that popular behef accords to that mating; and it may well be asked, Why should it? As a matter of fact there is every scientific reason to argue that, as with breeds of animals and plants, so also with human beings should we by this means secure the transmission of special characteristics. Let us look into the question a httle. To quote from one who has worked out the genealogies — ^which by the way are open books to any who care to read: "The father and mother of Frederick the Great were cousins. Both pairs of his grandparents, in turn, were cousins; and his paternal grand- mother was the sister of his maternal grandfather and the cousin of his maternal grandmother. "In the third generation of the four pairs of ancestors, one pair appears in both paternal and maternal strains, so that there are only six persons, and two of the six are brothers; so that there are only five ancestral strains of blood represented, instead of eight. The same sort of duphcation occurred in earher generations. "The diverse strains thus blended and interblended represent an amazing aggregation of talent. Frederick's maternal grandmother was known as the ' Philosophical Queen. ' Her mother, Sophia of Brunswick, has been named as one of the greatest women of modern times. "In the third generation we find also Frederick William, known as the Great Elector, the true foimder of the greatness of Prussia; and The Czarina of Russia, Alexandra Feodorovna, is also the Kaiser's cousin; her mother and his mother being sisters and both being daughters of Queen Victoria. Maude, Queen of Norway, is TCing George of England's sister, and therefore she also is a cousin to the Kaiser. Sophia, Queen of Greece, is the Kaiser's sister. Czar Nicholas of Russia is the Kaiser's second cousin, both being great-grandsons of Charles, Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. They are also related through another conunon ancestor. King Frederick William III of Prussia. Ernst August, Prince of Cumberland and Duke of Brunswick, is the Kaiser's son-in-law. (He is also a cousin of both the Czar and King George and a grandson of Christian IX, King of Denmark.) George II, hereditary Prince of Saxe-Meiningen; Adolph, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe; Frederick Charles, Prince of Hesse, and King Constantine I of Greece are all brothers-in-law of the Kaiser. Margaret, Crown Princess of Sweden, is related to the Kaiser through her mother. Princess Louise- Margaret of Prussia. Manuel II, ex-King of Portugal, married a HohenzoUem princess. Queen Wilhelmina of Holland is now the head of the house of Orange-Nassau. Between this house and the HohenzoUem there were five marriages in the eighty-seven years from 1791 to 1878. It would be tedious to trace the manifold ways in which Wilhelmina and Wilhelm are related. THE KAISER'S BACKGROUND 27 Louisa Henriette of Orange, descendant of the Great William the Silent and the only less celebrated Gaspard II. The blood of WiUiam the Silent appears in three other strains of the pedigree, and that of Mary- Queen of Scots in two strains. In a word, there is scarcely an undis- tinguished name among the forty individuals who represent Frederick's ancestors within five generations; and the fact that these are but forty, instead of the normal sixty-two individuals, in itself reveals graphically the extent to which the various strains of this distinguished ancestry are interwoven." There is yet another side to this very interesting question. Science has shown us that the given attributes of an individual may be either "dominant" or "recessive." This is a way of expressing the idea that some characteristics come at once to the surface while others lurk in the background awaiting the propitious combination of forces which will make them "dominant." Thus, to cite an easily understood illustration, physical family likeness is usually a dominant characteristic and is regularly trans- mitted, whereas certain likes or dislikes may appear in discontinuous generations. Both good and bad quahties are equally capable of trans- mission; for good or bad are merely relative as measured from an arti- ficial standard. This thought is introduced to lay bare a latent strain that may possibly develop in this king breed, given the proper combina- tions of units. The family of the Georges of England, as is well known, has embraced several insane persons. And the Kaiser's mother was a daughter of Queen Victoria, who therefore carried potentiaUties of an insane streak into the HohenzoUern breed. So much then for the distinct background against which Wilham II is produced. As a youngster he was rigidly trained to the king busi- ness, just as he had been bred to it. From his earliest days the sugges- tion of his divine right to rule has been ever before him. At his home his very play was led into this regal channel. On the Jungfernsee at Pots- dam the miniature frigate Royal Luise was a veritable training ship, when Wilham was a boy, to war alarms and management. This twenty- ton toy, a gift from George IV of England to Frederick Wilhelm III, was fully equipped and armed as a battleship. It was the favourite play- ground of this youth with warlike forebears, on whose inherited char- acteristics this method of play must undoubtedly have had its strengthen- ing influence. CHAPTER m THE KAISER'S ACCESSION TO THE THRONE AND THE DISMISSAL OF BISMARCK THE year and a half following the beginning of 1887 was a trying time for Germany. During this period three emperors suc- cessively occupied the throne. The old grandsire, Wilham I, reUnquished the sceptre with his life, at the age of ninety. Almost his last breath was a sigh^ — "Fritz, lieher Fritz" — for his son and successor, Frederick the Noble, who was slowly dying of cancer, far away on the shores of the Mediterranean. But his grandson, the present Emperor William, was at his bedside, and on the very day of his death the old man enjoined the young one to "treat the Emperor of Russia with con- sideration" — an injunction of special interest in connection with the recent newspaper dispatch describing William's defiant telegram to the Czar in which he impolitely calls him "semi-Asiatic barbarian!" The dying son hurried back to the death-bed of his father, whom he succeeded on the throne for ninety-nine days only, and then succumbed to his disease. It is worth while to know something of these Emperors' relations to one another, and to the "Vice Emperor," Bismarck, if we would understand the grandson who has become in turn a grandfather as well as the most prominent figure in the world of to-day. Frederick the Noble, son and father, is a melancholy figure. An upright, amiable man with no special force of character, it was his misfortune to be surrounded by those who overshadowed him. He had a fine presence, looked every inch a king, and seems to have known and enjoyed his own regal appearance. For there was a strong theatrical element in his character, which is perhaps the only personal quality that he bequeathed to his son. He had a fine mind, but lost himself in dreams, and the stronger natures about him forced him to seem rather than to be — videri quam esse. He had small place in the counsels of the realm. His part as a soldier was played creditably enough, but when the wars were over there was no special activity which claimed him, and he may perhaps be said to have sunk into uxoriousness. He was so devoted to 28 DROPPING THE PILOT THE FAMOUS CARTOON BY SIR JOHN TENNIEL WHICH APPEARED IN " PUNCH ' ON THE OCCASION OF BISMARCK's DISMISSAL IN 1890 Photo^rfi[jh by lllu:3tration Bureau TAKING ON THE PILOT "to THE ENDLESS COMPLAINTS ABOUT 'the NEW course' . . . I ANSWER CONFIDENTLY AND DECIDEDLY: 'mY COURSE IS THE EIGHT ONE, AND I SHALL CONTINUE TO STEBE IT!' . . . SO NOW, FULL SPEED AHEAD ! " ACCESSION AND BREAK WITH BISMARCK 29 his capable English wife that there are stories which describe him as gazing longingly on her portrait till the tears came into his eyes, while he was absent from her side during some campaign. It can readily be imagined how such Werther-like sentimentaKty would disgust Bismarck — man of blood and iron and hater of all things English — ^whose enthu- siastic loyalty to his "old master," the Emperor, was a feeling strictly personal and exclusive. The young WilUam was a zealous admirer of his grandfather and the Iron Chancellor, and received weekly lessons from the two old men in kingcraft and statecraft respectively. His fihal affection may be said to have skipped a generation. Frederick's position of isolation bred in him excessive melancholy and forced him to console himself by still further rehance upon the society and hberal opinions of his wife and her EngKsh relatives, which in turn alienated him still further from his strenuously German son whose beUef in the divine mission of kings has never wavered. So things went from bad to worse for Frederick, and when the German physicians diagnosed an obstinate throat trouble as cancer, and hinted to him that he had but a short time to live, his discouragement was so great that he intimated that he would never reign, but would allow his son WilKam to succeed the old Emperor whose death must be expected within a very short time. This idea seems to have been received by the young man with a very considerable degree of complaisance, but with his mother, the Crown Princess, it was far otherwise. She was a capable woman and an Englishwoman, and took not at all kindly to the thought of the speedy succession of her rebelhous and anti-British son. Accordingly, a good, competent English throat specialist named Mackenzie was called to ex- amine her husband. He straightway pronounced the case to be not one of cancer at all; but to make sure he scraped some of the tissues from the sufferer's throat and submitted them to the German micro- scopist. Professor Virchow, who announced that he found no indications of cancer. The Crown Prince thereupon assented to his wife's desires and ignored his former intimation of his intention to resign his place to his son. Then came a mighty squabble among the English and German doctors and their sympathizers. The court party even averred that Mackenzie had removed tissues still unaffected, with malice afore- thought. Meanwhile the Crown Prince steadily grew worse and benefited not at all by being dragged from pillar to post throughout Europe 30 THE KAISER in search of a favourable climate. At last even the Mackenzie doctors were forced to acknowledge the existence of a cancer, and it became a question which of the undoubtedly dying men would outlive the other. The Emperor was greatly distressed for his "heber Fritz," but his grandson bore up under the double affliction which threatened with remarkable equanimity. He made a speech, changed his uniform, and galloped through the streets of Berlin every time he had a chance. So the German people were at liberty to understand that even when the worst should happen they still would be able to console themselves for the loss of two decrepit individuals by gaining the services of a dashing young man who should know, look, and act the part of soldier-sovereign as well — if not better' — than any of the historical heroes of the nation. All this while Bismarck and the young prince were on the most cordial terms, and on his twenty-ninth birthday his grandfather, pleased and proud, made the spirited young soldier a major-general. The gallant officer thereupon brought down the house by proclaiming that "We Germans fear God, and nothing else in the world." On the 9th of March, 1888, the old Emperor breathed his last, and his son Frederick, now practically condemned to speedy death, returned to Berhn and ascended the throne. The new but world-weary Emperor was disposed to place affairs in the hands of Prince William and Bis- marck, and it seemed as though he would be allowed to reign in peace for the brief period during which his disease should spare him. But the Empress Frederick had ever a mind and will of her own, and she soon made plans for the marriage of their second daughter, the Princess Victoria, to Prince Alexander of Battenberg. This project was sup- posed to be prejudicial to the preservation of satisfactory relations with Russia — an interest very dear to the heart of the deceased Emperor, as we have seen. The Crown Prince opposed it therefore with all his might, as did Bismarck, not alone on grounds of foreign policy, but also because he loathed any suspicion of petticoat government, more espe- cially if the petticoat were of English make. The Emperor Frederick as usual had no very strong convictions on the subject, but wished only to see peace in his house. He had a bad time of it for a while; but Prince William and the Chancellor finally prevailed and the Empress Frederick tearfully consented "to sacrifice her daughter's happiness on the altar of the fatherland." The Emperor was destined to see little peace during his short reign, however, since his liberal tendencies soon brought him into conflict with ACCESSION AND BREAK WITH BISMARCK 31 his son and his Chancellor, whose perfect accord in all matters of state would be remarkable did we not recall the Prince's temperament, as well as the circumstances of his education. Remarkable parallels may be noticed between the characters of WilHam and Bismarck. Both loved power and Germany with con- suming devotion; both beheved imphcitly in "blood and iron" and "the mailed fist"; both were obstinate; both had a contempt for parliaments and the poHtical capacity of the people; both were blunt, downright, and forceful in their public utterances. If the parallel could be carried further, Germany might not to-day find herself pitted against almost the whole of Europe. For Bismarck would certainly have found means to await a more favourable opportunity for beginning the great struggle. If we reflect upon the differences between the two men, we shall see that where WilHam is impulsive, Bismarck was crafty; where Wil- liam places his rehance upon God (in whose affections the Germans and their Kaiser appear to him to hold first place), Bismarck, hke Napoleon, had a canny suspicion that God was partial to the side pos- sessing the heaviest battalions; where Wilham scatters, Bismarck con- centrated; where William is absurdly vain and fond of display, Bismarck was sternly proud and devoted to simphcity. We need not recount in detail the troubles — or, as his son and the Chancellor considered them, the mistakes' — of Frederick's brief reign. Suffice it to say that he dismissed Puttkamer,the Conservative Minister of the Interior, perhaps from motives not unconnected with personal pique; and that he welcomed with genuine pleasure his mother-in-law. Queen Victoria, when she paid him a visit at Charlottenberg. During all this time he was nobly wrestling with certainly approaching death, and his public appearances were few and pitiful. But the Crown Prince was as ever devoted to the public welfare, and saw to it that the Berhners were gratified by frequent glimpses of brilliantly fiashing, warlike royalty. The end came on the 15th of June. "With his broken-hearted family and several of his devoted servants kneehng around him, Fred- erick the Noble breathed his last." William's almost instantaneous action was characteristic. He whispered an order to an aide-de-camp. "Presently the multitude of mourners at the palace gates were roused from their sorrowful reverie by the clatter of horses' hoofs, and on looking up they beheld a squadron of the Hussars of the Guard, in their scarlet tunics, rapidly dispersing 32 THE KAISER like the leaves of a fan to take possession of all the points of access to the huge palace area. The troopers, dismounted, had been waiting at the back of a colonnade fronting the Schloss, and the imperial standard had not long been lowered when, at the sharp word of command, they vaulted into their saddles and clattered over the courtyard in the twin- kling of an eye. Nor had half an hour elapsed from the death of the Emperor before a splendid company of infantry, pouring with perspira- tion, came up at the double all the way from Potsdam, the ground almost shaking beneath the swift but measured tramp of their feet; and thus the palace was sealed up hermetically for some time after the Em- peror's death, so that neither man nor mouse could go out or in." Thus William succeeded to his father and became the most titled man in Europe, with the possible exception of the Emperor of Austria. During the last quarter century we know that he has acquired many additional dignities. But it will help to account for his Protean per- sonahty, his polyUngual verbosity, and his profuse wardrobe if we recollect that, by his father's death, it became incumbent upon him to act, talk, and dress the part of German Emperor; King of Prussia; Mar- grave of Brandenberg, and the two Lausitzes; Grand Duke of Lower Rhineland and Posen; Duke of Silesia, Glatz, Saxony, Westphalia, Engem, Pomerania, Luneburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Magdeburg, Bremen, Geldern, Cleve, Juliers and Berg, Crossen, Lauenberg, Mecklenburg, of the Wends and of the Cassubes; Landgrave of Hesse and Thuringia; Prince of Orange; Coimt-Prince of Henneberg; Count of the Mark, of Ravensberg, of Hohenstein, of Lingen and Tecklenberg, of Mansfield, Sigmaringen, Veringen, and of HohenzoUem; Burgrave of Nuremberg; Seigneur of Frankfurt, Riigen, East Friesland, Paderborn, Pyrmont, Halberstadt, Miinster, Minden, Osnabruck, Hildesheim, Verden, Kam- min, Fulda, Nassau, and Moers. Undismayed by his new dignities, and undeterred by his sorrow for the loss of his father, he rushed away from the death chamber and in- stantly uttered a proclamation to the army and nayy^ — the people could wait: "We belong to each other. I and the army. Thus we are bom for one another, and thus we will stand together in an indissoluble bond in peace or storm, as God may will it. You will now take to me the oath of fidelity and obedience, and I swear ever to remember that the eyes of my ancestors look down upon me from the other world, and that Photograph by E, Bieber THE KAISER FOR FOUR YEARS, 1892 'we belong together, I AND THE ARMY." FROM A SPEECH ON THE DAY OF HIS ACCESSION ACCESSION AND BREAK WITH BISMARCK 33 I shall one day have to render account to them of the glory and honour of the army." Three days later the deceased Emperor was accorded a simple military funeral, in marked contrast to the splendid honours which had been paid to his predecessor three months before. By this time ce jeune homme, as Bismarck used to call him, had had an opporttmity to don the "customary suit of solemn black," and his proclamation to the people was a most creditable effort marked by filial feeling as well as by piety. The closing paragraph was as follows: "I have vowed to God that, after the example of my fathers, I will be a just and clement prince to my people, that I will foster piety and the fear of God, and that I will protect the peace, promote the weUare of the country, be a helper of the poor and distressed, and a true guard- ian of the right." One is at first surprised to learn that William is said to have fore- gone the pleasure of a spectacular coronation on the score of expense. He was contemplating a number of splendid journeys to the other sovereigns of Europe. And the love of travel of der Reisende Kaiser got the better for once of his love of display. However, there was a state entry into Berlin, a Huldigung or ceremony of receiving homage as Kaiser from his federal alhes, a gorgeous opening of the Imperial ParUa- ment, and a hke ceremony for the Prussian Diet. All these functions came within ten days after his father's death. And the opening of the Reichstag was embroidered with so great a mass of pomp and circum- stance that it practically amounted to a coronation. So William's unwonted self-restraint is not so very wonderful after all. His statement of policy was made at the opening of the Prussian Diet: the King of Prussia was but the first servant of the state; but, while he had no wish to curtail popular constitutional rights, at the same time he was firmly resolved that there should be no encroachments on the estabhshed prerogatives of the crown. We are told that he raised his voice to emphasize this last point, and we may imagine how his mous- taches bristled and his brows came down, in the favourite drill sergeant's manner of ce jeune homme. At the beginning of his reign William's complete loyalty to Bis- marck went to such lengths as to lay him open to imputations of filial 34 THE KAISER impiety. Frederick's favourite palace and real home was the New Pal- ace at Potsdam, which had been built by Frederick the Great. To please himself William's father changed its name to Friedrichskron. One of William's first ofiicial acts was to order the restoration of the old name. Then there was the affair of the late Emperor's Diary, which was supposed to have contained reflections upon the Chancellor. It was apparently to prevent his mother from making public this diary that William had ordered a cordon of soldiers to be drawn around the palace as the last breath had left his father's body. Despite these strenuous precautions in Bismarck's interest, the Deutsche Rundschau, in Sep- tember, printed part of the forbidden book. This edition was at once confiscated, and Bismarck sent a report on the subject to the Em- peror which reflected seriously upon both his parents. Pursuant to the Chancellor's dictation, William brought a ridiculous charge of high treason against those who were responsible for the diary's pubUcation. The Supreme Court threw out these charges with "ignominious swift- ness" — a daring act which must have surprised and disconcerted both an old gentleman and a yoimg one. To such lengths was William willing to go at this time in his alle- giance to Bismarck. But the Chancellor was getting old and his judg- ment was not what it had been. He seems to have become drimk with power, and desirous of founding a sort of Chancellor's dynasty; for he constantly put forward his son Herbert, a young man possessed of all his father's brutality, with httle of his abihty. But Bismarck's hour was not yet come. WilUam followed liis advice, and his grandfather's final injunction, in beginning his travels by goiag first to Russia, where he was but coldly received. The Rus- sian visit was a hint of unfriendliness toward his mother's people in Eng- land, which pleased the Chancellor mightily. But there was more to come. The one important act of the late Emperor's life had been the dismissal of Puttkamer. On New Year's Day, 1889, with marks of peculiar distinction, William conferred upon him who had shghted his father the order of the Black Eagle. This seems to have been the culminating point of Bismarck's power. William had silently noted the prompt decision with which the Supreme Court had felt justified in throwing out the trumped-up charges against those involved in the publication of his father's diary. Herbert Bis- marck about this time was displaying the engaging manners of a ACCESSION AND BREAK WITH BISMARCK 35 Prussian dragoon in a fruitless attempt to blacken the late Emperor's memory through Sir Robert Morier, the British Ambassador at St. Petersburg. The arbitrary conduct of the Bismarcks was gradually arousing opposition in various quarters, and the home of Count Waldersee be- came the headquarters of this opposition. As it happened the Emperor and the Coimt, as well as the Empress and the Countess, were all close personal friends. The Empress Frederick and the aged Empress Au- gusta were among those who frequented the home of the Waldersees, and both of these women had good cause to hate Bismarck. Neither was on good terms yet with their hopeful descendant, but perhaps they soon would be. History does not know who did it or how. But some one seems to have fovmd an opportunity to whisper in the Emperor's ear, "This old man and his imspeakable son are making a fool of you. When are you going to break away from their leading-strings.? Why should you not be master in your own house?" It would be tedious to attempt to follow in detail the steps leading up to the break between the Emperor and his Chancellor. Reduced to its simplest terms, the matter stood thus: Bismarck claimed that access to the sovereign should be through him, while the Emperor ob- jected to the Chancellor's conferring with influential people without his knowledge and assent. There is no doubt that the Emperor suddenly took it into his head to object to a practice of long standing, merely as a pretext for a quarrel with Bismarck. He admired his Chancellor's sterhng qualities as much as ever, but had come to realize that youth and crabbed age cannot live together, especially when both are de- termined to have their own way at all times. Bismarck and the Emperor had differed radically as to certain social reforms upon which the latter had set his heart. "I am re- solved," he wrote, "to lend my hand toward bettering the condition of German workingmen as far as my solicitude for their welfare is recon- cilable with the necessity of enabling German industry to retain its power of competing in the world's market, and thus securing its own existence and that of its labourers. The dwindhng of our native industries through any such loss of their foreign markets would deprive not only the masters, but the men, of their bread. . . . The difficulties in the way of improving our workingmen 's condition have their origin in the stress of international competition, and are only to 36 THE KAISER be surmounted, or lessened, by international agreement between those countries whicli dominate the world's market." Hence he had decided upon summoning an International Labour Conference. Addressing the Brandenburg Diet soon after this he described how, while standing alone upon the deck of his ship at night, he had been inspired by contemplation of the firmament to rule mercifully and well under God's providence, and to benefit all his people. Then came a stern warning (it were well for Bismarck had he taken it to heart): "All who wiU assist me ia my great task I shall heartily welcome; but those who attempt to oppose me I will dash to pieces!" Perhaps the fall of the Chancellor had not even yet been firmly resolved upon. Perhaps, as Bismarck afterward asserted, the Emperor wished to confirm him in his false sense of security. At any rate William sent him the following New Year's greeting dated December 31, 1889: "In view of the impending change from one year to another, I send you, dear Prince, my heartiest and warmest congratulations. I look back on the inspiring year, in which it was vouchsafed to us not only to preserve to our dear fatherland external peace, but also to strengthen the pledges of its maintenance, with sincere gratitude to God. It is to me also a matter for deep satisfaction that, with the trusty aid of the Reichstag, we have secured the law establishing old age and indigence assurance, and thus taken a considerable forward step toward the real- ization of that sohcitude for the welfare of the working classes which I have so wholly at heart. I know well how large a share of this success is due to your self-sacrificing and creative energy, and I pray God that He may for many more years grant me the benefit of your approved and trusted counsel in my difficult and responsible post as ruler, "WiLHELM." This was the calm before the swiftly approaching storm. A few weeks later the Emperor learned that his Chancellor had granted a pri- vate interview to Doctor Windthorst, leader of the Clericals. For some reason this pecuUarly displeased the Kaiser, whose tendencies were for the moment Liberal, so he sent his private secretary to Bismarck with the intimation that he expected to be informed beforehand when his Chancellor intended to receive deputies for the purpose of poUtical discussion. Surprised and piqued, Bismarck made the following brusque response: "Tell his Majesty that I cannot allow any one to decide who "% Photograph by Brown Brothers THE KAISERIN IN 1892 BOBN OCTOBER 22, 1858, AND MARRIED PEERUARY 27, 1881. SHE IS A SHINING EXAMPLE OF THE GOOD GERMAN WIFE AND MOTHER ACCESSION AND BREAK WITH BISMARCK 37 is to cross my own threshold." On the next day, the 15th of March, the Emperor paid his Chancellor an early call, and demanded to know the substance of what had been said on the occasion of Doctor Windthorst's visit. Bismarck rephed that he did not feel at Uberty to divulge this matter, and the Emperor repeated his demand. The Chancellor re- joined that he could neither suffer his interviews with deputies to be in any wise restrained, nor could he permit any one to say who should be allowed to pass through his door. "Not even when I, as your Sovereign, command you to do so?" exclaimed the Kaiser. "The commands of my Sovereign," Bismarck cahnly replied, "end at the drawing-room of my wife"; and added his customary threat when thwarted — ^that he was quite wilhng to resign his office at once, if his Majesty so desired. This ended the interview, and we can imagine the Chancellor's astonishment two days later to learn that William had at last taken him at his word; for the Emperor's secretary called to inform him that he was expected to appear and present his resignation at two o'clock that same afternoon. The Chancellor, astounded, returned an evasive reply. But the Kaiser was not to be put off and immediately dispatched a reiterated demand for an immediate resignation, accompanied by the insulting sop of an offer to make Bismarck Duke of Lauenburg, and to bestow upon him a certain sum of money. Bismarck rephed that he could long ago have been a duke if he had wished, that he was no letter-carrier on the lookout for gratuities, and that to put himself right before the world he needed time in which to write his resignation. He sat down forthwith to compose this momentous document, and two days later it was in the hands of his Sovereign. The letter of resig- nation was long and elaborate, and certain misconceptions of Bismarck's position, which were evident in the Kaiser's reply, dispatched at once on receipt of the resignation, make it pretty clear that Wilham's impatience had not even permitted him to read the old man's statement before rushing off the "answer" which for many hours had been ready and waiting. Thus Bismarck fell. His official prestige was gone to return no more. But in the eyes of the world he retained through hfe his well- won place as the greatest, strongest German of his generation. He probably never was able wholly to forgive the Kaiser who had so deeply 38 THE KAISER humiliated him, but it is greatly to William's credit that he soon ceased to think of Bismarck as of one who had dared to defy him, and remem- bered him only as the tried and trusted servant of his house. He loaded the ex-Chancellor with honours and personal attentions during the remainder of his life, and so quickly did his rancour depart, that, less than a week after the resignation was in his hands, he wrote as fol- lows to a personal friend who understood his feehng so thoroughly as to dare to condole with him over his own and the country's loss: " Many thanks for your kindly letter. I have, indeed, gone through bitter experiences, and have passed many painful hours. My heart is as sorrowful as if I had again lost my grandfather. But it is so ordered for me by God, and it must be borne, even if I should sink imder the burden. The post of officer of the watch on the Ship of State has de- volved upon me. Her course remains the same. So, now, full steam ahead!" CHAPTER IV THE KAISER AND HIS ARMY IN THE garden of the Crown Prince's palace at Berlin on the morn- ing of January 27, 1859, one hundred and one guns roared in salute. A son was born who is now on the German throne. Throughout the fatherland guns have been frowning and roaring at intervals ever since. If Frederick William Victor Albert had come into being three days earlier his birthday would have been the same as that of Frederick the Great. The incident that caused Queen Victoria to cable her daughter in Berlin, "Is it a fine boy.?*" was concurrent with political and social unrest in Germany and stirring events elsewhere. In Germany, Prince WilHam, grandfather of the Kaiser of to-day, and the first German Em- peror, was on the throne acting as Prince Regent for his brother Frede- rick William IV, who was incapacitated from ruling by a serious mental malady. Napoleon III was at war with Austria as the ally of Italy. King Emmanuel and Cavour were laying the foundation of Italy's unity. Russia was scheming to acquire a foothold in Asia. In Eng- land, Lord Pahnerston was Prime Minister and Gladstone was Minister of Finance. In Germany, the question of reorganizing the army by increasing its numbers from 150,000 to 210,000 was being discussed. Parhament was on the verge of a bitter quarrel with Bismarck over the grant of necessary army funds. The Kaiser took up the same issue on his accession, and has kept it alive up to the time of the present conflict. This heavy financial burden has helped the growth of Socialism, and has been the cause of the strongest opposition the Kaiser has encountered. As a student at Cassell nothing in his appearance or manner in- dicated the militant proclivities which have been so pronounced in the later life of the Kaiser. He was careless of danger, and lost no oppor- timity to make that trait noticeable. At ten years of age he placed his foot on the first round of the military ladder and was enrolled as second lieutenant in the First Footguards at Potsdam. A year later the war cloud that contained the Franco-German conflict burst and the Foot- 39 40 THE KAISER guards fell in with the army that made its rapid sweep to the French capital. The drum-beats and bugle-blasts warmed the lad's fighting blood. In vain he pleaded to go with the Footguards. Already he had been flattered by the gaze of spectators in the street as he went by on pa- rade, strutting with drawn sword, his sugar-loaf headgear of the time of Frederick the Great adding to his stature. Already he had been adjured to remember that he was a HohenzoUern, and that bayonets had played a more important part than books in the building up of his house. He recalled these things when he was told that he could not go to war, and he sulked and wept. At the University of Bonn he was compelled to do something which did not exactly coincide with his Prussian sentiments and military aspirations. He must needs study French and learn to speak it "with the purity of a Parisian." After his marriage it was recognized that he was his own master, and thenceforth he devoted himself with ardour to his miUtary duties. He was soon transferred to the Hussars of the Guards and became colonel; afterward he joined the artillery. Always he fraternized with his brother officers in whatever branch of the service he was en- gaged. The Garde-Husaren was a brilliantly caparisoned organization, and as its colonel he enjoyed a long-coveted chance for display, and came to be spoken of as "a brilUant and dashing officer." Regardless of his rank and the great distinction which awaited him, he showed that even he could be democratic among fellow warriors, and was zealous in cultivating the good opinions of his associates. In all circumstances he has never hesitated to show his fondness for the officers of his army. In this respect he is the antithesis of his father. When the latter issued his first proclamation it was to "his people." The Kaiser reversed the order. His first address was to his army and to his navy. He ad- dressed them as his "people in arms"; after that, he addressed his citizen subjects. His father was a "citizen king." The Kaiser above all things has ever asserted himself to be a "soldier sovereign." He has done more for the army and the navy of Germany than any of the sovereigns who preceded him. In his first proclamation to his soldiers he said, "We belong to each other, I and the army; thus we were born for one another and firmly and inseparably will we hold to- gether, whether it is God's will to give us peace or storm." What he has done for the army is the pride of his officers and of the Photograph by Reichard &. Lindner THE KAISER AT THIRTY-EIGHT (1897) "we demand oub piace in the sun" THE KAISER AND HIS ARMY 41 commonest soldier in the ranks. They know that he was the first to adopt smokeless powder; that he it was who promoted the use of war- dogs; that he suggested wire fencing to impede the forward dash of the enemy; that he introduced turrets on wheels to serve as a kind of mov- able field-redoubts; that he simphfied the uniform and kit of the soldier, and supplied him with a field-tent at once water and fire proof; that he introduced the lance as the universal weapon of four kinds of cavalry; and finally that he consented to the reduction of the period of obligatory military service in the infantry, at least, from three to two years. "It has been the soldiers of the army," he said, "not parliamentary majorities and decisions, that have welded the German Empire together, and my confidence rests in the army." On a previous occasion his grandfather in the presence of his army at Coblentz had said, "These are the gentlemen on whom I can rely." The Kaiser has shown by his acts and by his words that he agrees with his grandfather's views in this as in so many other things. Soon after his accession a military writer said of the Kaiser, "In him the enemies of Germany will have a formidable adversary. He may easily become the Henry IV of his country." "I am the Supreme War Lord," said the Kaiser long ago. His first greatest desire has ever been for a German navy that would be equal to that of Great Britain. Nevertheless, he has made the most of every opportunity to emphasize the importance of creating an army that would be adequate to any conditions with which the em- pire might be confronted. While he is an ardent lover of the sea, he meets as brothers his officers of the land. The theory that the German Empire was founded by the sword and that so it must be defended has dominated the Kaiser since he came to the throne. From the beginning of his reign he has proclaimed himself the head and front of his army. It was by his order that armies are mobihzed. It is his prerogative to declare war, and his to dictate the terms of peace. It is his right to appoint the highest officers and to receive from them their oaths of obedience. Every detail of the army's organization from the most insignificant plans to the most imposing and effective movements in active engage- ments bears the impress of his personality. His care for the army is ceaseless. Even in times of peace the German farmer is admonished that the product of his labour must be closely related to the needs of the army. All situations, all conditions emanate from the Kaiser — ^if he is not 42 ' THE KAISER the creator, he is the controller, the last word. The pivotal idea is that the two frontiers of the empire must ever be in a state of defence. The Kaiser's insistent assertion that Germany must be always prepared to defend itself is probably responsible for the ardently martial patriotism that alone is orthodox in Germany. It is the first lesson of the boy, and it is developed in the young man from his initial enlistment until he has reached the last step in service. And in some way which the sub- ject may not thoroughly comprehend his love for the land of his birth is made inseparable from his recognition of the right of the Kaiser to call upon him to shoulder arms wherever he may be. From first to last his subjects are encouraged in the belief that soldiering in Germany is the most serious business of hfe. They have learned from the Kaiser, by the Kaiser's own words and acts, that the motto of their country is Defence or Death. They are constantly reminded by their sovereign War Lord that Germany has been the battlegroimd of Europe, and that it must ever be powerful enough to meet all attacks from any one power or all combined. Whatever may be the answer to the frequent decrial of militarism as exemplified by the Kaiser, the fact remains that his spirit has planted the idea in the minds of his people that service in the army is a sine qua non. A boy who has not shouldered a gun is under the ban. If he can- not enlist by reason of disabihty and seeks employment, he is confronted with the question, *'Have you served in the army?" When he gives the reason why he has not, the excuse stands against him, for it is con- sidered that if he is not able to bear arms he will not be able to do other work. So he is condemned to go through hfe branded as a proved weak- ling because he has not served the Kaiser: it being the Kaiser's firm con- viction and pohcy that every male German, imless he is disqualified physically, should be a soldier. Since the beginning of the present conflict readers who have had no occasion to study warfare until now have heard much of the G^eneral Staff of the German army. It is under the Kaiser's control. He did not initiate the organization, but its present personnel is his creation. Every member has been named by him, and to him every member is responsible. This organization differs from similar organizations in other countries. Its make-up is subject to repeated changes. By the Kaiser's direction, officers from every branch of the army are sent to the General Staff for indefinite periods ranging from ten years up, ac- cording to the Kaiser's dictum. THE KAISER AND HIS ARMY 43 Well-defined duties rest on the shoulders of the chief of staff. These duties are assigned by the chief to the different departments of his organization and consist in (1) procuring the fullest obtainable in- formation about the organization and the changes occurring in every army of the world; (2) preparations of every kind to keep the army in a permanent state of readiness; (3) perfecting the means of transportation for the army in the event of war, especially the railroad lines of strate- gical importance. The Kaiser alone, as chief commander of the whole mihtary force of the empire, has the right to interfere or direct the affairs of the General Staff, and if the General Staff were loquacious, the world would know, as it suspects, that the Kaiser never hesitates to assert his rights and always with emphasis. Every report is made to him, and much of the work credited to the General Staff is traced to the Kaiser's special instructions. Every member of the General Staff has an understanding of that fre- quent expression, "My will." Since he came to the throne William II has constantly occupied himself with the army and has personally commanded the troops at the manoeuvres. His ardour has sometimes caused his own officers to sneer. There are many versions of the tale about his cavalry charge at Templin, but this one has been vouched for on good authority. He mounted his white charger and hurled his 7,500 horsemen of the Third Army Corps across an open field. And the old commander of the Fifth Corps, General von Stulpnagel, said after the performance, "The Emperor wished to show off before his General Staff and the foreign officers, but the Emperor, gentlemen, is not Miu-at, and Templin is not Borodino. We have just witnessed some mihtary nonsense." The following account of the Kaiser at the front in the time of real war appeared in the New York Times of October 5, 1914. It is a dis- patch from Amsterdam, dated October 3, to the London Standard: A typical day with the Kaiser is thus described by an eye-witness : "Rid yourself first of all of the idea that the Emperor is a heroic figure. He is a man not exactly of small stature, but distinctly below the average height and rather fat. Moreover, his left arm is several inches shorter than his right and is partly paralyzed. The deformity strikes the eye unpleasantly, although one cannot withhold a certain admiration for the energy which enabled the Kaiser to become a good shot and a passable rider in spite of this tremendous handicap. "On this particular occasion the Kaiser had been sleeping in a 44 THE KAISER French cMteau, but not without elaborate precautions against a surprise attack. The extraordinary measures taken to guard the Kaiser must be attributed not so much to personal fear as to his profound conviction that his safety is essential to the fatherland. It must be remembered that his mental make-up is a quaint mixture of blufiF, intelhgence, capac- ity for quick absorption of superficial facts, rehgious fanaticism, and megalomania. "The French chateau was fortified against aerial attacks. "Sacks were piled on the roof and a protective shield of metal net- work is erected whenever the Kaiser moves his quarters. A small army of mihtary engineers precedes him to carry out these defensive meas- ures before his arrival. Of course they are withdrawn from the fighting hne, but the Kaiser genuinely believes that his p'erson is of more value to the cause of Germany than a complete army corps. "Around the chateau were men of his special bodyguard, a detach- ment outside his bedroom door, another in the hall, another at the front door, and two more detachments in rooms immediately above and be- neath his own room. Three imbroken lines of sentries surrounded the house, and a whole battahon of infantry and several squadrons of cav- alry were encamped in the parks. This was some twenty miles from the front, and the chateau was connected by field telegraph with the headquarters of the nearest army, so that any sudden retreat of the German legions should not place the Supreme War Lord in danger. "Soon after sunrise the Kaiser emerged from the chateau and greeted his soldiers with the customary good morning, to which all of those in the immediate vicinity replied in unison, ' Good morning, your Majesty.' A motor-car was in readiness, and the Kaiser was whirled swiftly toward the front. While the troops guarding him stood rigidly at attention, ten drummers of the bodyguard beat their drums by way of a salute. The imperial standard was conveyed in a second motor- car, and the officers of the imperial suite followed in others. The cav- alry of the bodyguard preceded the monarch to the place where he left the motor-car to moimt his horse. As he was helped into the saddle troopers saluted with their swords and another set of driimmers beat drums. No ceremony may be omitted, even at the front. "The Kaiser rode off with his mounted guard thickly clustered around him. The standard bearer, riding immediately behind him, bore the imperial flag. Then followed a spectacular progress from point to point in the rear of the fighting line. A safe distance to the rear, I may add, because the Supreme War Lord must not be exposed to stray bullets or shrapnel. "Large bodies of reserves had bivouacked in those parts and fresh troops were marching up from the direction of the frontier. The Kaiser halted and addressed a fervently patriotic oration to one regiment and another to a second regiment. So he rode from place to place, and dur- riioiograph by b.ui.ii Bro.hers THE KAISER AND THE KAISERIN THIS PICTIJBE WAS TAKEN IN 1899. THE KAISERIN WAS PRINCESS VICTORIA OF SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN-SOKDERBURG-AUGUSTENBUBG. THEY WERE MARRIED IN 1881. THE KAISER AND HIS ARMY 45 ing the morning he delivered no fewer than nine speeches, all bombastic and excessively martial in tone. Luncheon was taken in the open air at a table in front of a certain general's tent. Wine and food comman- deered from the residence of a French country gentleman supphed the Kaiser with a splendidly luxurious meal prepared by his own cook and served by his flunkeys in gorgeously striped uniforms. None of the pomp of the imperial court was abandoned at the front. "The Kaiser made more visits to the troops and more speeches. In the afternoon he went back by automobile to the chateau for dinner. At no moment during the day had the Kaiser been within range of the enemy's fire." "In the beginning of his reign, the Kaiser," to quote Noussanne, " became convinced that the more the soldiers were formed in the rough to obey automatically the orders of the non-commissioned oflScers, the more sohd would be his army." The result was disappointing. Bad treatment developed to such an extent that desertions became frequent. These desertions were estimated to be about 3,000 a year, or one for every 100 recruits. The empire became concerned, and the Kaiser quickly reversed himself. Undoubtedly the Kaiser loves his officers and soldiers. When this point was made recently, a German is said to have replied, "Yes, as one loves a useful machine which, looked after with great care, may, should the occasion arise, be effectively employed, provided, of course, a skilled hand shall direct it." In order that we may understand that the organization of his army, as it is now, represents the Kaiser's personal conception of what an army ought to be, it should be recalled that from the day of his accession he has applied the pruning knife. Old and incompetent officers, or those whom the Kaiser considered to be in the latter class, were merci- lessly weeded out. Inspired resignations became frequent. Rejuvena- tion of the whole service went on at vigorous rate. The first to go was "the Brain of the Army," as the Kaiser termed that acknowledged master of miKtary strategy, Moltke. True, the man who worked out the problem which united Germany and removed at the same time an empire from the map of Europe, handed in his own resignation, giving as an excuse his inability to any longer take the field. While the facts in a measure warranted this explanation, it was believed by most to be only a diplomatic euphemism. The Kaiser accepted the resignation with "heavy heart," and insisted on making Moltke presi- 46 THE KAISER dent of the National Defense Commission, adding that he (the Kaiser) could not dispense with the advice of him who had asked to be reUeved. The Minister of War was directed to continue Moltke's salary as long as he hved, and he was requested to retain his official residence. The retirement, even in the manner arranged, of such a man as Moltke in the early part of a young king's reign, was a subject of wide- spread comment. While it was being discussed came another shock: Caprivi resigned. (Bismarck's resignation had been forced four years before.) Then it was said, with all sorts of variations in phrasing, that a new ruler was indeed on the throne, and that old conditions were in the act of passing. Count von Waldersee was made Chief of the Staff. But the army was to understand that there was another greater than Von Waldersee, and the Kaiser at once proceeded to place an army corps in the field and manipulated its movements in his own way, in order that the army might see what a capable commander the new War Lord could be. When this display was over the new rxder made an excursion to the courts of his allies. The Kaiser soon brought about many miUtary reforms. He issued a decree against the cruel and brutal treatment of the private soldier. "In my army," he said, "every soldier should be lawfully, justly, and worthily treated, so as thus to arouse and promote in him deUght in, and devotion to, his calling, love and confidence in his superiors." The military spirit of Germany — ^not of the people, but of the Government — ^is largely the result of the Kaiser's unremitting references to the subject. Always he is the War Lord. On all possible occasions, at reviews, parades, mess-dinners, swearing in of recruits, cotirt ban- quets, unveiling of monuments, presentation of colours, meetings with his feUow-sovereigns, he beheves that his duty is not done imtil he has flamed up into martial ardour, and made the ears of Europe tingle with warhke allusions. In the hght of subsequent events these utterances are sometimes amusing. Thus, at a banquet in Berlin when the Czar was present, the Kaiser, raising his glass to the "glorious common traditions and memo- ries of the Russian and Prussian armies," said, "I drink to the memory of those who, in heroic defense of their fatherland, fell at Borodino, and who, in union with us, bled in victorious battle at Arcis-sur-Aube and Brienne. I drink to the brave defenders of Sebastopol, and to the val- iant combatants of Plevna. Gentlemen, I call upon you to drain your THE KAISER AND HIS ARMY 47 glasses with me to the health of our comrades of the Russian army. Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah!" To understand the unusual relations that exist between the Kaiser and his army, one must always remember that the army is identified with the nation as in no other country. Every father knows that his son must be sent to miUtary service. The father and son know that this is the Kaiser's wish, and his wish is law, for he himself has said it. Every maiden has a soldier for a sweet- heart. Every old man has a story to tell of the time when he was in the army. The passing generation knows that the rise of Prussia was due to its army institutions. The present generation has been taught that the perpetuity of those institutions is in the Kaiser's keeping. Because of the Kaiser's endorsement the German army officer holds an enviable position in the eyes of the masses. Socially he ranks first. That is a Kaiser idea. Sometimes the idea of the officer's privilege is carried to an extreme that is offensive, ridiculous, and troublesome; as when a beardless lieutenant relies upon his uniform to excuse his boor- ishness and assumption; or when, to escape his creditors, he takes ad- vantage of the War Lord's exaltation of the army. Sometimes an officer, finding himself encumbered by debt, rehes on his position to gain an entrance into a family of means where there is a marriageable daughter, and succeeds in winning her. He then is apt to use her dot, or her people's money, to pay off his debts, and in further gratification of his expensive tastes, and affects to believe himself justified in so do- ing because he is but following his sovereign's example of ostentation, and upholding in this way the so-called honour of the army. The Kaiser, as a matter of fact, does not encourage such a life in the army. On the contrary, he beheves in the German characteristic of frugaUty — for the people. For himself he likes parades, and the army officer nat- urally falls in line and imitates his regal master in this, as in other ways. In an address to his officers he earnestly insisted upon "Absolute devotion to yotxr King by the complete service of all your physical and mental forces in a work which knows no repose and whose aim and end are the maintenance and perfection of our troops." The Kaiser beheves with the great master of strategy, Moltke, that the army is of great educational value to the nation. He reasons that the discipline of his army, becoming a habit with the people in civil life, helps to bring about the order which is so characteristic of the 48 THE KAISER German household. The cleanhness proverbial in the German home is also in his opinion the outgrowth of army discipline. So intent is the Kaiser upon making his army first and foremost that he has brought about a military state of mind which is manifest in every branch of civil hfe. From the moment a visitor first puts his foot on German soil he reahzes that he is in an atmosphere where mihtarism is the controlling factor. There are few of the occasional bursts of enthusiasm which one finds among the soldiery of other nations, but everywhere one is impressed with the idea that Germany is a country where fighting is the natural, every-day business of the whole nation. It is truly a nation iu arms, with the Kaiser as commander-in-chief. Wherever one goes one is greeted with the miUtary salute. Every- body walks as the army walks. The man who looks after your luggage starts off with the "goose-step" which every soldier is taught the day he enhsts. To the duly appointed official your name, residence, the nature of yom* business, and where you are going must be given. It is the Kaiser's army system. A brief experience in the reading of German newspapers soon gives one the impression that the opinions expressed are "inspired" by an authority which is the mouthpiece of the Kaiser. One feels that the greater part of what one reads has been officially ap- proved by army circles. "The Kiag can do no wrong," but it must be admitted that the Kaiser can be inconsistent. Morahzing on the benefits of the sim- ple life for his army, he nevertheless indulges with it in conviviahties. There are numerous special occasions which appear to exempt him from observing the strict proprieties which he enjoins for every-day observ- ance. Birthdays and anniversaries crowd the calendar. The result is frequent love feasts, or as the Germans have it, " Liebesmahler." On these frequently recurrent occasions, hbations are poured without re- straint. The Kaiser attends scores of them every year. It is whispered that some of the utterances which return to plague him spring from these wassails. While the army is the idol of the Kaiser's heart, and while he seems to encourage numerous convivially expensive reunions for the officers, the strictest economy is enforced throughout the rank and file of the great organization. The system is the cheapest in Europe, or was until the present mobilization. Before the War of 1914 the cost of maintain- ing the entire land force was less than the United States pays in pensions. Only a rich man may become an officer. A second lieutenant gets but Photograph by Brown Brolhera THE KAISER AS A YACHTSMAN IN 1904 'GERMANY S FUTURE LIES UPON THE WATER. NOT sever" OCEANS UNITE — THEY DO THE KAISER AND HIS ARMY 49 $20 a month, or pay equal to that of a sergeant in our army. The en- tire cost of a German soldier to the empire is about $17.30 a month. This covers all expenses for clothing, equipment, and wages. The pay of a private is about 9 cents a day, and out of this he pays 2§ cents for dinner. To be sure, every three or four days he gets a free ration, but he doesn't ever get his beer free, whereas the French soldier always has his wine. The German private suspends his money in a httle bag himg on a string around his neck. If an inspector of this bag finds that the soldier has spent his 6 cents a day too rapidly he is reprimanded and pimished. The whole system seems calculated to take away from the man whatever spirit of independence and spontaneity he may originally be blessed with. But this is in accordance with the Kaiser's clearly formulated doctrine. He told his soldiers at a recent review, "There is no law but my law; there is no will but my will." The semi-mihtary organization extending throughout the social structure helps every German to continue through life to feel that he belongs to the army. In nearly every village there are organizations where veterans and reservists meet and discuss over their beer and pipes such topics as are prepared for them in newspapers and other pubhcations; these articles treat largely of the army, its traditions, and what it is expected to do when called to the colours. In these httle clubs are pictures or busts of the Kaiser in his mihtary trappings, and similar pictures and busts are to be seen in the shops, at the railway stations, and in almost every pubhc place. To summarize, the official relations between the Kaiser and his army are as follows: AU German troops are bound to obey the commands of the Kaiser. The highest commanding officers of a contingent, as well as all officers who command more troops than a contingent, and all command- ants of fortifications are appointed by the Kaiser. The appointment of generals, or of officers performing the duties of generals, is in every instance subject to the approval of the Kaiser. It is the right and duty of the Kaiser to see that throughout the German army all divisions have their full numerical strength, and are at all times fit for active service; that uniformity is estabhshed and maintained with respect to the organization and formation, the equip- ment and command, the training of the men, and the qualifications of the officers. 50 THE KAISER It is the Kaiser's right to declare martial law or the introduction of military rule. Were it necessary to add more to show the dominance of militar- ism in the thought of the Kaiser, his words in an address made in Berlin at the dawn of the present century would be siifficient. The occasion was one in which religious and sentimental fervour were supposed to be paramount. "I hope," he said, "to be one day in condition, trusting fuUy in the aid of God, to reahze the saying of Frederick WiUiam I: 'If one wishes to decide something in this world, it is not the pen alone that wiU do it if unsupported by the sword.' " Beyond question the Kaiser has secured a degree of intimacy with his army and of control over its every part, such as no Prussian king has enjoyed since the time of Frederick the Great — ^not even excepting his father and grandfather, who were both beloved by officers and men alike. CHAPTER V THE KAISER AND HIS NAVY jkS ONE star differeth from another in glory, so the German /J^ navy is dissimilar from the German army. The diflFerentiation •^ -^ is interesting because of the Kaiser's discrimination. The army is his weapon; it was organized for such warfare as that in which it is now engaged. It is the sleepless sentinel of the frontiers. The army it is that calls the wandering German back to the fatherland. The army is the foimdation of the social structure of the empire. The navy as developed by the Kaiser is for something more than defence or attack. Without it there would have been no colonial ex- pansion, no maritime commerce. A nation in arms is Germany, but in the present reign Germany has accomplished something above and beyond powder and shot in spite of the Kaiser's worldwide reputation as a war lord. By the Kaiser, trade for Germany with the civilized nations has been sought and fostered. It required a navy to protect this. In every respect the Kaiser has sought to make Germany superior on the water. "His plan," says an authority, "was to make Kiel the yachting centre of the world." That the Kiel regatta in recent years has put Cowes in the backstretch is generally conceded. He has given much of his time and encouragement to Germany's great shipping companies. By his enthusiastic insistence on making Germany as predominant on the water as he undertook to make it on land, he has "snatched the blue ribbon of the Atlantic from the British lines." With perfect propriety it can be busy without firing a gun. By it and with it the Kaiser may indulge in the life he enjoys. The idea of a navy was the dream of his boyhood^ — ^his plaything. By his direction, since he became Emperor, it has become an imperial factor; an imperial admiralty administers it; its officers are imperial; its maintenance falls upon the imperial treasury, and as with the army the Kaiser is its supreme commander. In 1897 he said: "Imperial power denotes sea-power, and imperial power and sea-power are complementary; the one cannot exist without 51 52 THE KAISER the other." In 1900: "The wave-beat knocks at our national gates and calls on us as a great nation to maintain our place in the world. The ocean is indispensable for Germany's greatness, but the ocean also reminds us that neither on it nor across it in the distance can any great decision be again consxmamated without Germany and the German Empire. . . . The trident must pass into our hands. . . . Our future lies on the water." At the present moment the Kaiser's navy represents something more than it did before the war. It has helped to make the empire a unit. All contingents are combined; Radicals and Socialists favour it and are wilhng that the government shall go beyond its programme in enlarging it. In order that the Kaiser may have the credit he deserves in bring- ing his navy to its present standard one should understand that this has been accomplished in the face of stubborn opposition. In the first ten years of the Kaiser's reign, in spite of his vigorous agitation, the navy became weaker instead of stronger. It was soon after his ac- cession that he appeared imheralded in admiral's uniform, at a state luncheon given by Bismarck, to decorate one of the guests whose ideas with regard to the navy coincided with his own. Every year, for a long period, he prepared with his own hand tables of diagrams showing the disparity between the navy of Germany and those of the principal naval powers, and these were sent out over his own signature to the Reichstag, and government departments, and all public institutions where he thought they would be effective. At a soiree at the Palace at Potsdam he lectured a group of members of the majority parties of the Reichstag for two hours and a half on the need of a German sea- power. Every successful man is indebted to the men he chooses as his advisers. The abihty to choose councillors wisely is one of the indis- pensable qualifications of a good sovereign. The Kaiser's selection of Von Tirpitz as his admiral shows that he had the proper conception of what the navy required. Von Tirpitz' strength, as has been said by an authority, lay chiefly in the fact that he knew exactly what he wanted and why he wanted it. Long before his selection he laid be- fore the Kaiser a memorandum showing the needs of Germany's mari- time interests. He was in command of the East Asian squadron when he was called to take the place he has held ever since. There is a story that he employed the leisure of the homeward voyage in drafting Photograph by Brown Brothers THE KAISER FOR TWENTY YEARS— 1908 "GERMANY IS A TODNG AND GROWING EMPIRE. SHE HAS A WORLD-WIDE COMMERCE WHICH IS RAPIDLY EXPANDING, AND TO WHICH THE LEGITIMATE AMBITIONS OF PATRIOTIC GERMANS REFUSE TO ASSIGN ANY BOUNDS. GER- MANY MUST PROTECT THAT COMMEKCE." — ^IN THE "DAILY MAIl" INTERVIEW, 1908 THE KAISER AND HIS NAVY 53 a programme of his policy before he assumed the duties of the port- foUo. In its fundamental principles it was a reversal of that of his predecessor. When he appeared before the Reichstag he said: "If we have a strong battle-fleet, the enemy will have to defeat it before he can blockade our coasts. But in such circumstances he will, before he declares war on Germany, consider very carefully whether the busi- ness will cover its expenses and justify the risk." In brief, his formula was that "the German fleet must be so strong that not even the greatest naval power will be able to enter upon a war with it without imperilling its position in the world." It is believed that he was obsessed with the idea that Germany was destined to occupy the same position on the seas as that which for centuries has belonged to Great Britain. According to the admiral, neither the government nor the Reichs- tag should ever agree to be bound by a formal programme for years in advance, for the reason that the art of war is changeable on sea just as it is on land, and no naval ministry could prophesy what would be needed ten years hence. Demands would change with circumstances. There should be a programme but it should not be a hard and fast one. He induced the Reichstag to commit itself statutorily to a fixed war- ship establishment, a building programme of nearly twenty years' duration, and an automatic renewal of the units of the fleet when they had reached a prescribed age. The feature was absolutely new. It has been imitated by France, and it has been advocated by naval ex- perts in England. This man who was selected by the Kaiser to make a navy that would be as great as that of any naval power has been called the Bis- marck of German naval pohcy. In him the Kaiser has the most far- sighted strategist in his service. Naval officers of the old school had been chiefly concerned for the spick and span appearance of their ships, the gHtter of the brass and the cleanhness of the decks. Among other innovations. Von Tirpitz forced the torpedo upon these old timers, and the high pitch of efficiency of this weapon in the German navy is due to him. To the Foreign Office, where the gloves of diplomacy are worn, he said: "Politics are your affairs^ — I build ships." Nevertheless, he is himself a diplomat of no mean order. For, with a proverbial gra- ciousness, he has managed to bend the Reichstag to his will; and in his own inimitable way he has won over the entire body of writers on naval topics in the German press. In all that his admiral has done the Kaiser has concurred. How 64 THE KAISER much he suggested is not known. It has been said of the Kaiser that, while he is not creative, he is keenly appreciative and assimilative. It is known that in his frequent visits to England he acquired much valua- ble information as to the construction and handling of ships. He did not hesitate to adopt any English idea that he thought would improve his navy. And, to do him justice, he was never slow to admit his debt to England, especially in naval matters. To the Navy League Germany owes a debt for the efficiency of the present navy. It is the instrument of the Kaiser for systematically and persistently propagating among his people his own ideas on world- policy and sea-power. He founded this league in 1898. Nearly all the ruUng houses of Germany are identified with it. The Emperor's brother. Prince Henry, is its general protector. The principal aim of the league is to awaken, cultivate, and strengthen the interest of the German people in the important functions of the fleet. The league has its organ, which prints 350,000 copies in each edi- tion. It issues a profusely illustrated Naval Album, of which the Em- peror buys 600 copies for distribution as prizes in the schools of Prussia. One of its most effective departments is the excursions it arranges to the German naval ports for the benefit of schoolmasters and their classes. The participants are selected from the inland states and dis- tricts in which it is most difficult to awaken naval enthusiasm. They are taken to Kiel or Wilhehnshaven, received with great courtesy by the naval officers delegated to look after them, and escorted through the streets by a ship's band to the dockyards or war vessels, over which they are conducted by accommodating guides who supply them with whatever information is considered necessary to stimulate their interest in all they have seen. If the distance is so great that they are imable to return home the same day, naval barracks or storehouses which may be vacant are prepared for their accommodation, and they are supplied with everything that will contribute to their comfort. The membership of the league is more than 300,000. Its manager is a trusted confidant of the Kaiser. Every year he is WilKam's guest at the Kiel yachting w^eek and on other maritime occasions. The real director of the league, however, is the Kaiser himself. For estabhshing the efficiency of the German navy the Kaiser and the country are principally indebted to the suggestions made by Admiral von Tirpitz when the question of enlarging the fleet and mak- ing it a power was being considered. He spoke to the Reichstag in words THE KAISER AND HIS NAVY 55 that bore fruit. The body was informed that "as, even after the pro- jected increase has been carried out, the number of vessels in the Ger- man navy will still be more or less inferior to that of other individual great powers, our endeavours must be directed toward compensating for this superiority by the individual training of the crews and by the tactical training by practice in large bodies. Economy as regards com- missioning of vessels in peace times means jeopardizing the efficiency of the fleet in case of war." Recruiting mainly from the inland population has also been a factor in increasing the navy's efficiency. At the time of the Kaiser's accession that which was called the inherited sea-habit prevailed. A certain type of brute force and an inbred acquaintance with the vary- ing moods of the sea prevailed to such an extent that they seemed almost to be the prerequisites of a sailor. But this has been shown to be a fallacy. The compulsory system of education in Germany and the involved mechanisms of the present warships have changed the char- acter of the sea-fighter. A higher standard of intelhgence among the recruits enables them rapidly to become proficient in their duties. Under the present system a German recruit in six months will acquire as much as it would have taken a seaman of the old type as many years to learn. All this has brought new life into the navy. The men are worked at higher pressure than heretofore. Drill is incessant; every ounce of value is obtained out of every man on board. There is no promotion without the knowledge and consent of the Kaiser. No officer can enter either the executive or engineering branch unless his claims are endorsed by all his contemporaries. Influence will not help him. The fact that he has passed aU the prescribed examinations brilliantly is, without the endorsement named, useless. The Kaiser has always had in view a kind of war different from any other war. To meet his requirements and the requirements of the great admiral of the fleet, the navy, when the time comes for action, must stand ready to be used, as an authority has said, "like a thunder- bolt." The submarine is of comparatively recent appearance in all navies. The Kaiser was quick to foresee its possibilities and hasten its construction and enlargement. It will not be denied that this arm of the German navy is the one that has thus far been most spectacularly effective in the present war. The first big stroke scored against Eng- 56 THE KAISER land was the success of the submarine attack upon the armoured cruisers of the Cressy class. The victory was complete. It must have cheered the Kaiser and his army, and it seems to have quickened the eflforts of Germany in the construction of additional submarines. Certain it is that the world was informed of additional submarines now building soon after the news of the sinking of the three British cruisers was flashed from the North Sea. No greater praise could be bestowed on the Kaiser's navy and its officers than that given by two Spanish naval experts after they had made a study of the system. "The German navy," they reported to the King of Spain, "has a definite and immediate objective; everything must be prepared for a rapid, energetic, and decisive action. Her ships, equipped by her national industry, rich in resource of every kind, provided with war material of the highest efficiency, must be ready to dart at a given moment against an enemy whose fleets await them almost at the mouth of the German ports. The first encounter, fierce and terrible, wiU decide the campaign, and will influence the futiire of both nations." The growth and expansion of the German navy under the energetic encouragement of the Kaiser is marvellous. In no other reign in the empire, nor in any other country, has it been equalled. Twenty years ago the naval estimates amounted to about $17,000,000; ten years ago to less than $25,000,000. The next estimate is based on an average expenditure of about $105,000,000, more than half of which is "ear- marked" for new ships and armament. Twenty years ago the navy was manned by 15,000 officers and men; ten years ago the number was 23,000; in 1908 it exceeded 50,000; for 1913 and 1914 the personnel is 73,176. The latter figures do not, of course, include the additional number added since the beginning of the present war. The naval centres are Kiel and Wilhelmshaven. The latter is a creation of the present century. The chief naval station includes the whole Bight of Hehgoland. The chief construction docks are the Ad- miralty docks at Kiel and Wilhelmshaven, Krupp's (private, owned by the Krupps) at Kiel, the Vulcan, Bloehm and Voss at Hamburg. The private yards employ nearly 60,000 artificers. Of the twelve naval stations since 1898, Sonderburg is mainly devoted to marine artillery, Eckemforde to torpedo instruction, Cuxhaven to coastal artillery, Emden to mines, and Wangeroog to Hght artillery. Murwik and Flens- STOLZBNFBLS, THE CASTLE ON THE RHINE, NEAR HEIDELBERG THE ROYAL PALACE AT BERLIN, WHICH CONTAINS SOME 600 ROOMS TWO OF THE KAISERS RESIDENCES THE KAISER AND HIS NAVY 57 burg are the naval educational centres. It is interesting to remember that the Vulcan shipyard is at Stettin, where the Norse vikings once beached and subsequently slipped from its cradle into the Oder, the first vessel built on German soil. An indirect vindication of the Kaiser's foresight and an acknowledg- ment of his success in bringing his navy up to modern standards was made by his now most embittered foe, England, from whom, as already stated, the Kaiser received his first naval inspiration. It grew out of the South African incident in which the Kaiser, while the Boer War was in progress, sent a message of sympathy to President Kruger. The astonished Britons saw in this act an intimation that Germany might take a hand in the Boer situation. It was hke a shot across their bows. Although the Kaiser promptly and graciously declared that he was moved by no unfriendly motive in extending his hand to the Govern- ment of the Transvaal, the spark had been kindled by the British ex- citement and Germany at once backed the Kaiser in his previous sug- gestions that Germany needed and must have a navy in order that she might be in position to assert her rights among the naval powers of the world. Concurrent with this agitation German ships were seized by British cruisers oflF Delagoa Bay on suspicion of carrying arms and stores to the Boers. The seizure caused an uproar all over Germany. It was a card in the Kaiser's hands. He immediately sent a message to the King of Wurtemburg which at the time was the news of the day. The message was: "The events of the last few days have convinced wider and wider circles that Germany's honour as well as her interests must be protected on distant seas, and for this purpose Germany must be strong and mighty on sea as well as on land." Without such a navy as the Kaiser has assembled, the trading class of Germany would be unable, he says, to keep open its most profitable avenues of commerce. Not only did German naval men point out that England had given Russia too much rein in the Far East because Eng- land was mindful of Russia's great naval power, but the statesmen of Germany declared that Germany was ignored in world poUtics because the German navy was not more effective. Every incident that furnished an argument for encouraging the expansion of the navy has been quickly utihzed by the Kaiser. He brought the North German Steamship Company to his support by tell- ing its directors: "We shall be able to impose peace on sea as well as on 58 THE KAISER land." Coincidentally he said to the officers of both army and navy: "As my grandfather did for the army, so will I for the navy carry out the work of reorganization." The Kaiser's relations with navy men wherever he meets them are of so cordial a character that they often give him relief from the cares of state. The following incident which occurred at a review of British ships at Malta illustrates his enthusiasm for the details of naval affairs: "He announced at once that after the formalities he would inspect one of the men-of-war. When he reached the quarter deck of the flagship he took off his coat^ — ^not metaphorically, be it understood. He went over the vessel from the turrets to the engine and boiler rooms, and kept the captain on the qui vive in answering questions. A director of the British Naval Construction said that he doubted if any other admiral of the fleet in the British naval service would have shown him- self so thoroughly informed concerning the most trivial detail of a ship. So busily were the officers kept engaged that when the inspection was over he left the ship before the captain could extend an invitation to partake of British hospitality. It was all ready, but the officers were dazed at the quick action of their guest, and forgot the wine and edibles. Abject apologies were sent in haste to the departed guest. He good- naturedly returned the suggestion that as his birthday was nigh it might be observed by the British captain and his officers in drinking his health on the date mentioned. It was done, and his Majesty was duly informed that his orders had been carried out." It is particularly interesting at this time to remember that the German Emperor's is the only alien hand that has ever controlled a British fleet. Other foreign monarchs and princes have been made honourary officers of the British navy, but the German Emperor is the only foreign officer holding the rank of admiral, and this was conferred upon him by his grandmother. Queen Victoria. Of course the title is honourary. But "they say" that whenever he dons the British naval uniform with its expansive gold cuffs and cocked hat a smile of satis- faction lightens his countenance. It is to be feared that this pleasure he will know no more. The training of the officers of the German navy has been a personal matter with the Kaiser. The general plan has the stamp of his approval. At stated times he visits the various places where the actual work of THE KAISER AND HIS NAVY 59 making sea-fighters is carried on. The following summary of the way the work is done is from the report of a visiting foreign expert who was given permission to make an investigation: "Private workshops construct the ships, mount the gims, provide the technical personnel, install all the machinery and all the arms for immediate and perfect action; only skill in directing and rapidity of action is required of the officers. It is on this principle that the organi- zation of the German fleet is founded, and to this principle is subordi- nated every detail of the education of the officers. It is not claimed that the officers possess a profound scientific knowledge of the mechan- ism, nor even sufficient practical acquaintance with the details for handUng it. The first is the province of the naval architects; and for the second there exists the class called 'deck officers' (warrant officers), to whose fimction the Saxon nature readily adapts itself; a class between petty officers and officers, composed of individuals whose practical knowledge of one single subject is being constantly improved by fre- quent alternations of practical experience and teaching in the schools. From this class are drawn and placed respectively under the officers concerned, experts in gunnery, torpedo practice, and engineering, highly trained by constant and exclusive employment of the one machine, and perfected in the schools by theoretical instruction limited in extent, but of great efficiency. "As to the executive branch of officers, the maximum age for ad- mittance as a cadet is eighteen years, and a certificate of the standard of education of 'bachelor' is sufficient to qualify him for entrance. A Commission examines the antecedents of the candidate's family more closely than his diploma, and his admission is then determined; but in this case, and with the consent of the Board, the candidate must pass a qualifying examination in the higher branches of mathematics, and must read and translate Enghsh and French. "During the first six months the cadets receive military training on land, and then embark in cruisers exclusively reserved for this purpose. The instruction given in these cruisers, which are at the same time schools for seamen apprentices, is of a practical character; they are taught the principles of seamanship, including practical navigation and pilotage, and sufficient astronomy for the determination of latitude by the meridian. In gunnery they learn the handling of guns and the firing at the target. In the engine-room they perform the mechanical 60 THE KAISER duties of each department in all their details. Every midshipman must have kept at least twelve watches of two hours each as stoker mechanic, and twenty-four hours as artificer in the engine-room. During the first year the progress made in their studies is carefully watched, and at the close of the course the students pronounced competent undergo an examination on board the same ship before they can pass into the Kiel School as midshipmen. The midshipmen remain a year in this school. "In addition to lectures, the afternoons are employed as follows: In siunmer, weekly, two double hours seamanship; one hom* gymnastics; one hour fencing; one hour signalling. Monthly, one double hour in engineering, and, during the term, seven double hours of navigation. In winter, six double hours gunnery; five hours construction; one hour gymnastics; one hour fencing; one hour signalling; one hour riding; one hour dancing. "Every branch of the system has its requirements. The ninth year of their career closes the period of training and the result of the examinations, and the reports of their commanding officers determine their seniority in the Ust of officers; but in order to take their place among the officers a favourable vote must be obtained, as in the case of the officers of the Executive Branch, only in this case the officers of the Engineer and the Executive branches vote. Those who aspire to become officers cannot marry until after they have attained their position." Any account of the Kaiser and his navy must be incomplete if it does not include an allusion to the circumstances of his first vision of a fleet commensurate with the greatness of Germany. He was the guest of his beloved grandmother. Queen Victoria, when his father and mother were at Morris Castle on the outskirts of Cowes. At that time the German navy had no place among the world's naval powers. Pageants and regattas were frequent in the Solent, in sight of Osbom and Morris Castle. These fascinated the boy who is now Kaiser. Not long before France had blockaded the North Sea coast and Britannia, still unchallenged, ruled the wave. The boy de- clared then that when he became Emperor Germany should have a great fleet. After he was grown to manhood he often referred to the days "when I ran about as a boy at Portsmouth dockyard." In 1904, on the occasion of the Kiel regatta, the Kaiser paid a THE PALACE CHAPEL THE KAISER HAS SAID, "gOD HAS HONG THE PRAYER BELL IN EVERY MAx's HEART AND TROUBLE MAKES US RING It" THE THRONE ROOM. MUCH OP THE GOLD AND SILVER PLATE ON THE HAND- SOME SIDEBOARD DATES FROM THE TIME OF THE FIRST PRUSSIAN KINGS THE PALACE AT BERLIN— INTERIORS THE KAISER AND HIS NAVY 61 tribute to the power and traditions of the British navy. "When I came to the throne," he said, "I attempted to reproduce on a scale commensm-ate with the resources and interests of my own country that which made such a deep impression upon my mind when I saw it as a young man in England." His very first ambition after he had succeeded his father was the creation of a German fleet. He thought it out before he took up the organization of his wonderful army. Bismarck thought that a German navy was essential to working out the future greatness of the empire, but he didn't move fast enough to suit the yoimg Emperor. And this difference of opinion was the first link in the chain of causes that brought about that dramatic and memorable incident known as the Dropping of the Pilot. The Emperor took the helm. Within ten years he had by his own characteristic devices and energy crystallized an opinion in the empire which coincided with his own as to the need for a great fleet. It required stubborn insistence and craft to accom- phsh his purpose. At first the people protested because they were already overburdened with the maintenance of the army. The more they opposed, the more the Kaiser insisted. His people did not yet understand what they came to realize later, that the more they balked at the Emperor's plans, the more determined was he to "lay on." He prides himself upon his power to overcome obstacles, especially if they appear to others to be insurmountable. When he had turned his Portsmouth dreams into facts he referred complacently to the fact that he had accompHshed his purpose in spite of popular disfavour. CHAPTER VI THE KAISER'S FOREIGN POLICY IF WE wish to understand the foreign policy of Germany under William II, we will study in vain the writings of Goethe, Schiller, Lessing, Hegel, and others who once were considered representative of German thought and ambitions. We need, rather, to delve into the history of Carthage and other nations which rose to power through commercial expansion and world trading made possible and fomented by the greatness and boldness of victorious armies and navies. The huge war machine of Germany and that nation's almost frantic efforts to create a navy fit to encoimter that of Great Britain are con- strued by the world as a standing advertisement of an intention to expand its commerce and dominion far beyond the existing boundary lines of its empire. Germany, however, is confronted with a far differ- ent problem from that faced by Greece, Rome, Persia, and Carthage when their generals led troops which conquered most of the then known world. These conquests were possible only because a single people had developed within itself marked intellectual genius, and elected to devote this genius to the mastery of nations and races which had not shared or benefited by such progress. The age has long since passed when one nation can secure to itself anything worthy of adoption or imitation. Germany is a new country in the field of world pohtics. In all of the writings and discussions of our American forefathers pending the Declaration of Independence and the revolt against the rule of England, the student finds almost no mention of Germany or Prussia, and such men as Jefferson, John Adams, Washington, Madison, and others of revered memory, seemingly were unaware that these nations had a history worth referring to. Our statesmen of those days were familiar with the records of Greece, Rome, and other ancient powers, and were intimate with the problems which confronted France, Spain, Holland, Italy, and the nations bordering on the Atlantic and Mediterranean, but Germany had done nothing to command their attention or study. Yet it was in these years, more than a century ago, that Great 62 THE KAISER'S FOREIGN POLICY 63 Britain, France, Italy, Spain, and other countries were searching the world for locations for colonies which would act as outlets for surplus home populations and bring added revenues and prestige to their crowns. Germany took no part in this quest for world expansion. The states which now constitute the German Empire were at war with one another, and their respective fighting rulers thought little and cared less of the colonial aspirations of their relatively peaceful neighbours. Germany was then sparsely settled, and the recurrent wars effectually checked the natural fecimdity of the race. While France and England were fighting for new lands in the Americas, Germany was in a welter of internal strife. It was not until the present Kaiser was on the throne that Germany awoke to the realization of the fact that she must have colonies for her rapidly increasing population. The problem thus presented constitutes the basis and suggests the motive of the foreign pohcy of Germany under William II. Years of peace brought wonderful commercial advancement and prosperity to Germany, but, save for the forceful annexation of Alsace- Lorraine, no important increase in territory. The map of the world was dotted with the colonial possessions of Great Britain, France, Spain, and other countries, but the mighty Germany which had crushed France and which held the world in awe and dread was forced to be content with a few Pacific islands of doubtful value and tracts of African wilder- nesses over which it asserted sovereignty. The pUght of awakened Germany under WilUam II may have been in the mind of Ben King when he wrote "Jane Jones." He thus quotes the mythical "Jane": "She said 'at Columbus was out at the knees When he first thought up his big scheme. An' told all the Spaniards an' Italians, too. An' all of 'em said 'twas a dream. But Queen Isabella jest hstened to him, 'Nd pawned all her jewels o' worth, 'Nd bought him the Santa Maria 'nd said: *Go himt the rest of the earth!' Jane Jones she honestly said it was so ! Mebbe he did — I dimno ! O' course that may be, but then you must allow They ain't no land to discover just now!" 64 THE KAISER Like this unfortunate youth, Germany discovered that there was no land to colonize, "just now." With Great Britain the Mistress of the Seas it was idle to attempt to transport armies to Africa or the Americas, and it is not diflBcult to discern that this condition precipi- tated a campaign led by Germany for greater navies on the part of European powers; a campaign which inevitably meant bankruptcy or war — and war came, as was to be expected. No nation on earth so longs for German-ruled colonies as does the German Empire, The very existence of this race, according to Kaiser William, depends on such expansion. In Germany, as in all other countries, the more ambitious, alert, and energetic of its people are the ones who leave the fatherland and cast their lot in new lands with greater opportunities. Few of these opportunities can be found in foreign lands now under the German flag. The pressure of population has caused the migration from Germany of more than 30,000,000 of her people, and, owing to a pecuhar trait in the German character, these thirty milUons and their descendants are lost to the German Empire forever — unless the nations which now constitute their places of resi- dence are conquered and annexed by Germany. The German in Germany is patriotically devoted to the fatherland, conforms to its conventions and traditions, and cheerfully fights for its honour and glory, but most Germans quickly slough off these habits and ideals when they go to other countries. After a German has been a few years in London or Manchester he becomes an Enghshman. To the millions of German-born citizens of the United States, Germany is only a memory. They are Americans, and mighty good Americans. Most of their children are brought up without a knowledge of the German language, which is a misfortime, since the woeful handicap of Americans at the present time is their lack of mastery of the great world languages, German, French, and Spanish. The German Franks who went to northern France became French, and at this writing are desperately fighting for France against their relations in German uniforms. Even as conquerors the Germans are absorbed by those among whom they settle. The German Longobardi, who centuries ago conquered northern Italy and ruled it for centuries, quickly dropped their language and became ItaUans in name and in sentiment. The German Goths who overran France and Spain have been swallowed up in language and in sentiments by those whom they once ruled. Pliotojiraph by Paul Tliompson AS A SCOTTISH HIGHLANDER Photograph hy Reichard & Lindner AS HIS ANCESTOR, FREDERICK THE GREAT THE KAISER IN COSTUME THE KAISER'S FOREIGN POLICY 65 The 12,000,000 Germans in Austria-Hungary are threatened with absolute extinction as a race. The Czechs, Poles, and Magyars have successfully insisted that the children of German parents shall attend schools in which the German language is not taught. The Czechs, who for centuries have been subdued and treated with contempt by the Prussians and Germans, now refuse to speak that language, and the Germans in their midst make only a passive resistance. In a few years it is predicted that the German language will be as little known in Bohemia and Prague as now in Hungary. The same is true in Moravia, in Austrian Silesia, in Gahcia, and in Tyrol. Budapest was founded by the Germans in 1241, and it was known as a great German city until comparatively recently. In 1860 more than half of its population was German. The percentage had decreased to 33 in 1888. At the present time less than one tenth of the popula- tion of this Himgarian capital are Germans, and a knowledge of German is of sUght help to the traveller in that once German metropoUs. Thus we see that the German language and German influence are practically extinct in the Hungarian portion of that ill-assorted con- federation known as Austria-Hungary. How fares it with the Germans in Austria proper.? This section of Europe is popularly supposed to be German in all save name, yet we learn that Vienna has already been invaded by enormous numbers of Czechs and it is entirely probable that they will some day dominate. In 1900 there were in Austria 9,200,000 Germans, 6,000,000 Czechs, 4,300,000 Poles, and 6,000,000 people belonging to six other nationalities. The Slavonic element numbered more than 60 per cent, of its population, and the use of the German language is steadily decreasing. Germany has been forced to look on while more than 10,000,000 of her race are being absorbed by Slavs whom Germany has suppressed and oppressed in the past, but over whom it now exercises no direct sovereignty. The 2,500,000 Germans in Switzerland and the 2,000,000 Germans in Russia have lost their national characteristics, their loyalty, and, in most part, their knowledge of the German language. The 150,000 Germans in Holland and Belgium have rapidly been converted into Dutch and Belgians. Most of the 150,000 Germans in France are rapidly becoming French. To sum it all up, we find that while the 66,000,000 Germans in Germany under William II are cohesive and are increasing in numbers and in prosperity at a rapid rate, the 30,000,000 Germans outside of Germany are being converted into Czechs, Poles, 66 THE KAISER Italians, Hungarians, Russians, Frenchmen, Dutchmen, Belgians, Boers, Americans, Canadians, etc. The Englishman who goes with his family to hve in Canada, New Zealand, Australia, India, or in any of the other coimtries over which Great Britain holds sovereignty does not abandon his language or his loyalty. He holds himself in readiness to respond to the call of his mother country. Himdreds of the volunteers who now fight in the ranks of the English army against Germany are men of German descent. William II fully realizes all this. He is aUve to the fact that the cosmopolitanism of the German is a menace to the world domination of the German race, and that a German is truly a German only in Ger- many or in some colony absolutely dominated by German influences. Skilled students of European poUtics have ever been frank in declaring that William II has pursued a foreign pohcy looking first to a vastly larger Continental Germany, and secondly to acquiring by treaty or conquest the favoured colonial possessions now held by less populous and less powerful mihtary rivals. Since it is a temperamental fact that a German remains a German only when on German soil, William II has planned to augment by conquest or by treaty an amoimt of territory proportionate to the ultimate destiny of Germany as a world power. The manner in which the existing war broke on the world hke a thunderbolt out of a clear sky is evidence that the ruHng Kaiser long had planned a master-stroke for the aggrandizement of the territory and power of Germany. It is also evident that he has pursued a foreign policy in accord with the advice given by his illustrious ancestor, Fred- erick the Great, who, in 1775, handed this injimction down to the rulers of Germany: "Constant attention must be paid to hiding, so far as possible, one's plans and ambitions. . . . Secrecy is an indispensa- ble virtue in politics as well as in the art of war." In his military testament, the Anti-Machiavel, Frederick the Great also wrote: "A war is a good war when it is undertaken for increasing the prestige of a state, for maintaining its security, for assisting one's alUes, or for frus- trating the ambitious plans of a monarch who is bent on conquests which may be harmful to one's interests." There is everything to indicate that the ruling Kaiser subscribes to these specifications, and that he is thus firmly imbued with the convic- tion that he is waging a "good war." With the preceding considerations in view, viz. — the cramped space of Continental Germany compared with its rapidly increasing popula- THE KAISER'S FOREIGN POLICY 67 tion; the absorptioB of Germans in language and thought by foreign countries to which they emigrate; the lack of undeveloped lands suitable for colonial expansion; and a readiness to believe and act on the theory that any war is a "good war" which has as its object the "increasing of the prestige" of Germany — let us examine the surroundings of the German Empire and study the now obvious poUcy which Wilham II has had in mind with a view to utiUzing the miUtary prowess of Ger- many for its advancement and his glory. In a mihtary sense Prussia is Germany, and it is the hereditary Prussian influence which has arrayed Germany in a conflict with na- tions which long have stood in dread of the mihtary system which Prussia has bequeathed to the German Empire. It is only six centuries ago that Prussia was a wilderness occupied by semi-barbaric races. These were conquered and exterminated by knights of the Teutonic order, who set up a picturesque but intolerable state of feudal anarchy. Such powerful robber-knights as the Putilzes, Rochows, Quitzowa, etc., divided the lands and extorted tribute from all who fell beneath their warhke prowess. Against them the German Empire sent Prince Frederick of HohenzoUem in 1415, with a commission to create order on the stipulation that the government of the country should be vested in him and his heirs forever. He did so, and thus cjreated a mihtary monarchy, and it has ever preserved that characteristic. Like Rome, Prussia was founded by military adventurers. Prussia came to its own in the reign of Frederick the Great, but it was Bismarck who gave notice to the world that Prussia cared httle for existing boundary hnes and that the only effective diplomacy was that backed by the merciless weight of arms. On coming into power, Bismarck doubled the size of the Prussian army, and in 1864 wrested Schleswig-Holstein from Denmark, with the harbour of Kiel and more than 1,000,000 inhabitants. Two years later he humbled his former ally, Austria, and in 1870 crushed France and amalgamated the South German States with Prussia. Prior to 1876 Bismarck made no direct effort to seek expansion in foreign countries through colonial development. His mighty genius and resistless energy were devoted to enhancing the Continental great- ness of Germany. The claim that the present Kaiser, Wilham II, was responsible for the installation of Germany's colonial pohcy will not bear the test of historical scrutiny. Soon after William II took the throne in 1888, however, he began to differ with Bismarck largely be- 68 THE KAISER cause, in the opinion of the new Kaiser, the Iron Chancellor had devoted slight attention either to colonial development or to the rearing of a navy which would compel the proper respect of Great Britain, on whose vast and prosperous colonies the sun never sets. But Bismarck had been busy in South Africa, and had planned to ravish the English possessions there with the help of the Boers. He was instrumental prior to 1880 in forming the colony of German South Africa, also in securing possession of small tracts elsewhere, but WiUiam II deemed the results acqmred not sufficient for Germany's needs and powers, and there is no doubt that he broke with Bismarck largely on this account. The Kaiser's colonial and other foreign policies have imdoubtedly been greatly influenced by the writings and teachings of the German university professors, who have played a most important part in moulding pubhc sentiment in that country, a public sentiment to which William II has eagerly responded. Chief among the learned professors who have sounded the cry for a Greater Germany was Professor von Treitschke, the historian, who openly proclaimed that the destiny of Germany was thwarted by lack of territory, and who never hesitated to picture Great Britain as the nation which must be humbled before Germany could come into her own. He cared nothing for the integrity of Belgium and Holland. In his book, "PoUtik," he thus wrote: "Germany, whom Nature has treated in a stepmotherly fashion, will be happy when she has received her due and possesses the Rhine in its entirety." Treitschke considered the acquisition of the Netherlands as the first step toward entering on a world-embracing policy. The ruling Kaiser is known as a devoted admirer of Treitschke, frequently quotes from him, and tacitly appears to give approval to his bold and aggressive attitude. Discussing the future of Germany's colonial policy under Kaiser William II, Professor Treitschke, in his "Deutsche Kampfe," wrote : "In the South of Africa circumstances are decidedly favourable to us, Enghsh colonial pohcy, which has been successful everywhere else, has not had a lucky hand at the Cape of Good Hope. The civiUza- tion which exists there is Teutonic, is Dutch. ... If our empire THE KAISER'S FOREIGN POLICY 69 has the courage to follow an independent colonial policy, a colhsion of our interests and those of England is unavoidable. It was natural and logical that the new Great Power of Central Europe had to settle affairs with all Great Powers. We have settled our accounts with Austria- Hungary, with France, and with Russia. The last settlement, the settlement with England, will 'probably he the lengthiest and the most difficult one." Treitschke admiringly reaffirmed Machiavelh's declaration that "The State is Power," and added a dictum of his own relative to the sacredness of treaty obhgations when he affirmed: "Every state re- serves to itself the right of judging as to the extent of its treaty obh- gations." With this precept in mind, Kaiser Wilham II and his generals recently paid no attention whatever to the "scrap of paper," Germany's solemn treaty with Belgium. When the true history of the present war is written, it may be told that the real animus was a determination on the part of Wilham II to annex Belgium by force and to absorb Holland either by treaty or by arms. These two countries have ever acted as a buffer between Germany and France and England. The Netherlands have for cen- turies been the battlefield on which the great powers of Europe have struggled for supremacy. They stand square in the way of the am- bitious plans of Wilham II. Holland hes as a barricade across the greatest trade route of Germany. The Rhine, which bears a large percentage of the internal commerce of Germany, empties into the North Sea after passing through HoUand. Germany's great manu- , f acturing centres are in the valley of the Rhine, and it follows that the enormous export trade of that nation flows out through the ports of Rotterdam, in Holland, and Antwerp, in Belgium. Hamburg long ago lost its harbour supremacy despite all the efforts of the Kaiser to di- vert shipping in its direction. Antwerp, which fifty years ago handled 300,000 tons of freight, and twenty years ago had increased this to 2,000,000 tons, now boasts of 12,000,000 tons, a huge percentage of which is of German origin. Rotterdam, Amsterdam, and Antwerp have grown rich from this rapidly moimting traffic. To again quote Professor Treitschke: "The Rhine is the king of rivers. It is an in- finitely precious resource to Germany, and, owing to our own fault, the very part of the Rhine which is materially most valuable to us has fallen into the hands of foreigners. It is an indispensable duty of German pohcy to regain the mouths of that river." 70 THE KAISER William II has been most assiduous in seeking by various expedi- ents to iaduce or force Holland to become a state in the German Empire. Persuasion having failed, the Kaiser instigated in 1892 the construction of the Dortmund-Ems Canal, which taps the Rhine in German territory and empties into the North Sea at Emden, a little German coast town on the German-Dutch boimdary Une. It was constructed by the government at a cost exceeding $20,000,000. Other large sums are being spent in harbour improvements, and Germany threatens to divert most of the trade which now passes through Holland to the artificial harbour at the mouth of this canal. This is not a profitable venture from a governmental standpoint, and it is claimed that it is one of the coercive measures intended to force Holland to become a part of Germany. It goes without saying that Great Britain would oppose on any terms the federation of Holland with Germany, and this despite the fact that Holland and Belgium are both becoming Germanized. Hol- land and Belgium have several himdreds of miles of coast Kne within a few hours' swift sail from the coast of England, and within the har- bours thus acquired by Germany her naval architects could build the war fleet and her naval strategists plan the long threatened sea cam- paign against Great Britain. Nothing in world poKtics is more cer- tain than that Germany will not be permitted to acquire another foot of coast along the North Sea or EngUsh Channel without the armed protest of Great Britain. Yet the official utterances of William II and a study of his pohcy lead to the conclusion that he has aimed steadily at the absorption of Denmark, Holland, and Belgium, with their superb harbours and their strategical position relative to Great Britain and France. WiUiam II has always assumed a most friendly attitude toward Russia, yet it is known that he has cast longing eyes in the direction of the immense and thinly populated domains of that country. Ger- many has increased its population at the rate of 900,000 a year, and her 208,740 square miles of territory contains 310 inhabitants to the square mile. Russia in Europe has ten times the area of the German Empire, and all of Russia makes up a domain fully forty times that of Germany, and its density of population is only twenty to the mile. German military experts have ever professed contempt for the military prowess of Russia, and the German military staff long since perfected on paper the plans for the invasion of Russia and the taking THE KAISER'S FOREIGN POLICY 71 of Moscow and St. Petersburg. The Kaiser has repeatedly declared that " Germany's future lies on the water," and in his quest for sea- room and new harbours for commerce and naval operations it may be taken for granted that the Baltic provinces to the north of Germany have been kept in mind as the reward of a successful war against Russia. These coveted Russian provinces are Courland, Livonia, and Esthonia, and they were originally founded by Germans in 1160. They defeated the Russians in many battles, but in the great wars following the Re- formation in Germany these provinces were wrested from her on the north by Russia, and Germany was compelled to part with Alsace and Lorraine to France on the south. Thus the same sentiment which impelled Bismarck to grasp Alsace and Lorraine from beaten France in 1871 would influence William II to regain Courland, Livonia, and Esthonia from Russia in the event of the defeat of the latter in the ex- isting or in any future war. While the German inhabitants in these provinces are in a minority, they are far more numerous than the Russians, the bulk of the people being Letts, Esthonians, and Jews. The Germans, however, consti- tute the wealthy and aristocratic class, and would welcome annexation to the fatherland of their defeated ancestors. If these provinces were added to Germany they would considerably increase her cramped "elbow-room," and would give Berhn much added security from Russian attack. St. Petersburg is now 450 miles from the German frontier, but the acquisition of these Baltic provinces would reduce this distance to eighty miles. The wealth and power of Russia is largely concentrated along the Baltic and in Polish Russia, in other words, not far from the German frontier, and it follows that Germany cannot expand in that direction without first utterly crushing and humbling Russia. The Kaiser cares little for more Polish territory, but when he studies the map he looks longingly at the Baltic provinces once a part of the German Empire. Nothing seems more certain to expert students of European politics than the disintegration of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire and the absorption of large parts of it by Russia, Germany, and Italy. It is freely predicted that this downfall of a mis-assorted monarchyj will speedily follow the death of the aged Emperor Francis Joseph. It has repeatedly been in the power of Germany to annex large parts of Aus- tria, but Bismarck and other leaders deemed that the time had not arrived to take this momentous step. 72 THE KAISER Not less than 11,000,000 of the population of Austria are Germans, most of whom would probably welcome a change of alliance to the more powerful and progressive nation to their north and west. The impelUng motive of William II in all of his world policies is more sea- room and new harbours for the creation and operation of a navy which will challenge the supremacy of Great Britain and give to the German Empire those colonies which never can be hers without an appeal to the force of arms. Belgium, Holland, Denmark, and the Baltic prov- inces now held by Russia are the objective points of German ambition under the ruling Kaiser in his reach to the north, but Austria-Hungary blocks the way to the Mediterranean. The Kaiser connived at the conquest of Bosnia by Austria-Hungary, and it may be taken for granted that he would encourage the conquest and annexation of Montenegro and Albania, thus giving to his present ally all of the west coast of the Adriatic to the northern boundary of Greece. With the breaking up of the empire now ruled by the aged Francis Joseph, all this sea coast would be demanded by the Kaiser and granted to him, assuming that the mighty mihtary power of Germany be not vitally impaired in the prevaihng war. This would add fully 800 miles of Mediterranean sea- coast to the German Empire, and, with the absorption of Belgium, Holland, Denmark, and the Baltic provinces, would increase the sea front of the New Continental Germany by not less than 2,000 miles. Germany would thus be able to strike directly at not only all of the coasts of England but also at St, Petersburg and Constantinople, while only Gibraltar would stand in her way to the mastery of the Mediterranean. AU this but leads up to the fact that the world policy of Germany under WilUam II is one launched against the continued naval and colonial supremacy of Great Britain. For nearly a generation there has been Uttle attempt to disguise the fact that war between Germany and Great Britain was inevitable. German writers of consequence do not make public any declarations which are counter to the known aspirations of the ruling Kaiser. C. Eisenhart published in 1900 a book in which it was shown that Germany, with her new fleet, would destroy the naval power of Japan and gain a permanent foothold in the East. Later, according to the imaginative Eisenhart, Germany takes advantage of the crippled condition of England while the latter is at war with Russia, and the German fleet wrecks that of the United Kingdom. Then comes the turn of the United States, which is de- THE KAISER'S FOREIGN POLICY 73 feated and humbled by Germany for her "insolence," with the outcome that Germany's victories result in the acquisition of the best Anglo- Saxon colonies, including AustraHa, and in the ascendancy of Germany over Anglo-Saxondom the world over. In the Koloniale Zeitschrift of January 18, 1900, we read: "The old century saw a German Europe; the new one shall see a German world. To attain that consummation two duties are required from the present German generation: to keep its own counsel and to create a strong naval force." As far back as April 24, 1897, WilKam II said at a banquet in Cologne: "Neptune with the trident is a symbol for us that w^ have new tasks to fulfil since the empire has been welded together. Everywhere we have to protect German citizens, everywhere we have to protect German honour; that trident must be in our fist!" On another occasion the Kaiser declared: "Our future lies on the water. . . . We are in bitter need of a strong German navy. ... If the increase demanded during the first years of my reign had not been continually refused me in spite of my pressing entreaties and warnings, for which I have experienced derision and ridicule, how differently should we be able to further our flourishing commerce and our interests over the sea." On January 1, 1900, Emperor WilUam declared in a speech: "As my grandfather reorganized the army, so I shall reorganize my navy, without flinching and in the same way, so that it will stand on the same level as my army, and that, with its help, the German Empire shall reach the place which it has not yet attained." In the summer of this same year he declared: "The ocean is indispensable to the greatness of Germany. The ocean proves, too, that no great decision can now be taken at sea or 74 THE KAISER on distant lands beyond the sea without Germany and without the German Emperor. I do not consider that the German nation fought, bled, and conquered thirty years ago in order to allow itself to be thrust aside on the settlement of great questions of foreign politics. Were that to take place, it would be the end at once and for all to the position of the German nation as a world power, and I do not mean to allow this to come to pass. Ruthlessly to employ suitable and, if necessary, imperative means to carry out this pohcy is not merely my duty but it is my highest privilege." These and hundreds of other official utterances were, of course, directed against the naval and colonial supremacy of Great Britain. Professor Hans Delbruck, the distinguished teacher of history in Berlin, wrote in the North American Review in January, 1900: "England insists upon being the only great commercial and co- lonial power in the world, and is only willing to allow other nations the favour of owning small fragments as enclaves wedged helplessly be- tween her possessions. This it is which we neither can nor intend to tolerate. . . . The good things of this world belong to civilized nations in common. As England is not expected to give way peace- fully, and as her great naval power cannot be overwhelmed by a single state, the best remedy would be the alliance against her of her rivals together, especially of Russia, France, and Germany." It will be observed that the stress of circumstances has brought about a far different alliance. Germany and not Great Britain finds herself isolated. Wilham II took his cue from Bismarck in directing a pohcy toward France. Bismarck first sought to cripple France after the Franco- German War of 1870 by extorting from the loser the sum of $1,000,000,000 as an indemnity for German expenditures, which did not exceed one- third of that amount. Bismarck was greatly disappointed when France not only promptly paid that sum but entered on a new era of prosperity. German diplomacy for years, however, under both Bismarck and Wil- liam II kept France embroiled with England, Spain, Italy, and with other nations with whom naturally she should seek alhances. It was not until 1898, when M. Delcasse became the Secretary of State for French Foreign Affairs, that this policy was vitally changed. Del- THE KAISER'S FOREIGN POLICY 75 casse successfully cultivated the friendship of Great Britain, negotiated a compact with Russia, and brought about amicable understandings with Italy and Spain. Kaiser Wilham was undoubtedly greatly disturbed over the alli- ance between France and Russia. A war with these two nations would menace Germany from the west, east, and north. Despite the fact that the population of Germany is roughly 66,000,000 against less than 40,000,000 for France, the latter has been able to maintain a standing army almost equal to that of its conqueror of 1870, and William II has never laboured under the delusion that France has forgotten or forgiven that defeat. Up to the time of the Russian-Japanese War the ruHng Kaiser was assiduous in attempting to cultivate the friendship of France. He urged that the interests of Germany and France were identical, and extolled the necessity of a Franco-German alhance as best calculated to preserve the peace of Europe. French officials were wined, dined, and entertained lavishly in Berlin, and French naval ships lay side by side with German men-of-war in Kiel. Then came the battle of Muk- den and the demonstration that puny Japan was more than a match for the dreaded armies of Russia. The Kaiser, no longer fearing Russia, ceased to cultivate the friendship of France, and in 1905 seized on the Morocco issue as a pretext to force France to humble herself or risk her fortunes in another war. Informed Frenchmen have never entertained any illusions con- cerning their relations with Germany. Between the two nations there has existed for centuries an antipathy which, even in times of peace, may properly be described in Professor Treitschke's phrase, "a latent state of war." Despite the fact that Germany has only nominal in- vestments in Morocco and slight valid excuse to interfere with the French "sphere of influence" in a country which French investors have vastly developed, Germany used Morocco as a medium to force its weaker neighbour into war both in 1905 and in 1911, and only the determined attitude of Great Britain prevented the Kaiser from hurl- ing his troops across the French border with the seemingly set purpose of crippling a nation which might help Great Britain in the inevitable future war between it and the German Empire. There is not wanting evidence that Germany seized the crisis between Servia and Austria as a pretext to declare war against France, whose prosperity as a republic menaced the ambitions of William II and the Prussian military cUque. 76 THE KAISER Geographical conditions decreed that the military and commercial rise of the German Empire should engender within it a growing hos- tiUty against the island kingdom of Great Britain. Without the most powerful navy in the world Great Britain would be absolutely at the mercy of Germany in the event that the latter should attempt its con- quest. Great Britain is a military nation only in a defensive sense. Its standing army is comparatively small, and its only source of se- curity is a navy equal to that of any of the two Continental powers which might combine to attack it. In the event of a war which should destroy or seriously cripple the English fleet, her foes could establish a blockade which would starve the inhabitants of the British Isles in less than sixty days. ! The 45,000,000 people of these islands are almost absolutely dependent on foreign countries for their food supplies. Her grains of all kinds, her beef and other meats, and practically all of the food which enters into her general consumption are shipped to her from North and South Amer- ica, from Asia, and from Africa. A very considerable portion of this food is produced by the inhabitants of her colonies. In the event of war no ships could carry this produce except under the protection of the British fleet. Had the German navy been strong enough to venture out of Kiel and from the Baltic, have defeated the British navy and blockaded her ports, Great Britain would have been starved into sub- mission to the will of Kaiser WilHam II, who would have written his own terms, which doubtless would have included the acquisition by Germany of colonies foimded by England in the centuries when the former was only a group of warring and semi-barbarous states, Q .Germany is fighting for an expansion which, in the language of some of her statesmen and writers, aspires to a " German world in this century," Great Britain with her fleet and her world-scattered colonies stands squarely in the way of the military and naval aspirations of Germany. The United States, with her insistence on the vahdity of the Monroe Doctrine, also imposes her huge bulk and inert power against the aspirations of Germany in the two Americas, and German pubUcists are so frank as to declare that the "insolence" of the United States will be rebuked by Germany when Great Britain "has been attended to," To sum up the whole matter in a paragraph, the world policy of Germany under Wilham II is that which Greece and Rome appUed to the then known world for the subjugation of scattered and imfederated SOME OF THE KAISERS TA'IFORMS "the EMPEKOn, WHILE IN LONDON . . . BROUGHT HIMSELF Ot'T IX A BEWILDERING VARIETY OF NEW COSTUMES; HE CAME OUT AS A HUSSAR, AS AN ADMIRAL, AND AS AN EMPEROR. ON ONE FAVORABLE OCCASION HE CHANGED HIS DRESS NO FEWER THAN FIVE TIMES IN A SINGLE DAy" THE KAISER'S FOREIGN POLICY 77 nations and tribes unable to unite and withstand the military prowess of these ancient conquerors. The triumphs of Greece and Rome were possible only in the age in which they were wrought. Steam and elec- tricity have so welded the world that no nation can prevail against a defensive combination of weaker nations whose interests are threat- ened. Napoleon would have met his Waterloo and found his St. Helena at the start of his attempted conquest of the world had his surprised opponents been equipped with the telegraph, the wireless, and the scrutiny of mihtary operations which comes with the use of flying craft. No nation will again conquer the world or annex any considerable part of it by mihtary prowess. The only conquests of the immediate future will be those of commerce, and the signs are not wanting that even the handicaps of tariff impositions will gradually be removed to permit each nation to benefit by the inventions and improvements which individuals and groups of individuals bequeath to progress. The future greatness of a Germany will not depend on an extension of her Continental or colonial possessions, but on the genius and enter- prise of her scientists and men of business and commerce. Huge stand- ing armies and the development of engines of destruction to life and property will be relegated to the historical attic wherein are stored the rack and other instruments of torture, and William II will probably be known to fame as the last monarch who made an atavistic attempt to enhance the greatness of a nation by force of arms. The military policy of WilKam II and his war-loving chque of Prussian officers forced all of Europe to stand on guard and to federate against the blow which all intelhgent observers knew was inevitable. When that blow came the Triple Alliance and all other carefully wrought agreements were only "scraps of paper." Europe rose practically as a nation as it would have risen to subjugate a monarchical maniac who had run amuck. It would have been the same if Russia had hurled her weight of arms for the conquest of a world which desired peace and was wilhng to fight for it. The hour has struck for military ambition and aggression, and thrones will crumble because the Kaiser used the expedients of a vanished age to solve the problems of an era which detests war and shuns its devotees. CHAPTER VII COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS OF GERMANY UNDER WILLIAM 11. IT IS refreshing to turn from a study of the force policy of Germany under William II — a policy which logically set Europe aflame with a war which is a disgrace to humanity and to civilization' — and to turn to the marvellous material progress of the German Empire under its "war lord." It is probably the simple truth to assert that no nation in all of recorded history has made an advancement equal to that of Germany in the years which have followed 1888, the date on which William II became Emperor of Germany and King of Prussia. The average citizen of the United States who fully and fondly believes that his native country is the only one which has made or can make marked advance- ment will be hugely surprised when he studies what Germany has ac- complished in the twenty-six years since the ruhng Kaiser undertook to control the destinies of his people. Up to half a century ago Germany stood still and took slight part in that world progress which dawned with the era of invention and machinery. Germany was still the land of dreamers, and Prussia the domain of fighters. The witty phrase coined by Voltaire one hundred and 'fifty years ago stiU held good: "England rules the sea, France the land, Germany the clouds." Its visionaries had no inclination to imitate the material progress which had followed the application of steam as power. Their lack of productivity was strangely supplemented by the destructive efforts of the war-loving Prussians. When men read poetry or philosophy and drop the book only to go out and take a pot shot at a neighbour, material progress is practically nil. Bismarck federated Germany and aroused it from its fantasies. Under the spur of his genius both dreamer and fighter turned to the practical things of life, and the new Germany came into being during the early manhood of the present Kaiser, and was hardly well imder way when he ascended the throne in 1888. It may be suggested that William II has had little to do with the 78 PROGRESS UNDER THE KAISER 79 wonderful prosperity which has come to Germany under his rule. It is possibly true that it is not within the genius or province of one man to add much from within himself to the sum of human attainments, but the king or emperor of a great people is endowed with vast poten- tialities for good or evil. In a lesser degree a virile president of a democratic repubKc has it within his power to initiate and execute policies fraught with good or evil to tens of milKons of his people. In general terms, a forceful executive, be he king or president, makes him- self responsible for much of the happiness or sorrow of those who place him or tolerate him in power. History wiU award to William II much of the obloquy for the international war of 1914, and by the same token history must and will award to Wilham II much of the credit for the prosperity which accrued to Germany in the twenty-five years of peace for which he was so largely responsible. It may or may not be that in all of these twenty-five years the Kaiser was secretly plotting and planning for the overthrow of nations which commercially and poUtically stood in the way of an overweening ambition, but the fact remains that he encouraged and made possible the stupendous advancement of his people, and will stand in history as the figurehead of industrial and commercial achievements which have raised Germany from material obscurity to the forefront of agricultural, mechanical, and world-em- bracing progress. It has been under his reign that Germany found herself and took her proud place "in the sun." Space permits only a summary of the more important phases of this advancement. The reader should keep in mind the important fact that Germany is wofuUy deficient in natural resources when com- pared with Great Britain, France, Russia, and even with Italy. Its soil is poor, its supply of coal and minerals very hmited, its weather is severe in winter and unrehable in other seasons, and it is sadly lacking in natural channels of internal water transportation. It has already been explained that Germany is lacking in harbours, and that its great river, the Rhine, empties into the North Sea through Holland, to which country the German producers and shippers are compelled to pay trib- ute. The industrial, agricultural, and commercial progress attained by Germany has been made despite these real handicaps, handicaps which can hardly be comprehended in the United States, whose national sin it has been to squander some of its invaluable natural assets and 80 THE KAISER to blindly ignore others which would double the wealth of the German Empire. The boastful American is fond of beheving and asserting that the leading cities of the United States have shown increases in popidation unprecedented in all history. The reliable statistics of Germany refute this claim. Within half a century Berlin grew from a squahd over- grown village to a splendid metropolis which, with its contiguous sub- urbs, gives Greater Berlin a population exceeding 3,000,000, an in- crease which dims the wonderful rise of Chicago. Within a period of thirty years Leipsic has grown from 125,000 to 600,000; Munich from 140,000 to 650,000; and Dresden from 135,000 to 550,000. Can any three American cities show similar growth in an equal period of time.'* In the five years from 1895 to 1900 Germany increased its population by more than 4,000,000, and this despite the fact that its area does not reach by 57,000 square miles that of the single State of Texas. From 1900 to 1910 Germany increased its population from 56,000,000 to 64,000,000, and was secure in second place in Europe in the matter of population. It is interesting to compare agricultural Germany with Great Britain in the period xinder consideration. Competent English au- thorities estimate that the agricultural decadence of Great Britain in the last twenty-five years — the period of the reign of Wilham II — is represented at the colossal sum of not less than $7,500,000,000, and there is evidence that Germany has gained from its rural industries more than this vast sum. It is an expressed belief or excuse on the part of certain British statesmen that a European state cannot possess at the same time prosperous manufacturing and profitable rural in- dustries, and they point to the industrial backwardness of France, Holland, and Denmark, countries which depend largely on agriculture, as proof of this claim. But these English statesmen lose sight of the fact that Belgium and Germany both possess highly prosperous manu- facturing industries and also a flourishing agriculture. Great Britain requires a huge and expensive fleet to keep from her coasts national rivals which might blockade her ports and starve her people to death, yet the British Islands contain more potential agri- cultural wealth than that of Germany. The latter has poor soil and worse chmate. England, Ireland, and large parts of Scotland contain large but unused tracts of as fertile land as can be found outside of the tropics. The tillers of such soils are blessed with winters in which ,«-. i:_^ Photograph by Underwood & Underwooil THE KAISER AND GENERAL HELMUTH VON MOLTKE COUNT VON MOLTKE IS A NEPHEW OF THE GREAT MOLTKE OF THE FRANCO-PHUSSIAN WAR PROGRESS UNDER THE KAISER 81 cultivation is possible in all months of the year, also a rainfall which almost insures the success of any planting. Germany has triumphed despite her inferior soil and bitterly cold winters, while England has retrograded until she is almost absolutely dependent on protected fleets bearing the food produce of foreign lands. Between 1875 and 1908, 3,200,000 acres which were planted to cereals in Great Britain, and more than 1,000,000 which were devoted to vegetables, have gone out of cultivation, much of it being merged into the beautiful but unproductive estates of the landed nobility. During this same period Germany vastly increased her areas of culti- vation. Even more startling was the increase in yield per hectare (two and one half acres) in Germany. The comparison is strikingly shown in the following table, which is eloquent as an indication of what governmental encouragement and scientific methods of agriculture have accomplished in Germany: YIELD PER HECTARE OF GROUND IN KILOGRAMS IN GERMANY Wheat Rye Barley Oats Potatoes Hay 1893 1670 1490 1480 1070 13,410 2230 1894 1690 1340 1780 1680 11,110 3830 1895 1640 1320 1680 1550 12,390 3700 1896 1770 1432 1650 1500 10,590 3900 1897 1840 1520 1730 1690 11,920 4380 1898 1700 1370 1560 1430 11,010 4280 1899 1910 1480 1820 1720 12,290 4040 1900 1870 1440 1800 1720 12,610 3910 1901 1580 1400 1790 1600 14,670 3760 1902 2040 1540 1890 1800 13,410 4370 1903 1970 1650 1950 1840 13,250 4450 1905 1920 1560 1790 1570 14,570 4410 1907 1990 1610 2060 2090 13,810 4170 1909 2050 1850 2120 2120 14,050 3710 1910 1990 1700 1950 1840 13,190 4740 From 1883 to 1900 the value of the live-stock holdings of Germany increased more than $500,000,000, in which period this item showed a lamentable decrease in Great Britain. In other words, in a period of seven years the increase in the value of live stock alone in Germany was sufficient to create a navy which would outrank that of Great Britain. The value of farming lands in the latter nation has steadily decreased, while in Germany a rapid increase has been shown. For instance, the Quirren estate of 625 acres in Germany was bought in S2 THE KAISER 1891 for 70,000 marks, sold in the same year for 120,000 marks, resold in 1895 for 160,000 marks, again sold in 1907 for 196,000 marks, and again in 1908 for 240,000 marks. Germany had, in 1907, 5,736,082 agricultural properties, and the average size of these properties was about fifteen acres. The following table is of interest as showing the distribution of these farm holdings: AGRICULTURAL HOLDES[GS IN GERMANY EN 1907 Size of holdings Number of holdings Acreage in hec- tares, 1 hectare being about two and one half acres Percentage of agricul- tural area Less than 5 acres 5 to 12f acres 12| to 50 acres 50 to 125 acres 125 to 250 acres 250 to 1250 acres 1250 and more acres 3,378,509 1,006,277 1,065,539 225,679 36,494 20,068 3,498 1,731,317 3,304,872 10,421,565 6,821,801 2,500,805 4,503,159 2,551,854 5.4 10.4 32.7 21.4 7.9 14.2 8.0 5,736,082 31,854,873 100.0 On properties of from five to two hundred and fifty acres are lo- cated most of the men who give Germany her agricultural greatness. Nine tenths of their fields are freehold lands, and belong to them ab- solutely. The English small farmer when he needs money is generally at the mercy of the usurer, and pays from 20 to 50 per cent, for an accommodation. The farmer in the United States pays from 6 to 12 per cent, for money. Thanks to the paternaUsm of Germany, the farmer in that country is able to borrow money from cooperative banks which charge from 3 to an extreme of 5 per cent, for money, with 4 per cent, as an average. Aided by the state and by the communities, cooperation among German farmers has become a wonderful institution, and one which should be studied by the agricultural landowners of the United States. In 1890 there were in Germany about 3,000 cooperative agricultural societies. In 1908 this number had increased to 22,000, of which 16,092 were credit societies, 1,845 were societies for cooperative buying and selling, 2,980 were cooperative dairy societies, and more than 1,000 other associations were devoted to various purposes. Under the active encouragement of the present Kaiser there have PROGRESS UNDER THE KAISER 83 been formed and successfully operated associations for most diverse purposes. These are organizations for building dykes against floods, for developing irrigation, for draining fields, for acquiring bulls and stallions for breeding purposes, for milling and storing grain, for effect- ing insurance, for the purchase and operation of steam plows and thresh- ing machines, and for other expensive machinery usually beyond the command of the average farmer. Thus a comparatively small quan- tity of expensive agricultural machinery is made to do service to a large number of peasants, who receive most of the advantages which otherwise would be confined to the wealthy landowners. Again, most of the farmers are enrolled into large political associa- tions which exercise vast influence in directing legislation. These societies have forced the German Parhament to grant the strong tariff protection which they now enjoy. In England, four fifths of the population live in towns and cities, and 16 per cent, of the population is found in London. Only 3 per cent, of the Germans live in Berlin, its metropolis, and more than one half of the population is engaged in agricultural pursuits. There are not less than 8,000,000 farm labourers in Germany, and their wages have steadily risen. The genius of the German people for organization is nowhere better shown than in an agricultural industry, which extracts a huge and profitable product from an inferior soil and in the face of handicaps unknown in Great Britain or in the United States. WiUiam II has been indefatigable in promoting the commercial prosperity of Germany through the vast development of its internal waterways. The German Empire has no natural waterways of suflS- cient depth to carry her commerce. Her largest river, the Rhine, is normally shallow, but repeated dredging and huge expenditures of money have made it possible to carry on its broad surface more com- merce than is handled on any other river in the world. Most of the manufacturing centres of Great Britain are located within easy reach of her engirdling seacoasts. Not so with Germany. Her coal and mineral lands are far in her interior, and to reach her manufacturing cities it has been necessary to deepen her rivers and construct a lacework of canals. The time was when England led the world in artificial waterways. With the introduction of railways in 1830 the building of canals almost ceased, and in the years which have followed the influence of the rail- road owners has successfully been used to bring about the disuse and 84 THE KAISER practical abandonment of her canals. This has given the English railroads in private hands a monopoly of transportation, with the con- sequence that the service is poor and the freight rates extortionate in the extreme. Germany has pursued an exactly contrary course. Germany not only has acquired the ownership of most of her railroads but also has been energetic in creating for them a competitor in hun- dreds of miles of splendidly constructed and equipped canals. Germany under William II has spent hundreds of milhons of dollars on such canals, and plans now being executed will call for the expenditure of hundreds of millions more. In addition to this work, German engineers have made it possible to utilize her shallow rivers to high advantage. These rivers were first deepened, but the natural mud and earth banks of the Rhine and other rivers washed away when the large barges proceeded either up or down at any degree of speed. To prevent the filhng in of the channels from this wash of traffic it was decided to convert the earth banks into solid masonry, and this has been done for hundreds of miles, and it is planned to treat all navigable streams in this way. Large inland harbours and turning places have been constructed at great expense wherever needed. In consequence of this patient and intelligent engineering work we find that Cologne, 150 miles from the mouth of the Rhine, is now a seaport for large craft which sail to all parts of the world. Strassburg, more than 300 miles inland, now is reached by boats of 600 tons and more. AU of the tributary streams of the Rhine and Elbe are being deepened and their banks protected with masonry. The consequent growth of German inland commerce since the accession of William II to the throne is strikingly shown in the following tables, the figures for 1913 being closely approximated: THROUGH TRAFFIC OF FREIGHT PASSING EMMERICH (THE DUTCH-GERMAN FRONTIER) Upstream Downstream 1889 2,799,800 tons 2,593,000 tons 1894 4,771,500 3,142,000 1897 6,929,100 3,480,200 1900 9,036,400 4,129,700 1903 10,027,900 7,211,900 1906 13,402,400 7,678,300 1909 14,881,300 9,964,700 ' 1913 18,600,000 12,500,000 Photograph by Paul Thompson THE KAISER IN THE UNIFORM OF THE BODY GUARD THIS PORTRAIT WAS PRESENTED BY HIM TO THE GERMAN EMBASSY AT PETROGRAD PROGRESS UNDER THE KAISER 85 TONNAGE OF GERMAN INLAND FLEET Number of ships Tonnage 1882 18,715 1,658,266 1887 20,930 2,100,705 1892 22,848 2,760,553 1897 22,564 3,370,447 1902 24,839 4,873,502 1907 26,235 5,914,020 1913 30,000 7,500,000 The relatively slight increase in the number of ships navigating the rivers of Germany is explained by the fact that during the reign of WiUiam II ships and barges of 100 tons and less have disappeared in favour of craft with tonnage ranging from 250 to 1,000. It will be noted that since the advent of the Kaiser the tonnage of this inland fleet has nearly quadrupled, and it goes without saying that no nation on earth can show an equal increase in the capacity of its inland mer- chant marine. The rates charged are only a fraction of those which prevail on the railroads. The relative traffic handled by the German railroads, most of which are owned and operated by its government, and the interior waterways, which have been developed by the German Government, is shown in these tables for a period of thirty years: TRANSPORT OF FREIGHT ON THE GERMAN WATERWAYS Arrivals Departures 1875 1885 1895 1905 11,000,000 tons 14,500,000 25,800,000 56,400,000 9,800,000 tons 13,100,000 20,900,000 47,000,000 TRANSPORT OF FREIGHT ON GERMAN RAILWAYS Arrivals Departures 1875 1885 1895 1905 83,500,000 tons 100,000,000 164,000,000 291,000,000 83,500,000 tons 100,000,000 167,000,000 297,700,000 - Nothing could better testify to the material advancement of Ger- many under the rule of William II than the figures above quoted. The 86 THE KAISER taming of her rivers and the construction of canals have entailed an expenditure during the rule of the Kaiser of not less than $250,000,000, and it is to this wise use of government money that Germany is en- titled to a large share of her wonderful commercial prosperity. Let us now turn to a brief study of the German railroads. Great Britain obtained a great start over Germany when the steam railroad first proved its efficiency. In these early years of the Mechanical Age we find Germany controlled by its poetic dreamers and ideaUsts. When Germany finally decided to undertake railroad construction on a large scale she imitated Great Britain in the matter of the private ownership of these arteries of commerce. It was Bis- marck who launched Germany on her poUcy of owning and operating her raiboads, the Iron Chancellor thus taking a leaf out of the book of his enemies, the Sociahsts. Bismarck opened his campaign for state-owned railroads early in 1876, and the following extracts from his addresses and pubhc papers are of interest to the people of the United States at this time when the regulation and possible governmental ownership of railroads is a hve question. Bismarck declared: "The fact that such far-reaching public interests as the transport business of railroads is left to private companies and to individual rail- way boards which are free from any supervision by the state, and the fact that these companies are entitled to make their own interest their sole guide, finds no analogy in the economic history of modern times, except in the way in which formerly a country's finances were farmed out to certain individuals. In view of this fact, I intend, after due investigation, to bring forward the question whether it is possible to introduce, by means of imperial legislation, a uniform tariff on all the railways of Germany." Such legislation followed, and thus was paved the way for the great step which Bismarck undoubtedly had in mind &om the first. In October, 1879, Bismarck brought before Parliament his biU for the purchase of a large portion of the railroads of Germany, and in his powerful speech in the advocacy of this radical step, Bismarck said: "Among the various forms in which railways have been developed in civiUzed countries, the system of state railways pure and simple is the only one which is able to fulfil in the most satisfactory manner all PROGRESS UNDER THE KAISER 87 of the tasks of a national railway policy, by creating uniformity through- out the country and equality for all, and by promoting equally the welfare of all interested in railways. Only in the case of state railways is it possible to utihze to the full and in the most thorough manner the enormous capital invested in railways; only in the case of state railways is it possible to give direct and effective protection to the public interest, which is the government's duty; lastly, only in the case of state rail- ways is it possible to estabUsh a simple, cheap, and rational railway tariff, to suppress harmful differentiation, and to create a just, diligent, and able administration which is guided solely by considerations of the public good. Therefore the state railway system must be con- sidered the final development of the evolution of the railway system." In any study of the question of government railroads as com- pared with raihoads under private ownership and management the impartial student must institute his comparisons between systems in Great Britain and on the Continent, and not with those of the United States, for reasons which are so obvious that they need not be discussed. Travellers and informed business men are well aware that the state- owned railroads of Germany are vastly superior in every way to those of Great Britain. Passenger and freight rates in Great Britain are extortionate, the equipment is inferior and inadequate, and the general impression derived is that one is confronted with a toy railway system which is both inadequate and expensive. The same was largely true in Germany under the private owner- ship and operation of its railways. Their growth had been slight, no construction being undertaken without the certainty of immediate profit expectations. The contrast between the privately owned rail- ways of Great Britain and the state-owned railways of Germany, since they were taken over at the demand of Bismarck, is shown in this table: COMPARATIVE GROWTH OF BRITISH AND GERMAN RAILWAYS German Railways British Railways 1880 33,411 kilometres 17,933 kilometres 1908 57,125 " 23,205 Increase. . . 23,714 kilometres 5,272 kilometres 70 per cent. 29 per cent. In other words, the increased mileage of the German railways in this period was more than the total mileage of Great Britain at the close of such period. 88 THE KAISER How marvellously the freight and passenger business on the Ger- man railways has increased since they came into the possession of the state in 1879 is shown in the following official statement: Passengers, Kilometres Tons, Kilometres 1879 3,797,172,000 8,644,625,000 1884 5,083,700,000 12,414,712,000 1889 6,903,526,000 16,142,648,000 1894 8,763,732,000 18,162,727,000 1900 14,310,204,000 27,434,536,000 1908 21,331,413,729 38,187,612,343 The owners of British railways are delighted to receive 4 per cent, profit on the capital stock of their railways. The state-owned railways of Germany pay immense profits. Prussia has a state debt of about $2,200,000,000, but the earnings of its state railways not only suffice to pay the interest on the total national debt, but also leave over and above that charge a clear balance to the state which ranges from $60,000,000 to $100,000,000 annually. Despite these and other palpa- ble facts there is a constant attempt on the part of certain interests in the United States to convince the public that the government owner- ship of railways in Germany is a failure. It is an open question whether or not such pubhc ownership is desirable in the United States, but there is absolutely no question that the acquiring by Germany of its railroads worked wonders in giving to that nation its commercial and manufacturing advantage over its chief rival, Great Britain. William II has been unceasing in his attempts to foster and pro- mote the shipbuilding industry of Germany. The factors which have just been considered enabled Germany to set itself up as a rival to Great Britain in shipbuilding. Thirty-five years ago German shipbuilding was practically non-existent. Its progress since that period is exhibited in the following tables. IRON AND STEEL SHIPPING BUILT IN GERMANS 1880. . . 23,986 register tons 1900. . . 235,171 register tons 1885. . . 24,554 " " 1909. . . 326,318 1890. . . 100,597 " " 1914 (esti- 1895. . . 122,712 " " mated) . 500,000 CAPITAL OF IRON SHIPBUILDING YARDS 1870 4,800,000 1900 66,000,000 1880 15,300,000 1910 105,890,000 1890 36,100,000 %i J a > ^ a CO « H o Ph 05 c S m . 5 f" H®* F ENGL SIEST. EREFOE JTOBEE o < K a a H ° EDWARD OF THE I AM, EEVIEW, m o o 9 S > S « § " H a w i £ < t1 S a 5 , THE LA . MY TA NDLY TO "telegr >H 3 S is o 3 • B o n IS UN D. . NOT F LOND ^52S (i< & & J a ^ o - Z § S tf > a § 1 o S§gi -51 H Q Z S Z ^:; <; H o Q M «^ iz; AND THE F . M WN LA K g ■ O m ^ !m HE KAI THAT I iong Y IN M ^ H g e >»'_Ei m^^^DVBKirmHH^^Hutt ^Hk - H ^^m iLw w H^^BOaiasuS^^BKI^ 7. w H L 1 '• ' "' • .f.l "'*i»'-"H;, 4 ^^^^ -' & ■LH '1 r. ^H.. 'v ^y Jn 1 ^ ° ,/1i^ ', ~* • f. . ' ' '^^HMfejtf ^* 1 § § 1 ir'^^^-^ ■M '^^% \ ■ i'- ^ 1*1^* .■ »if '^ § § - /l^ • 'V'^ .. » .'^^ . *';jki^. 1 .^i^ >= £ ^■ir?e >- ' ■■ W^^S^^^^^^PmK '^^^ : 4>^ "^^H^^^V^ o " ^H y -. ^\rfii^>-*-f fi Bp~~~"!iHHK3HBi9KHH^H s l'^BBMH Q -^ p^v ^jH^^^^^^Br «^^^^^K>^^^^^^^H Pi o o ^ Pmhh ^>>* T ^; - ^^•. . L ^^ - \ ^iattiS'^ o g oTI, '^^^HFC^k^HBI^B- -i^^^^^^^H filiifc ' r*^'ff^3B[^H M V'^"-' k'^^^^HMl^^H si '«^ V (^^^^^^ ^>PIH "7 K^ ^^m^^^_- S.^'^-'Wftj . k ^H_ K ^B Z; -< ^■k^K ■ --^ \ 1 '•%, 'a-U'', »- ^<^->hu P^^ ^ J ^^MB PROGRESS UNDER THE KAISER 93 Thus in twenty-eight years the relative positions of these two na- tions have been reversed. In that brief span of years Germany in- creased her steel production not less than seventeen-fold, and, despite a fourfold increase on the part of her rival, attained a production more than twice that of her former superior. In an interesting comparison of the financial positions of Germany and Great Britain, J. Elhs Barker writes: "A comparison of German and British finances will prove that Germany is in a very strong position, that she is in a position which should arouse not the scorn but the envy of Great Britain. The na- tional debt of Great Britain amounted in 1908 to £760,000,000, or £17 6s. per inhabitant. The national debt of the German Empire amounted in 1908 to £772,000,000, or to only £12 5s. per inhabitant. Great Britain possesses practically no reahzable assets against her national debt except the Suez Canal shares, and some small items valued together at £40,000,000. Deducting this sum, England's debt stands at £720,000,000. This amount has been spent on powder and shot, and represents nothing but powder and shot. "The German national debt has a different origin. It has been spent not on war, but mainly on the purchase of commercial tmder- takings, and is a debt in name rather than in fact. Against the German national debt of £772,000,000 there are vast industrial assets, the value of which is far greater than her indebtedness. While Great Britain possesses no purely commercial state enterprises, the German states possess many commercial enterprises of very great value. Nearly all of the railroads, nearly all of the canals, extensive agricultural domains, vast forests, and numerous mines, salt works, factories, and banks are govern- ment property in Germany. In 1909 the net profits of the state enter- prises of Prussia alone were as follows : Net profit of state railways £26,135,000 Net profit of state forests 2,880,000 Net profit of state mines and salt works 900,000 Net profit of state agriculture 800,000 Net profit of various state undertakings 800,000 Total o . . . . £31,515,000 *'How carefully the German Empire and the individual states manage their commercial and industrial enterprises may be seen from 94 THE KAISER the fact that, according to a statement made on behalf of the Ministry of Pubhc Works in the Prussian Diet on March 7, 1907, the price for which the Prussian state railways were acquired was £475,000,000, Of this amount £150,000,000 has been written off, so that the book debt on account of the railways now amounts only to £325,000,000, although the intrinsic value is, according to the State Department, at ^ least £1,000,000,000. This is conservative finance." The combined net annual profits of the commercial undertakings of the German Empire now exceed $300,000,000 as the yearly return for this venture into a practical form of state socialism. On the basis of a 4 per cent, investment we therefore find that the German Empire is the owner of property worth fully $7,500,000,000. If she should sell her pubHc enterprises at a value based on their money returns Germany could pay oflF all of her state and national debts and retain a cash bonus of fully $4,000,000,000. This means that each head of a family in Germany has an equity in her national net assets amoimting to from $300 to $400. In other words, by a successful appHcation of pubhc ownership Germany is now in a position to pay a substantial dividend to all of its citizens^ — yet the assertion is often made in the United States that these experiments in Germany have proved a failure. The truth is that the national ownership of railroads and other utilities in Germany long since passed the debatable stage. They are as much of a fixture as pubhc parks and national post oflSces. The prosperity of Germany has been such that emigration has practically ceased. In the last fifteen years Germany has lost by emi- gration from 18,000 to 31,000 annually, a figure so small as to be almost neghgible. During this time Germany has gained in population by the ingress of more than a million foreigners. In these same years Great Britain has lost in gross emigration from 168,000 to as high as 618,859 annually, the latter figure being that for 1910. Others flowed into Great Britain, but not nearly enough to offset the loss. While Germany has made large net gains from the migration of races and nationahties. Great Britain has lost in the past twelve years from 71,118, the figure in 1900, up to 261,858, the sorrowful total for 1911. Thus we find that the pressure from economic conditions which cause emigration has been in recent years from ten to fifteen times as great in Great Britain as in Germany. The marvellous prosperity of Germany during the rule of the pres- PROGRESS UNDER THE KAISER 95 ent Kaiser is shown by the fact than from 1900 to 1913 the savings banks deposits of Germany increased from $2,200,000,000 to more than $4,500,000,000, and this does not include fully $1,500,000,000 more which the working classes of Germany have invested in cooperative societies. The industrial rise of Germany under Wilham II is displayed in figures which cannot fail to attract the attention of all students of such questions. It is doubtful if any nation in any period of sixteen years in its history can point to such progress commercially as is shown in the following figures : Imports of raw materials Exports of manufactured into Germany goods from Germany 1894 £ 83,295,000 £ 93,970,000 1910 254,165,000 239,775,000 If the present war shall prove inconclusive; if Germany persists in Continental expansion which will give her more harbours and more sea room; if Germany holds to her policy of new colonies at the expense of the present possessions of Great Britain; and, finally, if Germany's ambitions are to be denied or granted as the result of a future navy- building race between the two nations, it is difiicult to see why Germany wiU not win in the end' — unless she is permanently crippled by the war now raging. Germany has a greater population, more wealth, and seemingly more genius and energy than Great Britain' — unless the latter can call to her aid the imanimous and ungrudging support of her colonies, an outcome not to be predicted with safety at the present time. When we contemplate the astounding material progress of the German Empire under William II we are forced to the conclusion that it has been made possible only because the nation has been at peace during all of the forty-four years since the war with France. To the thoughtful student the possibility will be suggested that the progress of Germany would have been vastly greater if none of the capital and labour of that nation had been devoted to the preparations for the war which now is raging. This war must ever have been in the mind of the Kaiser, and doubtless it has long constituted the dream of the Prussian miUtary clique. Hundreds of milUons of dollars have been absorbed in the construction of the huge miHtary machine which now is doing its work of destruction. The time, labour, genius, and energy of millions of Germans have been worse than wasted in the task of fitting them- 96 THE KAISER selves to kill those against whom they have no righteous cause. How much greater Germany would have been if all these men had been backed by all this money in the construction of new railroads, new canals, new ships, and in solving the mysteries of science ! Of aU the nations of the earth which have suffered from war and been blessed by peace, Germany stands out as the monumental example. Her real and lasting greatness rests on what has been made possible by her men of thought, of science, and of invention, and it is deplorable that the results of their patient research have been grasped by those who follow and worship only the science of murder. Fhotoj^rapli by Trans-Atlantic Photo Co. THE KAISER WITH HIS MEDALS "without the consent of Germany's ruler nothing must happen in any part of the world " CHAPTER VIII THE KAISER AND THE GOVERNMENT "TfT HAS been the soldiers of the army and navy, not parhamentary I majorities and decisions, that have welded the German Empire together, and my confidence rests on the army. We hve in serious times, and hard trials may be before us in coming years; but I remind you of the words delivered by my late grandfather in the presence of his officers at Coblentz, when he said, 'These are the gentlemen on whom I can rely.' That is my belief and confidence, too. Whatever may come, we will hold our colours and our traditions high, mindful of the words of Albert Achilles, 'I know no more respectable place to die than in the midst of my enemies.' This is the heartfelt conviction of all Prussian officers, and my unshakable rehance is on the fidehty, the courage, and the devotion of my army." In these words, on the occasion of the presentation of new colours to several regiments in 1891, did WilKam II, German Emperor, strike the keynote of his reign, and most aptly do they apply to his relations with the German Government and the Imperial Parhament. I do not presume to pass judgment on that wonderful reign, or on the Kaiser himseK. It is my task to chronicle briefly and lucidly if I may, and interestingly if I can, the relations of this great world figure to his people. Time will pass the ultimate and inexorable judgment. Even now the system of blood and iron as agents for national progress is in the white-hot crucible of the world's greatest conflagration, and at the time of writing it almost seems possible to give the answer to the impulsive Wilham's remarks to a band of his fighting men. But this chapter has no more concern with prophecy than it has with judgment. Rather its mission to trace the course of more than a quarter of a century of contest between the ever-growing forces of democracy in Germany and the autocracy of the system typified by the Emperor. And the battleground for this great struggle between modernism and feudalism has been the Reichstag. There the sad disorganization of the German Empire, the warring interests of agriculture and industry, the dissensions between Catholics and Protestants, the jealousies be- 97 98 THE KAISER tween the different German states, and most of all the rising tide of social revolution, have all had their expression in the sessions of the imperial representative body. For, although under the energetic reign of her talented and versatile Kaiser, Germany has become a world power in every sense of the term, the nation is far from being a united people. Most of the German chancellors have admitted this at one time or another, in their hours of discouragement, and during many years of his reign the Kaiser's chief topic of public utterance was the discontent and the internal dissensions of his subjects. But the Kaiser did not spoil the naughty children by sparing the rod. By scolding them in his speeches, by putting them in jail for talking back, by bullying the Parliament to prevent the spread of demo- cratic government, and lastly (with a benign paternalism), by soften- ing them with maladministered indulgences such as workingmen's insurance, old age pensions, etc., he managed to carry out to perfection the old-fashioned idea of parenthood. But the naughty boys' ideas grew and developed in spite of the rod and the indulgences. What those ideas will bring them to after the present cataclysm of the par- ent's foreign policy is another question. We are now to examine the antics of the boys in the paternal woodshed. THE GOVERNMENT To understand these antics it is necessary to review briefly the or- ganization of the German Government and the powers of its repre- sentative parliamentary body, the Reichstag. First, the fundamental difference from the American system must constantly be borne in mind for any satisfactory understanding of German affairs. Power is granted by the supreme ruler, in the person of the Emperor, downward to the people, whereas in the United States power springs from the people and is granted by them upward to the Congress and President. In other words, as wittily expressed by Stanley Shaw in his work, "William of Germany," "Heaven gave the royal house of HohenzoUern, as a pres- ent, a folk (a people). The HohenzoUerns gave the folk, as a present, a parhament (1848), a power to make laws without the power of execut- ing them. The Social Democrats broke off from the folk and took an anti-HohenzoUern and anti-popular attitude, and the folk of their Parliament divided into parties, to pass the time, and — of course— to make laws." Tn these pimgent words we find the whole theory of the divine right THE KAISER AND THE GOVERNMENT 99 of which the Kaiser has talked so much, and which we in the United States find so hard to understand. Here is the way the divine right works: Germany is a federation of states, kingdoms, duchies, principaUties, etc.,* each with its own local government. The King of Prussia, reign- ing monarch of the House of HohenzoUem, is Emperor of this federa- tion, and his powers, springing direct from heaven, according to the Hohenzollern theory, are defined and limited by the imperial consti- tution. Scanning briefly the hmitations of the Kaiser, as such, it is difficult to account for the tremendous power wielded by this Prussian War Lord, but the keystone of his power lies in the crown of Prussia and the skilfully worked-out constitution of that Prussian of Prussians, Bismarck. For instance, the Kaiser receives no income from the em- pire other than a small annual amount known as the "Disposition Fund" voted annually with the imperial budget. Thus the Kaiser's income is derived either from his own private possessions or from those bestowed upon him by the Kingdom of Prussia as its monarch. The Kaiser, as such, can neither introduce legislation nor veto a measure. Formally bills must have his endorsement, and if they are defective in form he may send them back to Parhament for correction, but he cannot veto them because he disapproves of them as legislation. Neither is the empire in any sense the "Kaiser's domain," because it is made up of a number of semi-independent states, and the kings, dukes, or princes ruling over them are in feudal theory their possessors. In the relations of Germany to other nations the Kaiser is appointed by the constitution to represent the empire in the making of treaties and other agreements, and in the event of invasion by a foreign power he may personally declare war. The Kaiser himself may not declare war otherwise without the consent of the Bundesrath, or Federal Council, but the point is that it rests with the Kaiser to define invasion. In the present war the matter was laid before the Bundesrath before war was declared upon Russia. ,As King of Prussia the Kaiser holds wide legislative powers not *The German Empire now consists of four kingdoms: Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, and Wiirtemburg; of six grand duchies : Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt, Saxe- Weimar, Oldenburg, Mecklenburg-Strelitz, and Mecklenburg-Schwerin; of five duchies : Saxe-Meinigen, Saxe-Altenburg, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Brunswick, andAnhalt; of seven principalities: Schwartzburg-Sondershausen, Schwartzburg-Eudolstadt, Waldeck, Reuss (older line), Eeuss (younger line), Lippe, and Schaumburg-Lippe; of three free towns: Ham- burg, Bremen^ and Liibeck; and of one imperial province: Alsace-Lorraine. 100 THE KAISER granted him as Emperor, and through the Prussian control of the Fed- eral Council we come to the Kaiser's well-nigh absolute power. The Federal Coimcil, as we shall see, may and does initiate legislation. Then, again, and perhaps of even greater significance, is the fact that the Kaiser appoints (and on occasion dismisses) the Imperial Chancellor, who is president of the Federal Council. THE CHANCELLOR The Chancellor, in effect, is the Kaiser's representative in the coimcils of the empire, and is responsible to the Kaiser alone. Though, as mentioned above, he is president of the Federal Council, he is not in any sense responsible to it, nor to the Reichstag. Directly under the Chancellor are aU the other departments. The Kaiser has no cabinet nor board of advisers. He simply has a Chan- cellor, and upon the shoulders of the Chancellor must rest the respon- sibility of the vast departmental activities of the great German Empire. The departments of Foreign Affairs, Colonies, Post Offices, etc., are aU technically subordinate to the Chancellor. The Imperial Admiralty also is a department of the Chancellery, and, as the chapters on the army and navy show, this is the Kaiser's favourite institution. Curi- ously enough, the empire has no war department, for according to the articles of the German federation each state has its own independent war office commanding its own army. In practice, of course, the Em- peror, here as elsewhere, rules supreme, with but shght check on his authority. Under Bismarck the Chancellery represented power well-nigh supreme, but it did not take WiUiam II long to drop the pilot; and of the Kaiser it has been said throughout his reign that he is his own Chan- cellor. In later years, under Chancellor von Bethmann-HoUweg, the Department of Foreign Affairs has achieved considerable independence imder Minister von Jagow. But the essential point to bear in mind is that the Chancellor is responsible only to the Kaiser. He is not responsible to the people through the Reichstag, nor is he responsible to the states through the Bundesrath. If an important government measure is rejected by the Reichstag, it is not the Chancellor who is responsible. He does not necessarily resign in order that the crown may form a government more in harmony with the ideas of the people. No. The Chancellor calmly goes on his course, and if the actions of the house continue to THE CROWN PRINCE FRIEDRTCH WILHELM (bORN MAY 6, 1882), IN THE UNIFORM OF THE HUSSARS hotojjraph by Illustrative liiireuu THE CROWN PRINCE INSPECTS THE EQUIPMENT OF THE ELEVENTH HUSSARS AT SHORNCLIFPE THE CROWN PRINCE THE KAISER AND THE GOVERNMENT 101 oflFend, it may be dissolved by the powerful Bundesrath with the con- sent of the Emperor, so that a new election may be held, and a Parlia- ment formed more in harmony with the divinely appointed Hohenzol- lern. In other words, if the Emperor does not like what the people's representatives do he may send them home and seek a new body of representatives who are more tractable. But if the people do not like the proposals of the Emperor they have no constitutional recourse other than a demand for the resignation of the Chancellor, which the Chancellor may or may not heed. Stanley Shaw, in his volume, "WiUiam of Germany," hkens the situation to that of the woman who said to her husband : " When we are of the same opinion, you are right, but when we are of different opinions, I am right." In the next chap- ter we shall see the working of this, for in fact there have been several instances where, on the failure of a governmental programme, the Chancellor has resigned, and also there have been instances of the dissolution of the Reichstag by the Emperor when it failed to pass some favourite measure. THE MOST POWERFUL UPPER CHAMBER IN THE WORLD Just how the Kaiser wields this tremendous power may be seen in part by examining the organization of the Bundesrath, or upper cham- ber, of the German Parhament. To fully understand the Kaiser's power one must take into consideration aU the thousand and one facts of empire, making for prestige and influence, which flow direct from the throne of Prussia and the dynasty of the HohenzoUems. The Bundesrath, or Federal Council, consists of delegates who are appointed by the rulers of the various states to represent them in the coimcils of the empire. The representation is as follows: Prussia, 17; Bavaria, 6; Saxony, 4; Wurtemburg, 4; Baden, 3; Hessen, 3; Mecklen- burg-Schwerin, 2; Brunswick, 2; the other states one each, making a total of 58. This body meets in Berlin, sits in secret, and is presided over by the Imperial Chancellor. The delegates vote only as directed by the states from which they are appointed. They may not vote on any proposition without definite instructions from home. Therefore as each state or kingdom must vote as a unit, it is plain that the Kingdom of Prussia, with its seventeen votes and tremendous power of prestige, can pretty thoroughly sway the destinies of the empire. And as King of Prussia the ruling Hohenzollern exerts a power over the national 102 THE KAISER Parliament not specifically stated in the federation, but understood and acknowledged by every German. Although not a debating body — in effect it will be seen to be almost entirely an executive one^ — ^the Bundesrath is the most powerful upper chamber in the world. It is interesting to know just how complete a control the consti- tution gives the Bundesrath over the Reichstag. It says: "The Bundesrath shall take action upon (1) the measures to be proposed to the Reichstag and the resolutions passed by the same; (2) the general administrative provisions and arrangements necessary for the execution of the imperial laws, so far as no other provision is made by law; (3) the defects which may be discovered in the execution of the imperial laws or of the provisions and arrangements heretofore mentioned." The German constitution also states that declarations of war and treaties for peace must be submitted to that body, except in the case of invasion. This is a point that has been much emphasized in the published interviews with high German officials who have defended the course of Germany in the present war. In effect they have declared that this is not a Kaiser's war but a war of the German people, that it was declared by the Federal Council, and that in issuing the proclama- tion the Kaiser merely acted as the mouthpiece of the German people. To return a moment to the powers of the Bundesrath, it will be seen that aU proposed laws first must be submitted to the Bundesrath, where they are voted upon, and if accepted go to the Reichstag, where they may be passed, amended, or rejected. If passed or amended they then go back to the Bundesrath for final execution. Thus the great hmitation on the power of the people will be seen. "While their Parhament may suggest laws, the Bundesrath must first act upon them, and then send them to the Reichstag for action. More- over, the final enactment rests with the Bundesrath. The Reichstag, however, holds a decisive veto power and may flatly refuse to pass any proposed measure. The remedy, as we have seen, for such a veto is either the resignation of the Chancellor — a rare occurrence — or the dismissal of Parhament by the Bundesrath, with the consent of the Emperor, and the election of a more tractable body. One of the greatest powers of the Reichstag is its control over the budget. All supply bills must go to the Reichstag and naturally, with the veto power outlined above, that body can cut off imperial revenue for certain specific piuposes by refusing to pass the budget. THE KAISER AND THE GOVERNMENT 103 Just how far the Kingdom of Prussia may dominate the highly exclusive Bundesrath is shown by the fact that in the case of laws con- cerning the army and navy or taxation for imperial purposes the Prussian vote may decide disputes, if the vote is cast in favour of exist- ing circumstances. In other words, the Prussian vote may decide a tie in the Bundesrath if it be on the side of conservatism. Naturally, with such conditions, and the federated states all jealous of their own autonomy, disputes as to imperial jm-isdiction frequently arise. In this brief sketch of a large subject we may simi- marize the points directly under the control of the Imperial Parhament as follows: (a) The navy and military affairs outside the scope of the various state armies. (b) Taxes and custom duties for imperial purposes, banking and stock exchange regulations, coinage, weights, and measures. (c) The consular service and the protection of German trade abroad and upon the seas. (d) Imperial (or interstate) railways, roads, waterways, telegraphs, and posts (with certain exceptions). (e) Emigration, immigration, colonization, increase of territory. (f) Legislation for the unification of civil and criminal law and pro- cedure. (g) Copyrights, patents, inventions, etc. (h) Regulations of the press, certain departments of health, public documents. Many highly important questions of national Ufe, it will be seen, are not hsted here, these being left to the governments of the individual states comprising the empire. THE REICHSTAG According to one critic, the Reichstag, in spite of the preponder- ance of military gold lace and official display, has the appearance of a body of theorists rather than of men of action; and in fact it is mostly made up of men past middle life who perhaps do not give so much at- tention to personal appearance or address as do the members of the American Congress, for instance. Then, too, the debates reflect the academic cast of mind which characterizes the German, and frequently they are profound rather than interesting, and philosophical rather than practical. The Reichstag has known few orators and few men who 104 THE KAISER woTild be characterized as politicians, and membership therein is not considered as a social asset of very high degree. The body is made up of 397 members elected by the people at large to sit for five years. Of the 397 members, 235 are elected from Prussia. The Chancellor and any member of the Bundesrath may speak in the Reichstag. Since 1906 the members have been paid a salary of 3,000 marks a year, less 20 marks for every day's absence from the sessions. Every German male over twenty-five years of age and not disqualified by the penal, bankruptcy, or other laws is eligible for election. The Reichstag was originally intended to have one member for every 100,000 of population, upon which basis the body should con- tain at this time about 600 members instead of 397. Thus it is choked at its source by an electoral system which even that prime old autocrat and bureaucrat Bismarck characterized as the "most wretched of all systems," and dammed at its outlet by a Federal Coimcil which for practical purposes may be said to be dominated by the Kingdom of Prussia. And what power the imperial constitution does not grant the Kaiser the Kingdom of Prussia grants its monarch. The above review of actual conditions helps one to understand the well-nigh absolute rule of William II, German Emperor and Eang of Prussia, ruler by Divine Right. Although imiversal suffrage, secret ballot, and direct elections pre- vail, the distribution of seats in the Reichstag makes the body far from representative. Since 1871, when the distribution of seats exist- ing to-day was made, the population of Germany has increased from about 40,000,000 to about 66,000,000. But the representation in the Reichstag still stands at 397, the number apportioned for the population more than forty years ago. Since that time small agricultural towns have become great industrial centres and manufacturing communities. The result is eminently satisfactory to the landed aristocracy, for their representation far outweighs that of the workingmen massed in the cities. For instance, in Greater BerKn, 851,000 voters were repre- sented in the Reichstag by eight members, whereas the same number of voters in small rural electoral districts were represented by forty-eight members. No wonder then that the Social Democrats, who are so strong in the cities, have constantly fought for a reapportionment of representation. These conditions give the key to the issue underlying a large part of the internal strife in Germany of the last ten years, for in every photographs by American Press Association THE FIVE YOUNGER SONS OF THE KAISER PRINCE AUGUST WILHELM, b. 1887; PRINCE EITEL FRIEDBICH, 6. 1883; PRINCE JOACHIM, b. 1890; PRINCE OSCAR, b. 1888; PRINCE ADALBERT, b. 1884 THE KAISER AND THE GOVERNMENT 105 instance the unreasonably large representation of the ultra-conservative Agrarian party has been able to dominate or at least swing a tremen- dous power against any measures tending in any way to detract from the ancient feudal privileges of the landed proprietors, or any measures which have seemed inimical to their material interests. Later on we shall see how the Agrarian party bitterly opposed and finally wrecked Chancellor von Caprivi's administration by its bitter opposition to his trade agreements with Russia. However, even this uneven and undemocratic representation is better than that which prevails in many of the German states, where the principle of "one man one vote," which is so dear to the hearts of Americans and Britons, is absolutely set at naught by the various class systems of voting. In Prussia, for instance, the State Parliament is made up of two houses. The House of Lords is made up of certain permanent officials and others appointed by the Crown, but the Chamber of Deputies is an elective institution. The three-class system by which these dep- uties are elected has for years furnished an outstanding target for the Sociahsts. By this system, which provides the suffrage without either power or privilege, the voters are divided into three classes according to the amount of taxes paid. Thus at the very outset we perceive that the basis of representation is frankly one of property right instead of human right. It is worked out as follows: The total state tax is divided into three equal parts. Then, starting with the highest taxpayers, those voters, whose taxes total the first third of taxes paid constitute the first class of electors. They are the wealthiest men and naturally are small- est in number. The second class is made up of those electors who pay taxes equal to the second division. Their number is a Uttle larger. The third class is made up of all the rest of the voters. Each class elects the same number of deputies to the Reichstag. Obviously the respectable middle class composed of that element in continental pohtics known as the bourgeoisie throws its vote with that of the aristocracy against the people at large. In one careful analysis of this system the ratio in the division was roughly as follows : one voter in the first class; thirty-two voters in the second class; three hundred and fifty voters in the third class. Now the exclusive gentleman in the first class elected just as many 106 THE KAISER members of the Reichstag as did the 350 workingmen in the third class, or the thirty-two well-to-do business men in the second class. The results of such a system are obvious. Not only does it amoimt to government by the few, but it amounts absolutely to government by property rights; and siiice the days of Magna Charta government by the few according to property right has been looked upon by the prop- ertyless many as not always an immixed blessing, no matter how be- nignantly paternal. According to the statistics of 1910 it meant that Berlin, a city of more than 2,000,000 inhabitants, was governed by 33,062 persons. This wealthy minority elected two thirds of the town councillors, and the vast majority of Social Democrats in Berhn elected only thirty-eight town councilmen out of the one hundred and forty- four servingo And so it is carried out even to the smallest detail. Centrali- zation ! Even in the smaller local divisions those who take part in the government represent not the people, but the monarch' — deputies, town councihnen, local authorities, and the army of biu-eau officials' — ^all serve the crown, and govern the people j(yr the crown. And the crown is worn by WiUiam II, King of Prussia and German Emperor. In thus tracing back the seat of the power of the Kaiser through his office as King of Prussia we have strayed far from the Reichstag. The object is to make perfectly clear the fact that through his power as the King of Prussia, and the Prussian domination of the Imperial Bxmdesrath, the Kaiser wields just about as great a personal power in the affairs of the empire as he is popularly reputed to do. Monarchy, except in the most hmited sense, is abhorrent to the average American, but in justice to the Kaiser one must bear in mind that he is ruUng Germans, and that their feeling toward these questions is not as ours. The marvellous growth of the Social-Democratic party, even in spite of dissensions within its organization, is proof of a strong opposi- tion. Yet the Germans as individuals have not been an unhappy peo- ple within their empire, although this chapter and the two following ones might make it appear so. For they deal with the most unpleas- ant phase of German poUtical hfe — ^the clashing of modern democracy with royal autocracy — and naturally do not touch upon those many happy aspects of German national hfe where the Kaiser and his people have been at one in making Germany a great world power, and in extending her commerce in ever-increasing volume to the farthest cor- ners of the earth. THE KAISER AND THE GOVERNMENT 107 GERMAN POLITICAL PABTIES In the Reichstag, where the German genius (or lack of genius) for pohtics has its one chance for national expression, there are parties to express every shade of pohtical, economic, and rehgious thought. Though I shall try to outUne these parties, it really is an impossible task. They are so numerous, in their principles so hair-splitting, and in their allegiances so fickle, that to set them apart and say this or that is a constant factor, is practically impossible. One thing is safe to say, however : The chaos of the political parties in the Reichstag is fairly indicative of the political situation in Ger- many — or was up to the time of the war, for no great nation has been more torn by internal discord nor more divided within itself along lines of class, race, geography, politics, and rehgion. Class distinctions in Germany are more rigid than in almost any other Etiropean nation, for not only is there a nobility, jealous of its position and prerogatives, but also a great military organization making for the preservation of caste, and a civil bureaucracy which touches every phase of life. Then, too, the laws and institutions of parts of Germany are Uttle different from those in effect in feudal times, and the landed proprietors still view the workers as their subjects, their serfs, the fruits of whose toil rightfully belong not to the worker but to the master. And^ — ^most portentous fact of all — Germany is the land gov- erned through the grace of Heaven by Emperor William II. The geographical divisions of Germany offer ample opportunity for disharmony in the empire, when considered in the light of history and the vastly differing interests represented in them. For instance, one of the most striking differences is that found in the characteristics of the North Germans of Prussia and the South Germans of Bavaria and Saxony. The former, harsh, haughty, domineering, and proud of their superior "respectabihty," have been frequently at loggerheads with the Bavarians, who may be generally characterized as genial, reason- able, and easy to please. Historically, these two factors in the empire cherish a heritage of jealousy from the old North German Union and the South German Union. But this is not all, for there is the great industrial division roughly marked by the Oder River, east of which the interests of the people are largely agricultural. West of the Oder is industrial Germany, the Germany we in America respect for its world-embracing trade. To the American who has followed our own tariff troubles and the conflict between industrial New England and 108 THE KAISER the agricultiiral Middle West, it hardly need be remarked that here is another factor creating ample opportunity for conflict. The cockpit of Europe, the German states, through the black pages of European history, have been the theatre of the blackest wars of spoKation and conquest. Now hned up with one power and now with another, jealousy and suspicion of their neighbours have been fostered by the masters in the great game in which they were mere pawns. With the formation of the empire these jealousies did not disappear, but on the contrary have, on many occasions when national unity was greatly to be desired, given ample proof of the heritage of hate left by the divinely appointed monarchs who fought out their heaven-sent battles over fruitful German fields. ReUgious diflferences stand for less in Germany now, as everywhere else, than they did, though the Cathohcs in the Reichstag still form a significant party. In 1905 there were in Germany 37,646,852 Protes- tants and 22,109,644 Catholics. The majority of the latter are in Bavaria and other states of southern Germany. It will be seen later that the Cathohcs in the Reichstag, known poKtically as the Centre because their deputies occupy that position in the house, hardly are considered a predetermined force for any one political programme. In a general way they may be called ultra-conservative, but the practice of trading their support in return for concessions to purely churchly interests is common. Thus the jealousies between the various states, and the conflict between the various interests, commercial, political, and rehgious, are expressed in the Reichstag by discord and petty bickering, and stand in the fight of the larger political policies which characterize the par--^ haments of the other great powers. For this reason it is difficult to classify with any accuracy the political parties in the Reichstag. Roughly we may say there are four main divisions : Conservatives on the right side of the chamber. Clericals in the centre, and on the left the Social Democrats and the little groups of National Liberals and Progressives. This is merely a broad classification. The Conservative, Catholic, and Social-Democratic parties are the more easily placed. The former stands with the government and the existing order, and forms the back- bone of the great Agrarian party, which has been such a bitter opponent of the Social Democrats throughout German history. With the Con- servatives we may also classify the small Polish representation, the rhotorgapli by Brown Brothers THE KAISER'S ONLY DAUGHTER PRINCESS VICTORIA LUISE IN HEH UNIFORM AS COLONEL OF THE DEATH's HEAD HUSSAES. SHE WAS BORN IN 1892, AND MARRIED PRINCE, ERNST AUGUST OF CUMBERLAND, DUKE OF BRI'NSWICK, IN 1913. THE KAISER AND THE GOVERNMENT 109 Guelphs and a few other scattering seats. The Clerical party, while opposed to war at all costs, usually casts a conservative vote, although in numerous instances its vote has been cast for the welfare of the sec- tion it largely represents rather than for any fundamental issue. The Social-Democratic party, of course, is the strong opposition force. Besides these there are the minute unclassified sections such as Jews, Anti-Semites, Free-Thinkers, etc. The National Liberals, Progressives, and Radicals are more difficult to place. The former may be said to represent the industrial and commercial interests of Germany as against the privileged, reactionary, landowning Conservatives. The Progres- sives and Radicals may be said to stand somewhere between the Liberals and the Sociahsts. The parties in the Reichstag and their representation according to the results of the general election in 1913 are as follows: The Right: Conservatives, 56; Reichspartei, 15; Independents, 10; Poles, 18. Cen- tre: CathoHc party, 99. Left: National Liberals, 46; Radicals, 43; So- cial Democrats, 110; total, 397. Next to the Social Democrats the Clerical party is the best or- ganized in Germany. Its activity began in 1870, and a few years later, when Bismarck was opposing the growth of the Cathohc Church in Germany, it became exceedingly active in pubhc affairs. The party at this time stands for a highly centrahzed authority in the empire, for rehgious teaching in the primary schools, for Christian marriage, and for the protection and independence of the various states. In 1903 the Clericals cast 1,875,300 votes and had 100 seats in the Reichs- tag. As a result of the election of 1912, nine years later, their rep- resentation was 93. Even the Catholic party, however, is now divided into two factions, and the following example is indicative of the petty bickering of the German parties: In 1913 the question of the readmission of the Jes- uits was brought up, and the Centre sided with its arch-enemies, the Sociahsts, in order to annoy the Chancellor on account of his opposi- tion. Later on we shall have much to say of the Agrarian party, or as they are known in Prussia, the Junkers. This division is practically iden- tical with the Conservative side, and favours a high tariff on foodstuffs and cattle. Being the representatives of the old privileged classes the Agrarians strongly oppose changes in the government, or any diminu- tion of their ancient powers and prerogatives. 110 THE KAISER SOCIAL-DEMOCRATIC PABTY Most critics agree that the Social-Democratic party is one of the best-organized pohtical organizations in the country, and so far as the exercise of political genius goes, it is the only party in the empire worthy of the name. In a land rent with discord of every kind, labouring against the lack of political abihty which it is agreed characterizes most Germans, frowned upon by a governmental power which upon occasion could throw a man into prison for the mere fact of his being a SociaUst, and hampered by a less majeste law which is ever on the alert for criti- cisms of the Kaiser, the Socialists have perfected an organization that has accompUshed more than perhaps any other Sociahst organization in the world. The bare figures of the growth of the Sociahst party give eloquent testimony of the sympathy of the German people at large in spite of opposition. In 1871 the Social Democrats mustered 124,000 voters, in 1877 they numbered 493,000. Shortly afterward the strong anti- socialist laws were passed and the growth of the party became an even greater menace to the autocracy of the Kaiser. In 1893 they cast 1,787,000 votes; in 1898, 2,107,000; in 1903, more than 3,000,000, and in 1912, nearly four and a half million. In 1912 the Socialist delegation in the Reichstag numbered 110. At the outbreak of the war they polled 111 votes, and every one of them was cast in favour of the war budget. What will the German Social Democrats do after this war.?* CHAPTER IX THE KAISER AND THE REICHSTAG A FTER the preceding brief review of the organization and powers Z-A of the German Government and Parhament, we may proceed ■^ ^ to the stormy times which mark the clash of the new infringing upon the old — the rising tide of democracy encroaching upon the rock- fortified autocracy of divinely appointed rule. At the very outset of his career the Kaiser made the significant remark to Chancellor von Bismarck which has characterized his whole reign. Behind it was the young Emperor's exalted and, of course, perfectly sincere behef in his heaven-sent appointment to rule over the destinies of his people; and in it is the source of a large part of the discord that has existed between the Emperor and the people. That remark was: "I beheve I have mastered the aims and influ- ences and the new spirit which thrills the expiring century." But with all his assumption of absolute power, and with aU his naive assurance that he, WiUiam II, King of Prussia, German Emperor, etc., cannot by any chance be wrong, the present writer can see in the pages of German history only a man typifying a system — a very ancient system which has been bred into his very bones, as we have seen in a preceding chapter — ^and a people, partly at least, in opposition to that system and representing the modern age of democracy. Whatever is written here is not in judgment of the Kaiser as an individual. Ours merely the task of tracing the relation of an ancient system to the milhons of hmnan beings it seeks to control. In his relations with the Reichstag the Kaiser's reign maybe roughly divided into two periods: the first dating from his accession to the storm of November, 1908, and the second from 1908 to the beginning of the present war The first period was enhvened by a succession of incidents of personal rule culminating in the pubhcation on October 28, 1908, of an interview with the Kaiser in the London Daily Telegraph which set tongues wagging the world around, and caused a poUtical furor such as had never before been known in the Kaiser's reign. The interview was characterized in Germany as the Kaiser's greatest blun- 111 112 THE KAISER der, and the result was a promise from Chancellor von Billow in the Reichstag that henceforth the Kaiser should be more guarded in his utterances. From that time to this the German Emperor's reign has been less personal, less arrogant, and more patient with Parliament, though never until the exigency of the present war did he relax for an instant his war on the Social Democracy. Now, under the stress of the greatest crisis in the history of the German Empire, we see a united Germany. Parhament has laid aside its internal bickerings; classes and parties aUke have joined hands in the common cause. There are to-day no parties in Germany. As the "Kaiser says, "I recognize no parties now: only Germans." Haughty Prussian Junkers, Cathohcs, Free-Thinkers, Jews, SociaUsts, are all one now, and rumours of discord between the Kaiser and Chan- cellor von Bethmann-HoUweg and his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Von Jagow, are denied from Berhn in the same wireless dispatches which point out that the Socialists of Germany as one man have shoul- dered their rifles and gone to the front. A DIVINE EIGHT KAISER One week after his father's death the Emperor made his state en- try into Berlin and with pomp and circumstance opened the Imperial Reichstag sitting in the White Saloon of the Old Schloss. The cere- mony practically amoimted to his coronation. Clustered about him were the other German monarchs who had come to do homage to the new Prussian King, and to their Emperor, and to them Wilham de- clared his intention of walking in the footsteps of his august grandfather, Wilham I, to acquire the affection of the people, the federated princes, and of the foreign nations. "The most important duties of the German Emperor," he said, "he in the military and political security of the nation externally, and internally in the supervision of the carrying out of the imperial laws. . . . ^t is his duty to preserve and protect the constitution, and in especial the rights it gives to the legislative bodies, to every German, but also to the Emperor and the federated states." Two days later he opened the Prussian Diet, took the oath to the constitution, and declared amid a storm of applause that the guiding principle of his reign would be the maxim of Frederick the Great' — that the King of Prussia was but the first servant of the state. At THE KAISER AND THE REICHSTAG 113 the same time, while he had no desire to curtail the popular rights as guaranteed by the constitution, he was firmly resolved to maintain intact and guard from all encroachment the chartered prerogatives of the Crown — a declaration that was accentuated by a louder and more decided tone of voice, that could leave no doubt as to his meaning. Thus began the most energetic reign modern Europe has known. The world was not long kept in ignorance of the young monarch's idea of his mission and its divine inspiration. His first direct allusion to the theory of divine right — "von GoUes Gnaden," — ^was made in March, 1890, at the annual meeting of the provincial Diet of Brandenburg at the Kaiserhof Hotel in Berhn. "I see," said the Emperor, "in the folk and land which have descended to me a talent entrusted to me by God, which it is my task to increase, and I intend with all my power so to administer this talent that I hope to be able to add much to it. Those who are willing to help me I heartily welcome whoever they may be: those who oppose me in this task I will crush." His next allusion, at Bremen, in April of the same year, when he was laying the foundation-stone of a statue to his grandfather. King Wilham, a few months subsequent to Bismarck's retirement, was more explicit: "It is a tradition of our House," he said, "that we, the Hohen- zollems, regard ourselves as appointed by God to govern and to lead the people whom it is given us to rule, for their well-being and the advancement of their material and intellectual interests." The next reference, and the only one in which a "divine right" to rule in Prussia is formally claimed, occurs four years later at Konigs- berg, the ancient crowning-place of Prussian kings. Here he said: "The successor (namely himself) of him who of his own right was sovereign prince in Prussia will follow the same path as his great an- cestor; as formerly the first King (of Prussia, Frederick I) said, 'my crown is born with me,' and as his greater son (the Great Elector) gave his authority the stability of a rock of bronze, so I, too, hke my imperial grandfather, represent the kingship 'von GoUes Gnaden!'" In this connection the impressions of Andrew D. White, who was sent to Berlin as American Minister in 1879, are interesting. Speak- ing of the Kaiser's personal rule, Mr. White quotes an unnamed leader in the Reichstag who said: "After all it is impossible for us to resist him. He knows Germany so well, and his heart is so thoroughly in his proposals that he is sure to gain his point sooner or later." 114 THE KAISER It was Mr. White's impression that, were the Kaiser to express in American idiom his idea of parliamentary government in Germany, he would probably have said that he could not regard a system as final which, while first attaching to the front of the chariot of progress a fuU team to pull it forward, also attaches another team to the rear to pull it backward. However, Mr, White claims that the Kaiser in the early part of his reign did all in his power to increase parhamentary efficiency. But we need not seek by hairsplitting analysis of the Emperor's words to estabhsh just how far he is in his own mind a messenger ap- pointed from on high to rule over 65,000,000 people. A HohenzoUern of the Hohenzollerns and a Prussian of the Prussians he certainly was during the earher years of his career, and no doubt he was just as much of one in the more sober days following the rebuke of 1908, but he said less about it. THE WORKINGMAN 'S FRIEND Early in his career the Emperor sowed the seeds of discord with the Iron Chancellor, Bismarck, by showing the greatest solicitude for the workingmen of his realm. "I beheve that I have mastered the aims and impulses of the new spirit which thrills the expiring century," he said; "Let me take care of the Socialists." Again, in one of his first speeches from the throne, he expressed sympathy with the lot of the workingmen, and said he desired to help in "equalizing the unhealthy social contrasts." A few days later, still imbued with his idea, he called on the Prussian noblemen to aid him in his work of uplift. In connection with the Kaiser's early anxiety for the German workingman Ambassador White quotes the Kaiser as once having said to him: "You in America may do what you please, but I will not suffer capitalists in Germany to crush the life out of the workingmen and then cast them like squeezed lemon skins into the gutter." To all the young Emperor's plans Prince Bismarck hstened with ill-concealed deprecation, if not contempt, and upon occasion frankly told his Majesty that he could not succeed. This cynical hopelessness of Bismarck with the Kaiser's first attempts at social reform naturally did not tend to bridge the natural gap between a young man just come into his own, full of plans and ideals, eager to immortahze his name in history, and an old man cynical, distrustful, and worn by years of his inexorable duties. THE KA.ISER AND THE REICHSTAG 115 Meanwhile the tides of social revolution continued to rise in the empire and the Kaiser continued to advocate palliative methods as a means of turning the stream of the industrial workers from the stormy sea of Social Democracy to the peaceful and sequestered bay of paternal empire. Bismarck, true to his ancient philosophy of blood and iron, stiU favoured the most rigid repressive measures for the Socialists. In the spring of 1889 the Kaiser gave his royal patronage to an exhibition of devices and means of preventing industrial accidents held in Berhn. In opening this exhibition the Emperor stated in warmest tones his sympathy with the working classes and with their aims. It had scarcely closed when news of a serious strike in the mines of West- phalia reached the capital. Soon 100,000 men were out, and rioting was a daily occurrence. It was only natural that the miners should desire to lay their grievances before an Emperor who had on so many occasions declared himself as eager to help the labourers among his subjects. Consequently a deputation of three miners came to Berhn and laid their case before the monarch. "We demand," they said, "what we inherited from our fathers' — the eight-hour shift. On a rise of wages we do not lay so much stress. Our masters must treat with us; we are not mulish. Let but your Majesty speak a word, and things will be different; many a tear will be dried." The Kaiser's reply to this was characteristic of his mood at that time. He said: "Every subject who has a desire to express has, of course, the ear of his Emperor. I have shown this in giving you permission to come here and tell your wants personally. But let me tell you that you have put yourselves in the wrong; your movement is against the law, if only because you have not abided by the fourteen-days' notice required to be given before striking. You have, therefore, broken your contract. Naturally this breaking of your engagement has irritated the employers, and does them wrong. Furthermore, workmen who did not desire to strike have been prevented from working either by violence or threats. ... "As for your demands, I will have them considered by my govern- ment, and let you know the result. But should there be any more riotings and breaches of the peace, should it turn out that there is any Socialist connection with the movement, then it will be impossible for me to weigh your wishes with my royal good- will; for to me every Social Democrat is synonymous with a foe of the Reich and the father- 116 THE ICA.ISER land. If, therefore, I perceive that there are any Socialist tendencies in the movement, stirring up to unlawful resistance, I shall act with merciless rigour, and bring to bear all the power at my disposal' — ^which is great. Home with you now, and reflect on what I have said." To a delegation of the mine owners a little later he said: "I beg of you, take pains to give workingmen a chance to present their grievances in a formal manner. . . . It is natural and human that each one should seek to better himself. Workmen read news- papers, and know the relations that their wages bear to the profits of the company. It is obvious that they should desire to have some share of this." Thus came the time when the old anti-Socialist law was to expire and a new one was under consideration; also the Kaiser's famous Labour Conference of 1890. The latter Bismarck characterized as equal to zero in results. These matters, however, touching more in- timately upon the Kaiser and his dealings with the SociaUsts than the general subject matter of this chapter, we shall pass over quickly. We shall also hurriedly pass over the dismissal of Bismarck, as that has been fully treated in an earlier chapter. Suffice it to say, for our pur- poses here, that while the immediate cause of Bismarck's dismissal was the difference with his Emperor over the privilege of the monarch to interview the various ministers of the Chancellery without the Chan- cellor's knowledge, mutual dissatisfaction was of long standing, and in large part may be put down to the difference of opinion between them in deahng with the menace of social revolution. One historian, in commenting on the decade succeeding Bismarck's fall — 1890 to 1900 — calls it the time of the spacious days of Wilham II, and most aptly does the term apply. Those years undoubtedly were the most strenuous of the young Emperor's life, and in them he carried his personal rule further than at almost any other time. His feud with the Sociahsts waxed to almost a white heat, and as "his own Chan- cellor" his domination of Parhament was greater than it ever has been since, excepting, of course, in the present war crisis. When the old pilot finally left the ship in the spring of 1890 and the new one in the person of General von Caprivi took charge, it was not with any such master hand as was that of the ancient Bismarck. Nor was it intended to be, for it was the Emperor's plan to be his own Chancellor, to work out his own destiny alone, and to accept the re- sponsibility for it alone — with God. Pliotograpli by Paul Ihonipson THREE HOHENZOLLERNS THE KAISER, THE CEOWX PRINCE FRIEDRICH WILHELM, AND THE LATTER's ELDEST SON, PRINCE WILHELM FRIEDRICH, BORN JLLY 4, 1906 THE KAISER AND THE REICHSTAG 117 ■If. Long before the downfall of Bismarck tlie Kaiser had outlined as a part of his programme for combating Socialism a plan for imder- mining the Marxian ideas in the schools. On May Day, 1889, when the Sociahsts throughout Europe were holding a demonstration, he ad- dressed a proclamation to the Prussian Ministry as follows: "For a long time I have been reflecting on how to utilize the school in its various departments so as to counteract the spread of Sociahst and Commvmist ideas. Before all things, by inculcating the fear of God and love of country, the school will have to pave the way to a sound conception of our social and political condition. But I cannot resist the conclusion that, at a time when Social-Democratic errors and perversions of the truth are propagated with increased zeal, the school must make greater eflForts to promote a knowledge of what is true, what is real, and what is possible of attainment in the world. It must aim at bringing home to youth the conviction that the doctrines of the Social Democrats are not only opposed to the Commandments of God and Christian moraUty, but are also altogether impracticable, being equally injurious to the individual and the whole community. "It must be shown," added the Kaiser, "by means of statistics, how materially and constantly under this royal protection the wages and welfare of the working classes have been increasing in the present century." It was not long before the obedient Prussian ministers reported a new school code in accordance with the Kaiser's wishes, and laying stress upon the immortal merits of unselfishness, and the beneficence of the HohenzoUern dynasty. At a conference of educational experts he attacked the German system of laying so much stress upon classical subjects, with a plea for the teaching of German instead of Latin and Greek, and for modern history before the campaigns of Alexander the Great and Caesar. The upshot of it all was the presentation of an elaborate school bill to the Prussian Parliament in 1900. The measure was not accept- able to the Clericals, and a new ministry was formed which in due course reported a school biU more in harmony with the Church party. The Emperor's anxiety to gain the friendship of the Catholics at this time is evinced by the following words uttered in the Prussian Diet: ^"I hail with joy the essential step that has been taken toward smoothing away ecclesiastical differences by returning to the Catholic ChuTfih the funds that had been sequestrated. Religious peace is in- 118 THE KAISER dispensable for the welfare of ray people; at the same time, the claims put forward in favour of the churches must be restrained within Hmits compatible with the position and tasks of the state." However, the Emperor had overstepped himself in his advances to the Clericals, and the storm of pubhc protest which arose at a school code which would place all public instruction virtually in the hands of the clergy, simply for the purpose of backfiring the Social Democracy, immediately brought on another pohtical crisis. The Prussian Min- istry resigned, including Caprivi as Minister-President of the Prussian Cabinet. But the Emperor could not let Caprivi go as his Imperial Chancellor at that time. The Kaiser's eagerness to soothe the storm and yet maintain his course is shown in one of his speeches at Bran- denburg in which he said: "We are called to greatness, and to glorious days will I lead you! Do not let grumbhngs and the party speeches of discontented persons darken your future or lessen your pleasure in cooperation with me. With winged words alone nothing can be done, and to the endless com- plaints about the 'new course' and the men who direct it, I answer con- fidently and decidedly: ' My course is the right one, and I shall continue to steer it!'" The events of the next few years may be run over hastily. When the Reichstag met in 1892 it was informed that the military situation in Europe demanded an increase in the German army to about 500,000 men. The Parliament rejected the bill and was dissolved for its stub- bornness. A new election resulted in a somewhat different line-up of the par- ties, but when the new Reichstag met in 1893 the Social Democrats counted forty-four seats instead of thirty-five held the previous ses- sion. However, the army bill was passed in an amended form and the Kaiser for a time was at peace with his ParUament, as the roll call of his fighting men waxed greater and greater. It is set down as one of Chancellor Caprivi's achievements that this army bill was passed, carrying with it the reduction of conscription service in the infantry from three years to two, and the fixing of the miUtary budget for five years instead of seven, as originally planned by Bismarck. COMMERCIAL TREATIES AND AGRARIAN TROUBLES Chancellor Caprivi's most important work, however, was the con- clusion of commercial treaties between Germany and several other THE KAISER AND THE REICHSTAG 119 European nations. He was strongly backed in this by the sovereign, who about this time declared, "the world at the end of the nineteenth century stands under the star of commerce, which breaks down the bar- riers between nations." Following a customs war between Germany and Russia, which for a time strained international relations, a special commission was sent from Germany to Russia for the purpose of forming a new tariff treaty. The nations met in a conciliatory frame of mind and the agreement was signed in February, 1894, bridging a pohtical situation as well as a commercial one. It was bitterly opposed by the Conservatives in the Reichstag, but passed that body nevertheless. Several years before this Germany had concluded a commercial treaty with Austria which was not altogether pleasing to the strong and anciently privileged agricultural interests. At that time the Kaiser said: "I know very well where, in your case, the shoe pinches, and . . . I have formed my plans accordingly . . . especially for your agricultural population." This in Konigsberg, the very heart of the East Prussia agricultural district, and in three years the Kaisfer heartily endorsed the Russian treaty. Agriculture at this time was on the wane in Germany, and industry was booming. The Agrarians felt that the Russian treaty was a blow to their interests. At a meeting of the Agrarian League, consisting of about 180,000 members, the president said: "The satisfaction of our demands is synonymous with the preservation of throne and altar. It was the peasant farmers who decided last year's passing of the new army bill, and the peasant zone of Germany has always won her vic- tories, while a whole battaUon of stock-jobbers could not storm a house of cards." Thus by the passing of the Russian treaty the Kaiser added the Conservatives in the Reichstag to his corps of political enemies. In order to offset the effect of the tariff treaty the Agrarian party proposed that the state should inaugurate state granaries and buy and sell all imported grain at a rate which would protect the native farmers. The Kaiser declined to become a "bread usurer." Again at Konigsberg he tried to soothe their feelings by the fol- lowing: "Gentlemen, that which bears heavily upon you depresses me as well, for I am the largest landowner in our state, and am fully aUve to the fact that we are passing through hard times. My daily pre- 120 ^ THE KAISER occupation is how best to help you; but you must support me in this endeavour, not by clamour, not by the means employed by the pro- fessional opposition parties so often justly combated by you, but by approaching your Sovereign in a spirit of confidence. My door is at aU times open to each one of my subjects, and I lend him a ready ear. Act up to that in the future, and I shall regard all that has passed as over and done with. . . . "Gentlemen, let us regard the burdens that oppress us, and the crisis through which we are passing, in the Ught of the Christian doc- trine in which we have been educated, and in which we have grown up — as a trial imposed on us by God. Let us keep a tranquil mind, and endure with Christian patience, with tmshaken fortitude, and in the hope of better times, according to our old motto, 'Noblesse oblige.' To you, gentlemen, I address my summons to the fight for rehgion, morality, and order, as against the parties of revolution." He expatiated further upon the danger of social revolution, but the Agrarians answered that Chancellor Caprivi had made a bid for popularity with the Social Democrats with this very treaty. Caprivi answered that the Emperor considered the treaty of commercial and also poUtical advantage, the latter as it cemented relations between two great powers, and in the coming century it was possible that the forces of Europe would have to combine against certain eventualities' — ^mean- ing anarchism. Thus matters went from bad to worse, and Caprivi became in- volved in a controversy with Count Eulenburg, Prussian Minister, author of the highly reactionary and repressive Anti-Sociahst bill, which we shall see later failed of enactment. The result was the resig- nation, on October 25th, of both Caprivi and Eulenburg. CHANCELLOR HOHENLGHE Caprivi's successor was Prince Chlodwig Hohenlohe, a Bavarian, and formerly Stadthalter of Alsace-Lorraine. Hohenlohe opened his ca- reer in the magnificent new House of Parhament with a row with the Social Democrats. But of that later. The Anti-Revolution bill written by Caprivi was before the Reichs- tag, and it was the duty of Hohenlohe to push it through if he could. Naturally it enjoyed the heartiest opposition from the Social Democrats and from the Progressives of less radical stamp, and it was the Kaiser's cue to effect a reconciUation with his farmer neighbours of East Prussia. PhotogiaiJ) by Brown Brothers THE KAISER AXD HIS GRANDSONS THE KAISER, THE KAISERIN, AND THREE GRANDSONS THE CHILDREN OF THE CROWN PRINCE — PRINCES WILHELM FRIEDRICH (bORN 1906), L0DWIG FERDI- NAND (born 1907), AND HUBERTUS (borx 1909) THE KAISER AND THE REICHSTAG 121 Thi's ke tried hard to do but not one whit would they abate their pro- gramme of "No more warships imless you adopt our programme of state monopoly of imported grain, double currency (silver as well as gold), and cereal Zoll-Verein of the European powers interested in agriculture." The Chancellor failed to secure a team of parties powerful enough to pull the Anti-Revolution bill through the Reichstag and it failed, as did the Tobacco Tax bill, another measure upon which the government financial department had laid great emphasis. At complete loggerheads with the people, the Kaiser and his Chan- cellor faced the pleasant prospect of bearing with this insolent Parlia- ment and taking what it would give, or with dissolving it and letting the Social Democrats again increase their representation in a new election ! The Kaiser stood pat. (The term may perhaps be forgiven, as it best expresses the situation.) One historian says, "He went away to the country to shoot." The next matter which occupied the minds of the German people at large was the Kaiser's telegram to President Kruger on January 3, 1896, on the occasion of the outbreak of trouble in the Transvaal. This is a matter to which allusion has already been made. We men- tion it here simply to state that in the Reichstag the telegram of friendly congratulation to Kruger was not considered in the light of a diplo- matic blunder until the English papers began to arrive. Then the German Government changed its mind, and even the Kaiser seemed to realize that he had made a mistake. Certainly he did not follow it up, but on the contrary when the Boer commission visited Berlin a little later the Emperor refused to see it. Throughout this period the Kaiser was pushing with all his tremen- dous energy his plans for a navy, and for a merchant marine. In 1897, on seeing a figure of Neptune, he burst forth with one of the remarks for which he is famous: "The trident," he exclaimed, "should be in our grip." And later, "Our future lies on the water." The Emperor closed one of his naval lectures with an anecdote, perhaps naively told, but received with "stormy amusement" according to the newspapers. The anecdote referred to the metacentrum, or centre of gravity in ship construction. The Kaiser, it seems, asked a naval lieutenant to explain the metacentrum to him, and the old salt replied that he knew little of it other than if the "metacentrum was in the topmast the ship would overturn." Apparently the newspapers, in reporting the "stormy amusement" the Kaiser's story brought forth, meant to con- 122 THE KAISER vey the idea that perhaps the audience felt that upon occasion the imperial metacentrum had become misplaced. The German navy is treated elsewhere in this book, so it will be sufficient here to mention that since 1898 the Reichstag has passed five navy bills, each one fathered and jealously championed by the Kaiser, by which the sea power of Germany has been brought to what it is to-day. With these affairs and troubled international conditions the new century was ushered in; and with the departing year the aged Chan- cellor Hohenlohe, because of his age, passed out. He resigned in October, 1900. CHANCELLOR VON BULOW Thus we come to the latest years of the Kaiser's reign, with Chancellors von Btilow and Dr. von Bethmann-HoUweg. Von Billow had been Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs for two years previous, and it was the opinion of Hohenlohe, as well as that of the Kaiser, that he was the best available man for the difficult position. The only attack ever made on the person of the Kaiser came early in the new century, February 6, 1901, as he was driving through the streets of Berlin. A half-witted locksmith's apprentice named Diet- rich Wieland threw a piece of railroad iron at him, striking him just under the right eye and inflicting an ugly though not dangerous wound. The man was sent to an asylum for the criminally insane, and the in- cident was closed. In referring to it later the Kaiser used it as an incident of the growing disregard for authority. A few years previous to this infernal machines were sent to both the Kaiser and to Chancellor Caprivi from one of the French provinces, but the bombs were opened by others and never exploded. The sender was never apprehended, though the French Government did its utmost. With the sobering of years the Kaiser has become what the Ger- mans call a Realpolitiker, a man dealing with facts, not theories, and Ger- man affairs furnish less spice in the reading as a consequence.. The ex- posure and dismissal from public and court Kfe of a number of nobles who had formed a so-called " Camarilla " of degenerate practices resulted in several debates in the Reichstag highly unpleasant to the Kaiser. It will be remembered that these men were exposed by the pamphleteer Maximilian Harden. Though the Kaiser was absolutely in ignorance of the private characters of these courtiers, they were high in official THE KAISER AND THE REICHSTAG 123 life and were numbered among the Kaiser's advisers. In the Reich- stag an allusion to the affair brought Chancellor Prince von Billow to the defence of the Emperor. "The view," he said, "that the monarch in Germany should not have his own opinions as to state and government, and should only think what his Ministers desire him to think, is contrary to German state law and contrary to the will of the German people." ("Quite right!" on the Right.) "The German people," continued the Chan- cellor, "want no shadow-king, but an Emperor of flesh and blood. The conduct and statements of a strong personahty like the Emperor's are not tantamoimt to a breach of the constitution. Can you tell me a single case in which the Emperor has acted contrary to the constitu- tion.?" The Chancellor concluded: "As to a CamariUa^ — CamariUa is no German word. It is a hateful, foreign, poisonous plant which no one has ever tried to^ introduce into Germany without doing great injury to the people and to the Prince, Our Emperor is a man of far too up- right a character and much too clear-headed to seek counsel in poUtical things from any other quarter than his appointed advisers and his own sense of duty." Thus it will be seen that Von Billow was an able defendant of the Kaiser's acts in the councils of the nation, but times were coming which were to tax all the ingenuity, eloquence, sarcasm, and brilliance^ — not to say loyalty — of the very able Chancellor, for the Kaiser's vision of a world empire had taken definite form, and he gave less and less atten- tion to internal affairs, and more and more attention to the advance- ment of German world commerce, the navy, and relations with other powers. And flesh and blood Emperor he certainly was in thought and deed, workmen's insurance laws The parliamentary situation was increasingly diflBcult, chiefly on account of the constantly increasing strength of the Social Democrats in the Reichstag. The Kaiser's policy of beneficent and paternal in- dulgences, inaugurated at the very outset of his reign, had resulted in a set of laws more sociahstic than can be found in any other nation in the world; that is more paternally socialistic, Americans and EngUsh- men from the first have seen a difference between paternalistic legis- lation and democratic legislation. Even the defenders of the Kaiser's 124 THE KAISER internal policies do not view the various pension and insurance schemes as successful. Certainly from the point of view of abhorring the Social Democracy they have not been so. In the election of 1912 more than haU the total population voted as opposed to the government. Moreover, there were 1,537 strikes in Germany in 1909, and 2,109 ia 1910. At one period in 1910 there were 154,093 persons on strike, and during the year 2,209 plants had to shut down. There also were 1,121 lockouts, affecting 314,988 workers. State insurance, old age pensions, etc., for years have been opposed by the Socialists for the very reason that they were palliatives to the people in consideration of an autocratic and paternalistic government. In 1886 there were about 100,000 accidents reported and about 10,000 victims were compensated. In 1908 there were 662,321 accidents and 142,965 persons were compensated. The total compensation in 1886 was about a milhon and a half, while in 1908 it was $38,715,000. The average amoimt paid each individual dropped from $58.50 to $38.80. Without enimierating at tiresome length statistics of the state insurance and state pension schemes eJBFected in Germany, it will suffice to say that the cost of state insurance has risen to $250,000,000 a year. Origi- nally the employers paid one third the state insurance costs, but ac- cording to the new law passed in the Reichstag in 1911 they must now pay half. It is only natural that the state insurance against accident and sickness, and the pension for mothers and the aged, should result in the creation of a vast army of officials for the investigation and administra- tion of the claims. Their total salaries amoimt to something over $1,200,000 a year! According to the critics of the system the German laws also have gone far toward pauperizing the people. Not only that, but the same critics charge that the state insurance organization is a vast poUtical machine wielding a tremendous influence ia the hands of the party that gains control of it. In Germany, too, the cost of Uving has gone up, partly on accoimt of the diminution of agriculture, and partly on account of the new Ger- man tariff laws with their maximum and minimum duties, which" one by one have replaced Chancellor Caprivi's commercial treaties. An- other trouble of the period was with the Poles, for the Settlement Law for the Germanization of Prussian Poland had been ordered enforced in stricter manner. With such a background the stage was all set for another parlia- Photograph by Brown Brothers YOUNG HOHENZOLLERNS TWO SONS OF THE CEOWN PRINCE. " WE HOHENZOLLERNS REGARD OUR- SELVES AS APPOINTED BY GOD TO GOVERN AND LEAD THE PEOPLE. THE KAISER AND THE REICHSTAG 125 mentary crisis in 1906. Uprisings among the tribes in German South- west Africa were making heavy demands upon the nation in men and money. As usual the Centre party held the balance of power with its hundred votes which could be thrown either to the Conservatives on the Right or to the Social Democrats and Radicals on the left. The 1906 budget when submitted in December was found to con- tain a demand for about $7,500,000 for the troops in Africa, and the Clericals in the Centre made up their minds that they would not grant more than $5,000,000. Moreover, they demanded the reduction of the number of troops in the colonies. The Left joined the Centre on the vote, and Catholics and SociaUsts in combination defeated the government proposal by 177 to 168. Von Billow's reply was to read the Emperor's order dissolving the Parha- ment. In the January elections the Kaiser made a strong appeal to the country to save the African colonies, and although the Centre came back with its usual strength, the Social Democrats lost forty seats of the eighty-one they held. This enabled Von Billow to form a coahtion or "bloc" of the Conservatives and Liberals which would make a fair working majority on government measures. THE TWEEDMOUTH AFFAIB While the new government "bloc" worked fairly weU, Von Billow was kept busy defending the Kaiser. A premonitory rumble of the storm of November, 1908, was the Tweedmouth affair of February of that year. This was a letter written to Lord Tweedmouth, First Lord of the British Admiralty, expressing some rather frank opinions on the Enghsh naval policy and those responsible for it. Though the actual letter was never pubhshed, news of it leaked out and comment became world-wide. In the English Parliament it was decided to set the matter down as a personal note between Wilham of Germany and his friend Lord Tweedmouth. Our interest here hes in the reaction of the letter in the Reichstag, where Prince von BuJow, in defence of the Kaiser, said: "From various remarks which have been dropped in the course of the debate I gather that this honourable House desires me to make a statement as to the letter which his Majesty, the Kaiser, last month wrote to Lord Tweedmouth. ... 126 THE KAISER "The letter could be signed by any one of us, by any sincere friend of good relations between Germany and England (Hear! hear!). The letter, gentlemen, was in form and substance a private one, and at the same time its contents were of a political nature. The one fact does not exclude the other; the letter of a sovereign, an imperial letter, does not from the fact that it deals with political questions become an act of state ('Very true,' on the Right). "The matter here concerns a right of action which all sovereigns claim and which, in the case of our Kaiser also, no one has a right to limit. How his Majesty proposes to make use of this right we can confidently leave to the imperial sense of duty. It is a gross, in no way justifiable, misrepresentation, to assert that his Majesty's letter to Lord Tweedmouth amounts to an attempt to influence the Minister responsible for the naval budget in the interests of Germany, or that it denotes a secret interference in the internal affairs of the British Empire." THE "daily telegraph" INTERVIEW The affair of the Kaiser's interview published in the London Daily Telegraph on October 28, 1908, wrought up a storm both at home and abroad such as even the now somewhat weather-beaten Kaiser had not before experienced, and earned for him criticism and rebuke in his own land, and in the Parfiament of his own people, such as he had never before been obhged to suffer. As the last chapter of this book contains nearly the whole of this interview, it is unnecessary to rehearse it here. We need only say that the Kaiser, in a fit of resentment at EagUsh distrust of him, blurted out a number of exceedingly dehcate state secrets, and assured his inter- locutor that, while the German people were unfriendly to England, he, their Kaiser, was forever pleading her cause and doing his best to get her out of diflSculties. Not only did this incident humihate the German people and their representatives, but it strained the patience of the Federal Council and the faithful Von Btilow. For once the public press, Reichstag, and Bundesrath were united in their determination to see that there should be no more "blazing indiscretions" such as this. Accordingly Von Biilow sternly set out for Potsdam to reason with his august monarch. That evening the Official Gazette published the following notice of imperial chastisement by the imperial mentor: THE KAISER AND THE REICHSTAG 127 "His Majesty, while unaffected by public criticism which he re- gards as exaggerated, considers his most honourable imperial task to consist in securing the stability of the policy of the empire while ad- hering to the principle of constitutional responsibihty. The Kaiser ac- cordingly endorses the statements of the Imperial Chancellor in Parha- ment, and assures Prince von Bulow of his continued confidence." Not only in Germany did this interview with "a representative EngUshman" reverberate with the noise of an earthquake, but in every civilized country of the globe. Inquiries were promptly received from England, France, Holland, Russia, and Japan as to the truth of the impulsive Emperor's words, and the press of the whole world devoted unhmited space to the incident. In Germany not one newspaper defended the Kaiser. Even the Kaiser's favourite paper, the T'dgliche Rundschau, called it an evidence of the Emperor's theatrical policy. Another leading conservative paper said : "It has united our foes, lowered our prestige, and shattered belief abroad in the sincerity, sanctity, and earnestness of our foreign policy." Nor was the Kaiser spared in the Reichstag. National-Liberal leader Herr Ernst Bassermann in a heated speech recounted the Kaiser's "indiscretions" and declared that they had lowered German prestige, increased home problems, and frequently threatened war. Herr Paul Singer, Socialist, declared that the Kaiser should be tried for high treason. Deputies from the South German states de- manded that the Kaiser speak only through his ministry. Conservatives, Progressives, Liberals, and Socialists alike joined hands in demanding of the Chancellor in the Reichstag an explanation of the affair, and an assurance that such an occurrence should not be repeated. Von Billow's answer was characteristically suave. While he "felt persuaded that the Kaiser would observe in future that reserve in his conversations which is necessary for a consistent imperial policy, and the authority of the crown," he himself took all responsibility for the interview, as it had passed through the Foreign Office. In part the Chancellor's formal parhamentary answer was as follows: "In reply to the interpellations submitted, I have to declare as fol- lows : 128 THE KAISER "His Majesty the Kaiser has at different times, and to different pri- vate English personahties, made private utterances, which, linked to- gether, have been pubhshed in the Daily Telegraph. I must suppose that not all details of the utterances have been correctly reproduced. Gentlemen, I said before that many of the expressions used in the Daily Telegraph article are too strong. That is true, in the first place, of the passage where the Kaiser is represented as having said that the majority of the German people are inimically disposed toward England. Be- tween Germany and England misunderstandings have occurred, serious, regrettable misunderstandings. But I am conscious of being at one with this entire honourable House in the view that the German people desire peaceful and friendly relations with England on the basis of mutual esteem. "Gentlemen, let us avoid anything that looks like exaggerated seeking for foreign favour, anything that looks like uncertainty or obsequiousness. But I understand that the Kaiser, precisely because he was anxious to work zealously and honestly for good relationship with England, felt embittered at being ever the object of attacks cast- ing suspicion on his best motives. Has one not gone so far as to attrib- ute to his interest in the German fleet secret views against vital English interests — views which are far from him.'' And so in private con- versations with English friends he sought to prove, by pointing to his conduct, that in England he was misunderstood and wrongly judged. "At such a moment we ought not to show ourselves small-spirited in foreign eyes, nor make out of a misfortune a catastrophe. I will refrain from all criticism of the exaggerations we have lived through during these last days. Certainly no one should forget the warning which the events of these days have given us ('Bravo! '), but there is no reason to lose our heads and awake in our opponents the hope that the empire, inwardly or outwardly, is maimed. "It is for the chosen representatives of the nation to exhibit the prudence which the time demands. I do not say it for myself, I say it for the country; the support required for this is no favour, it is a duty which this honourable House will not evade." (Loud applause on the Right, hisses from the Socialists.) This answer, called more an apology and explanation than a defence, was generally accepted; the Kaiser kept his word with Von Biilow. ON THE "METEOR" ' ONLY THOSE POWEHS WHICH HAVE GREAT NAVIES WILL BE LISTENED TO WITH RESPECT WHEN THE FUTURE OF THE PACIFIC COMES TO BE SOLVED" Pliotoyraph by tlie linin News Service ON THE ANNUAL NORWAY CRUISE THE KAISER 0.\ THE BRIDGE OF HIS YACHT " HOHENZOLLERN ' THE KAISER AND THE REICHSTAG 129 VON BULOW S FALL During this period of growth and commercial expansion the ex- penses of the empire were mounting higher and higher, and means had to be devised for obtaining more money. The army and navy especially were expensive luxuries, and all parties except the Social Democrats admitted that the national financial system would have to be reor- ganized to avoid imperial bankruptcy. The national debt had grown from about $222,000,000 at the opening of the present Kaiser's reign to nearly a bilKon in 1908. Von Billow's plan was for a new tax on beer, wine, and tobacco, and an inheritance tax on property. This was not like the usual fore- thought of Von Billow, for by his proposals he was striking at the inter- ests of both sides of his parUamentary team. The Conservatives, ever true to the ancient landed aristocracy which they represented, natu- rally opposed any tax upon the inheritance of property and spoke bit- terly of the hateful "death duties." On the other hand the Liberals, who made up another side of Von Billow's "bloc," opposed a new tax on tobacco, beer, and wine. The situation again put the Centre party in the driver's seat with the balance of power as an effective whip. The Socialists formed an ineffective opposition. After much debate the Clericals joined the Conservatives, and when the issue was put to a vote on June 24th (1909), the biU was defeated by a vote of 195 to 187. The Kaiser wished neither to let Von Billow go at this, nor to dis- solve the Reichstag and give the Socialists a chance to increase their representation again. That, he saw, would have been fatal to his navdl plans, and, moreover, some sort of a financial measure was imperative. Von Billow tendered his resignation, but at the Kaiser's request withdrew it, and a month later, after many compromises, the measure was passed. That day (July 14) Von Billow again tendered his res- ignation and it was accepted. His successor, the present Chancellor, is Dr. Theobald von Bethmann-HoUweg, former Imperial Minister of the Interior and Vice-Chancellor, a mild conservative whose life has largely been spent in Prussian officialdom. THE END OF JULY, 1914 — ^WAE Incident in plenty there has been in the Chancellorship of Von Bethmann-HoUweg, but the current drifting toward the great crisis of the German Empire carries us swiftly over minor events to the vortex 130 THE KAISER in the last days of July, 1914, when the whole world awaited, breath- less, the actions of Austria, Russia, and WilHam II, German Emperor. What will be the "serenely impartial verdict of history" on men's words and deeds in those stirring days? "We hve in serious times, and hard trials may be before us," said the fledgUng Kaiser many years ago to his fighting men: and that seer- hke HohenzoUern prophecy came to pass when on July 31, 1914, fol- lowing a secret meeting of the Federal Council, the Kaiser said to the Reichstag: "If we cannot persuade the nations to maintain peace I will wield the sword and show them what it means to provoke Germany." On this day, with the consent of the Federal Council, and in ac- cordance with paragraph 68 of the German Constitution, the Kaiser declared the nation in a state of war. Two days later, speaking from a window of the Palace, from which the Kaiser had bowed to the cheering multitude. Chancellor von Beth- mann-HoUweg said: "We all stand round our Emperor, whatever our faith may be. If war is decided upon I know that all young German men wiU be ready to pour out their blood for the glory and greatness of Germany. We can but win. Let us trust in God, who up to now has always granted us victory." And so a united Germany at last, party distinctions completely obhterated by the surge of patriotism. A day or two later the Kaiser, having declared war on Russia, and the Reichstag without a dissent- ing vote having passed the war budget, the Kaiser spoke from the throne. Later in a personal speech to the deputies he said: "I no longer recognize any parties. I know only Germans. In witness that they are firmly resolved without distinction of party, social position, or creed, to hold together with me through thick and thin, I call upon the leaders of the parties to come forward and give me their hands upon it." It is not the mission of this simple narrative to attempt to describe a scene that will hve in history as one of the most dramatic moments in the hfe of the German Empire. Perhaps it will not be amiss to close this chapter with a brief quota- tion from the account of an eyewitness, Frederick WiUiam Wile, Berlin correspondent of the London Daily Mail. Prejudiced the accoimt may be, for the writer had just escaped from Germany in the diplomatic train, after having been arrested as an Enghsh spy; but it is very vivid. THE KAISER AND THE REICHSTAG 131 "Germany is unquestionably war mad. The stage management has been superb. The whole nation believes the Kaiser's cause is unassailably just' — ^that the 'sword was forced into his hands.' The Social Democrats are for war. They voted the war credits in the Reichstag to a man, and they will shoulder rifles as cheerfully as the most ardent young recruit. " It was an imforgettable scene in the Reichstag when the Chancellor said, 'Our army is in the field; our fleet is ready for battle; the whole German nation stands behind them!' AU eyes were riveted on the Sociahst benches. Would they hiss or would they cheer.? They cheered. And then the Chancellor, turning to them, shook his fist, not this time in anger or defiance, but in a Bismarckian gesture of joyous gratitude as he repeated, 'Jawohl, the whole German nation!'" CHAPTER X THE KAISER AND THE SOCIALISTS "^ I ^HE responsibility for this calamity falls upon those who are I responsible for the imperial policies that led to it. We ab- -^ solutely decline all responsibility. The Social Democrats fought this poUcy with all their might. At this moment, however, the question before us is not war, or no war. The war is here. The question now is one of defence of the coimtry. Our nation and the future of its liberty are jeopardized by a possible victory of Russian despotism, the hands of which are stained with blood of the best of its own nation. Against this danger it is our duty to secure the culture and independence of our land." Thus spoke the German Social Democrats through Deputy Haase in the Reichstag, in those tense days of the first week of August, 1914, when the whole of Europe was trembling upon the brink of war. Bit- terly opposed to this war they were. Consistent with their philoso- phy and their programme they did all in their severely hmited power to avert it. They failed, acknowledged the situation, and with- out further repinings cast all of their 111 votes in favour of the war budget. Much has been said recently and much will be said in future of the attitude of the German Socialists in the war. More strongly organized and with a greater numerical force than the Socialists in any other nation, people generally looked to the Sociahsts of Germany to do some- thing else than they did. Just what they were expected to do is hard to say. The diversity of these expectations is as great as the diversity of opinion upon Socialism as a general proposition. But the fact is that the Socialists, war once declared, shouldered their rifles, and hundreds of thousands of them are fighting to-day with the German army. And this in spite of the fact that they generally feel the Kaiser personally to blame for the war, and in spite of their lasting and bitter feud with him. As seen in the previous chapter, this feud was dropped by the Kaiser with the declaration of war, when he proclaimed, "I 132 THE KAISER AND THE SOCIALISTS 133 recognize no parties now — only Germans." And now we see the Socialists striking hands with him. Right up to the time of the war, however, the Kaiser's hatred of the Social Democracy has been the most outstanding fact of his do- mestic poUcy. Throughout his reign his every utterance on internal aflfairs has been tinged with his royal displeasure at the ever-growing body of Germans who seemed to prefer to do for themselves rather than have the divinely appointed HohenzoUern do for them, according to the dictates of his own idea of what was good for them. "Traitors," "a plague that must be extirpated," "a crew unde- serving the name of Germans," "foes to the country and empire," "people without a country, and enemies of religion," such were some of the Kaiser's tactful remarks about this large proportion of his subjects — and ever more and more of his subjects hastened to ally themselves with this traitorous band. Just how traitorous they have been to Germany, the world at large wiU decide when the whole history of this war is written, and the sacrifice of the Sociahsts is measured with their actions when their great opportunity comes on the declaration of peace. Our aim here is to scan briefly the relations between the Kaiser and that portion of the German population which from the first have called forth his unmeasured wrath. kaisee's early attempts to check the growth of socialism The problem of the Socialists was a part of the inheritance of the young Emperor, for from the very formation of the empire their revo- lutionary activities had been carried on and Bismarck had used with them the strongest repressive measures he had dared. Even the first Imperial Parhament in 1871 held two Socialist Deputies, backed by a voting strength of 124,665. This was more than trebled in 1874, when nine members were elected, and in 1877 a round dozen Sociahsts were sent to the Reichstag, to represent a total electoral vote of nearly half a million. In this delegation were August Bebel and William Lieb- knecht, who for so many years afterward led the Sociahst forces in Germany, and Herr Most, who later came into fame in the United States as an anarchist. The delegation ranked easily first in the energy of its propaganda, and in its stiff opposition to the plans of the Con- servative privileged interests. In point of total votes cast the Social- ists ranked fifth among the fourteen parties or factions which split German political hfe, but only ninth in strength in the Reichstag. 134 THE KAISER This discrepancy may be put down to the inequality of representation which existed even then. The situation was far from Bismarck's Hking, and in order to bring about a change he inaugurated a pohcy of granting indulgences to labour with one hand while with the other he made the widest possible use of the pohce power for suppressing revolutionary activities. "My idea," Bismarck is quoted as having once said in regard to his labour legislation, "was to bribe the working classes, or shall I say win them over to regard the state as a social institution existing for their sake and interested in their welfare." He made shght progress imtil 1876, when an unsuccessful attempt upon the life of Emperor William I justly or unjustly turned pubhc opinion against the Sociahsts. This gave Bismarck his golden oppor- tunity. Two days later, while the iron was hot, the grim Chancellor struck, and introduced his Anti-Sociahst bill. It was rejected by a large vote, but opportunely for Bismarck's plan another attempt was made upon the Emperor's hfe. This time the monarch was wounded. The general election which followed soon after gave Bismarck the vic- tory he needed; the Socialists lost three seats, retaining a delegation of nine. The Conservatives increased their number and the Liberals reduced theirs. THE ANTI-SOCIALIST LAW Immediately "a law against the publicly dangerous activity of the Social Democracy" was introduced by the Iron Chancellor. Although the Socialists protested against the biU, and indignantly disclaimed any connection with the attempts upon the Emperor's hfe, the measure became a law under which the arrogance of caste, the bitterness of class hatred, and the abuse of mihtary despotism all reached their most degraded forms. The law was thorough. It prohibited the existence of organiza- tions fostering ideas contrary to the existing pohtical and social order, prohibited the collection of funds for the same, prohibited meetings, processions, and demonstrations, and provided for the suppression and confiscation of books, newspapers, pamphlets, and other pubhcations gotten out for the purposes of propaganda. For the enforcement of this law the pohce were endowed with far-reaching powers and the authority for declaring a locality in a "minor stage of siege" for one year. A commission was appointed to see that nothing was left undone. THE KAISER AND THE SOCIALISTS 135 The first result was a meeting of the Socialists in Hamburg to consider the situation, and their determination to perfect their organi- zation and carry on their propaganda in secret where necessary; in the Reichstag as far as possible. As a result Berlin promptly was declared in a "minor state of siege," and the expulsion of Sociahsts and the con- fiscation of hterature were carried on with Prussian thoroughness. But their opportunity for pubhc expression in the Reichstag remained, and Bismarck's attempts to have their words expunged from the records failed. "I fear Social Democracy more with this law than without it," said one Progressive in the Reichstag, and the Minister of the Interior reported that "It is beyond doubt that it has not been possible by means of the law of October, 1878, to wipe Social Democracy from the face of the earth, or even to strike it to the centre." During this period, while Kaiser William II was leading the some- what remote life of a student, more then 1,500 persons were imprisoned, nearly an equal number of publications suppressed, and tons of mis- cellaneous literature destroyed. Every imprisoned or exiled comrade became a martyr, and defiance was hurled at the government on every occasion. Thus when the present Emperor came to the throne in 1888 he found that the elections of the previous year had left him a Reichstag with eleven Sociahsts, backed by a national voting strength of 763,128. With anything hke a proportionate representation they would have elected forty members. On the other hand, the Conservatives, with a voting strength less than the Sociahsts, had returned a delegation of forty-one members. "Leave the Social Democrats to me," said the Kaiser to Bismarck. Again, in 1890, we find him writing to Bismarck: "It is the duty of the state to regulate the duration and conditions of work in such manner that the health and the morality of the workingman may be preserved, and that his needs may be satisfied, and his desire for equality before the law assured." Of the young Emperor's aims at social reform the grim and cynical Bismarck said in an interview: "My young master is ardent and active; he wants to secure the happiness of those over whom he rules, and of mankind in general. Such a feeling is natural at his time of life; at mine doubts as to the feasibility of schemes for the benefit of mankind are excusable. I frankly 136 THE KAISER told him so. It is quite natural that an old mentor like myself should have displeased him, and that my advice should have proved unpalat- able. A steady old dray-horse and a young racer cannot pull well together. . . . For my part, I shall be glad if the experiments prove successful." We have seen in the previous chapter how the Kaiser in all his early pronouncements declared himself in sympathy with the working classes (except as they were allied with the hateful Social Democracy), and how he gave his royal patronage to exhibitions and conferences for the betterment of labouring conditions. Thus when in 1890 the Anti- Sociahst law came up for reenactment (it had been reenacted every two years since its passage with decreasing majorities) the Kaiser was will- ing to sanction certain limitations to its drastic provisions. The gov- ernment saw a disadvantage in the necessity of passing the bill every few years, and this time Bismarck proposed it as a permanent measure, with an added clause providing for the exile from Germany of its viola- tors. The Kaiser would have been willing to see the expatriation clause dropped, and the biU probably would have passed without it, but Bis- marck insisted upon it, and the law failed. "The Chancellor thought he had us, but we have him," said Bebel; for after the offending Parhament had been dissolved the new elections showed the Social Democrats with a voting strength of about a milhon and a half. They were turned out with eleven members, but came back with thirty-five. With a proportionate representation they would have had eighty-five. With the expiration of the law that had imdoubtedly been partly responsible for this astounding growth of Sociahsm in the empire, the working classes gathered in the streets of aU the largest cities to cele- brate their victory, and to wave the red flag of their common humanity. . In the national convention held for the first time in thirteen years on German soil, Liebknecht said: "Our opponents did not spare us, and we, too proud and too strong to prove cowardly, struck blow for blow, and so we have conquered the odious law." THE LABOUE CONFERENCE But, "I have mastered the new spirit which thrills the expiring century," said William II, and while the campaign for the new elections was going on he issued the call for an international conference for the I'liulu^'mpii \>y Unnvii JJri. ON THE CAPTAIN'S BRIDGE 'the ocean is indispensable for Germany's greatness" Pliotojjraph by Hry«n Brotlicrs A SERMON ON THE "HOHENZOLLERN," JUNE, 1901 "ye, O GERMANS, ARE THE ELECT PEOPLE. THE LORD HATH SAID UNTO ME, 'go, thou, CHOOSE MEN AND FIGHT THE AMALEKITEs'" THE KAISER AND THE SOCIALISTS 137 betterment of the condition of the labouring classes. The conference sat for two weeks in March, 1890, and passed resolutions and recom- mendations on the regulation of work in mines, Sunday labour, child and female labour, etc. The discussions were of a purely academic nature, and accomplished no immediate practical good. Bismarck said of the conference that "its results were equal to zero." But it was nevertheless a step toward democracy such as had never before been taken in the history of the German people. One historian speaking of some of the court banquets attendant upon the conference said: "To some of these functions the labour delegates were also in- vited; and thus it came to pass that for the first time in their history the poUshed parquet floors of the Royal Schloss resounded with the heavy tread of German locksmiths from the Rhine, French SociaUsts from Montmartre, and burly miners from Tyneside, who went gaping and staring about amid all this oppressive court grandeur with a feehng of 'Lord 'a' mercy on us, this is none of I!' "On the closing day of the conference the chief delegates were treated to a free-and-easy 'beer-evening' at the Schloss, when the Em- peror conversed in the most affable manner with his guests, and im- pressed them all with his remarkable grasp of their subject." If such a conference had been called by a President, or a Governor say, about the time of an election here in the United States, the charge of attempting to make friends with the labour vote would be promptly heard. If there was any such motive behind the Kaiser's champion- ship of the conference it was unsuccessful, as we have seen from the results of the election, mentioned previously. Perhaps it was with this in mind that his remark to a guest in 1892 was made, in reply to the ob- servation that the ranks of the Social Democrats continued to grow. "The moment the Social Democracy feels itself in possession of power," he said, "it wiU not hesitate for an instant to attack the middle classes very energetically. No exhibition of general benevolence is of any use against these people — ^here only rehgious feehng, founded on decided faith, can have any influence." The conference, however, was only an indication, for the Kaiser was fully in accord with Bismarck upon one point at least — ^the necessity of labour legislation to forestall, if possible, the growth of discontent. 138 THE KAISER As a result Germany to-day is the most highly "socialized" nation on earth, and is pointed out on all sides as an example of paternal solici- tude for its working classes. Bismarck's sickness insurance bill had been passed in 1883, while the accident insurance law came the next year, and the old age pension act in 1889. In the early days of the Kaiser's reign these measxires were opposed by the Social Democrats, their national convention having declared against "state Socialism so long as it is inaugurated by Prince Bismarck, and is designed to support the government system," In later years a change has come over them, and the SociaUsts now eagerly seek any concessions which will help the labouring man to-day. Some of the results of German state insurance were noted in the previous chapter, but it is appropriate here to quote the summing up of all this legislation made by Samuel P. Orth in his "Sociahsm and De- mocracy in Europe": "Here a workingman may begin hfe attended by a physician paid by the state; he is christened by a state clergyman; he is taught the rudiments of learning and his handicraft by the state. He begins work under the watchful eye of a state inspector, who sees that the safeguards to health and limb are strictly observed. He is drafted by the state into the army, and returns from the rigour of this discipline to his work. The state gives him hcense to marry, registers his place of residence, follows him from place to place, and registers the birth of his children. If he falls ill, his suJBFering is assuaged by the knowledge that his wife and children are cared for and that his expenses wiU be paid during illness; and he may spend his convalescent days in a luxurious state hospital. If he faUs victim to an accident the dread of worklessness is removed by the ample insurance commanded by the state even if his injury permanently incapacitates him. If he should unfortunately become the most pitiful of aU men, the man out of work, the state and city wiU do all in their power to find employment for him. If he wan- ders from town to town in search of work the city has its shelter {Her- herge) to welcome him; if he wishes to move to another part of his town the mxmicipal bureau will be glad to help him fiind a suitable house, or may even loan him money for building a house of his own. If he is in diflSculty the city places a lawyer at his disposal. If he is in a dispute with his employer the government provides a court of arbitration. If he is sued or wishes to sue his employer he does so in the workingman's THE KAISER AND THE SOCIALISTS 139 court (Gewerbe Gericht). If he wishes entertainment let him go to the public concert; if he wishes to improve his mind there are libraries and free lectures. And if by rare chance, through the grace of the state's strict sanitary regulations and by thrift and care, he reaches the age of seventy, he will find the closing days of his long hfe eased by a pension, small, very small, to be sure, but yet enough to make him more wel- come to the relatives or friends who are charged with administering to his wants." "leave the socialists to me" But to return to the Emperor in the first year after his dismissal of Bismarck. In his speech from the throne at the opening of the Reichstag in May, 1890, he mentioned neither the change in chancellors nor a new Anti-Sociahst bill. He did, however, recommend several of the reforms in regard to labour that had been advocated by the inter- national labour conference, and the extension of state insurance to include all workingmen, instead of merely certain classes of working- men, as had been the case in Bismarck's laws. A good many of these laws were subsequently passed, amended, it is true, but not so much as to make Bismarck's bitter comment upon the conference an accurate one. Moreover, by the law of January, 1891, the old age pension was extended to more than eleven milhon labourers throughout the empire. In his own kingdom of Prussia, too, the Kaiser inaugurated and car- ried through several reform measures designed to place the burdens of taxation upon the shoulders best able to bear them. This seemed to be a capital beginning for the young captain who had so fearlessly sent the weather-beaten pilot ashore. Especially was the E^aiser's omission of the Anti-Socialist law from his programme greeted with joy, as in this action the Social Democrats thought they saw indications of a policy of mildness and liberalness. But these dreams were not long to last. Next came the Kaiser's school reform measures, the parliamentary fate of which has been taken up in the previous chapter. While these reforms were for the purpose of combating Socialism through the edu- cation of the children, they hardly worked out as they were expected to. Educational reforms there eventually were, though at the cost of a Cabinet crisis in Prussia; but the growth of the Social Democracy gives eloquent testimony of the futility of stemming the tide that way. Thus, the results of dropping the Anti-Socialist law failing to come 140 THE KAISER up to expectations, the Kaiser set his heart upon an Anti-Revolution bill which was championed by Count Caprivi. Just here, October, 1894, it will be remembered the downfall of Chancellor Caprivi occurred, and his successor. Prince von Hohenlohe, became the pilot of the ship of state breasting the troubled waters of internal dissension. The Anti-Revolution biU met a cold reception from the first, and when the new Reichstag was called, aU parties looked forward to the Kaiser's speech from the throne with the deepest interest. Among other things the Kaiser demanded that the struggle for existence must be made easier for the workingman, "but, if the success of these efforts is to be assured, it appears necessary to oppose more effectually than hitherto the pernicious conduct of those who attempt to disturb the executive power in the fulfilment of its duty." Called upon to rise and cheer the Emperor with the rest of the house, the Socialist deputies flatly refused; and the next day, at the Kaiser's command. Chancellor von Hohenlohe requested the sanction of the Reichstag for the criminal prosecution of the delegation which had al- lowed its impatience to express itself in this boorish insult. The Reichs- tag viewed this as an attempt by the Kaiser to encroach upon its rights, and by a large majority refused the request. Meanwhile, amidst the indignant protests of the labouring classes, the press, and the universities, the debates on the Anti-Revolution bill continued. At this time no less than 20,000 petitions were sent to Berhn denouncing the bill as the deathblow to German independence of mind and a disgrace to civihzation. Moreover, his tactics as pilot of the imperial ship showed Chancellor von Hohenlohe as anything but a staunch supporter of the measure. As it was a part of his pohtical heritage, bequeathed by Caprivi, perhaps he could not be expected to feel for it as strongly as his predecessor. Amidst the fierce denuncia- tions of the Social Democrats and the arrogant self-assurance of the Prussian reactionaries this mild-mannered Bavarian at first seemed somewhat out of place. The fact, too, that the Kaiser's Anti-Revolution bill was brought up just after the imperial quarrel with the Conservative Agrarian party also perhaps had something to do with the result, for although the Kaiser made valiant efforts to reconcile the haughty Junkers, it seemed that the blow to their pocketbooks struck by the Russian commercial treaty was still too fresh in their minds for them to see with complete clearness the danger of social revolution about which the Kaiser talked Photograph by the Bain News Service THE KAISER WITH KING HAAKON OF NORWAY KING Haakon's queen is a sister of the English king, the kings of DENMARK, GREECE, AND NORWAY, AND THE EMPEROR OF RUSSIA ARE ALL DE- SCENDED IN DIRECT LINE FROM THE EARLY GERMAN KINGS. EUROPE AT WAR CAN ALMOST BE LIKENED TO A LARGE F.AMILY QUARREL THE KAISER AND THE SOCIALISTS 141 so incessantly. "If you must fight," said the Kaiser in eflfect, "come and join me in the fight against our common enemy, the Social Demo- crats." But in spite of all he could do, their support of the measure was not so energetic as he had expected. When it was finally put to vote the bill was overwhelmingly beaten, and as one historian says, "was consigned to the chamber of legislative horrors." No doubt it would have pleased the Kaiser greatly to have sent the unaccommodating Parliament home, but he saw clearly that such an action at just this time would have given the Social Democrats another chance to enlarge their delegation in a new election, and he wisely let the matter rest. During this period the Kaiser's speeches were all tinged with his dread of social revolution, and his hatred of the Social Democrats. On one occasion, addressing young recruits at Potsdam, he made the fol- lowing significant remark: "For you there is only one foe, and that is my foe. In view of our present Socialist troubles, it may come to this, that I command you to shoot down your own relatives, brothers, and even parents, in the streets, which God forbid; but then you must obeymy orders without a murmur." It is interesting to note just one more scolding that the Kaiser gave the Reichstag. This was on the occasion of Bismarck's eightieth birthday and shortly after the Emperor and the Iron Chancellor had made up the quarrel which sent the latter into private hfe a disgruntled, garrulous old man. So great was the joy of William at the reconcihation that upon the happy anniversary he let it be known that he felt it the duty of the Reichstag to send the octogenarian a note of congratula- tion. Far from sending their congratulations to Bismarck, the Clericals, Radicals, and Socialists, who had in the past suffered the most under the iron domination of the empire builder, combined to defeat the motion authorizing the president to convey the best wishes of the whole House. When the Kaiser heard of this act of discourtesy he flew into a towering rage, and telegraphed Bismarck of his "most profound indignation" at an action "in complete opposition to the feehngs of all German princes and people." The Socialists imder the whip of the Emperor's wrath replied with the question: "What were the feelings of the German princes and the 142 THE KAISER whole German people at the time the feud between Bismarck and the Emperor was at its height?" LESE MA.IESTE Thus with the Socialists: They were called "traitors," "unfit to bear the name of Germans," "enemies to the country and rehgion"; but they could not talk back. The Kaiser's means for keeping their tongues straight under the merciless fire of his oratory was the law of lese majeste, enforced with a rigour that has characterized few laws in any land. The crime of insulting majesty is dealt with by section 95 of the German Imperial Criminal Code. Imprisonment or confinement in a fortress for not less than two months or more than five years is the penalty meted out to German subjects who insult the Emperor or any of the sovereigns of the empire. According to the latitude allowed the courts in defining an "insult" this may include anything said or done, either in public or private, with or without intention to offend, which may be deemed irreverent to the princes mentioned. Thus the person who failed to rise in response to a toast to the Emperor would come under the provision of the law as clearly as one who spoke disrespectfully of him. In addition to the penalty prescribed above, persons found guilty under section 95 may be punished by the loss of any pubhc ofl&ce which they hold, and by the forfeiture of any rights they possess as the result of any public election (section 96). Thus the Social Democrat newly elected to the Reichstag whose overwhelming majority in a crowded city district should tempt him to express too candid an opinion of the Emperor might in consequence lose both his hberty and his office. By Section 97 of the Code fighter penalties are provided for insults affecting regents, or other than reigning members of princely houses. "It is, therefore, by no means pohtic in Germany to call even the grandaunt of royalty an old goose," says Robert C. Brooks, "at least without carefuUy considering whether the pleasure of reUeving your mind in this elevated way is, after all, worth a month's imprisonment, to say nothing of the risk you run of receiving a sentence of three years for so harmless, and possibly so veracious, a remark. Not that the abihty to prove the truth of your allegation would release you as in the case of an ordinary fibel suit; indeed it would evidently have no other effect than to increase the enormity of the offense."* *The Bookman, September, 1914. THE KAISER AND THE SOCIALISTS 143 Statistics collected in 1898, at the end of the first decade of the present Emperor's reign, showed that since his accession to the throne much more than one thousand years of imprisonment had been in- flicted upon ofiFenders under section 95 of the Code. Between 1898 and 1904 convictions have been notoriously more numerous than before. Scarcely a week elapses without the notice in the general press of the country of three or four trials of this character. Americans can well afford to laugh over the comic-opera effects of the few cases which find their way into our foreign news column, but to the German lese majeste is not entirely a laughing matter. Nevertheless it remains true that no section in the whole Criminal Code of the empire is so fre- quently broken. Naturally the writers for the Social Democratic newspapers are among those who most frequently evade the law, or openly court its terrors. Nearly every editor and many poHtical leaders of that party have served one or more terms in prison for lese majeste or offense against the Press Law. To some extent, of course, this increases their prestige in the ranks of their comrades, and consequently they are not altogether losers by their martyrdom. It is something more than a conflict of social theories and social classes, however, for to that struggle has been added a sharp personal conflict between the crowned and consecrated incarnation of aristoc- racy and the tribunes of democracy. The determination of the pres- ent Emperor to rule personally — "to be his own Chancellor," as the saying goes — has greatly intensified the situation. One of the effects of the Emperor's strong personality has been to widen the scope of the law against insult owing to the much larger num- ber of imperial words and deeds upon which nowadays comment is dan- gerous. Under the circumstances, great personal bitterness would have been inevitable even if both parties had been far more conciliatory than they actually were. Under these conditions it is considered a very clever trick when a cartoonist or an editorial writer succeeds in poking fun at the Kaiser without getting himself into the clutches of the law. The instances of such cartoons and articles are legion, but perhaps the pamphlet by the learned Professor Quidde of Munich is the most notable. The paper was entitled " Caligula^ — A study in Roman-Csesarian Madness," and in a remarkably short time it reached its thirtieth large edition. While it presumed to be a deep and weighty monograph upon the per- 144 THE KAISER sonal traits and the career of the Roman ruler, it so cleverly paralleled the known facts of the Emperor's life that no one could be deceived as to its meaning. By carefully refraining from the slightest mention of modem Germany, the impish pamphleteer placed the imperial officials in the position of lettiug the thing go on unnoticed, or of prosecuting him and admitting that it did actually touch the Kaiser in some point, at least. They chose the former course and, with thoroughgoing Ger- man consistency, prosecuted only the papers which openly commented upon the monograph as having any relation to the Emperor! Throughout the world it was hailed as one of the cleverest bits of veiled caricature ever written, for in those places where the parallel was drawn particularly close to the Kaiser the author backed up his statements with painstakingly correct references by page and para- graph to classical authors. Even in Caligula's treatment of Marco, who had been the powerful minister of Caligula's predecessor Tiberius, the analogy between the Emperor and his treatment of Bismarck was there for aU the world to see. FEOM KEVOLUTIONISTS TO PAELIAMENTARIANS Thus while the Emperor scolded, pleaded, and legislated, the So- ciahsts retahated, defied, and, more important than aU, continued to increase in numbers. Proceeding on the theory that the Social Demo- crats are enemies of the empire, and that in power they would seek to overthrow it, the government absolutely has banned them from pubhc honour and responsibihty' — except in so far as they may wrest these from the vested authority by a much restricted ballot. In the civil service, judges, teachers, state pastors, and public physicians must sedulously avoid the Social Democracy or make up their minds to forego imperial favour. An investigator once asked a high official in the civil service whether he enjoyed freedom from political interference. "Ab- solutely," was the reply. " We think as we please, talk as we please, and do as we please. But we must let the Social Democrats alone." (The italics are ours.) The feeling is most bitter in Prussia, where the government, under the domination of the Kaiser, has carried out his programme of re- pression just as far as it dared. In the South of Germany conditions are quite different. Far from holding themselves aloof, with stiff Prus- sian dogmatism, the Bavarian and Saxon Socialists have repeatedly declared themselves ready to work with the government wherever con- r-r^a ' ^^H S2 a h'TjHSmh l» Brothe STAN 4 A ^^^Xn^^^^^l j| Photograpli by Brown O STRONG MEN ^ .i ^v! EVELT IRTH, WHEN TW OF THE earth! ^ifefe./ ■•— "?'"' ' " mk r . Sfr'='^^\'*S§HF^||^^MP|R^r^ ' "v \^A ^,^jL^BHfiii^ ^ IRE ROOS ED, NOR B THE ENDS jj^Y wt^i^^jma3^^^^^^i9^^^^^''^^ffi^ '''^rJ^p'^.^ilBKIIhjSm Bt^*i3 Q «§ "lift iiSi kI H *" g P a ;>< ■®^ J i'i THE KAISER AN "but there is NEITHER EAST NOR WEST, BOHD FACE TO FACE, THOUGH THE' THE KAISER AND THE SOCIALISTS 145 ditions could be improved. Nor on the other hand are the government officials in the Southern States as rabid in their opposition. One in- stance is cited of a Bavarian state railway employee who was elected on the Social Democratic ticket to the State Diet. Accordingly the state gave him leave of absence from his railroad duties to represent his con- stituency in the local Parliament. But even in Prussia the dogmatic aloofness of the Social Democracy has undergone a big change. Originating as a party of revolution with Utopian aims, it began by a timid entry to Parliament as a party of opposition. At the time the present war began it was a powerful par- hamentary factor, playing the political game of give and take, and seek- ing every httle advantage, just as other political bodies did. In other words, the Socialists went to make trouble, but stayed to make laws. Up to 1890 the party had been known variously, but chiefly as the Sociahst Labour Party, but in that year it formally took the title Social Democratic Party, and defended this action against the protests of the more revolutionary members on the grounds that a Socialist party must in the nature of things be a democratic party. In this connection Liebknecht said: "Formerly we had an entirely diflFerent tactic. Tac- tics and principles are entirely diflFerent things. In 1869 I condemned parliamentary activity. That was then. PoUtical conditions were entirely diflFerent." At first they took no part in the law making, and absolutely held aloof from forming any parliamentary alliances with other parties. They consistently voted against the imperial budget, tariflFs, indirect taxes, military expenditures, colonial exploitation, and of course any extension of the pohce power. But bit by bit they began to play the game, and when taxed by their party conventions with making com- promises with the enemy defended themselves on the ground that while they did not for a moment lose sight of the ultimate goal, they would in the meantime seek every possible advantage they could for the work- ingmen of Germany. In 1895 they nominated one of their delegation for secretary of the Reichstag, and in 1901 they introduced a biU in- creasing the allowance of the private soldier. The biU became a law, and in the next party convention the Reichstag delegation had to defend themselves against the old charge of compromise. Their answer was that, inasmuch as the private soldiers were proletarians, and therefore poor, the law was one that benefited the class from which most Social Democrats came. 146 THE KAISER Thus we see the change from the party platform which declared: "So-called state Socialism, in so far as it concerns itseK with bet- tering the conditions of the working people, is a system of half-reforms whose origin is in the fear of Social Democracy. It aims, through all kinds of palliatives^nd httle concessions, to estrange the working people from Social Democracy and to cripple the party. "The Social Democracy have never disdained to ask for such govern- mental regulations, or, if proposed by the opposition, to approve of those measures which could better the conditions of labour imder the present industrial system. But Social Democrats view such regula- tions as only little payments on account, which in nowise confuse the Social Democracy in its striving for a new organization of society." Nowadays the Social Democratic reports boast of the activity of their representatives in the Reichstag. One report said: "No op- portunity was lost for entering the Ksts in behalf of political and cul- tural progress. In the discussion of all bills and other business matters, the members of the delegation took an active part in committee as well as in plenum." In 1908 the Social Democrats took an active part in the debates on the financial reform bill which eventually wrecked the administra- tion of Chancellor von Billow. After long discussion in conference the delegation decided that they would support the inheritance tax feature which was so hateful to their enemies, the Conservatives. Thus for once they appeared as allies of the Kaiser's measures, against the party which usually was his strongest support. At the same time the Social Democrats were actively pushing bills for redistricting the empire for Reichstag elections, for the reduction of the legislative session from five to three years, and for the better inspection of ships. Not only that, but they constantly were demanding more hberal state insurance laws on the grounds that what had already been secured was by no means what labour demanded. As a result of the London Daily Telegraph interview, which created such a storm in 1908, the Social Democrats introduced a biU to make the Chancellor and his cabinet responsible to the Reichstag, demanding a government "wherein the people, in the final analysis, decide the fate of the government. For, in such a government, only those men come into power who represent a programme, represent conviction and char- THE KAISER AND THE SOCIALISTS 147 acter: not any one who has succeeded, for the moment, in pleasing the fancy and becoming the favourite of the determining kamarilla." If the election should turn on this issue, "whether there shall be a perpetu- ation of the sham-constitutional, junker bureaucracy, or the estabUsh- ing of a democratic parliamentary authority, the parliamentary party would win. The will of the people should be the highest law." In 1911 we find the Social Democrats again championing a govern- ment measure in the new constitution for Alsace-Lorraine which con- tained a provision for universal manhood suffrage. Herr Bebel's comment on the situation was significant. "It marks a new epoch," he said. "We have voted with the government. Not that we have capitulated. But the government have come to our convictions; they have granted universal suffrage to Alsace; now they cannot long deny that right to Prussia and the other states." But the SociaHsts have not proceeded thus far without their set- backs. Following the dissolution of Parliament by Chancellor von Bulow, as a result of the Social Democratic-Cathohc defeat of the colonial mihtary budget, the new elections resulted in the loss by the Social Democrats of one half their eighty seats in the Reichstag, The Kaiser was jubilant. The night the final results were announced he had been giving a dinner at the palace, and as the returns came in he read them to his family and guests with ever-increasing joy. By one o'clock in the morning the figures were practically all in, and though the streets were knee deep with snow they were filled with cheering people. Finally one of the windows in the Kaiser's apartments was thrown open and the Emperor, bareheaded and flushed with victory, was seen standing in the opening. Leaning far out over the balcony and ad- dressing the throng, he voiced his exultation: "Gentlemen," he cried, "this fine ovation springs from the feehng that you are proud of having done your duty by your country. In the words of our great Chancellor (Bismarck) who said that if the Germans were once put in the saddle they would soon learn to ride, you can ride, and you will ride, and ride down, any one who opposes us, especially when aU classes and creeds stand fast together. Do not let this hour of triumph pass as a moment of patriotic enthusiasm, but keep to the road on which you have started." The speech closed with a verse from Kleist's "Prince von Homburg," a favourite monarchist drama of the Emperor's, conveying the idea that good HohenzoUern rule had knocked bad Social Democratic agitation into a cocked hat. 148 THE KAISER Within the ranks of the Social Democratic party it was different. Painstakingly they began to examine their theories and dogmas to find the defect that brought about this reaction. Many of the leaders declaimed against the revolutionary methods still in force, and against the old revolutionary programme. Bebel did his best to cheer up the dissatisfied convention by declaring that success was not so much meas- ured by the number of seats in the Reichstag as by the number of Social Democratic votes polled, and by saying, "We are the coming ones; ours is the future in spite of aU things and everything." Although the party programme was not rewritten, the trend of its thought and activities has constantly changed, and emphasis of late years has been placed more upon the democratic part of the title than upon the sociahstic. Less and less has been heard of the hard, inflexible theories of Marx, and more and more of parhamentary progress and betterment here and now, in preparation for the ultimate goal. VICTORY OF 1912 AND FIGHT FOR ELECTORAL REFORM The brilhant victory of the 1912 election, in which 4,250,000 voters returned 110 Social Democratic members to the Reichstag, was not won upon the rigid old class-war theories, but upon the parliamentary issues of election reform, and upon the general contests between the forces of democracy as opposed to autocracy in the person of the Kaiser and his bureaucracy. The Social Democracy fight for electoral reform, and for genuine, universal manhood suffrage, without the hateful class restrictions which prevail in so many of the states, has been a popular issue from the first. Both in the various states where the Social Democrats have fought vahantly for an abolition of the class system of voting, and in the Reichs- tag electoral districts, the Social Democrats have been supported by thousands of persons not enrolled in the party, and not beheving in its radical tenets. They have been dissatisfied with conditions, however, and have cast their votes with the Social Democrats as a protest against the Kaiser's personal rule, or against the arrogance of the bureaucracy. In Prussia the Social Democratic vote is in the vast majority, but owing to the three-class system of voting (described in Chapter VIII), the conservative agricultural interests can carry the election. Hence the failure of all attempts at reform. We have seen how the Emperor may dictate the policy of Prussia, and in this respect he has consist- ently refused to yield. In electoral reform he has seen victory for the THE KAISER AND THE SOCIALISTS 149 Socialists, and victory for the Socialists in Prussia would soon mean victory for the Socialists throughout the empire. Therefore, "as enemies of the state" he fought them without cessation — until war was declared. Then as "Germans" he received them into his armies with open arms and his blessing, as they went forth to shoot their comrades, the Socialists of other nations. Always the poUce have kept a watchful eye upon the actions of the Sociahsts, and even of late years they have put down with a strong hand demonstrations for universal suffrage that have seemed to go beyond the narrow hmits allowed imder the rigid Prussian Code, These demon- strations are the wonder of political parties throughout the world, and of the Sociahsts in every other nation. Organized on a mihtary basis, while absolutely opposed to militarism, the Social Democrats gather in orderly companies at their headquarters, and company upon com- pany, and battahon upon battalion, commanded by the commissioned and non-commissioned officers, they march thousands strong to some park or hall where they sit or stand in perfect order and record a resolu- tion. Everything is planned in advance and everything usually works out just as planned. There is no rowdyism, there usually is no violent debate — simply so many thousand voters march out and commit them- selves to a certain hne of action, or give warning of their opposition to some government measure. The effect is one of tremendous, but of com- pletely restrained, power. In the perfection of the detail of its organization the Social Democratic party is probably the most wonderful political machine in the world. Its every action is carefully planned in advance along lines laid down by the national conventions. These conventions, too, are remarkable in the blending of the philosophy of savants and some of the most highly cultured academicians of this "land of damned professors," with the homely ideas of uneducated German workingmen. All are encouraged to speak their views frankly. Topics for discussion in the national convention frequently are arranged a year in advance in accor- dance with the economic and philosophical principles underlying them. The discipline of the organization is strict, and members or branches who disobey the mandates of the whole are promptly shown the door. This has been done several times on large questions which threatened to split the party, but in every case the minority have at length given in to the dictates of the organization and returned to the fold. One must not suppose that the four milhon and a quarter Social 150 THE KAISER Democratic votes cast in the general election of 1912 indicate the strength of the Social Democratic party as an organization. The enrolled members at that time totaled about a million. The others must be put down as sympathizers, and individuals dissatisfied with conditions under the old order. But even so all critics agree that a party which, in the face of the Kaiser's bitterest opposition and the opposition of all the forces of reactionary autocracy under him, commands such strength, deserves serious consideration. PARLIAMENTARY RESPONSIBILITY Therefore when the Social Democratic party in 1912 returned to the Reichstag with the largest delegation, Bebel consented to become a candidate for president of the body. He was defeated by Doctor Spahn, leader of the Clerical party and candidate of the Conservatives, on a vote of 196 to 175, through the wavering of a sufficient mmiber of National Liberals to throw the balance. A Social Democrat was elected first vice-president, however, and a National Liberal second vice-president. This was far from satisfactory to the Conservatives. Doctor Spahn refused to serve with a Sociahst and resigned. Herr Kaempf, a Radical from Berlin, was elected in his place; and the National Liberal second vice-president resigned, making place for another Sociahst. Thus the Social Democrats and the Radicals for the first time in history took the leadership of the Reichstag; and the Kaiser, in disgust at the turn of affairs, let it be known that he did not care to receive the customary official visit of the president and vice-president to announce that the parliament was ready for business. But responsibihty is a sobering influence, and since that time the Social Democrats have wielded their tremendous power with ever-in- creasing caution. PARTY DIVISIONS Contention within the party there has been from the very first, but in the last few years the division has been between the old revolutionary wing and the faction known as the Revisionists, led by Heinrich von Vollmar, the leader of the Bavarian delegation, and Eduard Bernstein. The Revisionists favour every kind of parliamentary activity and cooperation with other parties, in their efforts to effect a betterment of conditions here and now, leaving the accomphshment of the ultimate goal of Socialism to posterity. The more radical element still clings THE KAISER AND THE SOCIALISTS 151 to the literal interpretation of the programme adopted at Erfurter in 1891, which, by the way, still stands as the formal party creed. The differences between the Revisionists and the "old line" ele- ments reached their height in the Dresden convention in 1903 and resulted in considerable ill feeling. The setback received by the Social Democrats in the election of 1907 revived the whole agitation for re- vision of the party programme, and afforded the faction following Von Vollmar ammunition for considerable talk against the orthodox tenets of the party. Though no amendments were made, conditions change, and as we have previously observed, less is heard now among German Sociahsts of the ultimate goal of Socialism than of the daily issues of the nation in which the Social Democrats wield such a tre- mendous power. The menace of a party spUt over this question of expediency came up again in 1910 when the South German delegations were censured for voting their state budgets in their provincial legislatures. The matter created such strained relations that the section of the party under criticism left the haU during the voting on the resolution of cen- sure, but the next day returned to declare its loyalty. The speech made by Doctor Frank of Manheim in defence of the actions of the South Germans is an accurate statement of the Revisionists' position and is here given in part: "I tell you, comrades, if you think that under aU the circumstances you can win only small concessions, with such a message of hopelessness you will not conquer the world, not even the smallest election district. (Great commotion and disturbance.) But what would be the meaning of this admission that small concessions can be secured.'' In tearing down a building dramatic effects are possible. But the erection of a building is accomphshed only by an accumulation of smaU concessions. Behold the labour unions, that are so often spoken of, how they struggle for months, how they suffer hunger for months, in order to win a con- cession of a few pennies. Often one can see that a small concession contains enormous future possibilities, and in twenty or thirty years wiU become a vital force in the shaping of the society that is to come. "But I will examine the question whether in parliamentary activity only small concessions can be won. Is it not possible, through parha- mentary action, to take high tariffs and business speculations from the necks of the workingmen.'' Is it not possible to modify police admin- 152 THE KAISER istration and the legislative conditions that profane Prussia to-day? Are these conditions necessary concomitants of the modem class-state {Klassenstaat)? Is it not possible to create out of Prussia and Ger- many a modern state, where our workingmen, even as their brethren in western Europe, can fight their great battles upon the field of demo- cratic equality and citizenship? If you wish to view all that as 'small concessions' you are at liberty to do so. I view it as a tremendous revolution, if it succeeds, to secure, through such a struggle, hberty for the Prussian working class." As an indication of the respect in which the German Social Demo- crats are held abroad the comment of G. P. Gooch, the Enghsh his- torian and noted Liberal, is interesting. The comment was made in the course of a critique on Emperor Wilham, published at the time of the monarch's Jubilee. "In internal pohtics his (the Kaiser's) greatest mistake in my opinion," said the historian, "is his treatment of the Socialists. After wisely aboUshing the Anti-SociaHst law, he denounced them bitterly when he found that Socialism still continued to grow. It displays lack of statesmanship for a ruler continually to denounce and insult the greatest party of his kingdom." Little has been said of the underlying principles of the German Social Democracy, for this is a chapter of actions and reactions rather than of philosophies, so it will suffice to say that the Erfurt programme, after rejecting the plan for cooperative workingmen's societies in the revolutionary philosophy of Lassalle, declared for the control and ownership by the state of all capitahstic private property engaged in the means of production. Under this head would come lands, mines, transportation, machinery, tools, etc. Other objects are universal suffrage for both sexes over twenty, electoral reform, two-year parha- ments, legislation directly through the people, parliamentary govern- ment involving the responsibihty of the government to parliament, national militia in the place of a standing army, international arbitra- tion, abolition of state rehgion, free and compulsory education, aboU- tion of capital punishment, free burial, free medical assistance, free legal advice and advocacy, progressive succession duties, inheritance tax, abohtion of indirect taxation and customs, parhamentary decisions as to peace and war, and undenominationahsm in schools. Especially for the working classes are intended the following: I'liolograph by the Bain News Service THE KAISER IN 1908 THE SOLDIER AND THE ARMY, NOT PARLIAMENTARY MAJORITIES AND DE- CISIONS, HAVE WELDED TOGETHER THE GERMAN EMPIRE. MY CONFIDENCE IS IN THE ARMY — AS MY GRANDFATHER SAID AT COBLENZ: 'THESE ARE THE GENTLE- MEN ON WHOM I CAN RELy'" THE KAISER AND THE SOCIALISTS 153 National and international protective legislation for workmen on the basis of a normal eight-hour day, prohibition of child labour under fourteen years, prohibition of night work save when rendered necessary by the nature of the work or the welfare of society, superintendence of labour and its relations by a Ministry of Labour, thorough workshop hygiene, equahty of status between the agricultural labourer, servant class, and the artisan, right of association, and state insurance, as to which the working class should have an authoritative voice. As this chapter has been chiefly concerned with events indicative of the relationship between the Socialists of Germany and their Em- peror, no mention has been made of German trades unionism. The chapter has been written with the large facts of the trades unions in mind. The organization of industry is a large subject which has been briefly touched upon elsewhere in this volume. Therefore it remains for us only to note here the chief divisions of German trades unions and then to pass on to other subjects more pertinent to the great world figure who is the subject of this book. There is no Labour party in Germany, as there is in England, for instance, and the various trades unions there have different political affihations. Thus they are divided into four classes as follows: Social- Democratic or "free" unions; Hirsch-Duncker or radical unions; Christian or Catholic unions; and Independent unions. The latter have no pohtical affihations, confining themselves to economic questions. The Hirsch-Duncker unions were the first, having been organized for pohtical purposes in 1868 by Doctor Hirsch and Franz Duncker. Of late years their political significance has dwindled, although they are made up of some of the most skilled workmen in the country. The Social-Democratic unions take in more than 80 per cent, of or- ganized labour in Germany, and number more than 2,000,000 members. These unions are marvels of organization and do all in their very ex- tensive power to make first a good workman, and second a comfortable workman. This marvellous labour organization has a complete understanding with the Social Democratic party, although the two are separate; and the leaders in each work in harmonious cooperation on all ques- tions. The situation was expressed in the convention of the Social- Democratic Unions in 1908 as follows: "We can say with truth that to-day there are no differences of a fundamental nature between the two branches of the labour movement." 154 THE KAISER As the attitude of the Social Democrats in this present war was our first consideration, so it shall be in closing, for in the present cata- clysm nothing strikes one as more significant than the action of the greatest political party in Germany when confronted with a condition to which they are diametrically opposed. But the Social Democrats are Germans, even though they have for years met in comradeship with the Socialists of other nations in the councils of the International. As long ago as 1892 they acknowl- edged the necessity of some sort of national defence for Germany, declaring their position as follows: "The prevaihng mihtary system, not being able to guarantee the country against foreign invasion, is a continual threat to international peace and serves the capitalistic class-government, whose aim is the industrial exploitation and suppression of the working classes, as an instrmnent of oppression against the masses. "The party convention therefore demands, in consonance with the programme of the Social-Democratic platform, the estabhshment of a system of defence based upon a general mihtia, trained and armed. The congress declares that the Social-Democratic members of the Reichstag are in complete accord with the party and with the politically organized working classes in Germany when they vote against every measure of the government aimed at perpetuating the present military system." When called upon to defend himself before the party convention for some remarks made during a debate on an army biU Von Vollmar said: "I said, if the fatherland really must he defended, then we will defend it. Because it is our fatherland. It is the land in which we five, whose language we speak, whose culture we possess. Because we wish to make this, our fatherland, more beautiful and more complete than any other land on earth. We defend it, therefore, not for you but against you." Thus the action of the 111 Social-Democratic Deputies in the fateful first week of August, 1914, facing a world war, is not quite the incomprehensible puzzle it would at first seem. A fateful decision it was, and undoubtedly it was made after long and heated debate within the party, as has been indicated in pubHshed interviews with Karl Liebknecht (son of William Liebknecht), who is THE KAISER AND THE SOCIALISTS 155 the present leader of the Social Democrats. But the decision once made there was no turning back. The words of the Social-Democratic Deputy Hasse in explaining the vote of his colleagues for the war budget were quoted at the opening of this chapter. It remains now only to quote from the Berlin Forward, the oflScial organ of the Social Democrats. In the issue of July 30th appeared the following: "We are opposed to mihtarism, and we reaflSrm our opposition to monarchism, to which we have always been opposed, and always will be. We have been compelled from the first to lead a bitter struggle against the temperamental wearer of the crown. We recognize, how- ever, and we have stated it repeatedly, that William II has proved him- self to be a sincere friend of peace among the nations, particularly in later years. . . . But even the strongest character is not entirely free from influence, and we regret to say that proofs are accumulating in abundance that the chque of war shouters have been at work again to influence the government in favour of the devastation of the whole of Europe. . . . "In England it is the general opinion that the German Kaiser in his capacity as the ally and adviser of Austria was the arbiter in this trouble and had it iu his power to let peace or war fall from the folds of his royal robes. And England is right. As conditions are, WiUiam II has the decision in his hands." Were these the words of a violently revolutionary organ — ^the words of a foe to the empire — a traitor.'' Rather the words of a mild academi- cian anxious to show a conciUatory tone in a difficult situation. And yet they are the words of the official organ of the Social Democracy' — the hateful, the traitorous Social Democracy. What went on within the secret councils of the party about this time, of course the world does not know. Certainly there never was the slightest sign from the Social- ists that a general strike against the war was thought of. Anti-war meetings there were in plenty during the latter part of July, and some of them were dispersed by the police. But for the most part the pro- test meetings, while largely attended, were of so mild a character as not even to excite the suspicions of Prussian policemen. Just before the declaration of war the Socialists announced what was to be a mon- ster anti-mihtary mass meeting, and it was the general expectation in Berlin that this would be forbidden. It was not. The monster meet- 156 THE KAISER ing was held, but it was not violent, nor did it apparently give any one pause in those breathless days of war preparation. The time of peaceful meetings had passed. Actions, not words, were the order of the day, and apparently the one course for halting the war left open to the Social- ists in that heartbreaking time never occurred to them, or was too repugnant to them as Germans to contemplate. That course was a general strike against war. Far from taking the course that never has been taken in the history of the world, and perhaps never wiU be, the Sociahsts saw their duty to the fatherland first, and made their apologies to humanity in general by a disclaimer of responsibility. As a reward the Imperial Govern- ment Ufted its ban on the Forward, which for the first time in its history was placed on sale in the government railroad stations — ^after that famous, "I recognize no parties now — only Germans." AX Copyright by Underwood & Underwood UNCONVENTIONAL PORTRAIT AN ACCOMPLISHED PHOTOGRAPHER OF ROYALTY SAYS THAT WHEN" «ILLIA.M II IS BEING PHOTOGRAPHED HE ALWAYS TAKES CARE TO ASHIME HEROIC ATTI- TUDES." HE MUST HERE THEN HAVE BEEN TAKEN UNA\\AKF.S CHAPTER XI THE KAISER AND GERMAN CULTURE MAXIMILIAN HARDEN, the great German journalist, has made many wise and terse remarks. In " Monarchs and Men" he says: "From WilKam's lips comes the answer to every question of faith or morals, culture, or art. Is that a healthy situation for the empire or Emperor.? " WiUiam has never desired to see apphed to himseH the paradox which is true of his cousin, the King of England — "He reigns but does not govern." The function of sovereignty, in his way of thinking, is to lead and inspire the nation in every possible path of progress. In art, in hterature, in science, in agriculture' — in all departments of himaan hfe the ruler is to be older brother to the nation. During the past quarter of a century there is no avenue of German thought or feeling in which the Kaiser has not offered his advice to the wisest in the land and insisted on taking his appointed place at the head of the procession. Side by side with this determination of the Kaiser to be the spokes- man and mouthpiece of German cultiu-e must be set the pecuharly vital feehng in Germany that German civihzation and institutions are to be spread abroad over the whole world. This sentiment is difficult to understand in the United States where we err perhaps too far in the opposite direction. We have never felt that either the happiness or the prosperity of this country would necessarily be enhanced by the propagation of American ideals and customs in Piccadilly and Mayfair, along the African httoral or in the plantations of South America. There is no doubt, however, that in the patriotic breasts of the fatherland the Germanization of the world has become a very pressing hope. No part of General Bemhardi's famous book ("Germany and the Next War") is more interesting than the chapter on "Germany's Historical Mission." A few characteristic excerpts are worth quoting: "No nation on the face of the globe is so able to grasp and appro- priate all the elements of culture, to add to them from the stores of its 157 158 THE KAISER own spiritual endowment, and to give back to mankind richer gifts than it received." "To no nation, except the German, has it been given to enjoy in its inner seK that which is given to mankind as a whole." "The dominion of German thought can only be extended under the segis of political power, and unless we act in conformity to this idea, we shall be untrue to our great duties toward the himaan race." "Finally, from the point of view of civihzation, it is imperative to preserve the German spirit, and by so doing to establish foci of uni- versal culture." "In the future, however, the importance of Germany wiU depend on two points: firstly, how many millions of men in the world speak German; secondly, how many of them are poHtically members of the German Empire." And the famous Professor von Treitschke has written much in the same strain. The growth of this spirit in Germany is one of the most interesting phases in modern history. Out of Germany's time of trial and weak- ness came her abundant Uterature and philosophy which enriched the world in the early days of the last century. Her famous names blaze hke stars along the sky of science — ^Winckelmann, Bopp, Karl Ritter, Johannes Miiller, Virchow, Koch, Niebuhr, Ranke, Mommsen, Ehren- berg, Bunsen, Liebig, Savigny, Hehnholtz . . . the names cluster hke bees. Kulturgeschichte — the very word is German. But, as the New York Evening Post points out in a recent editorial, the really great minds of Germany have never made any claim for their country such as that asserted by Bernhardi, Treitschke, and other chauvinist writers. Germany is rich enough in hterary treasures to dispense with idle self-glorification. Moreover, it is important to realize that the hot-headed young Kaiser, who wanted to drill Germany into intellectual supremacy, came to the throne at an epoch of declining culture. It was necessary that Germany should begin a new epoch about 1890. The nation of poets and thinkers had become a nation of prac- tical men with a vengeance. The terrific problems of practical poHtics which had to be solved, the consolidation of the new empire, the energy of Bismarck, the industrial application of German science (then in the first flush of its gianthood) — all these circumstances gave to the Ufe of THE KAISER AND GERMAN CULTURE 159 Germany a bustle and a striving which are hostile to the more leisurely dreams of the imagination. The tremendous martial drill the country had gone through had got into the blood. And then, about 1890, a new generation entered the social and poUtical life of the nation' — a generation that had been educated in the schools of united Germany. And a Kaiser of this same generation ascended the throne. Here was an era pregnant for Germany, and a time when a careful hand was greatly needed at the hehn. The tragedy of Bismarck's dis- missal need not be repeated here. Suffice it to say that William II fell into the world-old mistake of thinking that he could rule alone. Ger- many will never be happy, says Harden bitterly, until "the maturing Emperor of the Germans banishes, as he once banished his most loyal servant, the illusion that he can rule alone. No monarch can now rule alone." Many are the reverses of history. A hundred years ago Germany was under the heel of Napoleon. In vaiu she rattled her chains: the brute force was too strong for her. But her spirit was not crushed. Since the golden days of Greece there had been no such star-cluster of profound thinkers as those who were to be found in Berhn and Weimar and Jena, gazing on the smoking ruins which Napoleon left behind. It was those men who fanned the sparks of German life into clear flame; those men to whom all Europe turned for enhghtenment. It was in those days, let us remember, that Hauff wrote his little-known fairy tale, "Der Affe als Mensch," in which a trained orang-outang, because of his uncouthness in polite society, was taken for an Enghshman. The Enghshman was the accepted boor of Europe in those days, not the German. Price CoUier, in his admirable book about the Germans, points out the startling contradiction that runs through all Germany to-day: the uncouth loutishness of the rank and file, drilled by the iron hand of authority into mechanical team-play; and the exquisite bits of feeling and poise that break through now and then. The music of an old Ger- man song, the warmheartedness of German hospitality, the artistic German posters, their old walled towns, all these will set the heart throbbing . . . and then comes one of those crop-headed Prussians and spoils it all! Alas! it is the struggle between a nation that has cul- ture in its blood and a bureaucratic government that would fain march the people to salvation in lock-step. There is nothing to be gained by entering the fruitless discussion 160 THE KAISER as to whether German "culture" to-day is more valuable to the world than that of any other nation. But it is essential to realize that, with all the Emperor's services to civilization, the situation as it exists is an unhealthy one. Culture knows no Czars, and yet in a million ways this seK-appointed expert has meddled with the free growth of learning. Within the past few months we have had a good example of it. None of the architectural plans submitted in the prize contest for the new German embassy at Washington was pleasing to the Emperor. He quashed them aU and ordered a new contest, thus infuriating all German architests of standing. The Kaiser, the merest amateur in matters of music, tries to run the opera in Berlin. He creates that abominable avenue of poor statuary, the Siegesallee. In a thousand ways he tries to perpetuate his own bourgeois taste upon his people, even to the extent of having himself painted as Mars wielding the thunderbolt. The King of England may have the worst taste in the world and yet it will not cast the faintest shadow on EngUsh art. But the Kaiser reigns and also governs. He wants to be impresario, maestro, conductor, stage- manager, what not. Genius can only thrive in the open air, unre- strained. The whole theory of modem German life is that of drill. You cannot make a man a good mathematician by insisting that he stand up straight. When Mr. Roosevelt lectured at the University of Berlin in May, 1910, he said: "One of the prime dangers of civilization has always been its tend- ency to cause the loss of virile fighting virtues, of the fighting edge. When men get too comfortable and lead too luxurious hves, there is always danger lest the softness eat hke an acid into their manliness of fibre." Alas, that Germany should have fallen so wholeheartedly into this fallacy. Has peace no battles for brave men to fight.? Does not the scientist with microscope and logarithm tables win greater victories than Von Kluck in Flanders or Von Heeringen in Lorraine.'^ Learning has nothing to do with men marching in rows; Science deplores that her keenest votaries should set about making engines of death. Art cannot endure that she should be dictated to by a HohenzoUern dilettante. All these reasons make it readily understandable that among people of liberal culture WiUiam II's reign has been a period of dissatisfaction, even though it has been a time of great commercial and industrial ex- pansion for Germany. Friedrich Nietzsche was only one of many mal- contents who took issue with existing conditions. The strife has been bitter between universal military service and bureaucracy on the one THE KAISER AT CORFU THE KAISER HARD AT WORK AT HIS SUMMER PALACE AT CORFU. THIS IS ONE OF THE FEW PORTRAITS EXTANT WHEREIN THE KAISER APPEARS OUT OF UNIFORM THE KAISER AND GERMAN CULTURE 161 hand, and individualism, Socialism, and the general growth of democ- racy on the other. William's high-handed methods have not passed unchallenged by the wits. In spite of the Use majeste laws he has been brilliantly lampooned. Professor Quidde's "Cahgula," which has already been described in this book, was one of the cleverest pasquinades ever pubhshed. The dissatisfaction with the personal regime of the Kaiser came to a chmax in the "November Storm" of 1909 when the Reichstag made the conduct of the Emperor the object of an open and prolonged discussion in which hardly a voice was heard in his defence. This was an unheard-of procedure in German history, but did not fail of the desired effect. Admirable as are the many virtues of the German people, and broad and deep as is the current of the national ideahsm, it is only fair to say that the world of late has been forced to look upon some of the less pleasing features of their civilization. The Kaiser's heart may bleed for Louvain, but the newspaper dispatches teU us that he has promised a special decoration to the first aviator who drops a bomb on London. The German army used to be praised as a national discipline; but as readers of "The Caravaners," that dehghtful novel, will recall, it is by no means a school of culture. What is finest and truest in German thought and Ufe antedates German conscription and German world- power. It antedates also the German Emperor, and his materiaUstic and miUtaristic Germany. CHAPTER XII WILLIAM, THE VAIN, VERSATILE, AND INDISCREET THE Kaiser has no petty vanity. It is colossal — a part of his rehgion. He is the most photographed human being in the world, and there are Uterally thousands of photographs of him — all diflFerent. At a single shop in Berhn one may have one's choice of two himdred and sixty-seven varieties of Kaiser — ^in every imaginable uniform and style of citizen's dress appropriate to land or sea. Besides the photographs, there are paintings, busts, hthographs, medals, bas- rehefs — in fact, every conceivable form of representation of the human face. In the Kaiser's study there is a gigantic album filled with photo- graphs of himself, taken in aU sorts of costumes and poses, and at every period of his life. William has never lost his interest in having his picture taken, though he has gone through the ordeal these thousands of times. He makes it his business to see to it that he appears to advantage. Mr. Russell, an accomplished Enghsh photographer of royalty, has revealed one of his professional experiences with the Kaiser: "In a few moments I photographed him attired successively as a German general, then on horseback, then in the uniform of a colonel of Hussars. When William II is being photographed he always takes care to assume heroic attitudes, in contradistinction to my other sitters, who always adopt attitudes and expressions which are most natural and famihar to them." Mr. Russell was much struck with the rapidity with which Wil- liam changed his uniform. It is specially to the Emperor's liking if he can manage to appear huge to the beholder. A favourite portrait shows him standing near Menzel, the artist, a man less than five feet taU, in comparison with whom the Kaiser, with his medium stature, towers hke a giant. He often stands very close to the camera, too, so that his bronzed face, full of character and strength, spreads over a large part of the photo- graphic plate, and impresses one mightily. He is very fond of distrib- uting photographs of himself as gifts, and generally signs them in his firm, large, upright handwriting: Wilhehn, I. R. 162 WILLIAM THE VAIN, VERSATILE, AND INDISCREET 163 There is an amusing story about a mysterious photograph which is never to be seen in the shops, and of which only a very few copies exist. The Emperor is shown seated on a throne, with an ermine cloak about his shoulders and the imperial sceptre and globe in his hands, while on his head rests what appears to be the crown of Charle- magne. The astonished beholder asks himself, "How can this he? William has never been crowned Emperor. He is merely the German Emperor, not yet Emperor of Germany." True; but the Kaiser has always ardently desired this distinction, and once it is said his hopes were raised so high that a special throne was built according to the specifications of a painstaking antiquarian, and an imitation stucco- work crown was constructed, as the real one proved to be too small. Then there was a private rehearsal and this photograph was taken. But the real performance never came off. The German princes have thus far preferred to consider themselves the Kaiser's alhes rather than his vassals, notwithstanding his boasted descent from Charle- magne. So when WiUiam wishes to see how he would look in Charle- magne's garb he must content himself with contemplating a "property" crown. The real one did not fit. Many people have had occasion to regret their temerity in criti- cising the Kaiser, when they found themselves under imprisonment for the old-fashioned crime of lese majeste, which has become only a memory in every civihzed country except Germany. But incorrigible free speakers have found means for avoiding trouble of this kind. Derog- atory remarks are sometimes to be heard concerning a certain "Leh- mann," or "Siegfried Mayer," which are readily attributed to the right quarter by initiated auditors. One notices that "Siegfried Mayer's" initials, S. M., are also a popular abbreviation for "seine Majestat," or "his Majesty." The year 1894 was an important one for Germany. Then it was that William first discovered Herr Hapy, the imperial barber. And Hapy's fortune was then and there assured, for he straightway con- ceived and executed the warhke moustache and an apparatus for preserving its contour. He has ever since followed his master every- where and has in fact become indispensable, because it is with his aid that the autocrat appears ferocious as well as indomitable. Doubtless there are now innumerable disciples of Hapy devoting their lives to the practice of his art upon the emulous officers of the German army. (It has been whispered that the angle of the imperial moustache 164 THE KAISER has become more obtuse of late years; but this is probably the slan- derous fabrication of some white-livered pacifist.) The Kaiser is a firm believer in the theatrical trappings of roy- alty — in gold lace, rich and gorgeous fabrics, ghttering steel, clanking spurs. During the course of a levee he will change his uniform five or six times. The court has no use for the sober black coat of conventional evening dress. Soon after his accession the Kaiser issued the follow- ing order: "It is my desire that during my hfetime at my court, in all matters of dress, the fine old customs and manners of ancient times shall be re- vived. To this end, I ordain as follows, first, for civil functionaries : "All classes of civil functionaries are authorized to wear an em- broidered uniform. At the great state entertainment, given at the Royal Palace in Berhn, or in the royal residences, at the Castle in the town of Potsdam, at the New Palace, they must from this time forward wear knee breeches of white silk, white silk stockings, shoes with white buckles, and swords. In other places than these palaces, in other castles, or out of doors, unless otherwise ordered on some special occa- sion, they will wear trousers to match their uniform, with gold and silver stripes. "AU civil functionaries are ordered, during the period of a court mourning, and for state entertainments, to wear black knee breeches, black silk stockings, shoes with black and white buckles, black being more or less predominant according to the mourning, and swords in their scabbards. For semi-state occasions, trousers to match the uni- forms, with black and white stripes. "Those civil functionaries who have the right to the blue coat are authorized to wear, in undress, in those Jetes which take place in the royal residences and castles, knee breeches, black silk stockings, shoes with black buckles, or else tight trousers. On all other occasions, when no special orders have been issued, the dress is to be black trousers and undress coat. "Those who are presented at court, having no uniform, are au- thorized to wear, on occasion of a fete at the Royal Castle in Berlin, or in any of the royal residences, in the municipal castle, or at the New Palace in Potsdam, instead of the black coat, a court coat, black and tight-fitting, with black revers and collar, without pockets, knee breeches, black silk stockings, and shoes with white buckles, a three-cornered THE LEFT ARM "WILLIAM' II IS A FIRST CLASS SHOT. IN SPITE OF HAVING A LEFT ARM THAT IS NOT MUCH USE TO HIM HE HAS MANAGED BY FORCE OF ENERGY AND PATIENCE TO AIM AND SHOOT WITH THE SAME HAND WITH GREAT ACCURACY" • WILLIAM THE VAIN, VERSATILE, AND INDISCREET 165 hat, without feathers, and sword. They are also authorized to wear plain black court dress, with tight-fitting black trousers instead of knee breeches. "For undress, gentlemen must wear, in all the princely and royal residences, black coat and trousers. The Minister of State and the Minister of the royal household must convey to those whom it con- cerns my sovereign orders. "(Signed) William Rex." The populace of Berlin is treated to many an outdoor show of gold lace and for many years repaid its sovereign's indulgence by an enthusiastic loyalty. There have been rumoured grumbhngs of late years, however, over these royal interruptions of the city's traffic. But these are mere pin pricks to imperial self-esteem. It is said that even sturdy repubUcans are sometimes swayed by the glamour of the Kaiser's spectacular appearance. They tell of an American professor who attended a reception held at the palace for the entertainment of an association of scientists. The professor came away much impressed and observed to a friend: "I am a republican to the backbone, but I believe that if monarchs are necessary they should be monarchs to the last bit of gold lace, just as William is Kaiser." WThen the Kaiser heard of this comment he was much pleased, and remarked: "That is exactly what I beheve. Dom Pedro of Brazil illustrated the folly of trying to be a republican on a throne." Shortly after the Kaiser's accession he was requested to sign a judicial sentence committing to prison one of his subjects who had been found guilty of hinting something disrespectful about his sovereign. WiUiam was genuinely amazed that such an unnatural crime could ever have been committed. He "read and reread the papers in the case with the closest attention"; and finally said to the waiting official: "It would seem that this man hitherto has not been a criminal — son of respectable parents, himself in a respectable walk of Kfe, with a good education. And yet — how do you explain this.?' — this insult to the Anointed of the Lord.'* Strange! Strange!" And no one could possibly question the perfect sincerity of his grieved astonishment. After reading a speech of the Socialist leader Bebel, containing some animadversion upon himself, he turned to the officer in attendance with clouded brow and flashing eye, and remarked in a voice trembling 166 THE KAISER with passion: "And all this to me! To me I What is the country coming to?" It is related that the Kaiser one day found himself without a pocket-knife with which to cut off the end of his cigar. A general who was with him divined his need and sohcitously offered his own knife, which Wilham was graciously pleased to use. On handing it back he remarked impressively: "Preserve that knife carefully. Some day it wiU be historic." We must give WilKam credit for acting his part, according to his hghts, to the best of his abihty, with lofty aim and wholehearted sin- cerity. He believes that it is Uterally owing to the special arrangements of God that Wilham the Man is also William the Kaiser. The Man cannot be differentiated from the Kaiser. He has no wish to be. Therefore the Man — his person, his wiU, and his opinions^ — are to be re- garded by his people with veneration almost if not quite religious. No one can doubt that Wilham honestly thinks that this arrange- ment is for the good of all concerned, and it is only fair to remember this when we consider his behaviour and spoken words. "Suprema lex regis voluntas" (" The King's will is the highest law "), he once wrote in the Golden Book of Munich while visiting that city, and Prince Luitpold, Regent of Bavaria, was rash enough to write beneath this a few days later, "Suprema lex solus reipublicae." ("The pubhc safety is the highest law.") Deserved rebuke! In 1893 the Kaiser told a company of recruits, "There is but one law, and that is my law." His portrait hangs in the Ministry of Pubhc Works in Berlin. It was presented by himself, and bears the following ingratiat- ing legend written in vigorous characters by his own hand, "Sic volo, sic jubeo" — in other words, "You do what I like!" To the Rhenish Provincial Chamber he proclaimed, "One only is master within the empire, and I will tolerate no other"; and on another occasion, "My course is the right one, and I shall continue to steer it." "An unbridled press is a curse for any nation — hberty does not mean license. Scribblers and hbellers are not joumahsts." Thus speaks the Kaiser, who regards a free press with abhorrence, because a free press is sure to criticise Majesty; and this to him is the one un- pardonable sin. WILLIAM THE VERSATILE "I am an up-to-date man," the Kaiser has proclaimed; and the world is disposed to accept this statement with important reservations. He WILLIAM THE VAIN, VERSATILE, AND INDISCREET 167 is at least superficially up with the times in most Unes of human thought and activity. This general modernity contrasts strangely with his reactionary ideas in the realms of poUtical science, rehgion, and art. Be as modem as you hke, he seems to say, but do not forget that I am Caesar, and the Son of Caesars : and it is written that you shall render unto Caesar the things which are his. His versatility is justified and in part explained by some of his favourite sayings : "Die Welt steht in Zeichen des Verkehrs " ("This is an age of rapid transit") ; "Rast' ich, so rost' ich" ("If I rest I rust") ; and "Toujours en vedette" ("Always on guard"). One would suppose than a man so broadly informed must neces- sarily be a great reader, but this is not the case. He is too busy to read much, except during his summer yachting trips to the northern seas. His reading and study are done very ingeniously by proxy. He has a private press-cUpping bureau which covers a broad field and transmits the irreducible minimum which is certain to be regarded by him as interesting and important. If he feels that he does not know as much as he should about the latest developments in some particular field of knowledge, he summons to his presence the man in his realm who is the best quahfied to instruct him with an intimation as to what will be the subject of the conversation. In this royal way he is privileged to hear many an authoritative exposition of those things which he should know. "He has thus hstened to what the German university professors call privatissima from perhaps half the noted men in Germany and hundreds of famous foreigners — men of science hke Helmholtz, Slaby, Riedler, Roentgen, Koch, Behring, Ley den, Harnack, Pfleiderer, and Dehtzsch; men of action hke Balhn, Wiegand, Siemens; or men of eminence in other paths of fife, such as travellers, explorers, soldiers, naval men, inventors, discoverers, political leaders." This royal road to learning is very fair seeming, but it has its disadvantages. The knowledge so gained must always be empirical and superficial. And we can guess that the royal instructors do not often advance opinions which they know to be at variance with the Kaiser's well-advertised, preconceived ideas. And thus may a pit be digged for his feet. The seeming marvel of the Kaiser's versatihty is explained and sum- marized by Wolf von Schierbrand: "He possesses a smattering of nearly everything in the wide domain of human knowledge, due to his quick perception and his retentive memory. If fate had not placed him on the imperial throne, he would have had the stuflF for a good jovirnaUst 168 THE KAISER in him. But his often fatal mistake is to assume that he knows every- thing, that the httle which he has been able to pick up about the sci- ences, mihtary lore, hterature, and art, is all there is worth knowing about these matters, and that he must direct and guide every subject that comes under his personal observation, which in the twentieth cen- tury is a manifest absurdity. His ideas on art particularly are crude and swayed strongly by prejudice agaiust the independent spirit that nearly always characterizes the original minded artist, and his influence on German art, which happens to be in a very interesting state of tran- sition, I consider wholly bad and largely responsible for the gingerbread style of official sculpture rampant in the Germany of to-day." The Kaiser has declared that "as heir and executor of his parents' art testament, he will hold his hand over the German people and the growing generation, cherish in it the beautiful, and bring out the art within it." With characteristic vigour he has flung himseK into the task. But this ill-advised "invasion of jackboot and sabre into the domain of art"' — the Emperor's attempt to foist his own ideas as to what is artistically desirable upon the mxmicipal government of Berhu' — is said to have caused him to forfeit a large share of the regard in which he was held by his "faithful Berhners" at the beginning of his reign. The Emperor, as one would expect, has strong ideas on the subject of education; but these views are diametrically opposed to his conserv- atism in the realm of art. He would substitute modern studies for the classics. The object of the schools is, he says, to produce not " Greeks and Romans, but Germans." Not long ago he called together a group of university professors and lectured them upon the way history was being taught. He had noticed a growing tendency to treat the French Revolution as a poUtical movement not without helpful and beneficial results. This must stop. Students must hereafter learn to regard the whole movement as a colossal and unmitigated crime against God and man. Bismarck said in 1891: "I pity the young man; he is hke a fox- hound that barks at everything, that smells at everything, that touches everything, and that ends by causing complete disorder in the room in which he is, no matter how large it may be." The late WiUiam T. Stead has called the Kaiser a "latter-day journalist, born to the purple." Of a visit to London Mr. Stead says: "The Emperor, while in London, had no newspaper to bring out, so he brought out himself in a bewildering variety of new costumes; in the I'liotrii,'raph b\ I'niil ThiniiiisMH THE WAR LORD THE ARMY IS THE MAIN" TOWER OF STRENGTH FOR MY COUNTRY, THE MAIN- PILLAR SUPPORTING THE PRUSSIAN THRONE, TO WHICH GOD IN HIS WISDOM HAS CALLED ME " Photograph by Paul Thompson THE KAISER IN CITIZEN'S DRESS HE HAS BEEN CALLED THE MOST TALENTED OF ALL GERMANY'S COMMERCIAL TRAVELLERS WILLIAM THE VAIN, VERSATILE, AND INDISCREET 169 course of a single day he came out as a hussar, as an admiral, and as an emperor. On one favourable occasion he changed his dress no fewer than five times in a single day." The Simplicissimus has been so bold and so unkind as to compare the Kaiser to Nero. He has never gone so far as to play or sing in pubhc; but every one knows that he plays the piano well, that he com- poses music, writes verses, and paints pictures; and that he confidently expects that the public shall admire his talents. He has even, after dinner, made essay of his musical and gesticulatory talent by taking the place of the drum major of one of his regiments ! William wishes to be known as an official patron of the arts. He would at least be arbiter elegantiarum like Nero's friend Petronius, and he often yearns for the part of public performer, hke Nero himself. To the celebrated violinist, Joachim, he said: "You know what educational importance I attach to the art and cultivation of music. Especially would I have you understand it from the point of view of its efiPect on mind and hearts. Music purges, elevates, and forms the soul. I beHeve that the entire corps of teachers should comprehend and put into practice this theory, as you do yourseK." The Kaiser is a great stage-manager. He is tireless in his attend- ance at the rehearsals of the spectacular pieces which appeal to him; and his suggestions are many and uniformly good. WeU does he understand the art of pageantry; and well he may, for he has practised it daily all his life. "The stage is one of the arms of my government," he told the actors of the Royal Theatre in Berhn. And again: "I am convinced that the theatre, under the guidance of the monarch, should, Hke the school and the university, have as its mission the development of the rising generation, the promotion of the highest intellectual good in our German fatherland, and the ennobling of our people in mind and character." His interest in the theatre is not always relished by dramatists, hbret- tists, and operatic composers, for not only are they frequently "invited" to manufacture works of art on themes uncongenial to them, but their independent efforts are but too hkely to come under the ban of royal disapproval. And as the Kaiser has always the courage of his con- victions, he sees to it that the errant artists shall have good cause to feel the weight of his displeasure. On the other hand, his people do not relish the unending succession of plays glorifying his ancestors (Hohen- zollernstuche) which he would have them enjoy. So the six royal theatres are often scantily filled, and the management is face to face 170 THE KAISER with an annual deficit. German drama, like German art, would flourish more if freed from the fetters of royal patronage. The New York Mail is authority for the statement that "The method adopted when he wishes to purchase a painting is hardly in accordance with established usage. He has submitted to him a list bearing the names of the artists and the subjects of their paintings. His Majesty scratches out the names of all those who are not Germans." But per- haps this is calumny. The titles of the paintings which are the Kaiser's own handiwork (touched up by Professor Knackfuss) are most characteristic: "Civihzed Europe Covered with Shining Armor Holds at Bay the Barbarian Em- pire of the Middle Kingdom"; "People of Europe Guard Your Most Sacred Possessions"; "Pax"; "In Hoc Signo Vinces," etc. Of course this is not the whole of the Kaiser's artistic achievement. There have been innumerable cartoons, and even a set of playing cards, designed by the royal hand, with William II, German Emperor, por- trayed as the King of Hearts, while his royal grandmother, the late Victoria of England, is delineated as Queen of the same romantic realm ! The Emperor's fondness for mediocre sculpture cormnemorating his ancestors is well known. It is a veritable artistic plague. One could find a new statue of his illustrious grandfather for every day in the year. The hmit of municipal loyalty was about reached soon after the Kaiser dedicated the Rumeshalle, or Temple of Fame, at Barmen. A niche was left vacant, which would naturally in time be filled by the counter- feit presentment of His Present Majesty. This vacant pedestal pained Wilham and he took prompt measures to fill the gap. It was not long before the longed for statue arrived at Barmen, together with the sculptor's little bill for 20,000 marks. The Barmenians were pleased and flattered at this indication of the solicitude of their sovereign, and paid the bill. The Emperor is a mighty hunter. We quote below a minute ac- count of his prowess, which appeared some years ago: " WiUiam II is a flrst-class shot. In spite of having his arm broken when he was bom, and having therefore a left arm that is not much use to him, he has managed, by force of energy and patience, to aim and shoot with the same hand with great accuracy. His friends applaud his skiU, and he is much flattered when he is told of it. "When the Emperor is shooting, the man who carries his gun WILLIAM THE VAIN, VERSATILE, AND INDISCREET 171 stands beside him and sticks a fork into the ground before him at the critical moment. The Emperor sets his gun on this support and aims as he would with a pistol. Every time he kills a bird or a beast in this manner, a notch is made on the branch of the fork, and when it is covered with marks it is replaced by another fork and is placed in the Emperor's museum of sport. Would anybody hke to know the record in the Em- peror's game book.? It is instructive. Up to the present he has shot: 1 sea beast, 2 wild buUs, 3 reindeer, 3 bears, 716 large beasts, such as stags, wolves, etc.; 1,524 wild boars and 179 httle ones, 121 chamois, 413 roe-deer, 16 foxes, 11,161 hares, 7,387 pheasants, 407 partridges, 29 grouse, 56 ducks, 683 rabbits, 694 herons and cormorants, etc. To sum up, the Emperor has killed, including birds of prey, 25,372 head of game." It is fair to assume that the size of his "bag" has doubled since the above was written. He has progressed also in the manner of his shoot- ing, for a photograph included in this book shows him in the act of aiming and firing' his gun with the right arm alone, without the help of any support. William is the Summus Episcopus of the Lutheran Church. And he is not the man to shirk his duties as Defender of the Faith. On at least one occasion he has broken a lance in the hazardous field of apolo- getics. The name of God is frequently upon his hps, usually in the character of special patron and protector of the German army and navy and of their imperial proprietor. His sermons on board the Hohen- zollern, during the summer cruises, are deservedly famous, for they have often been characterized by real eloquence. Art, religion, and history are ahke concerned with Europe's monu- ments of ecclesiastical architecture, so we are not surprised to know of the Kaiser's interest in the preservation of the German cathedrals. Not only does he volunteer advice as to their restoration, but — what is far more remarkable — he pays for some of the work out of his own pocket. One wonders how he regards the destruction of the cathedrals at Lou vain and Rheims at the ruthless hands of his own troops. Probably with a very considerable degree of complacency. For these were not temples of his German God — "TJnser Gott"- — a sort of combination of Thor, Odin, Frigga, and the God of Battles of the Old Testament' — the warlike Teutonic Deity who has formed His German Empire, the true successor of the Holy Roman Empire, which in the hands of Wilham, 172 THE KAISER the descendant of Charlemagne, is to become a World Dominion, with a destiny so exalted as to embrace the regeneration of mankind! This is not the raving of a maniac, but an attempt to state what appears to be the honest conviction of the Kaiser; and competent thinkers believe they can divine in this idea the germ of the present European conflict. WILLIAM THE INDISCREET The Kaiser is impulsive. He is possessed of great pohtical power. The action which follows his decisions is sure to be prompt, decisive, vigorous. It follows that he is sometimes guilty of indiscretions which not only appal his advisers but which even cast suspicion upon his sanity. The effect of alcohol upon such a temperament would be similar to that of a firebrand thrust into a powder magazine. There has been httle or no gossip recently as to the Kaiser's convivial indis- cretions. But Wolf von Schierbrand wrote some years ago that while residing in BerUn he had sometimes heard tales, from the lips of hon- ourable and truthful army officers, of utterances "which the Kaiser has made at or after an officers' banquet, which sounded perfectly in- sane, but which were readily accounted for by the fact that he was flushed with wine." After the dismissal of Bismarck, when the world was wondering, and Punch in its famous cartoon was asking "What next.''" the Emperor wrote to the Grand Duke of Saxe- Weimar, "As to the rest, the same course will be steered and God with us." In view of the proved ability of the old Chancellor, this firm rehance of the Kaiser on his own untried powers seemed to all astonishing, to many fool- hardy, and to some sacrilegious. "They are a horde of men unworthy to bear the name of Germans." These are the words in which Wilham describes the Sociahsts, who now number some four million men and constitute a pohtical party about twice as large as any other in his realm. And his words are borne out by his deeds. When a Socialist has criticised the Kaiser or his ways, the imperial court has often sentenced the free speaker to serve a term in prison. Thus rashly has the Autocrat dealt with an extremely niunerous and able-bodied class of his subjects. His empire is now engaged in a struggle wherein the strength and good-wiU of its every subject will be urgently needed. May not the War Lord soon have occasion to regret the exceeding harshness which must have weakened the loyalty of these milhons of his people? THE KAISER IN JOVIAL MOOD WITH HIS UNCLE, THE DUKE OF CONNAUGHT, WHO IS NOW HELPING, AS GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF CANADA, TO SEND TROOPS AGAINST GERMANY FROM AMERICA WILLIAM THE VAIN, VERSATILE, AND INDISCREET 173 If the Kaiser is famous for his hostihty to the Socialists, his de- votion to the army is no less well known. One hour before his wedding he was drilling his company on the parade ground. This was well enough, but his bride doubtless considered that his devotion amounted to indiscretion when he rushed off before sunrise the next morning to decorate a subaltern! Despite WilKam's hfelong military enthusiasm, there is groimd for doubting his mihtary capacity. He has always enjoyed taking part in the mimic warfare of the manoeuvreSj and upon one occasion he placed himself at the head of a dozen regiments of cavalry and swept gloriously across an open plain against a large body of infantry strongly entrenched in a very good position. When the charge was over, with a heart ahnost bursting with the pride of war, he reined in his charger before what we may call the grand stand, expecting high commendation for the movement which had so stirred his blood. Imagine his disap- pointment when all the experts preserved a discreet silence till one of their number — a very old general^ — shook his head sadly and remarked, "AU of your men are dead, except one, your Majesty!" But the Kaiser was probably very httle discouraged. The theatrical instinct is in him so strong that he often confuses play-acting with reahty. At the naval manoeuvres at Cuxhaven in 1902, William achieved a great "victory" in command of his pleasure yacht, the Hohenzollern, to his own huge dehght and the secret amusement of his officers. Repeatedly the Emperor has disregarded an important provision of the Imperial Constitution. Bismarck was the author of this funda- mental law and it includes a provision intended to "shield" the sover- eign. This is the requirement that all pubhc utterances of the Emperor, whether written or oral, shall be sanctioned by the Imperial Chancellor, who may act as a scapegoat and be blamed, or if necessary dismissed, should the sovereign's utterance prove unacceptable to the represen- tatives of the nation. As has been said, William has frequently disregarded this provision. A flagrant instance was when he gave orders for the seizure of Kiao- Chau without the knowledge and contrary to the policy of his Chan- cellor. If war with China had resulted, it would have been caused by the Kaiser's direct violation of the constitution. Sometimes William with a very bad grace has submitted to cor- rection for such indiscretions as this. But the absence of his regard 174 THE KAISER for any law except his own will is evidenced by his repeated oflFences of this nature, as well as by his exphcit utterances. We have seen that the Kaiser refuses to be muzzled by the wise constitutional provision intended to protect him from his own verbal indiscretions. The constitution states also that the foreign policy of the nation shall be shaped by the Chancellor. If the Kaiser does not approve the Chancellor's policy, he may dismiss him. This is the sovereign's only lawful method of control. WiUiam has never been satisfied with this hmitation of his power, and the Chancellor who has shown himself unwilhng to act as a mere puppet in his master's hand has soon received his conge. In the twenty-four years of Wilham's reign the succession of chancellors' — Bismarck (1888-1890), Caprivi (1890-1894), Hohenlohe (1894-1900), Von Bulow (1900-1909), Beth- mann-Hollweg (1909-date) — ^has been rather brisk in consequence. As a matter of fact, ever since the fall of Bismarck the Kaiser has prac- tically dictated Germany's foreign policy. The Emperor of course has laid himself open to charges of the most serious nature by this sort of conduct. Other rulers have lost their heads for less. If a period of social disturbance in Germany should follow the present conflict, William might conceivably have the greatest cause to regret his usur- pations of power. To paraphrase Patrick Henry, Caesar had his Brutus, Charles I his Cromwell, and WiUiam II might profit by their example. We are indebted to the Kaiser's verbal indiscretions for innumer- able picturesque phrases and epigrams which the more commonplace mentalities of the other European sovereigns would be incapable of conceiving. Some of these utterances have been so often quoted that they have become proverbial, and their origin is being forgotten. He is said to have coined the expression "Greater Germany"; his ambition for expansion toward the East inspired the phrases "Mailed Fist" and "Yellow Peril," as well as the flamboyant declaration about "planting the banner of Germany upon the walls of Pekin." His determination to build a great navy moved him to the declarations that "Our future hes upon the water"; that "Oceans unite — they do not sever," and that "The world's present motto is 'Easy commimication. '" After he had dismissed Bismarck, he suffered a revulsion of feehng which moved him to shout when a political group refused to honour the eightieth birthday of the ex-Chancellor: "This is a national disgrace, unequalled in modern history." WILLIAM THE VAIN, VERSATILE, AND INDISCREET 175 When he disapproved of the Agrarian agitation in 1894, he ex- claimed: "You cannot expect me to sanction bread usury." But his views were modified at a later date, and he declared that "Agriculture is the backbone of the country, and it must be protected." It is charitable to assume that he was flushed with wine if he ever actually declared that " Without the consent of Germany's ruler noth- ing must happen in any part of the world." Almost as ridiculously presumptuous is the telegram which he sent to the Czar after a visit of the Russian fleet to his own: "The Admiral of the Atlantic greets the Admiral of the Pacific." Doubtless the Czar smiled dryly as he answered simply, "Bon voyage." We Americans might be tempted to forgive the Kaiser his bullying brags when we read his graceful effort at consolation after the disaster at Galveston: "The energy and ingenuity of the children of the New World are always equal to the vastness of their misfortune." But we again are in revolt when we recall his reported injunction to the troops sent to chastise the Boxers: "When you come near your enemy, spare nobody, make no prisoners." And this is the man whose "heart bleeds " for the destruction of Louvaia ! Though we must credit the Kaiser with being a maker of pretty phrases which become often proverbial, his efforts at speech making are not imiformly successful. On the contrary, his utterances are sometimes ludicrously inept, as when he eulogized "the penetrating soldier's glance " (den scharfen Soldaten BlicTc) of Franz Joseph of Austria — a monarch whose military ventures have been uniformly and no- toriously unfortunate. Did the Kaiser have his tongue in his cheek when he made this speech? Was it a covert insult.? Probably not. William is not given to this sort of thing. It was just a clumsy blun- der, we must suppose. But what else is to be expected of "The Em- peror Who Speaks," as he has been called by Herr Lieber, formerly leader of the Cathohc party in the Reichstag.? — in other words, "The Babbler." There is truth as well as fine irony in the remark of the venerable SociaUst Deputy Bebel, who once said: "I estimate that every speech the Kaiser makes is worth to us one hundred thousand votes." The people of Bavaria wiU not soon forget the Emperor's tactless offer to their Regent — his ally, not his vassal — to make up out of his own pocket certain appropriations for art which the Regent had failed to secure. The attitude of the good-natured uncle tipping a disappointed 176 THE KAISER schoolboy! It raised a great commotion — that well-meant intrusion of the Prussian bull into the Bavarian china shop! In 1903, when Wilham visited his royal ally in Rome, he took with him an escort of giant cuirassiers, six feet six inches in height. They contrasted finely with the short stature of the Italian soldiers in the army of his host, who we may suppose was considerably chagrined. Not in this way were the bonds of the Triple Alliance to be double riveted. In this small triumph the Kaiser's vanity clasped hands with his indiscretion and called discourtesy to join them. We have recounted only very few of the acts and words which many of his own countrymen are bold enough to term "William's indiscretions." About six years ago the national Liberal leader in the Reichstag made a speech in which he cruelly reviewed the errors of the previous decade, one by one. This speech is too long to give here, but there are ten or a dozen items in the indictment, and Herr Basser- mann was bold enough to conclude his remarks with the assertion that "These blunders of personal rule have made Germany ridiculous in the eyes of the world. The Kaiser has lost 75 per cent, of his influence in Germany in two weeks." An amazing personality — this of William! It is full of contra- dictions. His attributes have been charitably summarized but not explained in the following words which we quote from the pen of an admirer, George Sylvestor Viereck: "He is monarchical to the bone. Yet it was he who opposed Bis- marck's Anti-Social legislation. He is the official head of the Protestant Church in Prussia, yet Roman ritual and Rome possess for him a strange fascination. He loves pomp, but his children are reared with bourgeois simphcity. His preoccupation is war; he, nevertheless, is the staunchest champion of peace. He hates the English, and he loves the EngUsh. He is a mystic and a rationaUst. His inchnations are medieval, but he knows more about the technical intricacies of a mod- ern gunboat than his own engineers. He would be capable of restor- ing an ancient castle, famed of minnesingers, and of estabhshing wireless telephony on its ramparts. He is the only man who could do this without being absurd. Because he is the legitimate offspring of Ro- manticism and Modernity. Of his two natures, one belongs to the twentieth century; one to the Middle Ages. One is despotic; one THE KAISEB STARTING FOR A HUNT NEAR BERLIN, RUSSIA, AS HIS GUEST Photograph by International Press Co. WITH NICHOLAS, CZAR OF Photoijraph by Brown Brothers THE KAISER, IN UNIFORM OF THE DEATh's HEAD HUSSARS, VISITS KING ALBERT OF BELGIUM IN BRUSSELS WILLIAM THE VAIN, VERSATILE, AND INDISCREET 177 democratic. One hates the English; one loves them. One talks freely, perhaps too freely; one is silent as the sepulchre, and secretive as the Inquisition. Peace lights on his right; hounds of war are leashed to his left. There are two Kaisers, both of whom labour for the benefit of the reahn, each in his separate way, unconscious of heterogeneous intention." CHAPTER XIV THE KAISER— IN HIS OWN WORDS " ikS A result of my reading of history, I have pledged myself never /j^ to strive after an empty world-rule. For what has become of •*- -^ the so-called world-empires? Alexander the Great, Napoleon, all the great heroes of war swam in blood, and left behind them sub- jugated nations which rose on the first opportunity and brought their empires to ruin. The world-empire that I have dreamed of would consist in this : that, above all, the newly -created German Empire should on every side enjoy the most absolute confidence as a tranquil, honour- able, peaceful neighbour, and that if history should one day tell of a German world-empire, or of a HohenzoUem world-rule, it should not have been based on conquests with the sword, but on the mutual trust of nations striving toward the same goal." Despite the fact that he pointed out the futility of the great con- querors, the Kaiser made it plain that Germany's world-power aspirations were not to be balked by a peace-at-any-price pohcy. At the laimching of the warship Wittelsbaeh, he announced: "The ocean teaches us that on its waves and on its most distant shores no great decision can any longer be taken without Germany and without the German Emperor. I do not think that it was in order to allow themselves to be excluded from big foreign affairs that, thirty years ago, our people, led by their princes, conquered and shed their blood. Were the German people to let themselves be treated thus, it would be, and forever, the end of their world-power; and I do not mean that that shall ever cease. To employ, in order to prevent it, the suitable means, if need be extreme means, is my duty and my highest privilege." Throughout his speeches three ideas appear consistently and con- tinuously: the ambition for world-power, for ships and a navy to defend them; the beUef in the German army by its preponderance and prepared- ness as the guarantor of Europe's peace; and the divine right and the infallibility of the HohenzoUems. 178 THE KAISER— IN HIS OWN WORDS 179 WORLD-POWEE Soon after ascending the throne the Kaiser said: "The ancestor for whom I have the most hking, and who always shone before me as an example in my youth, was the Great Elector." He so admired this particular ancestor because the Great Elector was the first HohenzoUern who saw the importance of promoting trade and industry, acquiring colonies, shipping by which to trade with them, and a navy to defend the shipping. This poUcy, which languished for a long time, has been thoroughly revised and enlarged by William II. As far back as 1896 the Kaiser himseK said at Berhn: "The German Empire becomes a world-empire. Everywhere in the farthest parts of the earth live thousands of our fellow-countrymen. German subjects, German knowledge, German industry cross the ocean. The value of German goods on the seas amounts to thousands of mil- hons of marks. On you, gentlemen, devolves the serious duty of help- ing me to knit firmly this greater German Empire to the empire at home." At Aix, in 1902, in comparing the Holy Roman Empire with the present German Empire, he said: "Now another empire has arisen. The German people has once more an Emperor of its own choice, with the sword on the field of battle has the crown been won, and the imperial flag flutters high in the breeze. But the tasks of the new empire are different: confined within its bor- ders, it has to steel itself anew for the work it has to do, and which it could not achieve in the Middle Ages. We have to hve so that the empire, stiU young, becomes from year to year stronger in itself, while confidence in it strengthens on all sides. The powerful German army guarantees the peace of Europe. In accord with the German character we confine ourselves externally in order to be unconfined internally. Far stretches our speech over the ocean, far the flight of our science and exploration; no work in the domain of new discovery, no scientific idea but is first tested by us and then adopted by other nations. This is the world-rule the German spirit strives for." Despite the guarantee of peace which the power of the German army offered, William II did not neglect to warn his own people and others 180 THE KAISER that peace might be disturbed. He said to the chief burgomaster of Karlsruhe in 1904, when Japan and Russia were at war: "I hope our peace will not be disturbed and that the events that are now happening will open our eyes, steel our courage, and find us united, if it should be necessary for us to intervene in world-pohcy." "Imperial power means sea power and sea power and imperial power are dependent on each other." . . . "Our future hes on the water." . , . "The trident should be in our hand." . . . "We stand under the star of commerce." . . . "We demand our place in the sun." These phrases contain the essence of the doctrine which the Emperor enlarged in many places as, for example, at Hamburg in 1899: "A strong German fleet," he said, "is a thing of which we stand in bitter need." And he continued: "In Hamburg, especially, one can understand how necessary is a powerful protection for German inter- ests abroad. If we look around us we see how greatly the aspect of the world has altered in recent years. Old-world empires pass away and new ones begin to arise. Nations suddenly appear before the peoples and compete with them, nations of whom a little before the ordinary man had been hardly aware. Products which bring about radical changes in the domain of international relations as well as in the poHti- cal economy of the people, and which in old times took hundreds of years to ripen, come to maturity in a few months. The result is that the tasks of our German Empire and people have grown to enormous proportions and demand of me and my government unusual and great efforts, which can then only be crowned with success when, united and decided, without respect to party, Germans stand behind us. Our people, moreover, must resolve to make some sacrifice. Above all they must put aside their endeavour to seek the excellent through the ever more sharply contrasted party factions. They must cease to put party above the welfare of the whole. They must put a curb on their ancient and inherited weakness — to subject everything to the most imlicensed criticism; and they must stop at the point where their most vital in- terests become concerned. For it is precisely these pohtical sins which revenge themselves so deeply on our sea interests and our fleet. Had the strengthening of the fleet not been refused me during the past eight years of my government, notwithstanding all appeals and warnings— THE KAISER— IN HIS OWN WORDS 181 and not without contumely and abuse for my person — ^how diflFerently could we not have promoted our growing trade and our interests beyond the sea!" When the Kaiser ascended the throne the German fleet amounted to practically nothing. Despite the Kaiser's ever active advocacy, the Reichstag would not vote large naval appropriations. The present navy really began with the appointment of Admiral von Tirpitz as Minister of Marine in 1899. Now the German navy is second only to that of Great Britain. Its creation has been the main bone of contention between the EngKsh and German people. These relations the Kaiser discussed in 1908, in his famous Daily Telegraph interview, as follows: "You EngHsh," he said, "are mad, mad, mad as March hares. What has come over you that you are so completely given over to sus- picions quite unworthy of a great nation.? What more can I do than I have done.? I declared with all the emphasis at my command, in my speech at Guildhall, that my heart is set upon peace, and that it is one of my dearest wishes to hve on the best of terms with England. Have I ever been false to my word.? Falsehood and prevarication are alien to my nature. My actions ought to speak for themselves, but you hsten not to them but to those who misinterpret and distort them. That is a personal insult which I feel and resent. To be forever misjudged, to have my repeated offers of friendship weighed and scrutinized with jealous, mistrustful eyes, taxes my patience severely. I have said time after time that I am a friend of England, and your Press — or at least a considerable section of it' — ^bids the people of England refuse my prof- fered hand, and insinuates that the other holds a dagger. How can I convince a nation against its will.? "I repeat," continued his Majesty, "that I am the friend of England, but you make things difficult for me. My task is not of the easiest. The prevailing sentiment among large sections of the middle and lower classes of my own people is not friendly to England. I am, therefore, so to speak, in a minority in my own land, but it is a minority of the best elements, just as it is in England with respect to Germany. That is another reason why I resent your refusal to accept my pledged word that I am the friend of England. I strive without ceasing to improve relations, and you retort that I am your arch-enemy. You make it very hard for me. Why is it.?" Thereupon the interviewer ventured to remind his Majesty that not England alone but the whole of Europe had viewed with disapproval 182 THE KAISER the action of Germany in allowing the German consul to retmn from Tangier to Fez, and in anticipating the joint action of France and Spain by suggesting to the powers that the time had come for Europe to rec- ognize Mulai Hafid as the new Sultan of Morocco. His Majesty made a gesture of impatience. "Yes," he said, "that is an excellent example of the way in which German action is misrepre- sented. First, then, as regards the journey of Dr. Vassel. The German Government, in sending Dr. Vassel back to his post at Fez, was only guided by the wish that he should look after the private interests of German subjects in that city who cried for help and protection after the long absence of a consular representative. And why not send him.? Are those who charge Germany with having stolen a march on the other powers aware that the French consular representative had already been in Fez for several months when Dr. Vassel set out? Then, as to the recognition of Mulai Hafid. The Press of Europe has complained with much acerbity that Germany ought not to have suggested his recogni- tion until he had notified to Europe his full acceptance of the Act of Algeciras as being binding upon him as Sultan of Morocco and suc- cessor of his brother. My answer is that Mulai Hafid notified the powers to that effect weeks ago, before the decisive battle was fought. He sent, as far back as the middle of last July, an identical communi- cation to the governments of Germany, France, and Great Britain con- taining an explicit acknowledgment that he was prepared to recognize all the obHgations toward Europe which were incurred by Abdul Aziz during his Sultanate. The German Government interpreted that com- munication as a final and authoritative expression of Mulai Hafid's intentions, and therefore it considered that there was no reason to wait until he had sent a second communication before recognizing him as the de facto Sultan of Morocco, who had succeeded to his brother's throne by right of victory in the field." The interviewer suggested to his Majesty that an important and influential section of the German Press had placed a very different inter- pretation upon the action of the German Government, and, in fact, had given it their effusive approbation precisely because they saw in it a strong act instead of mere words, and a decisive indication that Ger- many was once more about to intervene in the shaping of events in Morocco. "There are mischief makers," replied the Emperor, "in both coun- tries. I will not attempt to weigh their relative capacity for misrep- THE KAISER— IN HIS OWN WORDS 183 resentation. But the facts are as I have stated. There has been nothing in Germany's recent action with regard to Morocco which runs contrary to the expHcit declaration of my love of peace which I made both at Guildhall and in my latest speech at Strassburg." His Majesty then reverted to the subject uppermost in his mind — ^his proved friendship for England. "I have referred," he said, "to the speeches in which I have done all that a sovereign can to pro- claim my good-will. But as actions speak louder than words, let me also refer to my acts. It is commonly believed in England that through- out the South African war Germany was hostile to her. German opinion undoubtedly was hostile — bitterly hostile. The Press was hostile; private opinion was hostile. But what of official Germany? Let my critics ask themselves what brought to a sudden stop, and, in- deed, to absolute collapse, the European tour of the Boer delegates who were striving to obtain European intervention.'' They were f^ted in Holland; France gave them a rapturous welcome. They wished to come to Berhn, where the German people would have crowned them with flowers. But when they asked me to receive them — I refused. The agitation immediately died away, and the delegation returned empty-handed. Was that, I ask, the action of a secret enemy? "Again, when the struggle was at its height, the German Govern- ment was invited by the governments of France and Russia to join with them in calling upon England to put an end to the war. The moment had come, they said, not only to save the Boer republics, but also to hvmiiliate England to the dust. WTiat was my reply? I said that so far from Germany joining in any concerted European action to put pressure upon England and bring about her downfall, Germany would always keep aloof from pohtics that could bring her into com- phcations with a sea power like England. Posterity wiU one day read the exact terms of the telegram — now in the archives of Windsor Castle — ^in which I informed the Sovereign of England of the answer I had returned to the powers which then sought to compass her fall. EngUshmen who now insult me by doubting my word should know what were my actions in the hour of their adversity. "Nor was that all. Just at the time of your Black Week, in the December of 1899, when disasters followed one another in rapid suc- cession, I received a letter from Queen Victoria, my revered grand- mother, written in sorrow and affliction, and bearing manifest traces of the anxieties which were preying upon her mind and health. I at 184 THE KAISER once returned a sympathetic reply. Nay, I did more. I bade one of my officers procure for me as exact an account as he could obtain of the number of combatants in South Africa on both sides, and of the actual position of the opposing forces. With the figures before me, I worked out what I considered to be the best plan of campaign under the circumstances, and submitted it to my General Staff for their criticism. Then I dispatched it to England, and that document likewise is among the state papers at Windsor Castle, awaiting the serenely impartial verdict of history. And, as a matter of curious coincidence, let me add that the plan which I formulated ran very much on the same Unes as that which was actually adopted by Lord Roberts and carried by him into successful operation. Was that, I repeat, the act of one who wished England ill.!* Let Englishmen be just and say! "But, you will say, what of the German navy.? Surely that is a menace to England! Against whom but England are my squadrons being prepared.'' If England is not in the minds of those Germans who are bent on creating a powerful fleet, why is Germany asked to consent to such new and heavy burdens of taxation.'' My answer is clear. Germany is a young and growing empire. She has a world- wide commerce, which is rapidly expanding, and to which the legitimate ambition of patriotic Germans refuses to assign any boimds. Germany must have a powerful fleet to protect that commerce and her manifold interests in even the most distant seas. She expects those interests to go on growing, and she must be able to champion them manfully in any quarter of the globe. Germany looks ahead. Her horizons stretch far away. She must be prepared for any eventuahties in the Ear East. Who can foresee what may take place in the Pacific in the days to come — days not so distant as some beheve, but days, at any rate, for which all European powers with Far Eastern interests ought steadily to prepare.? Look at the accomphshed rise of Japan; think of the possible national awakening of China; and then judge of the vast problems of the Pacific. Only those powers which have great navies will be listened to with respect when the futiu-e of the Pacific comes to be solved; and if for that reason only Germany must have a powerful fleet. It may even be that England herself will be glad that Germany has a fleet when they speak together on the same side in the great debates of the future." Chancellor von Bulow admitted in the Reichstag that the Kaiser's THE KAISER-IN HIS OWN WORDS 185 version of the war plan was not quite accurate, but there is no doubt that the German people were bitterly hostile to England, a hostihty which was not at all lessened when English warships seized German ships along the African coast. England apologized for the act, but that did not satisfy German feeUng, and when Admiral von Tirpitz presented a bigger naval programme in 1900 than had ever been presented before, the hitherto parsimonious Reichstag suddenly became generous toward the navy. The new law provided for the first time a high-seas battle fleet, and the accompanying memorandum stated: "To protect Germany's sea trade and colonies, in the existing circumstances, there is only one means: Germany must have a battle fleet so strong that, even for the adversary with the greatest sea-power, a war against it would involve such dangers as to imperil its position in the world." As much as the Kaiser loves his navy, the army is still more dear to him. "The soldier and the army," he said, in 1891, paraphrasing Bismarck's famous "blood and iron" epigram, "not parhamentary majorities and decisions, have welded together the German Empire. My confidence is in the army — ^as my grandfather said at Coblenz: 'These are the gentlemen on whom I can rely.'" At the completion of the first ten years of his reign he addressed his bodyguards: "The most important legacy left me by my grandfather and father is the army, and with joy and pride have I accepted it. To the army my first decree was issued on ascending the throne. To the army I now again address myself on entering upon the second decennium of my reign. . . . "Rarely, I beUeve, has so trying a time passed over the head of a ruler as over mine during these last ten years^ — I, who saw my grand- father and father die, to my deep sorrow, within so short a space of time. With grave anxiety I placed the crown upon my head. Every- where I met doubt, and the whole world misjudged me. But one had confidence in me; but one believed in mc' — that was the army. And relying upon the army, and trusting in God, I began my reign, knowing well that the army is the main tower of strength for my country, the main pillar supporting the Prussian throne, to which God in His wis- dom had called me." 186 THE KAISER On January 1, 1900, the Kaiser addressed the assembled corps of officers: "The first day of the new century sees our army — ^that is, our nation in arms' — grouped around their banners, bending the knee to the Lord of hosts. And truly, if anybody have special cause to bend down before God, it is our army. "A glance at our flags here suffices for explanation, for they em- body our history. How did the dawn of the past century find our army? "The glorious soldiers of Frederick the Great had fallen asleep on their laurels, ossffied in the trivial details of a senseless, antiquated driU; led by superannuated, unready, and unwarlike generals; their officers no longer used to serious work, and degenerated by luxury, sloth, and bhnd self-glorification. In a word, the army no longer sufficed for its task. It had forgotten it. Severe was the punishment meted out to it by Heaven, a punishment which likewise chastised our people. Thrown into the dust were we. Frederick's fame paled, and his glorious banners were broken. In the seven long years of our hard servitude God taught our people to gather new strength. Under the iron pressure of the insolent conqueror's heel our people in bitter travail of spirit conceived the high thought that it is the great- est honour to devote fife and property in mihtary service to the father- land. "My great-grandfather gave form and substance to this conception. New laurels crowned the new-born army and its banners. But it was through my grandfather, our great, our dead Emperor, that general mihtary service became a full, a hving reahty. In quiet, persistent labour he drafted his system of reorganization, out of which, despite all opposition which misapprehension caused, grew our army of to-day. Victorious campaigns, however, crowned his labours in unexpected fulness. "His spirit pervaded the rank and file of his armies, and his trust in God led them on to matchless victories. With this, his own crea- tion, he at length drew together again the tribes of Germany, and he gave us back longed-for German unity. To him we owe it that through this army the German Empire, honoured by all, once more occupies its destined and appropriate position in the council of nations. It is your part, gentlemen, to manifest during the new century the old THE KAISER— IN HIS OWN WORDS 187 qualities by which our sires have made the army great and invincible — simphcity and plainness in your style of living, absolute devotion to the service of the King, fullest utiUzation of all your strength and gifts, both of body and soul, in ceaseless toil for the development and driUing of our troops. "And as my grandfather did for the army, so, too, I mean to con- tinue for my navy, in spite of aU discouragement and misconceptions, the work of development, in order that the navy shall be, side by side with my army, of equal power and strength, and thus achieve for the German Empire at home and abroad that position which we as yet have not attained. "Jointly with both I hope to be one day in condition, trusting fully in the aid of God, to realize the saying of Frederick William I: 'If one wishes to decide something in this world, it is not the pen alone that will do it if unsupported by the power of the sword.'" Even on his many peace trips from capital to capital, the Kaiser almost always gives as an example of the friendliness between Ger- many and the country in which he is visiting some joint action of their armies. In England, for example, he reminds his hearers: "At Malplaquet and Waterloo, Prussian and British blood has been spilled in a common cause." In Russia: "We are carried back to the days when my grandfather, now rest- ing in God, but then a young officer, received before the enemy, on the battlefield, the Order of St. George, and won in the rain of bullets the chieftaincy of the Kaluga Regiment (conferred by Czar Alexander I on Wilham I of Prussia). I remind you of these facts in order to drink to the glorious and joint reminiscences and traditions of the Russian and the Prussian armies. I drink to those who, in patriotic and heroic defence of their country, fought at Borodino, who with us bled at the victorious battles of Areis-sur-Aube and Brienne. I drink to the brave defenders of Sebastopol and the dauntless fighters of Plevna." On the Kaiser's famous visit to Palestine, in 1898, he made a speech at the tomb of the Sultan Saladin in which appeared some sentences which caused much comment then, and may be well remembered now: "Deeply moved by this imposing spectacle and likewise by the consciousness of standing on the spot where held sway one of the most 188 THE KAISER chivalrous rulers of all times, the great Sultan Saladin, a knight sans peur et sans reproche, who often taught his adversaries the right con- ception of knighthood, I seize with joy the opportunity to render thanks, above all, to the Sultan Abdul Hamid for his hospitahty. May the Sultan rest assured, and also the three hundred miUion Mohamme- dans scattered over the globe and revering him, their caHph, that the German Emperor will be and remain at all times their friend." At another time in Austria he said: "My people and my army keep steadfast and true to the feder- ated compact concluded between us, and the army is fully conscious of the fact that to preserve the peace and its blessings for our countries it must maintain it and would fight, shoulder to shoulder, with the brave Austro-Hungarian army, if that should be the will of Providence." And again, in 1910, the Kaiser referred to his action two years previous in sustaining Austria-Hungary in its annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, against Russia's protest, as "the action of an ally in taking his stand in shining armour at a grave moment by the side of yoxu* most gracious sovereign." At his silver wedding anniversary, in 1906, he said again: "My first and last care is for my fighting forces on land and sea." DIVINE EIGHT In March, 1890, in a speech of the Kaiser's to the men at Bran- denburg, occurred this passage: "I look upon the people and nation handed on to me as a respon- sibiKty conferred upon me by God; and that it is, as is written in the Bible, my duty to increase this heritage, for which one day I shall be called upon to give an account; those who try to interfere with my task I shall crush." A few months later he voiced the same sentiments in these words : "It is a tradition of our House, that we, the HohenzoUerns, regard ourselves as appointed by God to govern and to lead the people whom it is given us to rule, for their well-being and the advancement of their material and intellectual interests." « 2 U. ^■-,' ■■/.■;, ^Wl^ i § = PS 5 a i— ^H»^; 1 2 fc ■ ^^L r-r''" - ">-"' ..,' r^f - ^ , .^X:,>v,-;J mO.. -^i /d M B \ V?' ^^^^^■Bs'f o fc '"■'•m' "^^H > m. . . l^KmtK.»\ 3 H ';: -'■ £ S '■ •-i ^^B^K^^2^^^V!liHMHHHMliv ' ii ^ T-':fl „^J,^?^ < 1 'Mg. 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If^f 'ii«>*' :.,:„v/J^]B ^ ,:^^3i £ ■ % '*'' ■ PS B 4 /^ ,»p.%pr^^'='**4Jp|| O 1 J *^ "f^^^^^^ J •^^ ^1 s -€ MHf< ^ f *• ' :.— ■^IB s THE KAISER-IN HIS OWN WORDS 189 Four years later, at KSnigsberg, the ancient crowning place of the Prussian kings, William II said: "The successor (referring to himself) of him who 0/ his own right was sovereign prince in Prussia will follow the same path as his great ancestor; as formerly the first King (of Prussia) said, 'My crown is born with me,' and as his greater son (the Great Elector) gave his authority the stability of a rock of bronze, so I, too, like my imperial grandfather, represent the kingship by God's grace." Again, in 1897, the same idea crops up in his speech about his grand- father at Coblenz: "He left Coblenz to ascend the throne as the selected instrument of the Lord he always regarded himself to be. For us all, and above all for us princes, he raised once more aloft and lent lustrous beams to a jewel which we should hold high and holy — ^that is the kingship by God's grace, the kingship with its onerous duties, its never-ending, ever- continuing trouble and labour, with its fearful responsibility to the Crea- tor alone, from which no human being, no minister, no parhament, no people can release the prince." Again within the last few years at Konigsberg he reiterated his behef. "Here my grandfather," he said, "placed, by his own right, the crown of the Kings of Prussia on his head, once again laying stress upon the fact that it was conferred upon him by the grace of God alone, not by Parliament, by meetings of the people, or by popular decisions ; and that he considered himself the chosen instrument of Heaven, and as such performed his duties as regent and as ruler. Considering myself as an instrument of the Lord, without being misled by the views and opin- ions of the day, I go my way which is devoted solely and alone to the prosperity and peaceful development of our fatherland." The Kaiser is a very devout Christian. He often impresses it on his army that without Christianity no man can be a good soldier. WTien- ever he is on board his yacht, the Hohenzollern, on Sunday he conducts services himself. In 1899, when his troops were in China at the time of the Boxer uprising, he preached the following sermon: "Text: Exodus, 17th chapter, 11th verse: But as long as Moses held up his hands, praying, Israel prevailed; but when he lowered his hands, Amalek prevailed. Amen. "An imposing picture it is which to-day's text presents to our souls. 190 THE KAISER There is Israel, making its way through the desert, coming from the Red Sea and on toward Mount Sinai. But of a sudden the heathen Amalekite people stop their progress, and a battle ensues. Joshua leads the young men of Israel into the fray; swords rattle and meet, and a hotly contested, bloody struggle sets in, down in the vale of Rephidim. But see, while the battle moves hither and thither, those devout men of God, Moses, Aaron, and Hur, chmb up the mountainside and stretch out their hands toward Heaven; they pray. Below in the valley the warring throng; up on the mountain the praying three. That is the warUke picture of our text. "And who to-day does not understand what lesson it conveys.? For again the pagan spirit of Amalek has stirred in far Asia, and with great cunning and power, with fire and murder, they seek to hinder the triumphal march of Christian morals, of Christian faith, of European commerce and education. And again God has ordered: 'Choose men; go forth and fight against Amalek!' A grim, a terrible struggle has begun. Already many of our brothers there are in the combat; many more are now on their way to the hostile coasts. You have seen them, those thousands who, answering the call, ' Volunteers to the front ! Who will protect the empire.''' are now gathering, and who will soon join in the fight with flying banners. "But we, remaining behind here at home, restricted by other and sacred duties — do we not hear the words of God, spoken to us, saying: 'Go up on the mountainside! Lift up thine hands to the Host High!' The prayer of the just accompUshes much if it be but said with all our strength and faith ! "Well, then. Far away the ranks of warriors, and here at home the ranks of the praying — ^let that also be the holy battle-picture for to-day! Let this peaceful morning hour remind us of the sacred duty of prayer, of the sacred power of prayer. "The sacred duty of prayer. " Certainly it is an inspiriting moment when a ship heaves anchor with a youthful crew on board! Have you not seen the eyes of the young warriors shining? Have you not heard their thousand- voiced hurrah? "But when the coasts of ovu" native land dwindle and vanish, when the ship enters the torrid heat of the Red Sea, or when she plunges into the mighty waves of the ocean, how often does enthusiasm vanish, too, and how often does strength depart! THE KAISER— IN HIS OWN WORDS 191 "Certainly an inspiriting moment when, after a long journey, are seen, far in the distance, the straight lines of the German forts, and the black-white-red flag of the German colony becomes visible, and when brothers-in-arms are awaiting your arrival ashore, shouting welcome in the mother-tongue! But later on, when begin endless marches under a fiery sun, and interminable nights, camping out in the rain, how easily then joy and courage ooze away! "Certainly a longed-for moment, that in which the drum beats to storm and the trumpets shriek to attack, when the order is shouted, *0n upon the enemy!' "But when, in the midst of thundering cannon and in the midst of sputtering, screaming shells your comrades are mowed down to right and left, and when the enemy's batteries will not be silenced, how often even a brave heart begins to tremble! "Christians! To enable your brothers out there to remain of joy- ful heart, to persist in their duty even when it is hardest, not to lose courage even in the greatest danger, it needs more than ammunition and good weapons, more than bravery and enthusiasm — it needs ap- proval and encouragement from on High, else they cannot achieve vic- tory. And this heavenly world can be unlocked solely by prayer. Prayer is the golden key to the treasure-chamber of om* God. But who- ever has it has also the promise that he who prays will also receive. "Or, indeed, are we to let om- hands lie idly in our laps.'' Woe to us if we are to remain idle and impassive while they are doing their hard, their bloody tasks ! Woe to us if we are to be but ciuious specta- tors behind the bars of the great arena while they struggle tensely in the grip of death! That were the spirit of Cain, saying cruelly, 'Am I my brother's keeper.'*' That were treachery toward our brave brothers who are risking their hves! " No' — ^thrice no ! We wiU not only send out battalions of warriors. No ! We wiU also aid them by a holy band of praying aUies. "And how much, how many things, we have to ask God for our brothers going into the field of battle ! They are to be the strong arm with which to punish the assassins. They are to be the mailed fist with which to set aright the murderous disorder. Their sword is to fight for our holiest treasures. "Let us, therefore, accompany them with our prayers upon the deep sea, upon their weary marches, into the thunder of battle, and into the quiet of the hospital. And we will ask God, our Lord, to let 192 THE KAISER them remain strong and manful in their duty, so that they will fight the foe heroically and undauntedly, that they will bear their wounds bravely and without complaint, and God will give a blessed end to those who fall under fire, and will reward them — in short. He will make heroes of ovu" warriors, and conquerors of these heroes, and will lead them home again into the land of their fathers, the laurel wreath around their helmets, and the medal of honour on their breasts. "The sacred power of prayer. "Or do we not believe in the sacred power of prayer.? Well, then, what says our text.? 'As long as Moses held up his hands, praying, Israel prevailed!' The fervent prayers of Moses made the swords of the enemy dull, enabled his men to penetrate the hostile ranks like a phalanx, thus causing them to break and run, and pinned victory to the flying banners of Israel. And if the prayers of Moses accompHshed this, is it to be thought that our prayers will prove of no avail.? God has not taken back a single syllable from His promises. Faithful prayer can throw even to-day the dragon banner into the dust and plant the cross upon the walls. "And Moses was not the only one whose prayer was heeded. Look, up on the heights of Sodom is Abraham, interceding with his God, and with his prayer he saves Lot from the burning city. Should it, then, be impossible for our prayers to rescue our fighting comrades from the dangers of battle.? "Look again, and in Jerusalem ye will see the young Christian com- munity on their knees. Their leader, their father, lies a prisoner in jail. Yet with their prayers they summon the angel of God into jail, and he leads forth Peter, unscathed. "Are we, then, to suppose that our prayer will not be potent enough to open again the doors for those in need, for the prisoners, for those pursued, and to place at their side a guardian angel.? 'Oh, the power, unseen unheard. Of a saintly pray'r! By the strength of faith and word Deeds are wrought fore'er.' "Yes, the Lord liveth! Our great Ally still reigneth. Our God liveth, the God who wiU not allow sin and crime to triumph, but who will conduct His holy cause against a wicked people. God Almighty, who can seize upon the strongest walls as if they were cobwebs, and who can THE KAISER— IN HIS OWN WORDS 193 scatter the mightiest armies like heaps of sand; the compassionate, the faithful God, who bears upon His heart the weal or woe of every one of His children, and who hears every sigh and feels with us every sorrow. Pious prayer opens His fatherly hands, and they are filled with blessings. Fervent prayer unlocks His fatherly heart, and it is filled with love. Yes, faithful, incessant prayer brings down God Himself from Heaven, and places Him in our very midst. And if God is for us, who can be against us? "Well, then, up in the Tauern Mountains, high above all, marvellous bells are hanging! They are not rung by human hands. Still and silent they hang in sunshine. But when storms arise they begin to swing, they begin to ring, and their ringing is heard far down the valley. "God our Lord has hung prayer-bells in every human heart. But, alas! in the sunshine and happiness of life they are mute and motion- less. But when the storms of misery and disaster overtake us, how they do begin to ring! And many a comrade who had forgotten how to pray learns out there how to fold his hands once again. Misery teaches us how to pray. And thus, too, it shall be at home. Let the dark days now upon us, let the war clouds that have overwhelmed us, set the prayer-bells in rhythmic swing. Let us pray for our struggling brothers. And not only on festive occasions. No! No ! let us pray at all times. Just as our fathers during war times caused the bells to ring every even- ing, baring their heads when the sound struck their ears, and praying, 'Remain with us, O Jesus Christ, since night is coming on!' so in like manner let never a day pass without interceding for your brothers at the throne of the Most High. Moses held up his hands on high until the sun went down and Joshua had smitten Amalek with the sharp edge of the sword. Our own battle is not fought within a single day. But do not weary. Do not let your hands sink until victory is won. Let our prayers be a wall of fire aroimd the camp of our brothers. "And how it will strengthen, inspire, encourage them, the thought: Thousands — ^nay, millions — at home bear us in their praying hearts. The King of all kings calls 'Volunteers to the front! Who will pray for the fatherland.?' Oh! if we could say: 'The King called, and all, all came. Let not a single one of us miss the summons. He is a man who knows how to pray.' "History some day will describe the battles of these present days. However, man sees but what is before his eyes, and he can but tell what the wisdom of the leaders, the courage of his men, the sharpness of the 194 THE KAISER weapons have done. Eternity, however, will disclose to our gaze more than that, will show how the hidden, unseen prayer of the faithful and beheving has been a great power in these battles, and how once more the promise of old has been fulfilled: 'Call upon Me in thine distress and I will save thee.' 'And therefore: Cease not in your prayers."