Strong City Herald (Strong City, Okla.), Vol. 7, No. 34, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 27, 1919 Page: 2 of 8
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THE STXOlfO CITY HERALD
The Kaiser as I Knew Him
For Fourteen Years
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(Copyright Dig bjr the oClur Maw epspar Syndicate)
CHAPTER VII
The Japanese
According to the talk of the German
flplomata before the war the expecta-
tion was that Japan’s power would be
used against America at the first op-
portunity Whether the object of this
campaign was to stir up trouble be-
tween Japan and America or only to
awaken this country to a sense of the
danger which the Germans professed
to believe threatened her I don’t know
I do know however that prospect of
a Japanese-American war seemed to
worry the Germans considerably more
than It worries us
The day England declared war
against Germany August 6 1914 the
Prince von Pless called to see me pro-
fessionally “There will be two wars fought” he
said oracularly “The present one by
which we shall gain control of the con-
tinent of Europe forever and then a
war with the yellow races In which
we shall probably have your country
-to assist us 1"
That this opinion was more or less
general in Germany may account for
the fact that from the time war was
declared until August 23 1914 when
Japan declared war against Germany
the Japanese residents In Berlin w-ere
made the subject of the most sicken-
ing attentions It was reported that
Japan was going to attack Russia and
the Germans could not do enough to
show their newly born admiration for
the yellow race which they had hither-
to bo deeply despised The Japs were
carried through the streets on the
shoulders of the populace and kissed
ani cheered wherever they appeared
In public
And then Japan declared war against
Germany 1 Instantly there was a wild
demonstration In the streets of Berlin
which would have resulted most disas-
trously for the Japs who had so recent-
ly been hailed as friends but for the
astonishing fact that every single Jap
had succeeded In getting away from
Berlin before the news of Japan’s en-
try into the war became generally
known
In the absence of Japanese upon
which to vent their Bpleen the Ger-
mans did everything they could to
make life miserable for those who re-
sembled Japs The few Chinese who
were there were terribly treated either
because they were taken for Japs or
because they were of the same race
The Siamese minister Prince Traldos
who was one of my patients told me
that when his wife and children went
out on the streets the crowds followed
them and Jeered referring to the Jap-
anese as monkeys and using other op-
probrious epithets They even went
so far as to spit In Princess Traldos’
face and the minister finally decided
to send her and the children to Switzer-
land although be himself remained at
his post
I saw the kaiser shortly after the
Japanese declaration of war and he
was very bitter against the United
States because of that development
“What Is your president thinking of
to allow a yellow race to attack a
white race I Now the Japanese are at-
tacking Klau-Chnu and America could
have prevented It All that America
had to do was to raise a finger and
Japan would have known enough to
keep her place 1”
He spoke In this strain on several
subsequent occasions
When Klau-Chau fell he again crit-
icized the United States for not having
stopped Japan
“How can your president allow
Japan to Increase In power at the ex-
pense of a white race?” he asked In-
dignantly “Now China Is lost to the
world forever America Is the one
power that could have prevented It
- but now Japan has got her fingers on
China and 6he Is lost to us forever 1”
After we were In the war the kaiser
expressed to me his opinion that our
object In taking this step was four-
fold :
“First" he said “Wilson wants to
save the money you have loaned to the
allies Second he wants to have a
seat at the peace table Third he
wnnts to give your army and navy a
little practical experience — unfortu-
nately at our expense And fourth
and principally he wants to prepare
for the war with Japan which he
knows Is Inevitable The Jopanese are
the ones which your country must look
upon ns tts real enemies”
A Germnn officer of high standing
told me Just before I left Berlin that
America had made the great mistake
of sending ammunition guns and sup-
plies to Russia via Japan because
Japan had Just retained the finely
made Amcrlcnn articles and had
3MQgoooaggco!?gCTQgogoyc)occiooogcaBBoecoeoagoe?ec3eaooBoocoBOoc3oooooooocoopcopa3eeoB
dumped on Russia a lot of good-for-nothing
material of her own In their
place “My advice to America” be de-
clared “Is to cut the throat of every
Japanese In America and get rid of
the Internal danger” He did not sug-
gest cutting the throats of all the un-
desirable Germans who were In Amer-
ica and who had already demonstrated
that they were 'far more dangerous
than the Japanese had ever been
CHAPTER VIII
The Kaiser's Confidence of Victory
About twelve years ago I attended
the German military maneuvers at
Llegnltz In Silesia having been in-
vited by some Journalistic friends of
mine to accompany them In the motor
allowed the press The military repre-
sentatives of England France Amer-
ica and other countries were there
with the kaiser’s staff to witness the
display of Germany's military power
Apparently they were very much Im-
pressed for I heard afterwards that
one of the French officers who had
been present had written a book In
which he said: “With such an army
Germany could annex France In six
months 1”
I happened to mention this fact to
the kaiser shortly afterwards and hls
significant comment was:
“Six months I I should hope so It
wouldn’t take that long 1”
The confident belief that when "Der
Tag" — “the day" — finally arrived Ger-
many would crush her enemies and ac-
complish her object within a few
months at the outside was held not
only by the kaiser but by the people
generally and their conduct when the
war broke out clearly disclosed It
When Germany's man power was
mobilized no one In Germany believed
It would be very long before they
would all be back and every efTort was
made to make their few weeks of ac-
tive service as little Irksome as pos-
sible “LIebe8gaben" gifts of love
consisting of clothing and food of
every description were forwarded to
them by their relatives and friends in
the most lavish manner although of
course at that time the German com-
missary was able to satisfy all the sol-
diers’ requirements
One of my patients told me that she
had sent seventeen hundred pounds of
sausages to one regiment within a
week and when I asked her why she
had been so generous she replied that
her chauffeur was a member of the
regiment 1
The extent to which the country’s
resources were squandered In those
early months Is evidenced by the fact
that the soldiers had such an excess
of 111-fittlng woolen wearing apparel
that they used many of the knitted ar-
ticles as earpieces and covers for their
horses No one had the slightest Idea
that the time might come when the
whole nation would be clothed In pa-
perl t this late day It can hardly be
necessary to establish how thoroughly
prepared the Germans were for the
war but an Incident which occurred In
the early days of the conflict may not
be out of place to show the self-satisfied
and confident attitude which all
the Germans assumed
Two officers sitting at a table In an
out-of-door cafe shortly after the war
began overheard one of several ladles
who were passing remark: “Look at
those officers sitting there drinking
Why are they not at the front fight-
ing?" One of the officers got up and
approaching the ladles said: “Our
work was completed months ago We
worked from early morning till late at
night on plans which our armies are
now carrying out It Is our time to
rest”
The resistance that France would be
able to put up was always very lightly
estimated and If the Intervention of
England was at all taken Into consid-
eration the comparatively small army
she could place In the field was re-
garded as but a drop In the bucket com-
pared with the well-trained German
horde that was ready to sweep across
the border How could England's 80000
men cope with Von Kluck’s 000000 or
the hastily mobilized French armies re-
sist the thoroughly prepared equipped
and well-disciplined Germnn warriors?
It Is really not to be wondered at
that the Germans firmly believed that
they would bring the allies to their
knees within a comparatively few
weeks and that the conquering Ger-
mnn armies would celebrate Sedan
day September 2 In Parts What ac-
tually happened Is of course too well
known here to require recital but I
know that the Germans were kept In
absolute Ignorance of the marvelous
resistance the allies were able to put
up In those critical days of August and
September 1914 and to this day the
majority of Germans have not heard
of the battle of the Marne I
Just after the English passed their
conscription law I was called to see
the kaiser at the great army headquar-
ters which at that time were at Pless
Although the war had then lasted two
or three times as long as the Germans
had expected the kaiser masked the
depression he must have felt by put-
ting on a bold front
“How foolish for England to start
conscription now” he declared “She
thinks she can accomplish In a few
months what It has taken Germany a
hundred years to attain Armies and
officers cannot be developed over night
We have never stopped preparing since
the days of Frederick the Great 1”
“Yes your majesty but the North-
ern states in our Civil war put In con-
scription two years after the begin-
ning of the war” I suggested
“But Just look how long your war
lasted” the kaiser replied quickly
“This war won’t last that long The
allies will feel what the power of Ger-
many Is long before English conscrip-
tion can avail them anything I"
“And while England Is slowly build-
ing up her Insignificant army” the
kaiser went on “she will see America’s
navy and merchant marine constantly
growing and the dollar replacing the
pound as the unit of the world's
finance No Davis England will soon
be sick of the war and will look with
fear upon America’s growing power!”
The French army too was generally
belittled and the Russians were be-
lieved to be absolutely negligible The
French army was so poorly equipped
It was pointed out that the officers
had to go to the field In patent-leather
boots and on the Russian front only
the first-line men had guns the others
being armed with clubs 1
Eventually officers and soldiers re-
turning from the western front on fur-
lough or passing through the country
en route from one front to the other
brought the report of the defeat before
Paris Soldiers who participated In
that disastrous retreat wrote from the
new trenches to their friends and rel-
atives telling of the terrible experi-
ences they had undergone when they
went for days with nothing to eat but
raw potatoes' and turnips which they
picked from the fields
When these reports finally spread
through Germany the people began to
realize that their generals In the west
were not meeting with the same success
that Von- Hlndenburg had had In the
east and Von Hlndenburg became the
idol of the people Immediately a fact
that was very distasteful to the high
command
The kaiser’s dislike of Von Hlnden-
burg was of long standing ne had
never forgiven that general for the mis-
take he made during military maneuv-
ers In peace time when by a brilliant
stroke of strategy he had succeeded In
capturing the kaiser’s forces Including
the kaiser and hls whole staff I
I have referred In a previous chapter
to the kaiser’s unbounded confidence
after the Italian collapse In 1917
"Now we’ve got the allies I” he ex-
claimed with an air of concluBlveness
which emphasized the optimism he
displayed
After the capture of Roumanla he
exhibited a similar degree of exulta-
tion He believed that In that achieve-
ment he had successfully solved the
food problem — the one cloud which
constantly darkened the kaiser’s hori-
zon “Now the allies will never succeed In
starving us" he snld to me In my of-
fice shortly after the Roumanian drive
“With Roumanla In our pockets and
Servla already ours their wonderful
agricultural possibilities will supply
our food needs and foil our enemies'
efforts to starve us Indeed they had
betterjook out for themselves Don’t
forget we have a monopoly on the
potash mlqes of the world Without
proper fertilization American crops
will go on decreasing and decreasing
and they won’t get any potash until we
get ready to let them have it!"
The failure of the Zeppelins from a
military standpoint was undoubtedly a
great disappointment to the German
people at large who had counted so
much upon them to bring disaster to
England but It cannot be said that the
kaiser shared their chagrin On the
contrary I have reason to believe that
be never expected very much from that
arm of hls military force except as It
might be useful to terrorize the civil
population
day or two after Zeppelln'a death
in 1917 a patient of mine a lady hap-
pened to remark that It was too bad
that the count had not lived to see the
triumph of hls Invention and when I
saw the kaiser shortly afterwards !
I
Bf
Arthur NDiyIs DDS
Amerlcmn Dm(M
to tho KaUor from
1904 to 1918
6
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I
repeated her remark to see what he
would say
“I am convinced that the count lived
long enough to see all that the Zep-
pelins were capable of accomplishing”
was hls only comment It recalled the
answer he had given me some years
before when both Zeppelins and air-
planes were In their infancy and I had
asked him which held the greater
promise “We do not know Time
alone will tell” was hls reply
The last time 1 coaversed with the
kaiser was on November 26 1917 Up
to that time we had sent over 169000
troops according ’to the figures which
have since been revealed by Secretary
Baker According to the kaiser’s In-
formation however we had only 80-
000 men In France at that time and
be was of the opinion that we would
never have many more
“America Is having a fine time try-
ing to raise an army” he declared
satirically “I hear that 1600 mutinied
the other day In New York and re-
fused to get on a transport! and a
town in the Northwest composed prin-
cipally of citizens of Swedish blood
refused to reg'ster at all 1 We are get-
ting excellent information about all
conditions In America”
Shortly before this bad come the rev-
elations from Washington of the In-
trigue of Count von Lnxhurg the Ger-
man minister to Argentina and I knew
where the kaiser was getting the In-
formation he referred to In nearly
every case It appeared the kaiser's In-
formants were misleading him
Both before and after we entered
the war the kaiser was thoroughly con-
vinced that we could play only a nom-
inal part In It So far os man power
was concerned and hls assurance on
that point undoubtedly accounted for
hls decision to carry through hls sub-
marine program even though It re-
sulted In bringing us into the war
“Do you realize how many tons of
shipping It takes to ship a single sol-
dier?" he asked me on one occasion
I confessed my Ignorance on that
point
“Well It takes six tons Jo the man I
To send over an army of 500 AX) men
therefore your country would require
b000000 tons of shipping In addition
to the tonnage required for regular
traffic Where Is It coming from with
my submarines Blnklng the allied ves-
sels faster than they can ever be re-
placed? My U-boats are doing won-
derful work and we are prepared to
take care of all the troops America
may try to land In France”
“How foolish for America to have
come Into the war” he went on “If
she could succeed In landing a real
army In France what good would It
do? Afnerlca can see how easy It was
for me to break through and to cap-
ture 800000 of the Italians and they
must realize Jhat I can break through
on the western front and do the same
thing there If America had kept out
of the war she would have gone on
making untold profits and when peace
was finally declared she would have
been In a most enviable position
among the nations of the world As It
Is Wilson will never have a Beat at
the peace table If I can help It and
now America shall have to pay all the
costs of the war I” Evidently he Imag-
ined that hls triumph would be so
complete that there would be no peace
table but that the warring nations
would be compelled to accept the
terms he offered them in which event
knowing the magnanimity of the Ger-
man make-up I should say the world
at large would have to be content with
very little
How the kaiser feels now that the
failure of the U-boats to Intercept
American troop ships must be pain-
fully apparent to him and America
lias so overwhelmingly overcome the
shortago of shipping I don’t know but
It Is more than probable that for some
time to come the real situation will at
any rate be successfully concealed
from the German people I know that
the failure of the U-boat campaign was
unknown to the Germans up to the
time I left Berlin — In January 1918
While the kaiser and the Germans
generally felt confident that we would
never be able to send many men
acroas they professed to feel little
concern even If we did
According to some of the German of-
ficers with whom I spoke even If we
Innded 2000000 men In France It
would not be enough to break the
deadlock as the Germans were taking
a similar number of trained troops
from the Russian front The only
menace of American participation In
the war lay In the possibility that we
might add considerably to the allied
air strength Man power alone they
contended would never be sufficient to
help the allies much but overwhelmlni
superiority In the air might occasion
the Oermsna some annoyance?
The kaiser himself had but a poor
opinion of the fighting qualities of th
American soldier so far as modern war
requirements are concerned
“The American soldier would pos-
sibly give good account of himself
In open L-tlng” he declared “but he-
la not built for the kind of warfare ha
will encounter In France He lacka
the stolidity to endure life In the
trenches He Is too high-strung and
couldn’t stand the Inactive life which
Is such an Important part of moderm
warfare Besides he lacks discipline
and trained officer"
CHARTER IX
The Kaiser's Flan for World Dominion
The history of modern Germany law
perhaps In Itself sufficient Indication
of the underlying plan of the Teuton
war barons to control the whole ot
Europe and eventually the world Tbo
program has been slowly unfolding it-
elf nines the time of Frederick (be
Great and the present generation in
now witnessing what was int-ndd 1
be the climax
There can be no doubt that If Ger-
many had succeeded in her efforts to
gnln control of the major port of Eu-
rope she would have soon
toward the western hemisphere
the east
This program Is fairly Indicated by
the course of events as history lays
them hare but I bare the actual wont
of the kaiser to substantiate It
At one of hls visits to me shortly
after the beginning of the war we were
discussing England’s' participation Its
it
"What hypocrites the English air”
the kaiser exclaimed
“They had always treated me so-
well when I visited them 1 never be-
lieved they would ha he come Into till
war T?ey always acted as If they
liked me My mother was English
you know I always thought the
world was big enough for three of no
and we could keep It for our--ires
that Germany could control the couU-
nent of Europe Rniomi through her -vast
possessions and fleet could con-
trol the Mediterranean and the Car
east and America coaid dominate tbs
western hemisphere I"
How long It would have ben before
Germany would have tried to wrest
dominion from Kngiimt n readily be-
Imagined and with the whole of Eu-
rope and the Oar east under her thumfr-
America would undoubtedly have-
proved too tempting morsel for ths-
kalser'a or hls descendants' rapacious
maw to hare resisted He mid that
he believed that the world ns “big
enough for three” he didn't any U
was too btg for roe
What was really in hls mind how-
ever is Indicated by a passage la ao
address be made some twenty-live
years ago In which as Rev Dr New-
ell Dwight 111 Ilia has pointed oat be
used these words:
“From my childhood I have been un-
der the Influence of five men— Alexan-
der Julius Caesar Theodoric H Na-
poleon and Frederick the Great These
firs men dreamed their dream of o-
world empire: they failed 1 an
dreaming my dream of a world empire
bnt I shall succeed I"
The kaiser’s plan to dominate Eu-
rope Included the control of Turkey
and be made every effort to strengthen
that country so that she might be S-
valuable ally In the war to come
When Italy took Tripoli from Tur-
key before the Balkan war I men-
tioned to the kaiser how opportunely
Italy bad acted but the kaiser dis-
missed my remark with an exclama-
tion of displeasure realizing of
coarse that Turkey's loss was In
sense hls own since be had planned t
make Turkey hls vassal
To that end be bad sent Germnn of-
ficers to train the Turkish army and
had supplied them with guns and mo-
nitions With an eye to the future
too be bad constructed the greet Bag-
dad railway
When the Balkan war broke not l
1912 the kaiser had greet confidence
that tbe German-trained Turkish army
would acquit Itself creditably and
that In the outcome of that eoafilct hls
European program would make consid-
erable progress He told ms that hs
had map of the war area placed In
hls motor and that with pegs be fol-
lowed the fortunes of the fighting
armies while he was traveling
The kaiser bad tittle regard
for President Wilson from the
time the latter waa elected for
the first time “A real scoun-
drel” waa the way he character-
ized the president on one occa-
sion The kaiser admired Roose-
velt very muoh but was greatly
disappointed at the stand taken
by the former president after
the war started What tha kale-
ar thought of Wilson Room veil
Henry Ford and other Amsri-
cane Is disclosed In the next In-
etajlment of Doctor Davis’ story
(TO BE CONTINUED)
For the Baby
The lung motor la an air pump which'
la good to start the breathing process-
In newly borv babies
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Wheeler, H. Floyd. Strong City Herald (Strong City, Okla.), Vol. 7, No. 34, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 27, 1919, newspaper, February 27, 1919; Strong City, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1747812/m1/2/?q=melvin+lee: accessed July 11, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.