Canadian Valley Record. (Canton, Okla.), Vol. 8, No. 20, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 24, 1918 Page: 2 of 8
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CANADIAN VALLEY RECORD, CANTON, OKLAHOMA
| ^nishlns Ore w these Depopulated re-
% I glons were practically nil and the eli-
The Kaiser as
I Knew Him
For Fourteen
Years
ARTHUR N. DAVIS. D. D. S.
to use such small guns. Agaia, If one
of those masts were hit it v*ould send
a shower of steel about the heads of
the men on board, and would not only
put many of them out of action, but
would be in the way. Suppose, too,
the mast were struck down and hung
over the side? It would drag through
the water, and would not only serious-
among the socialists, who are not near- f people at large would have held bad
ly as opposed to the monarchial idea j had they realized the truth, he fails to
as is commonly supposed, there is understand the underlying spirit of the
strong sentiment of loyalty toward the Teutonic race.
emperor. True, the socialists are , The Germans are the most quarrel-
clamoring constantly for the reform | some people In the world, It is mis-
vote and other political changes, but I ; lending to speak of the German mill-
doubt very much whether—before the tarists. All Germans are militarists,
war, at any rate—any large percentage ,i The records of their civil courts tell
of socialists would have seized the op-| the story. In 1013 there were no less
portunity to dethrone the kaiser had
| for
i down another should be planted. If
I you don't adopt some such measure the
! time will surely come when America
; will have to turn to Germany for tim-
| ber."
The kaiser was a harsh critic of our
| election system. The idea of a four-
| year term for the president was nat-
(Copyrt*M. 1518, by the McClure Newspa- urally repugnant to one who held such
per Syndicate.)
CHAPTER XIII—Continued.
j mate made the timber particularly In-
flammable, these fires usually attained
serious dimensions.
"That points out again the Ineffi-
ciency of your form of government," he
commented. "You have laws requiring
the railways to use appliances to ar-
rest the sparks from their engines, j ly Impede the vessel, but it would
haven't you? Why don't you enforce ' cause the ship to list and expose a
them? Your people don't seem to larger area on one side than would be jit presented itself. Certainly any such
realize that it takes years to grow a safe. No, Davis, your fighting masts, j attempt would have been speedily
tree. Because you have more than you as I have said, might answer first-rate j smothered by those who remained
need today, you make no preparation ' for serving tea, but I don't think much loyal, even without the aid of the
tomorrow. For every tree cut cf them for active service." j military.
Hut if the kaiser saw much in As long as the kaiser is able to up-
American ways and customs to con- ; hold Germany's place among the na-
demn, he likewise saw much to com- tions of the world, so long will his
mend, and, before the war. he was people uphold him. They will stand
liberal in his prai-e of many of our behind him as long as he goes forward ; | bei,eve to"beThe'roosTpronounced" na-
qu all ties and achievements. • they will repudiate him as soon as he , tlonu, shortcoming-selfishness. The
He was very much interested, for turns back. They will acclaim him in | average German Is the most selfish In-
instance, In the experiments and dis- ' triumph, but will not tolerate him In
coveries of Luther Burbank. To make defeat. The kaiser himself realizes
exalted notions as to the rights of Germany self-supporting as far as , that his tenure of office rests upon
rulers It would he too much to ex- food resources were concerned was one ' victory. The war was started for the
pect the Hohenzollern mind to approve „f his dearest ambitions. He realized sake of world dominion; it has been
than 5,000,000 petty cases tried in the
courts, and as every case naturally in-
volv?d at least two parties, the aston-
ishing fact Is disclosed that some 10,-
000,000 Germans, or one-seventh of the
entire population, appealed to the
courts in a single year!
The bellicose character of the people
was evidenced In countless other ways.
It was the natural result of what I
After the kaiser hud hstd his sleep. 1 "f a constitution which provided for that In the event of a world war his i continued solely to save the kuiser's
thA rtilar a rutiirn tr nrlvafa II . . , . . . ^
was summoned to his dressing room, j ru'er9 return to private life after
He entered the room attired In a red
flannel undershirt. It was the first
time I had ever seen him in such a
state of pleblan negligee, and I receiv-
ed more or less of a shock. I had been {
so accustomed to seeing him in uni-
a period of four years at the head of
the government
He declared that with a constant
change of administration it was quite
out of the question for this country
to follow any definite policy. It was
people would probably suffer more ! throne.
dividual In the world. He thinks of
himself and his own comfort first last
and all the time. I have noticed It on
the street cars, In the theaters, In the
public highways, In the restaurants and
hotels, where people congregate.
, , . „ i Every one looked out for himself first
from lack of food than they would | I and pushed aside those who stood In
his way. In civil life, Just as in a state
from hostile bullets, and he was hoping ! quent contact with the kaiser, I had a
that he would be able to "obviate that , wonderful opportunity to observe the
condition before his country was put ] relations which existed between him
to the test He was constantly preach- and his people.
ing simplified diet and the conserve- j The conduct of the people since the
of war, the German practiced the prin-
ciple that might makes right.
Chivalry, courtesy, magnanimity are
as foreign to the German makeup as
they are characteristics of the French.
A keen desire to make something out
form, both In pictures and In person, | had eDOUSh even 60 *ar as ,"te™al tion of food reserves, and he had great I war affords no safe criterion of their
that It had never occurred to me thm amur8 were concerned he said, but j hopes that much could be done In a ! normal views and sentiments. The
underneath that symbol of pomp the *"c" f.s* ™ m , U Impoasi , he! scientific way to help solve general i activity of government agents and the,
kaiser probably dressed the same as bought for America ever to take a food problem.s when attending din- power of the inspired press exerted of nothing Is another national trait of
we lexxer mortals. I noticed incident- P ominent place In International poll- ners gjven jljrn bj. hls 0ffjcers hls such a great Influence on the feelings the Germans, If my observation has
wishes respecting simple menus were I of the people that any outward signs j ')een accurate. \Y hat is commonly re-
always carefully followed. I of enthusiasm wfcich they displayed ferred t0 ns German thrift Is only a
The kaiser enjoyed American hu- ' must lie liberally discounted. The j P°,ite name for German stinginess, and
mor. He was very fond of Mark demonstrations In favor of the kaiser ! * have seen so many illustrations of
ally that when he put on his military
coat he put it on right over his under-
shirt.
Homhurg was much nearer the fir-
tics.
"You can't expect the nations of the
world to deal with America as they
deal among themselves when the next
t • . , . - | "Ivl t ilC > Uo Y ci jf J
ing line than Pless, although, of course, ^adopUonofan en™~ « I and he foflowed one ortwo"*of | and his leaders since the war have |the Petty meanness of the German peo-
policy," he declared.
at a very safe distance. I noticed,
t . * | f - . | " «« " "c uue ur IWO Ol . uio icaucia jiulc tuc ui 11 it v tr ; • * —
ucnjlared ^ThercT °rG be i Alnerican monthlies and weeklies j been more or less artificial, the crowd j P,e tliat seems idle to specify single
however, that here antiaircraft 8uns imthin'g stab'^about the fore^n^licv ' m°rC °F 'eSS re£ular|Jr- He told me : being worked up by government agents instances.
hud been planted, but apart from that; of a natJon w'hose leaders change every I ,hat* °De evenIng whlIe ,n his sitting and the press accounts have invariably One of the first impressions I re-
there was hardly any more activity four years" i room in the Berlin palace, reading j magnified them. Before the war, how-
than th«re had been at Picas. America" * nti ' something in an American magazine, j ever, whatever acclaim the kaiser re-
Whlle walking down the corridor 1 8tant sourceof mtair^sment to The'! ''e aCr°SS a St0ry whlch cause'1 ! ceived from the public came sponta-
was stopped by an officer and asked kalser He a|wavs seemed undecided 1 t0 gh S° muCh and 80 loud that ' neously' and was for tliat reason of ; ship among them. Class distinctions
who I was, but, as a rule, I came and „s to lust how he should nn the ,adleS of the court' who 1,eard him i «reater significance. are drawn so fine, and there are so
In an adjacent room, came ruining in j I know that whenever the kaiser | many gradations, that it was almost
ceived about the German people, when
I went to live among them fourteen
years ago, was the lack of comrade-
went without molestation and seldom ! American of prominence. If he bap-
had to show my pass, which one of the p«?ned to be of the same political faith
kaiser's adjutants had given me and as the administration, the kaiser was
which permitted me to enter and leave i afraid to do hirn too much honor for
army headquarters for the whole year fear of offending the opposing party,
191
When I wns driven through the
streets of Hotnburg, both coming from
and going to the railroad station, In the
kaiser's motorcar, and the second-man,
or bugler, on the front seat, blew the
who might win the next election; and
If he were not of the same party as
the administration, the kaiser feared
to honor him lest more Immediate re-
sentment be stirred up In America.
Thus he refused to receive Bryan on
horn, people came running out off two different occasions when a Itepub-
stores and from afar to get a view cf
the Important personage who occupied
the kuiser's own car! Many of them
saluted me or rnised their hats, and I
thought how angry they would have
been had they known they were put-
Ing themselves to so much trouble to
salute an allen enemy 1
The ridiculousness of the whole
thing Impressed me very much. For
the moment I wus part of the play
which was ever being made to Im-
press and awe those whom the kal&er
was pleased to refer to as "my peo-
ple," but whose approbation means
everything, even to a monarch who
rules 'by divine right."
CHAPTER XIV.
The Kaiser and Things American.
Among the Germans generally there
is a surprising degree of ignorance re
garding conditions In America. The
untraveled German has but the vaguest
Ideas concerning our people and our
Institutions. I have had patients of
Intelligence and education ask me how
we are abe to cope with the Indians.
In view of the extent of German emi-
gration to America and the vast vol-
ume of commercial transactions be-
tween the two countries, It Is nlmost
unbelievable that such erroneous no-
tions should prevail In these enlight-
ened days, but they do.
This fact partially serves to explain
how easy It was for the kaiser and his
Inspired press to pull the wool over
the people's eyes regarding the unim-
portance of America's entry Into the
war. It doesn't explain at all, how-
ever, how completely the kaiser him-
self underestimated us and our power,
for I doubt whether there Is auy for-
eigner living, who has never visited
America who knows more about our
country than the German emperor. In-
deed, he wns more familiar with many
of our problems than many of our
countrymen, and he frequently reveal-
ed to me In the course of our conver-
sations how thoroughly posted he was
on American conditions.
Long before the subject of forest
conservation was taken up seriously in
this country, the kaiser pointed out to
me what a great mistake we were
making in not devoting more atten-
tion to it.
"Can you tell me, Davis, why you
Imve so ninny forest fires in your coun-
try?" be asked, after a particularly
destructive conflagration In the West
had destroyed many acres of timber,
"How does It happen?"
I explained to him that most of the
forwt flres came from sparks from
locomotive*. Careless lumbermen al-
lowed the branches which they lopped
oft the trees to remain on the froiihd ; tane*
and when thpy wef* ignited by apnrUs "Tlip* say flit*.*** tmhhiha tower* ar*4
the Are sometimes BpiSHitl to the dttolit i arnjwl.1 ht? Wbttt oil; "but ,voU wouhi |
impossible to find two Germans on the
same social plane. Oue was always the
other's superior. After my fourteen
with their knitting to see what the ! called at my office great crowds gath-
matter was. j ered outside to catch a glimpse of him
The kaiser had little respect for our when he came out. They waited pa-
architecture. He thought our sky- tlently, sometimes for as long as an years' experience among these people,
scrapers, of which he had seen lllus- hour, for the sake of greeting their ! i cannot say that that early impression
trations, were hideous. , emperor. Their conduct on these oc- j has been removed; if anything, it has
"How terrible to desecrate the land- ; casions showed very plainly thnt he I heen deepened. ' ' <
scape with such tall buildings," he hfld a strong hold on their affections.
Ilcan administration was in power.
He criticized very strongly, too, our
election methods.
"Instead of discussing principles,
your political candidates exchange per-
sonalities," he said. "My people would
be shocked at the sort of speeches and
accusations which figure in all your
political campaigns. Over here, noth-
ing of the kind Is ever heard."
The kaiser was very much Interested
In our negro problem. It seemed to
have a great fascination for him, and
he frequently referred to It He told
me that he understood there were
15,000,000 negroes In this country, but
they were dying off In great numbers
through consumption and other dis-
eases to which they offered but poor
resistance.
"The negro will always be a great
problem In your country, however," he
added. "They don't mix socially with
the whites, and there will be constant
friction. My brother (Prince Henry),
when he returned from his visit to
America, told me a lot about these
negroes. Indeed, one of the most Im-
pressive things he heard there was a
choir of negro voices. He said they
sang some wonderful melodies, and
their voices were as clear as bells."
After the war started, the kaiser
referred to the negroes again. "Now
Is your chance to settle your negro
problem," lie declared, half facetiously,
of course. "If America insists upon
coming Into the war, why doesn't she
send her negroes across and let us
shoot them down?"
When a fleet of our battleships vis-
ited Kiel some six years ago the kaLser
paid them a visit and wns very much
interested. When he called to see me
shortly afterward he told me of his
experience.
"I went over the ships from top to
bottom," he declared. "They are ex-
cellent vessels, every one of them, and
I was very much Impressed with the
way they are manned and officered. I
have only one criticism—the lattice-
work conning towers, or fighting
masts. The only possible use I can
see In them would be to train vines on
them and Install an elevator inside,
and serve tea In the afternoon to the
Indies on top—the most beautiful place
for serving afternoon tea I can Imag-
ine.
"But, seriously speaking," he went
on, "I can\see that these masts have
any practical value. On the contrary,
I can see very serious disadvantages
"Your rich Americans have so much
money, Davis, that they really don't
know what to do with it. Why, re-
cently one of your ^nilllonalres saw
my castle at Corfu and sent one of his
representatives to the court with the
presumptuous message, 'Please tell the
kaiser that I will buy nis castle at
Corfu, and ask him what's Ills price!'
I had word sent back that the castle
was not for sale. The American then
told my representative that he wouldn't
take 'no' for an answer. The cheek of
the man! He said he didn't care how
much it cost. I sent word back to
that man that there were not enough
dollars in the world to buy that castle.
There are some things that your dol-
lars won't buy, Davis, and one of them
is my beautiful castle at Corfu 1"
CHAPTER XV.
The German People.
The oath of allegiance which every
German soldier and public official
takes binds him first to support the
kaiser, with his life and his money,
and then the fatherland.
That is what the kaiser referred to
when he said, in the course of an ad-
dress to a body of recruits at Pots-
dam :
"Body and soul you oelong to me.
Xf I command you to shoot your fa-
thers and your mothers . . . you
must follow my command without a
murmur."
he
commented. The kaiser was their idol, and they
Perhaps the quality that he envied were ready to suffer any Inconvenience
most in us was our inventive genius, j for the sake of doing him honor.
When Orvllle Wright was flying at It was customary for classes of
Tempelhofer Feld, In Berlin, In the : school children to be taken to the Tier-
early days of aviation, the kaiser garten from time to time to study the
could not restrain his admiration. ! groups of statues of the kaiser's an-
"I wish I could encourage my people ! cestors in the Sieges Allee. They usual-
to become great inventors, such as i '5* passed my house on their way t«
America has produced," he declared, i their object-lesson in patriotism. Some-
rather hopelessly. "I admire your ; times, when the kaiser was at ray
wonderful inventive genius." i house, I have seen these children balt-
The kaiser objected very much to the f ^ front of the place to await the
fact that many of the foreign opera i emPeror's departure, their teachers, no
singers were attracted to New York i doubt, feeling that the youngsters
by reason of the fabulous sums paid j would sain greater Inspiration from
them at the Metropolitan opera house. ! a fl*eting glimpse of the living mon-
Desplte the fact that the kaiser ac- j ar(,h than they could possibly derive
cused us of spending our money too ! from a prolonged study of the statues
lavishly, he repeatedly charged the j ^'s deParted ancestors.
English as well as ourselves with be- I ^ost of my patients knew that the
ing money-worshipers j ka,ser visited me, and they never tired
"The Anglo-Saxons worship mam- °f asking questions about him. It was
mon, and they try to gloss it all over ! a}mos[ IinPossihle for them to believe
with a show of religion," he said, that they were to have the privilege of
sitting In the very chair which their
kaiser had occupied.
"Does the kaiser actually sit In this
very chair?" they would ask in Incred-
ulous tones. "Does he ever talk about
anything? Please tell me what he said
the last time he was here."
A new Germati office girl whom I had
engaged attracted the kaiser's atten-
tion, ami he was gracious enough to
shake hands with her. After he had
left the girl held out the hand the kai-
ser had grasped and said she wouldn't
wash it for a week!
"Just to think, this hand has grasped
the kaiser's hand! When I tell nay
family about it tonight they won't be-
lieve it I"
The fact that the kaiser condescend-
ed to acknowledge the plaudits of his
people by a salute or a wave of the
hand was cited ns proof of his gra-
ciousness and kindness; their god was
smiling on them, and their gratifica-
tion was overwhelming.
To maintain this state of veneration
was one of the kaiser's principal con-
cerns. That was why he never ap-
peared in public except In full uniform;
why he always rode a white horse,
while the rest of his staff rode dark
ones; why the pictures of him that
were allowed to be circulated always
showed him to the very best advan-
tage; why every case of lese majeste
was punished with the utmost severity;
why, in short, every possible precau-
tion was taken that the exalted Ideas
which the public held regarding their
The same thought Is Involved, of j kaiser should never be undermined,
course, in the kaiser's Invariable use With this spirit of devotion domlnat-
of the possessive pronoun, first person, Ing the people generally, It was only
In talking of the German people. He to be expected thnt they should have
In them. No matter what nation you j always says "my people," never "the j stood solidly behind their emperor
might be fighting, your enemy wou'.d j people." The worst feature about it | when he sought to achieve the one
always be able to recognise you at a j Is that hot only does the kaiser pro- ambition of hla llfe-*hls dream of
distance, before you could identify ; ceed upon the assumption that he owns1 World dominion.
hthii because the warships of all other i the German people "body and soul." There Is no doubt thnt the tvar m
nations look my much nllkfe at a dift- j but the people themselves are willing planned ahd Wade oossible hv thJ Zu
rtritttft It Tb* (inHrilhno , , . . ! . P Ul* 1X31,1
<0 ada".Th, tom*,,* to to* ^MSZSnZttmXSl SU?
IMT: i"" trf, '•frort ">><«r wn,
Venefntlon ilnd awe bt the kaiser ar* people its toil ournose and i 1
Such were the people behind the
kaiser when the great war started. I
j shall never forget the sentiments ex-
pressed to me by private individuals
In every walk of life as the various
phases of the war developed.
No measure that was taken by !Jor-
many, no matter how atrocious ov In-
consistent with the world's idea of
what Is permissible In civilized war-
fare, ever brought a word of condem-
nation from the German public as a
whole, although, of course, there jrere
some notable exceptions. The greut
majority of Germans who discussed
these matters with me, however, not
only defended everything Germany did,
but complained because more rigorous
measures were not taken.
Merely by way of example, and not
because her suggestion was any worse
than hundreds of others raised by my
German patients, I may mention the
surprising viewpoint expressed by the
Countess Sierstorpff, a relative of Von
Henckel-Donnersmarch. It was after
Italy had Joined the allies and when
German resentment against that na-
tion ran very high.
"What we should do at the very flrnt
available opportunity," she declared,
"Is to destroy every single work of art
In Italy. Not a single one of their
landmarks or art treasures should be
left standing. Then when the war is
over and Italy no longer derives the
enormous revenue she has been col-
lecting for years from tourists, she will
be sorry for what she has done to
Germany!"
Did the German people countenance
the submarine warfare and the slaugh*
ter of innocent women and children. In
defiance of all rules of International
law and the dictates of common hu-
manity? They had only one criticism
to make of It—It was not comprehen-
sive enough! It was absolute folly, If
not a crime, they said, for Germany
to prescribe snfety lanes for neutral
vessels to use. The whole world should
have been declared a war zone, that
death and destruction might be dealt
wherever and whenever the opportun-
ity offered. Every ship that sailed
should be sunk, nnd every American
who ventured within range of a Ger-
man gun, on sea or land, should be
shot That was the universal senti-
ment
The suggestion that a continuation
of the submarine warfare would In-
evitably bring America Into the war
did not perturb the people In the
slightest
"How can America do us more harm
than she Is now doing?" they B«ked.
"American bullets are shooting down
our men, American food Is sustaining
our enemies. American dollars are
working against us in every possiblti
-way. Let America cotne Into the *af
and glva us a cha&ce to pay her back
for what she has done to us. Bhti
t ha#tn US atiy more if shefrcN
Itelllgprent. Why allow her to ftK
IV
the fire sometimes splVii'l lit the UttcUt aftubU, ht weal oil, "but yoU would Venefhtlon ilnd awe bt th kaiser it re people its real Bun o«e'nnd i i ,h . 1,l,|il&p,'ent- u".v "',mv her I
Umb*r, hn the facility fur with j nerel- fet dose enough to *our enemy j bred in th« btfUe of tilts CWUfepg. bji en ; goal i but If anyone ImeflOM thiUttJ j,nni" ae" ^
- b *
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McDowell, C. S. Canadian Valley Record. (Canton, Okla.), Vol. 8, No. 20, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 24, 1918, newspaper, October 24, 1918; (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc176240/m1/2/: accessed April 24, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.