| Show the kaiser baisle TA as I 1 knew HM him for fourteen years 11 B by ARTHUR N DAVIS D D S copyright 1918 1913 tr by the til mcclure newspaper syndicate CHAPTER V 4 the kaiser defends german war methods the kaiser was always very careful about everything which might affect his health and even after the war started when his attention was naturally occupied by many pressing problems he did not neglect his teeth but came to me as regularly as he had always done of this I 1 was very glad because it gave me an opportunity to draw the kaiser out on many of the interesting questions which the war suggested and which I 1 found him always ready to discuss perhaps the fact that I 1 was an american led the kaiser to greater lengths in his justification of german war methods and measures than he might otherwise have thought necessary the first time I 1 saw the kaiser after the war started was vas about august 10 1914 between eleven and twelve the night before I 1 had been notified by telephone that the kaiser would like me to attend him at the berlin palace the following morning at nine he was about to make his first visit to the front and wanted his teeth examined before he went the work I 1 had bad to do for him was nothing of a serious character and did not occupy more than twenty minutes one of his valets stood by to give me any assistance I 1 might need but left the room when I 1 was through have you been reading in the papers davis the kaiser asked when we were alone how our soldiers have been treated by the belgians I 1 said I 1 had pot not had a chance to read the papers that morning I 1 well you must certainly read them been gouging out the eyes of our wounded and mutilating my men horribly I 1 they call it modern modem civilized warfare savagery I 1 I 1 hope your president Is taking notice of these atrocities of course I 1 was in no position to contradict the laisers kaisers kai sers assertions as I 1 was not in possession of any of the facts but I 1 learned afterward that four american newspaper correspondents had scoured germany from one end of the country to the other in an effort to run down these reports they left no rumor uninvestigated no mat ter how far they had bad to travel to verify it when they had finally exhausted every clue cine and followed every lead they bad not found a single ingle case to justify the charge the kaiser had made against the belgians and which of course the inspired german press continued to report from day to day the object of these lies was to justify the outrages which the germans were committing in their plan to terrorize the inhabitants of the countries they were overrunning according to reports the activities of franc in the occupied territories were met by the germans with the most barbaric punishments crucifixion and similar atrocities being very common undoubtedly the kaiser was aware of what his soldiers were doing and to defend their conduct he lent a ready read ear to the unfounded charges made against the belgians 1 I have already framed a message which I 1 intend sending to your prest president regarding the use of dumdum bullets by the belgians and french the kaiser went on we have ample proof to establish this charge not only in the character of the wounds suffered buffered by my soldiers but in the shape of unused cartridges which we found in the captured forts strangely enough the kaiser sent off his protest to president wilson about the same day that president Pol forwarded a similar protest based upon the use of dumdum bullets ballets by the germans regarding the violation of neutrality the kaiser was able to offer no reasonable argument the fact that he was willing to pay belgium for permission to allow his armies to go through that country was apparently sufficient justification in his bis eyes for taking by force what belgium refused to sell how foolish of belgium to have resisted he declared in this connection tion had they consented to let us walk through we would have paid for everything every thin everything I 1 not a hair of their beads heads would have been touched and belgium today would be in the same happy financial condition that luxembourg Is at n subsequent interview we referred to belgium again and the kat kal alleged that japan had ilo violated isolated the neutrality oti of china when she sent troops through chinese territory to seize xiao klao chau it lat Is all right for the allies to do these things he commented barcas sarcas iti cally but when germany does them england rises up in righteous indle nation mation the th e hypocrites hypocrite sl 1 why we found papers in BruE brussels sels which showed conclusively that england Englan dand and Bele belgium uru had bad a secret agreement by which in the event of war with germany england was to be permitted to ompy belgium I 1 weve got those payers la ja BUD berun we could have so no more positive proof against them the belgians were simply En glands tools 1 some of the arguments the kaiser raised in his discussions with me regarding the war were so weak and untenable that one might well doubt i his sincerity in urging them but 1 I shall give then them A for what they are worth they refer to us as the huns I 1 the kaiser observed bitterly if your people could see what the russians have done in the bukovina Buko Buk owina and eastern prussia they would know then who are the real huns I 1 they destroyed everything they could lay their hands on in one of my shooting lodges which the cossacks entered they even knocked out the teeth of the boars baars heads which hung on the walls with knives they cut out the covers of my chairs they had special fire bombs which they threw on peaceful villages these bombs had been constructed ted in peace times and were designed solely fo for r pillage and destruction I 1 I 1 instead of treating their soldiers as prisoners of war we should have strung them up by the neck every one of them I 1 several prominent poles who were patients of mine and whose fine es tates fates in poland were looted and demolished moli shed told me positively that the destruction and depredations were committed entirely by german troops the russians had bad occupied the houses when they were in possession of that section of the country but it was not until they were driven out by the germans that the acts of vandalism were committed and they had convincing evidence that in every case the german soldiers and not the russians were responsible the outrages committed by the germans in their treatment of prisoners prison ers of war will probably never be known in their entirety W we e do know that they executed captain fryatt the commander of a british merchant vessel who was captured after he nad biad rammed a german U boat I 1 dont know to what extent tb the e kaiser was directly re responsible for that dastardly crime but from what he said regard ing the capture of another british captain the commander of the Bar along it was quite evident that he was in entire sympathy with acts of that character A german U boat had sunk cunk a british vessel upon which were some of the relatives of the crew of the bara long the crew of this U boat was subsequently captured by the bara long and according to reports in germany they were harshly treated then it was reported that the Bar along had bad been captured and that her captain had and the crew would be summarily dealt with 1 I hear bear we have captured the captain of the Bar along the kaiser declared to me at that time if we can prove that hes the man well fix him I 1 the manner in which the kaiser spoke left no doubt in my mind that the direst punishment would be meted out to the unfortunate british captain booty Is undoubtedly a legitimate incident of war but it is legitimate only as an incident otherwise booty becomes loot in any event when invading troops seize private property it Is customary to pay for it that the germans were good takers but poor payers is revealed by two incidents which the kaiser narrated to me and the keen enjoyment he derived from them can be fully understood only by those who know how much the kaiser appreciates getting something for nothing Rou roumania Roum manta nula wanted our gold forwood for food products he told me they demanded pure gold and they set enormous prices on their wares but we needed what they had to sell and we were ready to pay even the outrageous prices they demanded and then they illey foolishly declared war against us d and nd we got it all for nothing I 1 when I 1 spoke to hindenburg about the contemplated tem plated campaign against bouma he said eald this will be a very interesting campaign it was we got all we wanted and have to pay a penny for it the kaiser beamed all allover over as he contemplated the results of kouma ilias entry in the war when the german troops entered russia at a later time they captured vast quantities of american made hospital supplies Bupp lles we were just figuring what this seizure amounted to and my army doctors were strutting around as if they owned the world declared the kaiser when one of my officers was approached by a group of long haired greasy jews who claimed that these supplies belonged to them they are our private property we bought them and we should be compensated compensate dif if you belze seiz them ethem 1 they contended did you pay for th themay them emmy my officer asked no wo we pay for them but we wa gave our notes they replied then said my olivern when you take up those notes well pay for these stores in the meanwhile well just take them we secured bandages serums every thine tu to fact that we needed so very badly and wo we ot jot them am all for nothing I 1 I 1 did not know at that time that tha german army lacked lac ked medical supplies but later I 1 saw paper bandages in uie use I 1 have previously referred to the kaisers keisers kai sers defense of the use of lins against paris london and other nonmilitary cities he claimed was proper to make war on civilians because england was endeavoring to starve tarve germany on one occasion I 1 pointed out to him that in 1870 the germans had besieged paris and had starved its population the cases are entirely different he answered hastily The nwe were a city find and the civilian population had plenty of opportunity to cv it before the siege began england Is besieging a whole nation and trying to starve my women and children who have nothing to do with war I 1 help thinking of the whole 0 le nations which had bad been absolutely sol crushed under the kalser kai sers 3 heel of belgium servia and poland the kaiser never admitted that the destruction of the lusitania was a result of special instructions from him to the U boat commander but in discussing the general subject of submarine warfare e he asked what right have americans to take passage on these vessels anyway if they came onto the battlefield they them would not expect us to td stop firing would they why should they expect tiny any greater protection when they enter the war zone at sea dont ever forget he be went on a bullet from a pistol would be enough to sink one of our U boats how can we stop and board vessels we encounter to ascertain whether they are neutral and not carrying contraband it if what appears to be a neutral should in III fact prove to be a belligerent or it if a belligerent should heave to in response to the command of one olour ot biow submarines how could we safely send a boarding party over when a rifle shot from the vessel in question would send us to the bottom obviously if america persists in sending munitions to the allies there Is but one thing for us to do sink the vessels vessel sl 1 when I 1 suggested that while the vulnerability of the submarine undoubtedly lessened its value in connection with the right of search which belligerents have under international law still the law ought to be observed the kaiser interrupted me ii hastily as with the remark international ab law I 1 filere othere Is no such thing as international law any I 1 more oret 1 in ahat that assertion of course lies the answer to all the questions which have arisen in connection with the conduct of the war if the germans recognized no international law but were guided solely by their ideas of expediency and the demands of kultar kul tur then the whole course of the war became perfectly clear the use of poisonous gas the destruction of unfortified towns the desecration of churches the attacks on hospitals and red ked cross units the countless atrocities committed against civilians and prisoners of war require no other explanation no such thing as international law any more morel I 1 CHAPTER VI worst enemy the great military machine which the kaiser had built up during the first 20 26 years of his reign reiga for the purpose of maintaining peace was constantly itching for war there was a feeling among the militarists that while it was all right for the kaiser to assume the role of the prince of pence peace during the period of preparation it was possible to overplay the part he so frequently referred to the fact that his sole purpose in maintaining a large army and navy was to maintain pence peace that the war lords of germany began to fear that perhaps he might mean it the murder of the archduke franz ferdinand the successor to the austrian throne and his wife by a serbian on june 29 1914 gave germany Germa fay the excuse for which she had been waiting so long to start a european conflagration and found austria as anxious for war as her ally but even had emperor franz joseph shown reluctance to plunge his nation into war and had austria refused to chastise serbia for the murder of the archduke I 1 doubt very much whether the kaiser would have allowed that event to have gone it touched him in one of his most vulnerable spots the sanctity of roy alty Is one of his most cherished ideas lie ile felt sponsor tor for the monarchies of the world as we feel sponsor for the democracies A thrust at a throne was a stab at the kaisers keisers kai sers heart and with or without the operation cooperation co of austria I 1 firmly believe he would have gone to any lengths to have avenged the crime of Saraj evo it Is tri true 1 ie jt that h a t we the kaiser pant sent it a message messa geto to the czar of russia jn which lie he pointed out that austria ought to be allowed to chastise serbia without interference from the other european powers remarking we princes must hold together but there tan can be no doubt that that was very tar far from the outcome dearest to his bis i heart hearl if indeed the punishment of serbia had been accomplished without war the kaiser would have been a most disappointed man and 12 I 1 russia had failed to mobilize her troops which rave gave germany a pretext for crossing the russian border I 1 the slightest doubt that germany would have prodded russia into war anyway knowing that france would fol follow lovi ver der tag the day had come I 1 for which abich germany had bad been planning and plotting end and nothing on earth could now tho execution of the program how firmly the kaiser was wedded to the dynastic idea and how deeply he be abhorred the spirit of democracy was revealed throughout the whole course of his life and indis conversations eions with me he frequently gave expression to views which disclosed liow how thoroughly he believed in the divine right of kings I 1 saw him shortly after wilsons Wll WIl sons election in 1912 1012 what will america ever accomplish with a professor at its head he asked sneeringly dails your country will never be truly great until it becomes a monar monarchy chyl 1 on another occasion he sneered at conditions in eagland Eb gland look at england today he remarked she Is ruled by lloyd george a socialist 1 why england Is virtually a republic as bad as france I 1 become of the king of england land one never hearson hears hear of him an any y morel why he assert himself the tone of |
