OCR Text |
Show j for Fourteen Years jf j g-3-P jo I By ARTHUR N. DAVIS, D. D. S. j 00X00 (Copyright, 1318, by the McClure Newspaper Syndicate.) j 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 Ktartcd, when his attention was naturally natu-rally occupied by many pressing problems, prob-lems, he did not neglect his teeth, but came to me as regularly as he had always al-ways done. Of tills I was very glad, because It gave me an opportunity to draw the kaiser ont on many of the Interesting questions which the war suggested and which I found him always ready to discuss. Perhaps the fact that I 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 tirst time I saw the kaiser after the war started was about August 10, 1014. Between eleven and twelve o'clock the night before, I had been notified by telephone that the kaiser would like me to attend Mm at the Berlin palace the following morning at nine o'clock. He was about to make his. first visit to the front and wanted his teeth examined before he went. The work I had 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 nny assistance I might need, but left the room when I was through. "I3;ive you been reading in the papers, pa-pers, Davis," the kaiser asked when we were alone, "how our soldiers have been treated by the Belgians?" I said I had not had a' chance to read the papers that morning." "Well, you must certainly read them. They've been gouging out the eyes of our wounded and mutilating my men horribly ! They call it modern, civilized civi-lized warfare. That's savagery! I hope your president is taking notice of these atrocities." Of course I was In no position to contradict the kaiser's assertions, as I was not in possession of any of the facts, but I learned afterward that four American newspaper correspondents correspond-ents 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 matter mat-ter how far they had to travel to verify ver-ify it. When they had finally exhausted exhaust-ed every clue and followed every lead they had not found a single case to justify the charge the kaiser had made against the Belgians and which, of course, the inspired German press continued con-tinued to report from day to day. ! The object of these lies was to justify jus-tify the outrages which the Germans were committing in their plan to terrorize ter-rorize the inhabitants of the countries they were overrunning. According to reports the activities of franc-tlreurs in the occupied territories were met by the Germans with the most barbaric bar-baric punishments, crucifixion and similar atrocities being very common. Undoubtedly the kaiser was aware of Vihat his soldiers were doing, and to defend their conduct he lent a ready ear to the unfounded charges made against the Belgians. "I have already framed a message which I intend sending to your president presi-dent 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 by my soldiers but in the shape of unused un-used cartridges which we found in the captured forts." Strangely enough, the kaiser sent oT his protest to President Wilson about the same day that President Poincare forwarded a similar protest based upon the use of dumdum ballets by the Germans. Regarding the violation of Belgium's leutrality, the kaiser was able to offer of-fer 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 eyes for taking by force what Belgium refused to sell. "Uow foolish of Belgium to have resisted re-sisted us !" he declared, in this connection. con-nection. "Had they consented to let us walk through we would have paid for everything everything! Not a hair of their heads would have been touched and Belgium today would be in the same happy financial condition that Luxembourg is." At a subsequent interview we referred re-ferred to Belgium again, and the kaiser kai-ser alleged that Japan had violated the neutrality of China when she sent troops through Chinese territory to seize Kiao-Chau. "It is all right for the allies to do these things," he commented sarcastically, sarcas-tically, "but when Germany does them 'Cngland rises up in righteous indig-tion. indig-tion. The hypocrites! Why, we ml papers in Brussels which vi-d conclusively that England and ira had a secret agreement by in the event of war with Ger-"ngrand Ger-"ngrand was to be permitted to "Belgium ! We've got those pa-lli'iliu. pa-lli'iliu. We could have no more positive proof against them. The Belgians were simply England's tools !" Some of the arguments the kaiser raised in his discussions with me regarding re-garding the war were so weak and untenable that one might well doubt his sincerity In urging them, but I shall give them for what they are worth. "They refer to us as the Huns !" the kaiser observed bitterly. "If your people could see what the Russians have done in the Bukowina and eastern east-ern Prussia they would know then who are the real Huns! They destroyed de-stroyed everything they could lay their hands on. In one of my shooting shoot-ing lodges which the Cossacks entered they even knocked out the teeth of tic boars' 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 con-structed in peace times and were designed de-signed solely for pillage and destruction. destruc-tion. "Instead of treating their soldiers as prisoners of war we should have strung them up by the neck every one of them !" Several prominent Poles, who were patients of mine and whose fine estates es-tates in Poland were looted and demolished, de-molished, told me positively that the destruction and depredations were committed entirely by German troops. The Russians had 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 Ger-mans that the acts of vandalism were committed and they had convincing evidence that in every case the German Ger-man soldiers and not the Russians were responsible. The outrages committed by the Germans Ger-mans in their treatment of prisoners of war will probably never be known in their entirety. We do know that they executed Captain Fryatt, the commander of a British merchant vessel, ves-sel, who was captured after he had rammed a German U-boat. I don't know to what extent the kaiser was directly responsible for that dastardly crime, but from what he said regarding regard-ing the capture of another British captain, cap-tain, the commander of the Baralong, It was quite evident that he was in entire sympathy with acts of that character. A German U-boat had sank a British Brit-ish vessel upon which were some of the relatives of the crew of the Bara-loug. Bara-loug. The crew of this U-boat was subsequently captured by the Baralong, Bara-long, and according to reports in Ger-mnnv Ger-mnnv thev were hnrshlv trentert. Then it was reported that the Baralong had been captured and that her captain and the crew would be summarily dealt with. "I hear we have captured the captain cap-tain of the Baralong," the kaiser declared de-clared to me at that time. "If we can prove that he's the man we'll fix him I" 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 in-vading 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. "Roumania wanted our gold for food products," he told me. "They demanded demand-ed 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 foolishly declared war against us and we got it all for nothing! When I spoke to Hindenburg about the contemplated con-templated campaign against Roumania Rouma-nia he said, This will be a very interesting inter-esting campaign.' It was. We got all we wanted and didn't have to pay a penny for it" The kaiser beamed all over as he contemplated the results of Rouma-nia's Rouma-nia's entry in the war. When the German troops entered Tarnapol, Russia, at a later time they captured vast quantities of America-made America-made hospital supplies. "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 belorced to them. 'They are our private noperty; we bought them and we should be compensated if you seize them,' they contended. 'Did you pay for them?' my officer asked. 'No, we didn't pay for them, but we gave our notes,' they replied. 'Then,' said my officers, 'when you take up those notes we'll pay for these stores ; in the meanwhile we'll just take them.' We secured bandages, serums everything. every-thing. In fact, that we needad so vrj badly, and we got them all for nothing noth-ing I" I did not know at that time that the German army lacked medical supplies, but later I saw paper bandages in C3e. I have previously referred to the kaiser's defense of the use ef Zeppelins Zeppe-lins against Paris, London and other nonmilitary cities. He claimed that it was proper to make war on civrTians, because England was endeavoring to starve Germany. On one occasion I pointed out to him that in 1ST0 the Germans had besieged Paris and had starved Its population. "The cases are entirely different," he answered hastily. "Then we were besieging a city and the civilian population pop-ulation had plenty of opportunity to evacuate 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 couldn't help thinking of the "whole nations" which had been absolutely ab-solutely crushed under the kaiser's heel of Belgium, Servia and Poland. The kaiser never admitted that the destruction of the Lusltania was a result re-sult of special instructions from him to the U-boat commander, but in discussing dis-cussing the general subject of submarine subma-rine warfare he asked : "What right have Americans to take passage on these vessels, anyway? If they came onto the battlefield they would not expect ns to stop firing, would they? Why should they expect nny greater protection when they enter en-ter the war zone at sea? "Don't ever forget," he went oil "a bullet from a pistol would be enough to sink one of our U-boats. How can we stop and board vessels we encounter encoun-ter to ascertain whether they are neutral neu-tral and not carrying contraband? If what appears to be a neutral should in fact prove to be a belligerent, or if a belligerent should hnave to in response re-sponse to the command of one of our 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." When I suggested that while the vulnerability of the submarine undoubtedly un-doubtedly lessened its value in connection con-nection with the right of search which belligerents have under international law, still the law ought to be observed, ob-served, the kaiser interrupted me hastily has-tily with the remark : "International law! There Is no such thing as international law any more!" In 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 recog-nized no International law but were guided solely by their ideas of expediency expedi-ency and the demands of "kultur," then the whole course of the war became be-came perfectly clear. The use of poisonous poi-sonous gas, the destruction of unfortified unfor-tified towns, the desecration of churches, the attacks on hospitals and Red Cross units, the countless atrocities atroci-ties committed against civilians and prisoners of war require no other explanation. ex-planation. No such thing as international law any more! CHAPTER VI. Democracy's Worst Enemy. The great military machine which the kaiser had built up during the first 26 years of his reign "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 Peace" during dur-ing 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 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 Aus-trian throne, and Ills wife by a Serbian Ser-bian on June 29, 1914, gave Germany 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 doubt very much whether the kaiser would have allowed that event to have gone unavenged. It touched him in one of his most vulnerable spots. The sanctity of royalty roy-alty is one of his most cherished ideas. He felt sponsor for the monarchies of the world, as we feel sponsor for the democracies. A thrust at a throne was a stab at the kaiser's heart, and with or without the co-operation of Austria I firmly believe he would have gone to any lengths to have avenged the crime of Sarajevo. It is true that the kaiser sent a message to the czar of Russia in which 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 can be no doubt that that was very far from the outcome dearest to his heart. If. indeed, the punishment of Serbia had been accomplished without with-out war the kaiser would have been a most disappointed man, and it Russia had failed to mobilize her troops, which gave Germany a pretext for crossing the Russian border, I haven't the slightest doubt that Germany would have prodded Russia into war, anyway, knowing that France would follow. "Der Tag" (the day) had come for which Germany had been planning and plotting, and nothing on earth could now Interfere with the execution ex-ecution of the program. How firmly the kaiser was wedded to the dynastic Idea and how deeply he abhorred the spirit of democracy was revealed throughout the whole course of his life, and In his conversations conversa-tions with me he frequently gave expression ex-pression to views which disclosed how thoroughly he believed in the "divine right of kings." I saw him shortly after Wilson's election In 1912. "What will America ever accomplish with a professor at Its head?" he asked, sneeringly. "Davis, your country coun-try will never be truly great until It becomes a monarchy !" On another occasion he sneered at conditions in England. "Look at England today," he remarked. re-marked. "She is ruled by Lloyd George, a socialist ! Why, England Is virtually a republic, as bad as France ! What's become of the king of England? Eng-land? One never hears of him any more ! Why doesn't he assert himself?" him-self?" The tone of disgust with which he gave vent to these sentiments was more significant, perhaps, than the words used might Imply. "Tour president is trying to overthrow over-throw me and my family from the throne of Germany by his notes," he commented bitterly, when I saw him shortly after the publication of the president's reply to the pope, "but he little understands how loyal are my people and now futile his efforts will prove. They held meetings recently all ov?r the empire. In every city and village, and showed their allegiance to me In no uncertain way, and yoar president received the answer from my people that he deserved !" I wondered won-dered whether the kaiser was unaware of the fact that all these meetings had been inspired by the government and their useful agent, the press, or whether he was once again making use of his histrionic ability. Although Germany is regarded as the cradle of socialism, to the kaiser it was a cancer which was slowly eating eat-ing away the foundations of his empire em-pire and he viewed its progress with the direst misgivings. Before the war he steadfastly refused re-fused to receive a deputation of socialists so-cialists and never once gave an audience audi-ence to the leaders of the socialist party in the relchstag, although the heads of committees of all the other political parties wero at times received re-ceived in conference. While the reichstag was little more than a children's debating society, the growth and increasing power of the socialistic party, which was constantly clamoring for the reform vote, could not be ignored, and no doubt had a great deal to do with the militarists' anxiety not to postpone the war too long. After mobillzatioai was ordered, however, the kaiser decided to recede from his position sosnewhat, and from the balcony of the palace in Berlin, in front of which an. enormous crowd had gathered, he declared significantly significant-ly : "I recognize no pnjties. We are now all Germans." If anyone imagines, however, that his kowtowing to the socialists in this instance was evidence of a permanent change of heart, Le little appreciates hrtw tpmlv Tnnfprt ia th Irnispr's nh- horrence of socialism and democracy. Indeed, one of the principal things the kaiser hoped to accomplish by prosecuting prose-cuting the war to a triumphant conclusion con-clusion was the blow it would deal to socialistic progress. He felt that victory would make his army the idol of the people and that their monarch would shine in the reflected glory of their martial achievements. A successful suc-cessful war, he believed, would set socialism so-cialism back a hundred years. Certain it is the war brought no change in the kaiser's personal habits. Even to curry favor with the socialistic socialis-tic element he never unbent to the slightest degrea in his outward display dis-play of kingly attributes. In all his career the German people had never seen thsir kaiser other than in his royal uniform, and at all military parades pa-rades or reviews he always rode a white horse, that he might be most conspicuous, and bore the royal mace which his ancestors had carried centuries centu-ries before him. With the death struggle between medieval monarchy and democracy raging about him the kaiser was determined to yield not a tittle of his' prerogatives. - His automobile auto-mobile still made its coming known by its distinctive "tade-tada-ta-ta" and the royal palaces were maintained in all their accustomed pomp. But while the kaiser's armies were triumphant in the field, the principle which he was combating was everywhere every-where gaining ground. On March 15, 1917, the czar abdicated and Russia, whose autocratic form of government had long been the envy of the German aristocracy, became a republic ! "The downfall of the Russian empire em-pire was brought about by England because she feared that the czar was about to make a separate peace," the kaiser commented to me. "As a matter mat-ter of fact, however, neither the czar nor his government ever apprt ached us on that subject, and when England overthrew the Russian monarchy she defeated her very purpose. With the czar on the throne Russia would probably prob-ably have gone on fighting us." Although the kaiser bore no particular particu-lar love for the czar, whom he was fighting, he had no desire to convert the empire into a democracy, and his bitterness toward England for what he thought was her part in the establishment estab-lishment of the Russian republic was very pronounced. When, a few months later, the abdication abdi-cation of the czar was followed by the abdication of King Constantine of Greece, the kaiser sustained another blow which hurt him mora than the defeat of one of his armies would have done. "They are trying to force their rotten rot-ten form of democratic government on Greece," he declared fiercely. "The way they have treated my poor sister, the queen of Greece, is a shame and a disgrace. They talk about our invasion inva-sion of Belgium, Dut their actions in Greece are infinitely worse. I have studied the English people for twenty-five twenty-five years, and they always try to cover their ac ts with religion and the talk of benefits to civilization and humanity, hu-manity, but, hypocrites that they are, they continue to grab all thoy can get their hands on just the same 1" The fact that Greece had a treaty with Serbia which required her to take up arms if Serbia were attacked and that she had failed to meet her obligations obli-gations in that respect was naturally of no significance to the kaiser, to whom treaties were but scraps of paper. pa-per. The keynote of the kaiser's military program lay in the fact that he realized real-ized that it was necessary for him to win in order to hold his throne. I feel quite eure that if the allies were willing wil-ling to concede to Germany all the territory ter-ritory she has conquered Belgium, Serbia, Poland, Roumania, Russia and part of France, and restore all her colonies, col-onies, upon condition that the kaiser step down from the throne, he would reject the proposition without a moment's mo-ment's hesitation. "Tour country would like to make a republic out of Germany," he commented, com-mented, "a republic like France, perhaps, per-haps, going down and down all the time a country ruled by lawyers!" And he mentioned half a rfiozen of the great French statesmen who were members of the legal profession. "It's a sad thing for a country when It gets into the hands of the lawyers. France and Italy are already controlled by them, and America and England are rapidly following their example !" The kaiser regarded the German people as his own property to do with as he liked. When I referred to the "German people" in conversation he would delicately correct me by referring refer-ring in his reply to "my people." When, for instance, I said on one occasion, oc-casion, "I understand, your majesty, that the German people are anxious for peace," he answered, "Tes, Davis, my people are strongly in favor of peace, but they want a German peace no allied peace!" He believed that just as the universe is ruled by God so should the earth be dominated by an earthly ruler and that God had selected him for the task. To displace him In favor of a republican repub-lican form of government, to substitute substi-tute a ruler elected by the people for a monarch designated by God was in his opinion the basest sort of sacrilege, and the unfortunate part of It all was that the majority of his people coincided co-incided with him. They preferred to be ruled by a hand of iron rather than to rule themselves. Some day they may be awakened to the blessings of self-government, but up to the present time they have not shown the slightest Indication that they would prefer to rule than be ruled, and because they submit so willingly to the kaiser's domination dom-ination he has become obsessed with the idea that the rest of the world should follow suit. The kaiser and other German leaders believed that their army was invincible and that when Der Tag "the day" arrived, Germany would crush her enemies en-emies and gain all her ends within a few months. Even after America entered the war, the kaiser seemed supremely confident of ar overwhelming victory. Doctor Davis relates some of the kaiser's boasts in the next installment of his narrative. nar-rative. (TO BE CONTINUED.) |