The times., 1901-04-02
The Kaiser,s Idea OF Propriety.

There is q delicate and difficult prob
lem 20 be solved by the Berlin police
department. 1t is the decision of the
question whether Emperor William
knows what constitutes propriety in
art. The way in which the question
came UP is this:
The Emperor was strolling past a
famous porcelain store recently, and
saw in the window a vase decorated
with figures in decollete costume 1t
was by a famous sculptor, and pleased
the Emperor very much He could not
see it clearly from the street. and so
entered the shop to have a better view
of it; and he told the manager Of his
admiration. A few days later the En-
press came in, and she also admired it
Her praise was so warm that the graft
fed proprietor decided to put the vase
in the middle OF the window SO that
everybody could see it.
He did so. The result was unhappy.
II ali came Of the enigmatical and Ia
I borious processes by which the Ger
man mind-the unadulterated unex-
palriated German mind-works. Those
tence. Of which it was Mark Twain who
said that when a literary German dives
into the vast collection Of words and
clauses which constitute il. you do not
see him again until he energies on the
other side Of his Atlantic with his verb
in his mouth. If that had been an Amer
! lean. he would have put big placard on
! that vase explaining in poIysyIlabic
| and polyglot phrases. 50 that no passer-
1 by, Of any nationality. should fail to
understand. that the Emperor had ad-
mired that vase, and the Empress had
| praised it. and that ii was on that ac-
! count the most beautiful vase not only
in Berlin. but in the whole of Germany,
and not only in Germany, but In the
/ world. and not only in the world. but,
/ So far as heard from in circumambient
/ space. And the placard would have
/ hidden the decollete figures, and no.
1 body would have had his feelings hurt.
/ That would have been the natural and
/ easy way for the American emporium
! king TO have acted. He would have
| been explicit: he would have been def
( mite. He would have gone through kim
! dergarten courses, if necessary, in or
/ der to leave no shadow of the ghost Of
/ a doubt In the mind Of anybody that
| the reason he was featuring that vase
! was not because he personally pre-
ferred decoIlete art, but because the
/ Emperor did and for him to disagree
with the Emperor would be lese mai
( este.
But no; the German shopkeeper did
nothing Of the kind. He simply set that
vase in plain sight in the middle of
the window. and left his public to
evolve the reason out Of its inner CON
sciOusuess. There may have been a
reason for this: we will not be hard
on him. II is possible that had he put
/ the explanation on placard there
would not have been room Tor any
| thing else in the window; not even the
! vase. He may have acted from neces-
! sity and not from ignorance But il
was a dangerous thing 10 do. all the
! same. The first thing that ne knew
somebody saw the vase and was
/ shocked. The shocked person informed
! the police department that there was
an improper vase IN the window of the
| crockery store. That evening two po-
! licemen entered the store and arrested
| the proprietor on the charge Of Offend
| ing public morals. They do everything
promptly in Germany everything ex-
! cept reach tie end Of a sentence before
train time. IN vain the proprietor ex-
| planned that the vase had been admired
| by persons Of the very highest rank. in
vain he protested that very high per-
sonage would not be pleased at this
affront TO his taste. II was all of no
use. The policemen did not even care
10 see the vase and judge of its merits
and demerits. That was not their bust