Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-02-21
THE KAISER.
Versatile, Full Of Information, but De-
fcient In Judgment.

From the London Spectator.
The kaiser, we take it, is not a man Of
any exceptional intellectual gifts. He is Of
course, by no means devoid Of brain power;
but the type to which he belongs is rather
| that Of the versatile and quick witted than
| that of the clear and profound intelligence
He Is a clever man no doubt, and possesses
immense mental energy; but his mind is
apt to move along the surface of things
and to find pleasure in detail rather than in
essentials. His is not the mind which takes
a firm grasp of one or two great principles
and follows them to the end. His mind Is
packed with samples Of almost everything
that Is to be known, but his store is soon
exhausted. In fact. the emperor Is intel
lectually rather like a successful newspaper.
He can always surprise the world by being
| able to produce a fairly sensible opinion
| upon almost any conceivable subject, and.
what is more, can always show a con-
siderable amount of expert knowledge
thereon. Again. like the ideal journalist,
he is without prejudices New things and
new ideas do not frighten him, or annoy
him, or even perplex him, but attract him.
His mind is adaptable to the last degree,
and there is nothing approaching that petri-
fication of the spirit which too often clings
to the men of the older civilizations.
But though this versatile, eager, active,
stimulating spirit has many good Sides 1t Is
OFTEN joined W1CH a want Judgment DOCn
regards men and things. The slow men
do not always judge rightly, or the quick
men always wrongly; but with exceptional
quickness and versatility too often goes a
want Of appreciation of the essential condi-
lions of problem. The mind is too full of
ideas or too easily moved by the rapidly
shifting pageant of events, is too much in
a ferment of eager interest, to receive those
deeper impressions on which the mind acts
or by which 1t Is restrained instinctively.
This seems to be exactly the case with the
German emperor He is one of the quick
men who have-but little real strength Of
judgment. Take as an example the tele-
gram to President Kruger. The emperor
prides himself on his knowledge of England
and Englishmen, and on the sympathy Of
comprehension which he possesses in re-
gard to us as people; and as casual OBJ
server might say that by his visits here and
his study of England he had learned all that
was to be known about England But in
truth the impression made has been only
passing and superficial. Had it been deeper
it would have taught him. what he only
realized too late, that the telegram would
be resented with the whole force of the
English character. and by those who dis
approved of the raid quite as much as by
those who were inclined to condone 1t. The
kaiser had completely misjudged us.
1t Is the same in regard to America. One
Is often astonished by indicat tons of how
much the German emperor seems to know
about America and the American tempera-
ment, and yet when 1t comes to the moment
for action he shows that he has utterly
failed to understand the people with whom
he is dealing. His understanding is seen to
be superficial his misunderstanding funda-
mental No one who really understood the
Americans could have thought that any
thing was to be gained by the way in which
the. German embassy at Washington at
tempted to influence public opinion by the
visit of Prince Henry. by the christening of
a yacht by Miss Roosevelt. or by the gift
Of the statue of Frederick the Great. Want
of judgment was shown in every step of the
kafser's spirited but unsuccessful attempt
to capture the American people.