The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-06-13
KAISER WILLIAM
 JOY PREACHER Disseminates The Gospel Of
 CheerfuIneSs IS A HOBBY OF HIS court Photographers Renounce Right to Reproduce Pictures of the Elm peror and Other Members
 of Royal Family.
IS A HOBBY OF HIS
By MALCOLM CLARKE.

Berlin, June 12.-Emperor has delivered himself of a further contribution to the the gospel of cheerfu1ness, which his
 Majesty is never tired preaching to the people, The occasion was the close of the | great annual competition of male choirs | for the prize given by the sovereign. BLK years ago. under like circumstances the | Emperor insisted that ambitious modern vocal composition with combinations and progressions of an orchestral character were not suitable for the voices of men | who for the most part spent their days l in the impure or dusty atmosphere of | factories, and whose powers of song were l the result of a devotional sacrifice of | their scanty leisure. He then exhorted | conductors to go back to the simple and moving folk-songs, of which he promised | to have collection made which would be procurable by choirs at a moderate price. | This promise has since been fulfilled, but | the Emperor is not satisfied that suffi- | cient attention has been paid to his ad- | vice, and he declared that the principles | laid down by him in 1903 must be more ] closely followed, and difficult ohoruses | such as some he had just listened to l avoided. At the same time he expressed | his qualification that some of the choirs no longer made the conquest of technical | difficulties their chief object.
 His majesty further uttered a wish that | choirs should apply themselves more | than in the past to classics and cheerfu1- ness and the joir de yivre Nothing, he | said, was farther removed from him than ! to dissuade them from occupying them selves with serious art. Schuberts song, | "Ruhe Schonstes Gluck der Erde." sung by the Association of Berlin Choral | Teachers, had made the deepest impress l sion upon him, but 1t was not good to be | always singing about ooffins and death. The court photographers have been called upon to sign a document renounc- 1 ing their legal right of reproduction of | pictures of their majesties and other 1 members of the imperial family. This | step has been rendered necessary by l the number of composite photographs l which have been in circulation represent | ing the Emperor with his sons and grand- sons in poses that not only appeal to vulgar sentiment, but occasionally bor- | der on the ludicrous For instance, in one such picture, which bears the famous words, ''Unser Zufunft hegt auf dem | Wasser,' the Emperor, in admiraIs uni | form, Is represented pointing out the sea to the Crown Princes elder son, | WHO IS ln a 5AllOr LII luIuTo 6pt- | cia1 permission will be required for any | such picture before it can be published. Count Tolstoi has just come to @ de- | cision which places the Russian govern ment in an embarrassing position.
 Proceedings had been instituted against | certain publishers in respect of works by l Tolstoi. The publisher of the pamphlet l entitled '"rhou Shalt Not KilP' was | proceeded against. Realizing the danger | run by htose who are assisting him in his campaign, Tolstoi sent g. letter to | the authorities demanding that he, as l the responsible author of the phamplet, should be prosecuted.
 It Is stated that in accordance with the law the authorities will be obliged to prosecute Tolstoi for his lese majeste and that the writer runs the risk of being deported to Siberia.
 Interesting calculations are being made here as to what the trip from Berlin to Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance will cost on board one of zeppelins air cruis- CTS. There is no reason to suppose that the Zeppelin company will not have their Tine" in working order some time next year. It is computed that one cruiser can make 200 trips year. and that each trip will cost $500. This divided among 20 passengers, works out at S3o each A hrst-class ticket to Friedrtchshafen from Berlin costs at present by rail about $17.50. It is supposed that the air cruisers will take 12 hours on the journey, or about the same time as by rail
 The German government is considering fully-worked out scheme for building a | ship canal from Kiel to join the Elbe- | Trave canal This means placing the en- tire basins of the Elbe and the Oder in 1 connection with Kiel.
 This canal will be nearly 60 miles long, : and will cost nearly 100000 sterling. The 1 strategic importance of this great work ! is manifest When built 1t will also be 1 easier to supply Kiel with the coals and | iron necessary for naval purposes
 Singing Sparks is the expressive name | of an improved wireless system just per- | fected by the German 'Telefunken" Wire less Telegraphy company. Messrs. Slaby | and Aero, chief engineers of the com 1 pany, after whom the German system Is l generally called, have invented a device | which, 1t Is claimed, entirely obviates the uncertainties with which all wireless sys-
 tems have hitherto had to contend.
 l The new method consists of sending l out signals as pure musical tones which { are capable of being 'heard' by a re- ! ceiver, no matter how softly they are 1 attuned. It will thus be possible for the
 | first time since the existence of wireless
 | telegraphy to maintain telegraphic com
 l murdcations in spite of the most violent
 | atmospheric disturbances. Another ad-
 vantage claimed is that 1t will be pos
 l sible to work with much smaller "an-
 tennae" the "aerial wires'' by which en-
 ergy is absorbed and circulated. Sing
 ing Sparks are entirely noiseless