The Washington herald., 1910-11-17
THE KAISER AND
HIS A us E RS


haps he did two years age But since
his declaration Of guarantees" in 1908
Williams Will has not been absolute.
Public opinion rules more vigorously
every day. and Germany has genuine
parliamentary regime.
The Kaiser's great sorrow is his failure
to find chancellor after his own heart
Some one has said that ne is looking
for Cecil Rhodes. Unable to find his
ideal, he cannot control his mania for
writing and talking Ia all directions on
all kinds OF subjects. in season and out.
He knows that he talks too much. He
has acknowledged II repeatedly. but. II
10 any living man. TO him is applicable
the words Of Ovid In his "Metamorpho-
Sis" Isl naturam expellas furea, tamen
usque reeurret"
Had not Bismarck In his great loyalty,
warned the then crown prince by teasing
him. after some Of his breaks" with
the well-known Roman Maxim: 20 ST
tacuisses. philosophUs mansisses?" But
all 10 no avail
Think Of what a rumpus was raised by
the Kaiser at the time OF the notorious
Prince zu Eulenburg incident. how he
would brook no vices" at his court,
and all that Yet fl is well known IN
high diplomatic circles that the unfortu-
nate prince owed his downfall less to his
private vices than TO his refusal To sup
port Won Buelow In the Moroccan (Alge-
ciras) affair, and especially because he
would not subscribe to the lingo plan
10 risk another war with France.
The Kaiser Is the most sociable man
conceivable He just loves 10 talk with
interesting people. II he receives a cap
tain Of ldustry" he dresses Ike civilian.
Most demoeratically he shakes hands
with the visitor, and makes him sit be-
side him On the sofa When he wants 10
show him something he jumps up cry
ing; 'Kommen Sic NIT (come along).
" lhelm is a devourer OF newspapers.
The table IN his ante-room is loaded with
German papers. Endless clippings are
saved for him and pasted in an album.
in whose margins he writes comments
with colored pencils, generally green. In
his appointments he Is exceptionally
clever In ali the twenty years OF his
reign hs has not made one disastrous
appointment Furthermore, he knows
competent men, and this / consider his
greatest achievement. and one that made
his grandfather. William ]. so successful
and placed the German crown upon his
head az Versailles after the vanquishing
OF the French. il is noted that frequently
he goes TO the homes of great merchants
or manufacturers in Berlin, Jews or
Gentiles He means to be everywhere, to
/ see everything with his own eyes. like
I his ancestor, the great Frederick, after
whom he likes 10 pattern.
/ The court lives well. but not extraya-
gantly. At informal dancing parties given
for the young princes. court etiquette is
much relaxed The Kaiser allows his
daughter 10 dance with mere leutenants.
/ II is only AT Official balls that he chooses
her partners. As for the Empress. sne
greatly influences the Kaiser, and al
ways in the direction Of peace and har-
mony. It is not known generally, and GER
/ tainiy never before has been published,
but in the constitutional crisis Of 1903 il
was she who persuaded her husband TO
take Won BuelOw's advice and back down.
! The kronprinz is immensely popular.
owing TO an engaging frankness and
D
/ his father the truth about the Eulenburg
affair. At the famous Borchardt restau-
rant, in Berlin. the crown prince met a
4 lieutenant, who gave him the facts His
name was Gosslar. And he was a sworn
/ foe OF Won Buelow whom he never would
/ forgive for not taking the Kaiser's part
| IN the London Morning Telegraph inter
/ view.
! The Emperor has no especial love for
his present chancellor Won Bethmann-
/ HOllweg. whom ne knows stood shoulder
To shoulder with Won Buelow during the
! crisis Of 1908. that led 10 the declaration
I Of guarantees" In private Wilhelm
( aouts his chancellor. and when the man
had been IN Office but a few months. re-
/ plying 20 a joke involving a German pun,
/ Wilhelm said: He viii not sleep in Viii
! helmstrasse very long" He is still there.
Even Won BuelOw's enemies admit that
he was a personality. but his successor
has been described as a time-server. risen
1 through bureaucracy which engenders
servilism. He apes Prince Hohenlohe in
/ his official conduct who once remarked:
| THE ideals Of a Prussian official are 10
wear black and to keep his mouth shut "
Geheimer Staatsrath (privy couneilor)
Wehrmuth and Albert BALM. director
general Of the Hamburg American Steam
ship Line, are the most influential men
in present-day Germany. And yet none
ever would have predicted brilliant ca
reer for Wehrmuth, whose father was
/ police commissioner of the last King of
/ Hanover. man then morally on the
/ blacklist. For years the man subjected
/ Hanover to outrageous tyranny and as
the Germans put it: Der APPEL faeIlt
nieht welt vom Stamm'
/ Il was a dark day for the Liberal move
ment in Germany, when Adolf Wehrmuth
reached the top OF the bureaucratic HER
archy. I remember wen that at the time
OF the tariff squabble he remarked: "A
/ government always is as strong as Il
wants TO be" But he is a very indus
trious worker and his one ambition is
TO one day be minister OF commerce or
under secretary for the interior.
Balm, the steamship magnate. on the
other hand. cares little for courtiers and
the bureaucracy. A powerful financier
and skilled manager, he Is one OF the
Kaiser's most valued advisers. In mat
ters involving finance or the navy Won
Buelow, or even the late Lucanus, never
was so influential as this Hamburg He
brew What Baron Rothschild was 70
Napoleon III. and what Won Bleichroeder
was 10 Bismarck. Balm is to the Kaiser,
and it may Just como TO pass that some
day. through Ballin's influence. the Ham
burg American Line may down its Bre-
men rival. the Norddeutsche Lloyd
Emil Rathenau was unknown in Ger
many until 1883. To-day the name OF this
Jewish septuagenarian is a household
word in the land This is owing TO the
colossal importance OF the General Elec-
trio Company. The Kaiser has a great
liking for Rathenau. because he learns so
much from his talk. This goes so far
that once. when the Kaiser was to dine
with Prince Haenckel Won Donnersmark.
| and the list OF guests was laid before