The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1910-08-18
FRANCIS JOSEPH'S
BIRTHDAY
Popular Demonstration is
Given Aged Ruler Of
Austria Hungary.

1
archy of Austria-Hungary the eight
ieth anniversary of the beloved ruler,
Francis Joseph l, was observed today
by popular demonstrations of loyalty
and devotion. All public and many
private buildings were profusely de-
corated with the national colors and
portraits of the venerable monarch
were displayed in great number. TIE
Deums were celebrated in churches
and business everywhere was at a
standstill. Patriotic exercises and
military parades formed the salient
features of the celebration in all larg-
| er communities. AS usual, in defer
ence to the wishes of the aged ruler,
comparatively little money was spent
for displays, while large sums were
contributed to the fund for charitable
and philanthropic institutions to
which the emperor also literally
contributed.
The official celebration in the CAPT.
tai included the usual receptions of
the diplomatic corps, the heads of
the parliament and the diets, the
members of the two cabinets, the
chiefs of the army, the navy and the
various fiscal departments and of the
mayor and other officials of the city
of Vienna In the morning the en-
peror attended mass and in the af-
ternoon the customary review of the
garrison ended the official part of
the celebration.
Francis Joseph I. was born Aug.
lis, 1880, and assembled the throne
in the early winter of 1S4S. He is
the nestor among the worlds rulers
and it is a curious fact that, with
the exception of the King of Greece
and the Sultan of Turkey no indie
pendent monarch reigning today was
alive even when Francis Joseph be-
came emperor-king after the abdic-
ton of his weakling uncle Ferdinand
during the stormy days of the revolu-
ton. Notwithstanding his advanced
age and in spite of the chain of sor-
rows, disappointments, misfortunes
and even tragedies which have mark
ed his career and saddened, if not
Uttered his life, the emperor is still
hale and rugged of health and cap
able of enduring hardships that
would tax the strength of even a
much younger man. Hunting in the
mountains, where the nimble game
leaps from crag to crag, is still the
favorite recreation of the emperor,
who has always been mighty MIN
rod and an exceptionally fine marks
man. 1t is probably due to his love
of outdoor exercise and the simplici-
ty of his fare that he has retained
his health and strength to such a re-
markable degree.
The emperor's path of life has been
neither smooth or strewn with roses.
He assembled the throne at a critical
period, with all odds against him, and
his reign has been a continuous strug-
gle against unfortunate conditions
ever since That he succeeded not
only to maintain his throne under the
most difficult conditions, but also to
win the universal love of his sub
jects, conclusively proves him man
of unusual ability and force of char
acter, one of the greatest rulers of
modern times.
The fates seem to have cOnspired
to make Francis Joseph the most un-
happy and most sOrely tried of all
modern monarchs. Not only did they
surround him with difficulties and OBJ
stacles of political nature which fire.
quently threatened the stability of
his throne, but they visited him with
a long series of domestic misfOrtunes
which disrupted his family, deprived
him of those he most tenderly loved
and loaded him down with grief and
sorrow.
The unhappiness of his marriage to
Elizabeth, the younger daughter of
Duke Macmillan of Bavaria, was his
first great trouble. There have been
many theories advanced as to the
causes of the alienation of the af-
| lection between the emperor and the
lay hot
the actual cause, it continued until
Elizabeth was assassinated in Swift
zerland BY the hand of an anarchist.
The next tragic event in the en-
peror's family came when his brother
Macmillan, the puppet emperor of
Mexico, was executed at QueretarO.
Maximilians wife became insane and
is still living, ignorant of her hus-
bands fate. The saddest blow was
crown prince Rudolph, at his hunt
ing lodge near Meyerling. A few
years later the emperor's sister-in-
law, the Duchess d Aleneon, burned
to death at charity bazaar in Paris
Archduke Johann, nephew of the
emperor, contracted mesalliance
with dancer and disappeared with
her. Louis Victor, the sole surviving
brother of the emperor, disgraced
himself and was shorn of his rank.
Archduke Leopold, another nephew
of the emperor, married a vaudeville