New-York tribune., 1913-11-30
RANC|S Joseph HAS RULED 65YEA&
BREAKING RECORD oF3OOENTUR|ES
Onlv Rameses II, in All Human Records, Ever
Had Longer Actual, AuthentcatedReign
personal Popularity Of "Working
Monarch" Holds Heterogene-
Gus Empire Together.

I personal popularity OF the monarch thaS
| has held the heterogeneous empire to-
| gether. The Czechs hate the Germans,
the Magyars hate the Germans, the Poles
! hate the Germans, the Italians OF the
| Southern Tyrol hate the Germans Of tho
North, the Slavonians hate the Croats, the
Ruthenians hate the Polacks.
| Indeed, of all the seventeen different ma
| tionallties in the empire there are scarce"
| ly two that do not hate each other. But
somehow they all love their Kaiser. Even
! the Magyars are glad to hail him King or
| Hungary, and the Czechs have only ragged
| because he hesitated to be formally
crowned King of Bohemia with the crown
Of ST. Wenzel at Prague He has learned
! to speak their seventeen different tongues
and has won their hearts. He knows that
it is only his own personal influence that
holds his realm together, and therefore
| he continues to wear burdensome crown
that otherwise he would long ago have
laid aside He realizes that after him, Of
a truth, will come the deluge, and he Is
willing to prolong his martyrdom for the
sake OF postponng the day of wrath. For
many a year he has longed to retire from
| his exalted station, and since the death or
his only son the cares and pomp Of stats
have been a hateful torture TO him. All
/ this his people know, and perhaps II is
] this knowledge of the burden he is bear
| ing for their sake that makes their love
for him so constant and so considerate.
| He has borne many titles. The "Sor-
rowful Emperor" was one, justified by
the tlree appalling tragedies cf brother,
son and wife; the lrother shot in Mexico:
the son slain IN the mysterious tragedy
of Meyerling. and the wife butchered by
| an assassin In the year Of his golden
jubilee. The Reform Emperor" they
| called him when. in 1867, the idea of
7 centralized Austrian Empire gave way to
that Of dual Austro- Hungarian monar-
chy, consisting of an iadissoluble fedora
| ton of two equal states under single
sovereign, each having a constitution,
government and representative parla-
ment OF its own.
THE "PEACE MONARCH"
The Peace Monarch" he has been
called. in reference TO the function Of his
realm as the balance wheel Of the Euro
pean diplomatic machine. Perhaps no
popular title has been more appropriate
than that of the Working Emperor" in
view of his amazing devotion to admin
| istrative detail--doubly amazing in one
naturally so pleasure loving and so doubt.
ful Of his own abilities. Francis Joseph"
said old Kaiser Wilhelm many years ago,
has three ministers of the whole mon
archy, eight OF Austria, ten Of Hungary,
and three OF Croata-in all. twenty -four;
yet when anything is to be lone he has
10 do it himself" And the exaggeration
of the epgram was in letter more than
in spirit. That characteristics, joined with
his unsurpassed powers of conciliatioE.
has made him not only trusted and be-
loved above most contemporary sover-
eigns, but also one of the most valuable
members Of the whole brotherhood Of
kings
Mr.. Chamberlain is said once TO have
quoted in denuuciation of the peers OF
Great Britain. They toll not, neither do
they spin" But this assuredly is not a
reproach justly 10 be directed against the
Emperor of Austria. No chief executive
OF practical. workaday, ''no-fiummery'
republic works harder than he has done
for many years; no business man with a
vast fortune TO make or 10 safeguard.
NO LAY-FlGURE USEFULNESS.
Nor is his work only the entertaining
of guests, the laying Of cornerstones, the
opening of public buildings and institu-
tions, dress-parade activity and lay
figure usefulness. Those things he does
when there is need. But beside and over
them all is vast mass of real work.
the work at once of legislator and execu-
tive. the work OF the Diplomat. the states