The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-04-07
says UNCLE CAV

| About the only divine right" that
hasn't been exploded is the divine
right of brains, backed by hard work,
| to boss the universe. Even the 'di-
vine right of kings as eXemplified
| by the one remaining divine right"
king, who sits firmly in his seat,
| trembles and grows afraid IN the
presence of the man who can think
| faster and better than the one who
wears the title.
AS divine right monarchs go, Will
helm of Germany is a pretty good
workable sort of king. He comes
quite as near earning his pay as any
of them; he never sleeps late of
mornings nor is he in any hurry to
quit the job when the O'Clock
whistle blows. He believes that
heaven has selected him for his task,
opinions of heaven. He cheerfully
accepts his assignment, and it is his
fondest desire that his countrymen
shall show resignation worthy of the
high example that he sets.
He is not afraid of other kings,
anarchists, radicals, socialists, ter
rorists or ideas antagonistic to his
theory of God-given prerogative. Bull
lets and bombs give him no concern,
and he is ready at any moment to
die for his job. He thus is a shin
ing light for ribbon-counter clerks,
porters and others who hate their
jobs but cling to them. Thus he is
both physically and morally brave,
and according to his lights, man
of general excellence
There is just one being in the uni
verse-we have it upon good author
ity-who makes the kaiser alternate
ly rave and cover. When the royal
chambers are the scenes of royal tan
trums, when the royal lips give birth
-
stone and limburger, it is pretty
good indication that a skinny, dimin-
utive, untitled person of the name of
Won Heydebrand has arisen in the
reichstag to tell the kaiser just what
he thinks of him. German newspa-
pers may not dare to publish what
Heydebrand says, but Heydebrand
dares to say it, and if the kaiser does
not like it, he does we'll to conceal the
fact for fear that the peppery little
wasp of the reichstaig may take a
notion to send over to the general
the divine right emperor's pet chan
cellor.
All of this would be unimportant
if it did not once more drive home
the eternal fact that there is moth
ing invincible in this world except
brains and courageous persistent eff
fort. Traditional privilege is about
as firmly entrenched in the German
government as anywhere on earth
There is about as little chance for
anybody but the emperor to run the
government there as there ever has
been in any nation since one man
hand was stronger than another's.
According to German precedent, the
German people have a divine right to
be divinely ruled by the divinely ap
pointed kaiser and that's about all.
But the divine right of privileged
birth and position gets a severe jolt
whenever the man with the divine
right of brains comes along. The
rule holds good in Germany just as
it does in England, the United States
and the kingdom of Siam. The kaiser
who disdains to look under the bed
for a bomb eagerly searches for one
in the official Stenographic notes of
latest speech and finds
it. What Heydebrand wants today,
the kaiser is pretty likely to want
Which proves that no
matter what your circumstances, you
can find a way out if you have brains
and persistently use them.