Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1913-03-21
WHAT RULERS READ|0LD WALLS STRONG
Royalty Keeps in Touch With Con-
temporary Events.
King George and the, Kaiser Blessed
With Retentive Misunderstanding
Of Spain Likes English News.
papers.

That majesty that hens in crown
and forces the wearer to adopt mode
of life quite apart from that of other
men affords, one may think, but little
| opportunity for kings to come in con
tact with the problems which confront
their subjects, London Answers OBJ
serves.
This, however, Is not the case. Mod
ern rulers, at any rate, do not bury
themselves in seclusion, but seek, as
eagerly as does the man in the street
to keep in touch with the doings Of the
woodland through the same medium
for 1t is only by means of the news
papers that any man can become &C
quainted with happenings outside his
own restricted sphere of life.
The late Queen Victoria, it is true.
very rarely looked at newspaper per.
sonally. None the less she had the
Times read aloud to her every day
and all articles of personal interest
we're cut out and pasted up in books
for future reference.
Similarly, King Edward, though new.
er very fond of reading, had all impor.
tant foreign kilograms laid before him,
also the parliamentary reports; while.
as behooved the first sportsman Of Eu.
rope, he took very real interest in
the sporting pages of the newspapers.
King George, however, being mon.
arch who believes in doing things for
himself, reads the papers carefully,
and while doing SO jots down notes
usually in the form of questions about
matters upon which his secretaries
are called upon to give fuller informa.
ton later in the day.
The kaiser, too, is a great reader,
with a memory no less retentive than
that of his cousin, the king of Eng
land. What is more, so far from con-
filming himself solely to papers of gen.
eral interest, the kaiser is also an as
siduous reader of technical journals
those, that is to say, which deal with
warlike subjects upon which the ruler
of Germany is really an authority. and
able to converse as such with experts.
The king of Spain has a passion for
everything English, and is kept always
well supplied with London newspapers
and magazines. For accounts of the
happenings in his own dominions he
relies mainly upon his secretaries and
the officials of his court.
This admiration for British journal
ism was shared by the late emperor of
Japan, who, although unable to read a
word of English, had all the principal
articles from the London newspapers
and reviews translated into the Japa-
nese language for his special benefit.
The kings of Italy and Denmark
both are devoted readers of magazines,
while Abdul Hamid, the late sultan
Of Turkey, who was commonly regard
ed as the most exclusive OF Orientals,
took good care to be we'll informed of
what was going on in the world.
He relied for his information for the
most part upon French papers, and at
the Royal palace two officials were
permanently kept whose sole duty 1t
was to read through these papers and
commit to memory such passages as
they deemed likely to prove interest
ing.
Having listened to a recitation Of
the news. the sultan would sometimes
have doubts upon certain of the state
ments made. The officials then were
called upon to substantiate them, and
woe betide them If they failed to pro-
duce sufficient evidence.
But in this respect the famous iowa-
ger empress Of China was probably the
most exacting Of all the worlds rulers.
All information of Importance culled
from the newspapers had to be copied
out on sheets of very fine rice paper,
bound in silk and then rolled on ivory
sticks. The news was then read to
the empress from these scrolls by an
official of the court. who, seeing that
he was not deemed worthy of gazing
on the great lady's face, was compelled
to perform his unenviable task while
lying PROSTATE on the floor behind q
screen.
Curiously enough, the monarch most
out of touch with the doings OF the
world is European. The car of Rus
STA. in fact, has newspaper all his
own. printed specially for him every
morning. Two copies only are sup
plied-one for the car himself, the
other for his private secretary. But,
even were a larger circulation per-
mitted. it Is doubtful If the paper
would find one, for this two page sheet
Is of exceeding dullness, anything cal
culated in any way to disturb the
cars peace of mind being carefully
excluded.