The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1914-09-03
THE KAISER'S WAF MOTIVES.
Madness for Glory Hardly to Be Con-
Sidered Among Them.

ceeding to the present great war in
Europe:
1t is we'll to cali atteaton to few
facts which lie close to the surface
in this titanic European upheaval
and which should be especially in
structive to all military men. First.
one hears on all sides in the United
States that the German Kaiser is
glory-hungry and that, in mad de-
sire to achieve a name like Fred
erick the Great or Napolean. he has
flung his great army in the face of
Europe. When the Boulanger eX-
citement was at its height in France,
one of Boulanger's partisans arose
in the house of deputies and shouted
to the Opposition: How do you
know that General Boulanger will
not punish you all with a coup de-
tar?" Because" Kissed back an OPP
ponent. he is too old" Boulanger
was then 81. So it may be said of
the German kaiser. Born in 1859,
he is now 55 years of age. A gray
haired grandfather does not seek
military glory at an age three years
greater than that at which Napolean
died and when % years older than
Frederick the Great when by the
treaty of Dresden, in 1745. he OBJ
tanned possession of Silesia for the
second time and by his military ge-
MUS had raised himself to a great
position in Europe
The kaiser has so we'll kept the
peace of Europe during the 26 years
of his reign that Mr.. Carnegie only
few months ago presented to him
tribute as an expression of the admi-
ration of peace lovers the world over
for the magnificent work he had
done to prevent war in Europe dur
ing his years of power. Now to say
that he has plunged nations into war
for mere freak is to misjudge en-
tirely those racial currents which
for centuries, like some deeply hid"
den stream that undermines noun"
tains and brings the loftiest peak
level with the plain, have torn
through all conventions and .diplo-
matte agreements and made their
way in blood to the attainment OF
their ultimate object. There has
been more than one occasion when
the German emperor, if he had been
glory-mad, could have thrown his
sword into the balance with far more
chance of achieving success than at
the present time When the Rus
sian empire was in that fierce grar'-
pie with Japan, Wilhelm was ten
years younger than he is today, and
should have been more eager to
achieve military fame than when OIL
ly Is years away from the threescore
years and ten which are supposed to
round out the life of the average
mortal. When he took the throne in
1888 France was only II years re-
moved from the disastrous debacle
of the Napolean regime. Then the
Kaiser was a young man and glory
should certainly have seemed more
alluring than now, when grandchil-
dren are pratting on his imperial
knees. He had scarcely been on the
throne "a decade when the Dreyfus
agitation broke out in France and
the name of the kaiser was brought
into the controversy that rent France
asunder with discord. Then, if he
had sought only his own glory, he
could have manufactured casus
belli out Of the allegations 80 fire.
quently heard that Germany had
played a base part in the "affaire.
Again at the time of the Agadir in
cident in Africa a splendid opportu-
nifty presented itself for creating a
reason for going to war, but the
kaiser sat firm and the war clouds
blew over. Why, then, should the
conclusion be jumped at that the
German emperor has no other ambi-
tion now than to achieve glory?
Emperors at his age, in the history
of the world generally, have already
established their regulations and
have been content to pass the re-
naming years of their reign in
peace. The case of Napolean III,
who was so when he entered upon
the war with Prussia in 1870, is not
an instance in point, for he was an
adventurer who held his emperor
ship by virtue of coup d'etat and
with whom the country was becom-
ing dissatisfied, a situation that made
war an apparently easy way to dis
tract popular attention from troubles
at home. The German kaiser, on
the contrary, is the regular success
sor of a beloved emperor and his