United labor bulletin., 1914-10-03
THEKAISER

/ So many incorporate and ridiculous
stories have been printed in the Ameri-
can press concerning the kaiser's part
in the present world war that it is re-
freshing to read the following editorial
from the Christian Science Monitor:
| 1t is always easier to be critical than
to be fair That is a truism which it is
/ well to remember. In moment like the
present the thinker with the broadest
outlook pauses in his distribution OF
praise or blame. He asks himself
| whether he does well to be pleased or
angry, and he weighs his Judgment of
those who are not on his side with par
ticular care. 1t is peculiarly necessary
to remember this in speaking OF the
kaiser Those. indeed, who recognize
something of the force of public thought
will be the most ready to admit the
fact.
Whatever may be said or thought OF
the third German emperor. one thing will
be readily acknowledged, that he is what
Rudyard Kipling would term "a first
rate fighting man" This, perhaps, more
than most other reasons, has led to
much OF the intemperance with which
he has been attacked. He has not ex-
celled in that soft answer which turn
eth away wrath. On the contrary, he
has been engaged, rather more than
most men, in the gentle art OF making
enemies" In moment like the pres
ent the enemies are apt TO become more
than commonly vocifercus. In eonse-
quence the man who wishes to be just
becomes correspondinglys somewhat cir
cumscribed in his utterances- The kaiser
of course, has his faults In a man OF
his temperament they bulk as large and
are painted in as crude eolors as his
virtues, but they do not exclude the vir-
tues. Ii may be that he Is not averse
from war. He is, indeed a Hohenzollern,
and the Hohenzollerns, both before and
since the day OF the Great Eleetor. have
not been conspicuous for their affection
for peace. At the same time it must in
truth and fairness be admitted that for
20 years he has been war lord OF proba-
bly, the most tremendous fighting ma
chine the world has ever seen, yet not
until today has the terrible order "krieg-
mobil' passed his lips.
To impute to him the Maebiavellian
policy of having kept the peace during
these PC years in order that he might
uninterruptedly sharpen his sword is
scarcely fair. There has been occasions
in the interval when il would have been
both safer and more profitable to flash
the mobilization order over the tele-
graph wires; and it Is easy 10 find
reason. at once more reasonable and
creditable, for his decision.
1t may have been a mistake TO alter
the course OF the national policy as re-
CARDS Russia. after landing the great
pilot who had held the tiller duEing the
previous storms. Anyhow. wisely or un-
wisely. the die was cast and the Sfav
was converted from a very problemat-
ical friend into a very transparent
enemy What followed everybody knows.
Enormous war budgets We're voted by
the Douma. In a few more years Il
was openly proclaimed Russia would be
| ready. Twenty million OF Muscovite
soldiers, at a word from the autocrat
| in the winter palace. would be ready
| to cross the frontier. The danger un-
duestionably was exaggerated, but Ger
many shivered at the prospect. Whether
in any circumstances il is wise, in the
| Bismarckian phrase, to make war to
prevent war may be doubted The Ger
man general staff, however, decided
| contrary to the opinion OF the Iron
Chancellor. The war began
There probably is the trith about the
| whole matter. To attempt TO bold this
or that person responsible is to give a
| coherency TO the human mind TO which
| il has no claim. Men, whether emperors
| or artisans, are the expression OF ma
tional characteristics. The kaiser no
more caused the war than Robespierre
or Danton caused the French Revolu-
;ion. OF Cromwell the Great Rebellion.
| To find the causes OF the present strug-
| gle it is necessary to go back hun
| dred years, TO watch the tendency of
| German opinion since the great war of
| Liberation, and balance this against the
| tendencies of half score of nationali-
ties, all growing, now in confidence, now
in suspicion, and now in actual fear of
one another. The golden age of Chinese
prosperity, when, in the words of the
sage, men Were virtuous without being
| conscious of the fact is not approNi-