The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1914-12-17
KAISER WORN BY WAR;
DEMANDS HIS STRENGTH.

belllH, NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
New York World.)-The Kaiser's
hair has become quite white. His
face is drawn and care worn, his
manner abrupt and free from the
ceremony that once characterized it.
From what ! saw of him during a.
fleeing moment in Berlin and from
what / saw and heard of his activi-
ties in the field. it was evident that
he was under a heavy nervous strain.
This was confirmed by the state
ment of one of the surgeons attach
ed to the medical corps Of the Grown
Princes army whom 1 met at Mont
NEEDY, in France, to the north of Yer
dun. He knows the Kaiser person
ally and has been called into consul
alton by the Imperial Palace more
than once He said that. the Emper-
or was trying to. carry the whole
weight of the val upon his own
shoulders; no detail was too thrilling
to escape the Kaiser's attention, and
hat he was working twenty hours a
day.
Under this strain Wilhelm's nerv-
Gus system has been sapped. That is
why his case is a serious one. il the
reports that he has pneumonia be
true. 81. 5s{e A, Hsi a7E
Since the beginning Of the war the
Kaiser has been lat tho front with
his six sons He has been in Berlin
not more than a week together since
be first went into the field last Aur
nst, and %he has not been MAXI
tours de luxe to the front. He b.
~2ctually been close behind the firir
lines. even, when he made his heat'
auartefs. at Gutenberg, where the,
were for the first weeks of the war.
AS the German troops moved for
ward he moved along, making his
camp in deserted French chateaux
and insisting that there be no pomp
or luxury in his quarters. Each day
he has been in his automobile at
saybreak and it was for
lin to do 200 miles along the
trenches by nightfall. Always he
had with him tobacco and cigarettes
for his Children" as he frequently
called them in his little talks when
The machine, halted. His constant in
terest in their welfare, his presence
On the field, his devotion to the Faith
erland. inspired in the soldiers a
love that approached veneration.
One needed to speak to a soldier
but two words to learn this.
Those who know him we'll told
me that his face never losses a deep
gravity of expression; that he never
indulges in the humorous sallies at
his companions he used to enjoy:
that his every thought seems to be,
as his every word is, about the Faith
erland.
From the moment he vent into
the field he put on the undress uni
form of the army, the ~business-like,
green, gray cloth, and this he has
worn regularly except when as a
special compliment he would appear
before some regiment clad in its dis
unctlve outfit. During. the councils
OF the Great General Staff, he would
nave little to say unless he had a
point to make, and he was insistent
that all there. high or low in rank,
should have the utmost freedom to
speak their mind. The one thing he
demands In his officers is not brill
llancy, not great leadership, but
first and last. a passionate devotion
to the Fatherland.
With that attribute an officer
coumld so far in his masters esteem
and could not lose caste in his eyes.
II is this the Kaiser has been preach
ing IN every. word he spoke to the
troops, in every utterance he has
made to the people.
William IL, will be ifty-six years
o!d On Jan. ~. Although one of
MS arms is withered, he has been a
great o~ut-of-doors man, and from
q weak childhood grew into strons
and rugged man hood. But it is
said that this type goes quickest nm
der a pneumonia attack, particularly
II The nervous vitality be affected
by tension.