Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-11-22
FRANCIS JOSEPH

head of the proudest aristocracy
in the world, is dead. A little more
than two years ago he was one of the
mighty ones of the earth; to-day his
passing will serve to point a moral in
newspaper comment all over the world
and that is all.
He came to the throne during q
revolution which drove his uncle, the
weak Emperor Ferdinand. into retire
ment. and he lays down his power.
probably quite resignedly, in the midst
of the greatest war in all history. And
If we had not learned to look behind
the record in such matters it would be
necessary to say that he was the de-
liberate instigator of that war. At all
events, it was started in his name, and
If the blood is not directly upon his
head he will have to bear large
share of the blame.
The more than sixty eight years of
his reign have been one long political
nightmare in Austria Hungary, but IN
the world at large they embrace some
of the most notable advances ever
made by man. On December 2, 1S4S.
when he was crowned, railroads and
the telegraph were in their swaddling
clothes and the telephone was un-
dreamed of. Bessemer did not take
out the first patents on his steel process
until seven years later. The science of
medicine had not yet 'grasped the germ
theory and Japan was still a hermit
| kingdom.
Since the beginning of the present
century the hopes and the fears of ten
or more distinct nationalistic move
ments within the empire have centered
upon the announcement which is
finally made to-day, but by one of the
most sardonic ironies ever perpetrated
by fate the event which it was be-
lieved would be frought with the gray
est consequences for Europe turns out
to be of little more moment than the
passing of Pennsylvania peasant or
Tyrolese goatherd.
Unhappy throughout most of his
public and private life, Francis Joseph
was happy in the ending of it. The
war which now overshadows even the
death of a successor to the Caesars
promises to rock thrones and wreck
dynasties before it is over. This hum
bling of the caste he believed in will
be spared Francis Joseph. But what
probably is of more moment even in
the mind of q man trained to the trade
of kingship is that he is spared further
contemplation of the horrors which in
a moment of weakness he permitted
the ambition of the Hohenzollerns and
the blood lust of the Prussian military
party to call down upon the world. He
is the first king to go since the begin
ming of the war; those he leaves may
yet envy him the sweet peace that has
come at last to soothe his troubled
mind.
AS royalty goes, Francis Joseph was
a big man and successful. He was
confronted with task of extraor-
binary proportions and on the whole
he acquitted himself we'll. 1t is true
that Austria Hungary, next to Russia.
is the most backward nation in Europe,
politically speaking. but the whole
country might have relapsed into
anarchy but for him. AS matters are
he held the people together and main
tanned semblance OF government,
sometimes with a constitution and
sometimes without. He lost some ter
ritory in Italy which was not very
firmly held at the time he came to the
purple and he sustained tremendous
reverses in prestige during the last
war which Prussia forced upon his
country, but he managed not only to
survive these checks but in a large
measure to recover from their effects.
At his death the empire is as impor-
tant relatively as it was at the begin
ming of his reign.
AS compensation for the losses in
Italy the Congress of Berlin gave him
a protectorate over Bosnia and Herze-
govina. That gift, temporarily at least
thwarted the dream of pan-Slavism in
Southeast Europe, and, with the SUBJ
sequent political developments in the
protectorate, was the direct cause of
the present war. The Serbs never for
gave the bad faith involved in the
transaction and apparently they never
thought it worth while to discover that
Austria-Hungary was not altogether
to blame, but was. like themselves. a
victim of the characteristic short
sightedness and stupidity of European
diplomacy.
Had Francis Joseph died in the fall
of 1913 instead of the fall of 1916 the
great war in all probability would not
have occurred. His death at that time
would have precipitated some sort OF
readjustment which. for the time be.
ing at least, would have been effected
without recourse to arms. Comins
when it does it means that PRACTICAL,
every problem of European polite.
will press for solution when the tim,
; comes to consider peace terms. 1t il
extremely doubtful if there are men in
Europe now who are big enough t.
cope with the situation successfully
We call the United States the Meltin,
Pot of Nations. Austria Hungary il
another melting pot, one in which th
nations seethe but do not fuse. How