Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1917-07-24
The MIcHAELls VERSION.

Stripped OF the bOmbaSt, the IlrSt
personal pronoun and the sacrilegious
assumption of divine partnership, any
of the speeches Kaiser Wilhelm has
made regarding the war might have
been used practically as Chancellor
Michaelis' text for the address to the
reichstag on which so many Americans
seemed to depend for assurances that
Germany would be willing to make
peace on basis acceptable to her en-
emies.
The Courier has not been among
those who could see any possibility OF
a peaceful trend in the new chancel-
lor's remarks Schooled in the ways
of the Pr,lssian militarist, himself one
OF the men particularly favored by the
kaiser since he first came into the pub
lie eye. thirty years or more ago, Mi
chaelis could be expected to do no
more than echo the sentiments that
had been expressed by his patron and
monarch.
Favored by the crown prince. coach
ed by Hindenburg and Ludendorff, set
on the chancellor's pedestal as a sub
stitute for Won Bethmann-Hollweg
when the latter showed signs of weak
ening in the militant course mapped
out for him by the emperor. Michaelis
went before the reichstag and did the
bidding of his miitarist masters.
The new chancellor's biographers
say he lacks initiative. and this is evil
dent from his speech 1t was labor
ious, tedious review of the senseless
claims the kaiser has put forth since
the opening of the war in an effort to
convince his own people-he has de-
SPARED of convincing the world out
side of Germany-that his entrance in
to war was for the defense of his en-
pire from destruction at the hands Of
a combination of merciless foes.
DR.. Michaelis' speech was merely his
own version, or his own phrasing, OF
the self-defense plea which Germany
has made SO persistently and so fool.
ishly. and which has been disproved
so conclusively by the brutal and bar
harlan methods adopted during the In
vasion of Belgium and France.
Michaelis defends submarine ruth
lessness. which his predecessor de-
plored, and in his speech he defended
also the opponents OF the U-boat cam
paign from the charge that the sub
sea murderers have failed to make
good the promises which were dd-
vanced as the governments excuse to
Germany for adopting the campaign.
Although he could not we'll contend
that the submarine had ended the war
within the period set by its sponsors.
he insisted that it has kept up with
expectations and declared it will win
eventual victory.
To make his stand on the submarine
sound reasona BILE to German ears. he
protested to feel no fear of America
and to see no danger to Germany
through this nations participation in
the world struggle. Had he taken any
other attitude on this question. he
must have admitted Nle threat of alb
solute failure which confronts the sub
marine today. with its toll of shipping
reduced, its effectiveness decreased by
the watchfulness of American war
ships and gunners. and its task in
creased greatly by the prospect for an
endless supply Of new vessels from
American ship yards.
The world need expect no sympathy
from Michaelis for anything short Of a
German peace--a peace which will
leave Germanys government and the
kaiser's reign undisturbed. which will
permit him to renew his campaign of
militarist oppression of his people,
which will enable him to repair the
damage that the present war has done
and resume preparations for another
and even greater struggle to gain
world dominion.