The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1917-08-04
From Other
Editorial Pages
THE PHARAOH OF POTsDAM

Uncertain and incomplete as is the
news from Berlin that reaches us by
devious ways, the import OF ii appears
to be that the kaiser, facing a two.fold
crisis, met It like a true autocrat. In
stead Of setting his people free, he has
taken the contrary course
Won BethmannHollweg, as imperial
chancellor was of necessity the kaiser's
man, autocracy's servant. But in his
service he was not wholly blind to the
light Of democracy both within and
without the empire. His most bitter
foes were not the Socialists, but the
Junkers.
In his place the kaiser has set up
in Michaelis man schooled in conser-
vatism, who at the age Of sixty can
look back upon life spent in bureau.
cracy since youth
The kaiser has chosen him TO nut
through the little ballot reform he Is
disposed to concede because the imper-
ial chancellor is also head of the Prus.
sion ministry Of state, and both houses
of the Prussian legislature are domi-
mated by Conservatives and Reaction.
aries. The democratization Of Prussia
is thus to be left in the emlnently safe
hands Of the Junkers.
The kaiser, it would seem, is hold
ing true to the Hohenzollern tradition
of keeping the substance while letting
the people have the shadow Ballot re-
form is a grievous necessity in the Ger
man states, but it will fall far short Of
securing democracy for the people.
But the kaiser is less deft than his
ancestors. In the Peoples Springtime
in 1S4S, when Berlin rose in revolt,
Frederick William ". girded himself
with the German tricolor and led the
rebels in procession through the city
streets To the car he wrote to extol
the glorious German revolution" He
seemed to yield completely but when
the crisis was safely passed, he held the
reing of power firmly as before.
The old kaiser, William l.. phrased
a philosophy for autocrats Public
opinion and public action" he said, ARE
like stream. 1t should be properly
banked and confined but should not be
damned"
William H., if he does not seek abso-
lutely to dam it, is trying to confine
within the narrowest of banks a stream
of democracy which, not in Germany
alone but in all the world, is flowing
with such force that no monarch's eff
forts can bind it.
The internal reform crisis is the lesser
of the two which confront the kaiser.
The greater Is the demand for peace.
The German people want peace The
Austrian people want peace. Even their
emperor seeks ii. The king Of Bavaria,
we may believe, wants peace Beth.
mannHollweg saw the necessity for
considering some plausible terms OF
peace.
The kaiser only talks about peace.
He may talk about II again, but his
peace promises have lost their par value.
Increasingly is the world coming to
the conclusion that he is not able TO
make peace for Germany-that no au.
tocrat can do so.
1t is hard now 10 say what the
kaiser's change Of chancellors his APP
parent turning away from liberalism.
may mean. 1t may be that history,
looking upon the event in retrospect,
will see that the kaiser thereby cut
short autocracy's road, and made easier
the union Of Germany in the world
alliance against Potsdam. To have
yielded might only have delayed the
inevitable issue.
Watching the German crisis from
afar, we look TO see what response the
reichstag, growing restless and turbu.
lent will make. But too much must
not be expected from the reichstag's
power.
Under an autocracy the reichstag has
no positive power; its only effective
power is negative, that of the purse
II has in theory the power to withhold
credit, TO decline TO authorize a loan
until the concessions II demands are
made.
In practice such power is illusory. TC
withhold credit would be TO withhold
pay and food from the German soldiers
and the German people, to stop all tn,
machinery Of the empire. Such a legis
lative strike would be 10 set itself W
as the oppressor OF all Germany.
The reichstag is but part OF tn,
crew on Germany's ship The kaiser Is
at the helm. Until the day comes wher
it can wrest the helm away from hin
and steer a new course the crew mus
do its work.
That day may come soon or II may b,
far distant. Meantime II is useless foi
us TO await Il. Our task is to press OF
the war TO liberate the world by tn,
characterization OF Germany, not I,
stand idly by and hope that she mal
democratize herself
STRASSBURG AND METZ.
Chicago Post: In an interview glvel
90 the press OF the country. Daniel Blu
menthal, former mayor of Colmar, Al
SAGE says:
1t is my judgment that the allies vii
never attempt 10 reduce the German
! forts nj Stro ogshuru aud ATotv Tho for