The daily Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1916-1917, 1917-06-25
SQUIRE OF PRUSSIA
To BLAME FOR WAR;
Prof. r. ]. Kerner in Assem-.
bly, Lecture Says unker
Is Responsible.
GERMANY ENSLAVED
United States Entered War
to Preserve Democracy
and Humanity.

This war we owe to a squire, TO tnt
junker of the Elbe and the Oder,
l.. said r. ]. Kerner, assistant professor
of history, in his lecture Friday night
to a large audience in the University
Auditorium "The junkers dominate
Prussia, and Prussia dominates the
German Empire
The historical evolution of Prussia
under the domineering guidance OF
the agrarian class, and how and why
Prussia came to enslave Germany was
discussed at length by Mr.. Kerner to
make plain why Germany is the enemy
of democracy.
Mr.. Kerner likened the early set
tiers in Brandenburg. and the Teuton-
ic Knights. who removed from cru
sading to find an occupation in fight
ing the unprepared Lithuanians, Es-
thOnians, and Slavs, to the pioneers
and cowboys of our own West. He
told how they colonized and Christian
Elbe at the point of superior weapons,
and then established a free-handed,
mobile military government; how they
enserfed the Slavic population, and
laid the foundations of the powerful
agrarian class of Prussia by the for
nation of large estates and the crea-
tiOn of fighting constitution, upon
which the mark governments were
based.
Mr.. Kerner showed how the HOhen-
ZOllerns came into possession of Prussia
and established their throne there to
evade the authority of the Holy Ro-
man Empire of which Branbenburg,
their original seat OF power was a
part. He attributed their early mill
taristic tendecies to the separation of
the lands to which the family had
fallen heir He named the seizure of
Silesia by Frederick the Second Ger
many's first violation of international
law.
Germany Always AristOcratic.
According to AIR. Kerner. Germany's
constitution has been always aris-
Itocratic. Even in the constitution of
1850. the large land owners were
granted feudal power.
'The agrarian class was the great
oct obo Of farl, l;sv,, In, E,,rano
and remains the champion of feudalism
in Europe, and remains the champion
of feudalism to modern times, giving
for excuse for this mode of govern
ment the necessity for protection
against the enemies of Germany.
rThey have inherited the Roman
conception that the state is supreme
Each little state has inherited an appe-
tite as large as that of the Roman En-
pire, and that appetite is the hunger
for world dominion
Mr. Kerner called Bismark a great
Prussian junker, and told how his
political ideal was a united Germany.
distinct from Austria. He told how
Bismark realized his ideal by prom
Using to Austria in a war with Schles-
wig HOlstein, and promising to western
Germany a constitution guaranteeing
universal suffrage. He explained how
Bismark started the West with the
new constitution, and then took it
away from them, substituting the old
mark constitution in it's stead. After
this, Bismark decided to get rid of
the socialists by seeming to grant all
that the socialists stood for. He or
iginated a sort of "state socialism"
which really placed large amount
of property in the hands of the junker
government, doubling the revenues,
and at the same time making the peo-
pie believe that more power was CIV
en- to them. 1t is the interest in sick
ness insurance, old age pensions, and
other reforms" which inspire the
Germans to fight for their government
today, said Mr.. Kerner.
Bismarck Formed Triple Alliance.
After Bismark had united Germany
and appeased the clamors of the social