The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1918-04-30
Cukes and Corn Lead Now In
The Plant City Vegetable Industry

mind, the first two traits set him
apart, a glorified unit, a law unto
himself. What is, therefore, just com
mon decency to other men has nc
meaning for one who is a Law. Be.
cause of this he can break his word
lie, cheat, steal, murder at every turf
O: the game-as he has done from
the first moment.
These three traits could not exis
without breeding cruelty. The Ger
man insensibility to suffering in 9th
ers looms large in the "All-Highest.
! In sheer savagery he has outdone the
most barbarous Turk that ever lived
He has directed the slaughter Of mil.
lions Of men, And not only Of his en-
emies-make no mistake Of that! He
has directed the slaughter Of his own
peasant and artisan armies with az
untrembling a finger. It might be
we'll for the Germans in this country
who secretly yearn over the Father.
land, to think of this: The German
kaiser does not spare his people. He
murders his own-as cat eats Its
own-when the idea seems good for
aristocratic and Hohenzollern reas'
ons.
Vanity, arrogance. treachsry and
cruelty. Surely these are enough oil
hell to exist in one man. But there Is
another, and it reeks from the brew
this Is hypocrisy.
Yes, this man Of lies and torn
treaties, whose armies were directed
to treat the betrayed Belgians as n.y.
cnas treat the graves they pull to
pieces for bones; this killer Of babes a;
/ this murderer of the wounded is
pious! If one were to believe him,
each of his horrors has had Gods
auditing.
During this last year he has grown
very old and white Of hair. Some late
photographs of him that have reached
this country show no arrogance at
all No, he is now markedly sancti-
monious and very, very sad. No won
der. He-and God-have not had the
easy time that he expected.
You see he had the restaurant
picked out and the date set for his
triumphal dinner in Paris around
Christmas, 1914. There was reason for
his feeling so sure. When he started
across Belgium, killing and burning
all in his path, he was most hideous-
ly prepared for the fight he knew he
would meet in France,
Perhaps it is not generally known
just how prepared he was in one
sided infamy. From sure authority
have recently read of the tons of
barbed wire, fifteen years in making,
that went with those first troops;
that every German soldier as he took
his first step over the Belgian frontier
with Paris as his goal, had in his kit
tubes of liquid gas and a perfectly
constructed gas mask, also years and
years in the making When the kaiser
ruminated on the liquid gas that was
to come as surprise upon his de-
,fenseless enemies while his own men
we're as supermen, immune is it any
wonder that the points of his mus
tache waggled in a sweet, slow smile?
Any wonder that he saw himself in
Paris by Christmas, eating sauerkraut
prepared by French chef?
Well, in spite of all that he has
brought to make solid his loathsome
ambition, he is not in Paris. He is in
Berlin, or near it, and glad to stay
there.
He hadn't counted on England-and
England's navy bottled up his ports;
her millions poured over the Channel
after him.
He was sure Italy would hold to a
feeble sort of promise to back him up
if he were good. Italy thought him
rotten bad; and so she went after
him.
He wasn't afraid of America. Amer
lea was too busy making money, toe
happy in selfishness, and luxury, and
Incidence America would never fight
She was like an overfed cat asleep in
the sun. But from the time he sank
the Lusitania, America has really
been at war with him in spirit, as she
is now in reality. When she did wake
np she put her head under the pump
and the cold water made her vision
so clear she could see nothing but
the kaiser-and a gun.
And, so, in spite of vanity and AFRO
n -. A.