The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1918-10-24


sonalities,n 6e said. my people would
be shocked at the sort OF speeches and
accusations which figure In all your
political campaigns. Over here, moth
Ing Of the kind ID ever heard
The kaiser was very much interested
In our negro problem. It seemed to
have q great fascination for him, and
he frequently referred to II. He told
me that he understood there were
15.000,O00 negroes in this country, but
they were dying on In great numbers
through consumption and other dis.
eases to which they offered but poor
resistance.
"The negro will always be a great
problem In your country, however" he
added. "They don't mix socially with
the whites, and there will be constant
friction. My brother prince Henry,
when he returned from his visit to
America, told me. a lot about these
negroes. Indeed, one Of the most Inn
pressive things he heard there was q
choir Of negro voices. He said they
sang some wonderful melodies, and
their voices were as clear as BELLS"
After the war started, the kaiser
referred to the negroes again. snow
Is your chance to settle your negro
problem" he declared. half facetiously,
Of course. IF America insists upon
coming into the war, why doesn't she
send her negroes across and let us
shoot them DOWN.
When a fleet Of our %battleships Wis
tied Kiel some six years ago the kaiser
paid them q visit and vas very much
interested. When he called to see me
shortly afterward he told me Of his
experfence.
II went over the ships from top to
bottom" he declared. 'sThey are ,e1-
cellent vessels, ,eyery one Of. them, and
was very much impressed with the
way they are manned and oficered. I
have only n criticism-the lattice
work coming towers, or fighting
rnasts. The only possible use I can
see in them would be to train vines on
them and install an elevator inside,
and serve tea in the afternoon to the
ladies' on top-the most beautiful place
TOR serving afternoon tea I can imag-
Inc.
"But, seriously speaking" he went
on, n can't see that these masts have
any practical value. On the contrary,
| a e very serious disadvantages
In them. No matter what nation you
might be fighting, your enemy would
always be able to recognize you at a
distance, before you could identify
him, because the warships of all other
nations look very much alike at q dis
lance.
'"They say these coming towers are
armed" he went on, "but you would
never get close enough to your enemy
to use such small guns. Again, II one
Of those masts were hit 1t would send
q shower Of steel about the heads Of
the men on board, and would not only
put many Of them out of action, but
: ould be in the way. Suppose, too,
the mast were struck down and hung
over the side7 It would drag through
the water, and would not only serious
" impede the vessel, but It would
cause the ship to list and expose q
larger area on n side than would be
safe. No, Davis, your fighting masts,
as I have said, might answer first-rate
for serving tea, but l don't think much
of them for active service"
But If the kaiser saw much in
American ways and customs to con-
denim, he likewise saw much to COM
mend, and, before the war, he was
liberal in his praise of many Of our
qualities and achievements.
He was very much interested, for
Instance, In the experiments and dis
coveries of Luther Burbank. To make
Germany self-supporting as far as
food resources were concerned was one
of his dearest ambitions. He realized
that in the event of a world war his
. eople would probably suffer more
from lack of food than they would
from hostile bullets, and he was hoping
that he would be able to obviate that
condition before his country was put
to the test. He was constantly preach
Ing simplifed diet and the conserva-
ton of food reserves, and he had great
hopes that much could be done in a
scientific way to help solve. general
food problems. When attending din
ners given him by his officers, his
wishes respecting simple menus were
always carefully followed.
The kaiser enjoyed American hui
MOI. He was very fond Of Mark
Twain, and he followed one or two Of
the American monthlies and weeklies
more or less regularly. He told me
that, n evening while in his sitting
room in the Berlin palace, reading
something In In American magazine,
he ran across a story which caused
him to laugh SO much and SO loud that
the ladies Of the court. who heard him