Emmons County record. [volume] (Williamsport, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1884-current, 1918-10-31

ID O00U3H RECON-
that It would be q serious mistake 10
annex Belgium.
| From morning 10 night have been
trying to teach our people some sense"
he had declared. with the history Of
Poland and Alsace-L Lorraine IN mind,
why should we take more responsible.
tiles on our shoulders By retaining
Belgiumi The Lord only knows Ne
have our hands full O. II -. I don't
see and I never have seen how Ger.
many can possibly win this war;
''Your father seemed to be very Per.
simistic regarding the outlook I told
her.
1.-THE sad thing about IT, abe n.
piled, '.is that father 10 always right
I never knew him 10 make q mistake
in Judgment"
| When the crown prince called to go
me again / was surprised to find Q
considerable change In his general ap
pearance. Although, Of course, he was
ten years older, he had aged more
than I would have expected. There
were lines on his face which made him
look older than his thirty-three years.
In the outer world he was generally
believed to be one Of the leading spir.
ito Of the military party in Germany,
but among his own people he was not
credited with sufficient ability or In
duence to be much Of . factor. In
deed. within the past year he had been
criticised rather severely In army cir.
Giles for his indifference to the crisis
In which his country was involved and
for not taking the war seriously
enough. and from all was able to
observe Of him during the visits no
paid me after the resumption Of our
relations. these criticisms were wen
founded. The newspapers, however,
which were naturally inspired, always
brought his name to the front when.
ever the army he was accredited to
made any successful showing Just %
they did in tie case Of the kaiser.
During his various visits to me I
tried to draw him out little on dN.
ferent aspects Of the International sit-
uation. but the ideas he expressed
were not of much moment.
1.-The allies think we will run short
Of man.power." he said on one occa-
sion. ''but we've got 100000 youths
Rowing mp and we'll soon be able to
put them In the war. There's no dam
ger Of our running short Of men. but,
really, I wish it were all over. This
war 70 q lot Of damned nonsense. you
known he talked al II the two mill
lion growing-up youths Of Germany
were created for the Hohenzollerns to
use ~ they pleased.
Another remark he made which in
dicated how sadly he misconstrued tho
epoch-making Significance Of the great
war in which the whole world was
involved was quite Characteristic.
with so many men 1T the front"
he said, "the men at home ought to be
having fine time with the women,
eh, what1 Do you Dee many good
looking girls in Berlin nowr
In this connection may mention
that many OF the more sober Officers
told me that they were disgusted with
the manner In which the crown prince
was acting at his headquarters. TT 10
really . disgrace" they complained,
flor the crown prince to have 20 many
questionable women visiting him. Il
certainly doesn't Get much Of an e1-
ample for the rest Of the staif."
The whole situation appeared 10 the
crown prince vary much In Ne light
Of . Joke.
.I'vs Just come from the western
'front.'" he told me. my men are up
to their knees In water and mud.
|, We've besn having lots Of fun pump,
Ing the water cut Of our trenchss ints
the French trenches"
We'll, I suppose the French psmD
It night back again, don't theyr'
You're quite right, quite night.
That's exactly what they DO Really.
it's great lark"
Remarks Of this kind rather sickeaed
me Of this self-sattsned young man.
realized. Of course. that his part in
the war was played at such q safe
distance from the front lines that hs
was probably not familiar with all he
horrors Of trench warfare. and yet 1t
could not be possible that he was I'M
aware Of the terrific loss Of life and
the untold agony and suffering which
millions Of his people had to endure
while tie snonsensical" war contin-
ned.
After diplomatic relations were
broken on between America and Ger
many. the crown prince and his fam
lily ceased coming to me. They were
afraid. no doubt. Of public criticism,
although the kaiser was not.
OF the kaiser's other children,
Prince William Eitel Frederick and
Prince Oscar were the only ones I
never met.
Prince Adelbert, the kaiser's third
son, was a very handsome and charm