The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1918-10-03
The Kaiser as | Knew linn
for Fourteen Years
~9
By ARTHUR N. DAVIS. D. D. s..
Copyright. 1915. BY the Mcclure Newspaper syndicate)

UupeT III every ueVelOpfDen OF WOTlu
wide Importance. l cannot imagine
that he was less interested In what his
countrymen were doing In connection
with the war than he was In theil
achievements In time Of peace.
If he did not actually order the sink
ing Of the Lusitania, therefore, l an
convinced that he was thoroughly
aware Of the plan to blow ii up and
sanctioned 1t. That he could have
averted it If he had been prompted to
to do so is clearly Indicated by another
incident which left a very deep i'm
preston upon me.
was informed by one of the Ger
maj aviators that plans had been
made to drop gas bombs on London
which contained II deadly gas which
would penetrate the cellars of houses
In which civilians were In the habit
Of hiding during air raids.
Shortly before this hIdeous idea was
to be put into effect the papers an
nounced that bombs of this character
had been dropped by the allies on
Baden-Baden, but that, fortunately,
they had fallen in a clump of woods
In the center of the town and had fail
ed to explode, which had given the
Germans an opportunity to take them
apart and ascertain their nature.
The purpose Of this announcement,
Of course. was to forestall the storm Of
condemnation which the Germans
knew would follow their use Of the
bombs on LOndon-a ruse which they
had invariably employed whenever
they contemplated some fresh violation
Of the rules of international law and
the dictates Of humanity.
1t happened that n Of my patients
who resided In Baden-Baden called to
see me the day after the bombs had
been dropped on her town. and she
told me all about 1t.
1.-THE airplanes which dropped the
bombs had been flying over the city all
the morning" she declared. 1--WE
thought they were u own machines
out for practice and paid no particular
attention to them. Then they dropped
the bombs and they landed In the
woods, and we knew we had been at
tackled. What a dreadful thing for
them to do"
What a foolish thing for allied air
planes to dO-tO spend q whole morn
ing studying the lLJOut of the town
and then to drop those deadly bombs
an a plnmn nf ,-nndo vvhnrn fhav rA,,t1
not possibly hurt anyone, and how
careless Of the Germans not to modest
them while they were engaged in their
devilish work!
But the point I wanted to bring out
was this these gas bombs were never
used on London!
"Just IA everything was In readiness
for the raid" the orncer tOid me re-
gretfully, 1--WE received orders direct
from the kaiser to hold OFF, saw his
signature to the order. OF course,
there was nothing for us to do but
comply, but II we had had the kaiser
there, l believe we would have strung
him up by the neck! We still have
those bombs, however. and you may
be sure they will yet be used"
For some unknown reason the kaiser
stopped the use Of those lethal gas
bombs for the time being. Why didn't
he to say the women and chill
dren on the Lusitania2
When I went back to Berlin in the
fall Of 1915. after a visit to the United
States, the kaiser was very anxious to
ascertain from me just how America
felt towards the war.
told him that before the sinking of
the Lusitania American opinion had
e divided. There had been many
who were strongly pro-ally, there had
e others who were openly pro-
German and there had been still 9th.
ers who maintained an absolutely neu-
tral attitude. After the Lusitania
tragedy. however, there had been a
distinct change in public feeling. l told
him. practically the whole country
having become decidedly i-German,
Perhaps II the U-boat commander
mad known so many women and chill.
dren were on board" was the kaiser's
only comment, "he might not have sent
forth the torpedo which sent the vessel
to the bottom. but what he was think.
Ing Of most. Of course. was the 5000
tons of ammunition on board which
were destined to slaughter my peo-
pier
or course the kaiser knew that II
the U-boat commanders orders were
to sink the Lusitania, d~isobedience
upon his part would have left but one
course open for him: suicide. II, on
the other hand, the kaiser meant to
intimate that the U-boat commander
sank the Lusitania on his own initia.
tive or without special instructions
from his s~uperiors. the fact still re.
mains that the kaiser could undoubt-
eddy have prevented the tragedy and
didn't.
But II there can be any doubt as to
the kaiser's direct responsibility for
the sinking Of the Lusitania. certain Il
II that be fully approved. openly de-
Tended and wen exulted In the murder
Of women and children By zeppelin