Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1918-10-09

ucteU Luey "OulU nave COuc AuIO SAAs
war. They always acted as II they
liked me. Ny mother was English
you know. I always thought the
world was big enough for three Of N
and we could keep it for ourselves
that Germany could control the cont.
nent Of Europe, England, through hea
vast possessions and feet, could con-
troll the Mediterranean and the far
east, and America could dominate the
western hemisphere"
/ How long it would have been before
Germany would have tried to wrest
dominion from England can readily be
imagined, and with the whole Of Eu.
rope and the far east under her thumb
America would undoubtedly have
proved too tempting a morsel for the
kaiser's or his descendants rapaciOus
nav to have resisted. He said that
he believed that the world was "big
enough for three" he didn't say 1t
was too big for one.
What was really In his mind, how.
ever, is indicated by passage in an
address he made some twenty-five
years ago, in which, as Rev. DR.. New.
ell Dwight Hills has pointed out, he
used these words:
"From my childhood I have been I'M
der the influence of five men-Alexan.
der, julius Caesar, Theodore II, Ma
poleon and Frederick the Great. These
five men dreamed their dream of a
world empire: they failed. I am
dreaming my dream Of a world empire,
but shall succeed"
The kaiser's plan to dominate Eu-
rope included the control of Turkey,
and he made every effort to strengthen
that country so that she might be
valuable ally in the war to come.
When Italy took Tripoli from Tur-
key before the Balkan war I men,
toned to the kaiser how OPPORTUNITY
Italy had acted, but the kaiser dis
missed my remark with an exclama-
ton of displeasure, realizing, OF
course. that Turkeys loss was in a
sense his own since he had planned to
make Turkey his vassal.
To that end he had sent German Of.
ficers to train the Turkish army and
had supplied them with guns and mu
nitions. With an eye to the future
too, he had constructed the great Bag.
dad railway.
When the Balkan war broke out in
1912 the kaiser had great confidence
that the German. trained Turkish army
would acquit itself creditably and
that in the outcome of that conflict his
European program would make consid-
cradle progress. He told me that he
had map Of the war area placed in
his motor and that with pegs he fol-
lowed the fortunes of the fighting
armies while he was travelling.
The Turkish defeats were naturally
q great disappointment to him.
'These Montenegrins, Serbians and
Bulgarians are wonderful fighters" he
confessed to me, shortly after the war
began. They're out-of-door people
and they have the strength and STAN
ina which fighters require. If they
keep on the way they're going they'll
be In Coustantinople in week! Con-
found these Turks! We furnished
them guns and ammunition and
trained their officers, but If they won't
fight we can't make them. We've done
our best! /"
The defeat Of the Turks lessened
their value to the kaiser as an ally
and he Immediately put into effect
measure for increasing the German
standing army from $4,000 to 100000
to restore the balance of power, they
said. For this purpose "Wehrbei-
trag," or increased armament tax, was
levied on capital and, incidentally,
was informed that I would have to
pay my share. The idea Of paying a
tax to upbuild the German army,
which was already so powerful that
it menaced the peace of the world.
did not appeal to me at all and l
spoke to Ambassador Gerard about 1t.
He advised me to pay it under protest,
agreeing with me that there was no
reason why an American should be
required to contribute to the German
war budget. However, I haG to pay it.
The German efforts at colonization,
which were more or less Of a failure
because the Germans refused to In
habit the German possessions. and the
measures adopted to conquer the COM
mercial markets of the world were an
important part Of the program Of world
domination which Germany planned
for herself, and it is not unlikely that
II she had confined her efforts along
those lines she might have progressed
further along her chosen path than she
has advanced by bathing the world in
blood.
: Il have nearly 100000 people,"
the kaiser sald to me on one occasion,
"and we shall have to find room for
them somewhere. When we became
an empire England had her hands on
nearly everything. Now we must
fight to get ours. That is why l am
developing our world markets, just as
your country secured Hawaii and the
Philippines as, stepping stones to the
markets of the far east, as l under
stand it That's why developed the
wonderful city of Kiao-Chau."
His plans in this connection were
changed somewhat apparently by the