The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1918-09-05


summer In connection with the porce-
lain tooth I had patented.
SWELL, it won't be necessary now,
Davis" he commented. 1--WE can send
the Deutschland over and bring back
q boatload of teethl"
Elk my teeth well, Davis" he de-
clared on another occasion, 80 that I
can bite: There are lots Of people I
would like to bite !" and he snapped
his jaws together in a way that would
have BODIED i'll for the victims he had in
mind, although his remark was evi
IDENTIFY more facetious than vicious. =
/ The courtesy and affability which
the kaiser almost invariably displayed
In his relations with me did not pre-
vent him on M occasion from show.
Ing his indignation when I touched him
upon what was evidently q very sore
point-the part that America was go
Ing to play in the war, although he al
ways claimed to be unperturbed about
the American situation.
He had pointed out that America at
that time had only 10000 men in
France and he believed that the o.
boats would effectively prevent any
great addition to forces abroad, II,
Indeed, they ever left onr shores.
"As q matter Of fact however" be
added, your countrymen would be
very willing, no doubt, to fight for their
country to protect 1t from invasion,
but I don't believe you'll ever get many
Of them to leave home to fight abroad.
America will really be q very small
factor In the wal. Davis!"
your majesty is Understanding
the power Of America" I replied.
He turned to me Indignantly, and In
his most imperious manner exclaimed:
I'VE underestimate no one! We
know exactly what we are doingt"
How seriously he was mistaken In
this respect has since been sufficiently
proved.
No matter how gloomy the outlook
for Germany, the kaiser seldom show
ed concern. It Is true that whenever
things were going wrong, as when the
Russians in the early part Of the war
were sweeping everything before them
In their advance on the Carpathians,
he apd the rest Of the royal family
kept as far in the background as pos
sible, whereas when the German cause
was triumphant, as in the Ease Of the
offensive against Italy, he could not
make himself too conspicuous at the
front
But even when Germany's adversely
was greatest, the kaiser always put on
a brave front. At such times I have
seen him stop in the street, after leav-
Ing my Office, and before the hundreds
of people waiting outside to greet him,
ostentatiously put a cigarette in his
mouth and light it, that everyone might
notice how steady his hand was and
how little he was worried by the turn
things were taking.
At the same time, on one or two &C
casions after the war started, I noticed
that he acted differently when in the
dental chair than had been his custom
when everything was serene.
l. The kaiser once boosted to me that
not a building was erected in Germany
not a bridge built, not a street opened,
not a park laid out, but what the prof.
ect was first submitted to him. He
kept posted on everything that was
going on, not only in Germany, but in
the world at large, and, as far as he
was able, he e~ndeavored to have his
finger in every development of world
wide Importance. I cannot imagine
that he was less interested in what his
countrymen were doing in connection
with the war than, he was in their
achievements in time Of peace.
IF he did not actually order the sink
ing Of the Lusitania, therefore, I an
convinced that he was thoroughly
aware Of the plan to blow it up and
sanctioned 1t. That he could have
averted 1t 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.
I was informed by one Of the Ger
man aviators that plans had been
made to drop gas bombs on London
which contained a 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
bounced 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.