Clearwater Republican. [volume] (Orofino, Idaho) 1912-1922, 1918-09-13
The Kaiser as | Knew linn
for Fourteen Years
1
By ARTHUR N. DAVIS, D. D. S.
Copyright 1914 by Mcclure Newspaper Synocate)


He didn't seem to be In the best of
humor but greeted me cordially enough
and shook hands.
I'm all my life, Davis" he said, II
have never suffered SO much pain"
! expressed my sorrow and started
to improvise a dental chair out of an
upholstered armchair on which
placed some pillows and, as the kaiser
sat down, he laughingly remarked:
Look here. Davis, you've got to do
something for me. / can't fight the
whole world. you know, and have
toothacher'
When l was through and his pain
was relieved, his spirits seemed to re-
vive appreciably, and he explained why
1t was he was so anxious to have his
tooth trouble removed as quickly as
possible.
II must go down to Italy, Davis.
he said, ITO see what my noble troops
have accomplished. My gracious,
what we have done to them down
there! Our offensive at Riga was just
tended offensive in Italy so thoroughly
that the Italians thought we couldn't
possibly intend to carry it through.
For three months it was corSmon talk
In Germany, you remember, that the
great offensive would start in October,
and SO the Italians believed it was all
bluff and when we advanced on Riga
they were sure of 1t. They thought we
were so occupied there that we could
pay no attention to them, and so we
caught them napping!"
The kaiser's face fairly beamed as
he dwelt on the strategy Of his gen.
erals and the successful outcome of
their Italian campaign.
For months Italy had been engaged
In planting her big guns on the noun
tain-tops and gathering mountains of
ammunition and supplies and food and
hospital supplies in the valleys below,
in preparation for their twelfth Isonzo
offensive.
1--WE let them 60 ahead and waited
patiently for the right moment. They
thought that their contemplated often
sive must inevitably bring our weaker
neighbOr to her knees and force her to
make a separate peace" BY "our
weaker neighbor" the kaiser, of course,
referred to Austria, and how accurate
was his information regarding Italy's
expectations and how easily they
might have been realized were subse-
Quently revealed by the publication of
that famous letter from Kaiser Karl
to Prince Sextus.
"And them" the kaiser went on,
''when their great offensive was within
a week of being launched we broke
through their lines on slope 1900
feet high, covered with snow, where
they couldn't bring up their reserves
or new guns, and we. surrounded
them!
I'VE took practically everything they
possessed-food enough to feed our
entire army without calling upon our
own supplies at all. Never before had
our armies seen such an accumulation
of ammunition. l must certainly go
down to see 1t.
1--WE cut off their northern retreat
and, as they swung their army to the
south, we captured 10000 Of them up
to their knees in the rice fields. One
of the great mistakes they made was
in carrying their civilian refugees with
them-clogging their narrow roads and
impeding the retreat Of their soldiers.
We had taken possession Of their most
productive regions, and their retreat
was through territory which yielded
them nothing. Just think Of that re-
treating army thrown upon the already
Impoverished Inhabitants Of that Sec
tion. Why, they'll starve to death!
Everywhere we went we found
their big guns abandoned. In one
small village we came upon a gun dec.
grated with flowers and surmounted
with portrait Of Emperor Franz Jo-
sef. It had been put there by the Ital'
ian inhabitants Of the village to show
their happiness at being released nj
last from the yoke Of the intolerable
Italian lawyer government How ter
rIbly the Italians must have treated
themi Italy will never get over this
defeat. This was real help from God
Now, we've got the allies!" and he
struck his left hand with his right with
great force to emphasize his apparent
conviction that the turning point In
the war had been reached with ltaly's
collapse.
That the kaiser now regarded him
self and his armies as invincible felt
and feared that the success in Italy
would be followed at the first favora
BILE opportunity by gigantic offensive
on the western front
Indeed. on a subsequent occasion
when he called at my Office for further
treatment, and again referred to thu
Italian triumph, he remarked: IF oul
armies could capture 100000 Italians
and those 100000 might just as well b
dead as far as Italy Ia commemorative
can do the same thing against GU
enemies on the west"
This was one Of the interviews wa
SO anxious to report to the representa-
tives of'the American intelligence de