The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-11-10
80 YEARS REIGN
ENDS IN DEBACLE
King-Emperor Sacrificed Ger
man Blood and Treasure for
Phantom Goal.
BORN. SWORD IN HAND
Survey of wilhelm's Career
and Ambitions That Cost
Him His Throne.
~ ,. 1. G. CLARKE.
THE MAN AND MS TIME.

THE MAN AND HIS TINE.
There passes from his throne under the
ban OF the human race man who has
carried the helmet crown Of German
kaiserhood since 1888. In these thirty
years he showed in marked degree every
ruse and every quality that is hateful TO
mankind under the camoufiage OF hunt
for fame and passion for popularity.
As q Honenzollern he was born TO
vanity. personal display and the lust
for power. and whatever he did of SEEM
ing good in speech or act, he nursed
under all the mad Hohenzolledn dream
Of personapaggrandizem to be sought
relentlessly when the. moment came at
the cost Of millions OF German lives.
the carnage of German flesh, the blood,
vast wasted treasure Of Germany.
II il outside the possibilities that he
wavered a hair or lost smile over
the millions OF lives. the tears, the plum
der, the destruction, he brought about
in the world outside Germany. That
would be too much to ask Having
.duped. starved, decimated, impoverished,
dishonored his own people he now sur
veys the ruin of the bloody Hohen-
xollern dream.
Trained for Useless Sacrifice.
Germany had been trained for the
and a nation to endure his costliest
whinas. and by supporting him and the
aristocrats and militarists at their Wild
est the Germans brought on themselves
the curse of the world. Truly II God
permitted a Kaiser to be. He could have
chosen no other vessel to make visi-
bic the inherent vileness of the model.
In Judging him and his place In his
tory this excess of types must be re-
membered Frederic the Elector, whom
Germans call the Great: was just as
excessive, Just as strenuous in forcing
death and sacrifice upon his people.
bat times have changed. A new Cos
pei denying the right of any one to in
flict disaster on the people has reached
the Intelligent. and Germany pays for
her master butcher.
In the heyday OF Germany's peace
wilhelm; fashioned a kaiser that he
asked Germans and the world to ad-
mire, but ever he worked at the Hohen-
zollern dream-war, war for slaughter.
var for conquest, war for high place
Of men. What will remain Of it all
can be put under an old wife's thimble.
That he came to the throne with a
cry to the army. nourished the military
IDEAL, apparently lapsed into good ma
ture and fostered trade. patted the arts.
worshipped science and made himself
intp a pulpit humping preacher must be
told Of him. but the face OF the hard
Jawed war lord. the shrieker for un-
i H.
was never wholly absent and later the
thought behind II became an obsession.
Warrior behind IL All.
Behind all thoughts Of a glorious,
peaceful. materially progressing Ger
many he always saw the Mailed War
rior riding forth, himself the Warrior,
the Leader, the Kaiser. the Victor at any
cost. When Germany smiled at his dis
torted sermons It little dreamed OF the
terrors and disasters that they por-
tended. So he at last found his chance
to test 1t all. And from that hour in
1914 when he hurled his bolt he was
at need OF heapIng lies upon decisions
to keep Germany under his hand
One Is not here rehearsing his bloody
campaigns. In one against Russia a
home revolt dung the Gar from the
throne. The man for whom Russian
blood had been shed was prisoner In
an hour, and the armies OF Russia melted
away before the anarchistic madness
that followed on the reaction agains,
autocracy. 1t was a warning against
all such rulers as the Gar or the
Kaiser. and 20 remains. If Nicholas ex.
hibited an easy weakness. the stupendous
power for Ill OF Car, Wilhelm II.
under the disguise Of his Theatre
dash. false glitter and occasional bon
homie. made clear the persistlng, reck-
less cruelty and disregard OF human
rights and lives, German as well as
others, that underlie all pretensions "a
power OF a poisonous race like the Ho-
henzollerns Herein lies the broad les
son of his reign.
Never was Tremendous sweep 70 con
quest more rudely stopped than Ger
many's first rush was at the Marine. All
he would settle that. His eldest son. the
Crown Prince. who had for a year beer
crying out for blood. was among the
flung back. but Wilhelm sent him to the
eastern front. where again the boy, TAX
ing the command from wiser heads, led
the Germans TO disaster. The High
General Staff shook itself like a soused
mastiff. and actually warned the Kaiser
off the conduct Of the war. For appear,
ances he still commanded in name but
his capacity for blunder was inherent
Won Hindenburg's reversal OF the Rus.
sian invasion OF East Prussia marked
out for Germany the true leader for the
war. Against this Wilhelm long strug.
gied in vain. Was his star so dim
Could It be done safely to him and his
throne? At any rate he was forced to
make the change. and put the victor
over Rennenkalnpf in the supreme sad
die.
FaIsetto Addresses to Troops.
Thenceforth began the hideous tragi.
comedy OF the following years OF the
WARMTH a really supernumerary mil
itary Kaiser. sickening under the strain
and the wrath OF his humiliations and
trying to put face OF satisfaction on It,
What febrlle hopping from front 10
front: what falsetto addresses to the
troops, what showering OF Iron Crosses
followed. What applause he had for a
victory anywhere more crosses A new
decoration went with a flourish to Won
Hindenburg every month.
In the sawdust ring there Is such q
hgure--one with all the swagger OF COM
mand. the hustle of the superserviceable
running from point to point to help, to
direct impotently amid roars Of laughter.
In the circus he is called Monsieur Al
phonse; in Germany. at war. II had be-
come the Kaiser. The Serbian overthrow
gave him grand occasion. The collapse
OF Russia another; the advance on Italy
smother, but the March. 1917, offensive
on the western front with its horrible
4 slaughter OF Germans by the hundred
thousand kent him after the first day