American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1918-10-22

we Underestimate no G we
know exactly what we are dolngl"
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. 1t Is true that whenever
things were going wrong, as when the
Russians in the early part Of the wal
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 case 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 l 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 1t, 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 oc-
casions after the war started, 1 noticed
that he acted differently when in the
dental chair than had been his custom
when everything was serene.
The kaiser once boosted to M that
not a building was erected in Germany,
not a bridge built. not a street opened,
not a park laid out, but what the prot
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 ~endeavored to have his
finger in every development Of world
wide Importance. 1 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, 1 am
convinced that he was thoroughly
aware Of the plan to blow 1t up and
sanctioned it. 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 beer
made to drop gas bombs on Londor
which contained a deadly gas which
would penetrate the cellars Of house:
In which civilians were in the habit
Of hiding during air raids.
Shortly before this hideous idea wa
to be put into effect the papers an
nounced that bombs of this charactel
had been dropped by the allies OF
l Baden-Baden. but that, fortunately
: they had fallen in a clump Of wood
in the center of the town and had fail
: ed to explode, which had given tn
: Germans an opportunity to TAKE then
= apart and ascertain their nature.
The purpose of this announcement
|, of course, was to forestall the storm o
1 condemnation which the German
knew would follow their use of tn
L bombs on LOndon-a ruse which the
> had invariably employed wheneve
they contemplated some fresh violatio
of the rules of International law an
the dictates of humanity.
Q 1t happened that n of my patient
who resided in Baden-Baden called
see me the day after the bombs ha
s been dropped on her town. and sh
told me all about 1t.
The airplanes which dropped tn
, bombs had been flying over the city a
the morning. she declared. Nv
( thought they were our own machine
out for practice and paid no particula
: attention to them. Then they droppe
l the bombs and they landed in III
l woods, and we knew we had been a
tackled. What a dreadful thing &c
d them TO dc! -
n What a foolish thing for allied al
planes TO do-to spend q whole NOR
ing studying the layout Of the tow
n and then to drop those deadly bomt
d on a clump Of woods where they cOul
; not possibly hurt anyone, and no
careless Of the Germans not to mole
n them while they were engaged in the
9 devilish work.
J. But the point I wanted to bring Of
l. was this: these gas bombs were new
II used on London.
"Just as everything was in readine
foi he raid" the officer told me r
J. gretgully. I'VE received orders dire
from the kaiser to hold off saw h
(, signature TO the order. OF cours
there was nothing for US to do b.
comply. but if we had had the kais'
,e there. l believe we would have struI
Ir him up by the neckl We still ha'
D.. those bombs, however. and you ms
be sure they will yet be used!"
For some unknown reason the kaisI
II stopped the use Of those lethal g
bombs for the time being. Why didn
g he move TO save the N and CHI
dren on the Lusitania2