Payette enterprise. (Payette, Canyon Co., Idaho) 1909-1935, 1918-11-21
CHAPTER XIV.
The Kaiser and Things American.

Inc Kaiser and Things American.
Among the Germans generally Their,
fs a surprising degree of ignorance re
garding conditions in America. Thu
untrayeled German has but the yagues
ideas concerning our people and oul
institutions. / have had patients Of
intelligence and education ask me how
we are abe to cope with the Indians
In view of the extent of German emf
grafton to America and<the vast vol
ume of commercial transactions be.
tween the two countries, 1t is almost
unbelievable that such erroneous no
tions should prevail in these enlight-
ened days, but they do.
This fact partially serves to explain
how easy it was for the kaiser and his
inspired press to pull the wool over
the peoples eyes regarding the unim-
portance of Americas entry into the
war. 1t doesn't explain at all, how
ever, how completely the kaiser him
self underestimate US and our power,
for / doubt whether there is any for
eigner living, who has never visited
America who knows more about our
country than the German emperor. In
deed, he was more familiar with many
of our problems than many of our
countrymen, and he frequently reveal
ed to me in the course of our CONVEX
sations how thoroughly posted he was
on American conditions.
Long before the subject of forest
conservation was taken up seriously in
this country, the kaiser pointed out to
me what a great mistake we were
making in not devoting more atten-
ton to it.
"Can you tell me, Davis, why you
have so many forest fires in your coun-
tryr he asked, after a particularly
destructive confiagration in the West
had destroyed many acres OF timber.
''How does it happenT
1 explained TO him that most of the
forest fires came from sparks from
locomotives. Careless lumbermen al
lowed the branches which they Topped
of the trees to remain on the ground
and when they were ignited by sparks
the fire sometimes spread TO the uncut
timber. AS the facilities for extin-
gushing fire in these unpopulated re-
gions were practically nil and the eli |
mate made the timber particularly in
fammable, these fires usually attained
serious dimensions.
THAT points out again the ineff- |
cheney of your form of government he |
commented. "You have laws requiring |
the railways TO use appliances to ar
rest the sparks from their engines,
haven't you? Why don't you enforce
them? Your people don't seem to
realize that it takes years to grow a
tree. Because you have more than you
need today, you make no preparation
for tomorrow. For every tree cut
down another should be planted. If
you don't adopt some such measure the
time will surely come when America
will have to turn TO Germany for TIM
0er"
The kaiser was harsh critic of our
election system. The idea of a four
year term for the president was nat
lrally -epugnant to one who held such
exalted notions as to the rights of
'ulers. 1t would be too much TO ex- ,
,ect the Hohenzollern mind to approve ,
# a constitution which provided for ,
he rulers return TO private life after
period of four years at the head of
he government. !
He declared that with a constant ,
hange of administration it was quite
ut of the question for this country =,
o follow any definite policy. 1t was ,
ad enough even so far as internal |
fairs were concerned, he said, but /,
UGH system made it impossible he ,
nought for America ever to take a !.
rominent place in international poll !,
les.
you can't expect the nations of the :,
-orld to deal with America as they
cal among themselves when the next
hange of administration may mean :
he adoption of an entirely new foreign :,
olicy," he declared. There can be
Othing stable about the foreign policy
nation whose leaders change every :
,ur years"
american party politics were a con- y
ant source of embarrassment to the
liser. He always seemed undecided II
5 to just how ne should receive an
merican of prominence. If he hap u
ened to be of the same political faith u
; the administration, the kaiser was "
raid to do him too much honor for IL
ar of offending the opposing party, &c
no might win the next election; and p
he were not of the same party as II
e administration, the kaiser feared III
honor him lest more immediate re-
ntment be stirred up in America. III
lus ne refused to receive Bryan on ~
% different occasions when Repub- Ia
an administration @,- IN power. IN
He criticized veTf strorgly too, our er
sction methods.
Instead of discussing principles, M
ur political candidates exchange per- w
he said. my people would IL
shocked at the sort of speeches and ca
ouSotinpS v-binb tu,tra I'm, vnnr CO