Judsonia weekly advance., 1918-11-27

that would end their chance to make money out of the war; Are your l people so mercenary that they would 1 like to see the war prolonged for the sake of the money they can make out of it?'
 "No, your excellency,' I replied, you are quite wrong if you imagine that my countrymen would like to pro- long the war for the sake of war profits. That is very far from being the case. On the contrary, the coun- try at large is anxious for peace.''
 Don't forget your people are mak- ing lot of money out of this war" the reichskanzler persisted. They are becoming very rich. They will soon have all the gold in the world. Putting an end to the war would to great extent end American opportuni- ties for making money on this enor- nous scale."
 That may be all true" I replied, but fortunately my countrymen think more of the blessings of peace and liberty than they do of war and profits, and the sooner peace can be- brought about on a basis which will have some assurance of permanency the bet ter we will like it."
 "WfsOn has the gyeatest opportu- nifty ever presented to man to make | his name immortality bringing about peace in the world" he went on. We feel now that he is not our friend, but friendly to the allies, but nevertheless he may be able to see that If this war is prolonged indefinitely it will mean the destruction of all the nations in- volved in it. Do you think there Is any possibility of America entering the war;"
 That of course, will depend, your excellency," I answered, "upon devel- opments. I don't believe my country is anxious to fight but I'm quite sure that nothing in the world will keep us out of 1t if our rights as a neutral nation are not respected"
 "We certainly don't like the way Hughes has been talking on the stump" declared the reichskanzler. 'Did you hear any of his speeches OF any of Wilson's?"
 I said I had had no opportunity to hear any of the campaign speeches, but that I had followed them in the newspapers.
 Well, did you gather from what you read that the American people want to see peace in Europe or do they want the war to go on so they can continue to make fortunes out of it?''
 Again I replied thas I was certain our country would never be influenced by such sordid considerations as were implied in the reichskanzler's question, but that if the right kind of peace could srought-.aho,It the whole eoppt@y would eagerly embrace it. The subject of the U-boat campaign was never mentioned and 1t was not until several months later when the submarine warfare was started again on a greater scale than ever that realized that the whole purpose of this interview was to ascertain if they could. without telling me their inten- tions, who was the candidate, Hughes or Wilson, who would be least dan- gerous to them If more American ves- sells were sunk in the ruthless sub- marine campaign they were then con- templating.
 The election was drawing close; 1t was necessary to notify Von Berns- torff of Potsdams preference; the kai- ser believed that perhaps he held the deciding ballot i'll his hand in the shape of the German-American vote and he didn't know how to cast it. Hence the eagerness with which they interrogated me upon my return from the front"
 The interview with the reichskanzler and the fact thatsit was instigated by the kaiser indicated to me that Amer ica occupied a most important place in the kaiser's plans. When, few months later, we declared war against Germany, however, all the kaiser's planning and plotting of years col lapsed. The edifice he had been so confidently erecting came crashing to the ground because it was built upon q false foundation. How elementary was his expectation that his efforts to win the friendship of the United States ip time of peace could avail him anything in the face of his bar barrie methods of making war! I