Clearwater Republican. [volume] (Orofino, Idaho) 1912-1922, 1918-11-08
CHAPTER XIII.

The Kaiser at Army Headquarters.

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To what extent the kaiser is respon-
sible for the failures and entitled to
credit for the successes of his armies
in the present war. am not In a po-
sition to say, but if he did not actually
direct the military policy, he at least
kept closely in touch with everything
that was going on. From the very be-
ginning of hostilities he lived the ma.
jor part of the time at the great army
headquarters and was in constant con-
sultation with his military leaders.
had several opportunities to see
the kaiser while he was at the various
great army headquarters.
In the spring of 1916 / received a
long-distance telephone message from
the great army headquarters, which
was then in the palace of the Prince
Won Pless at Pless, to the effect that
the kaiser wanted me to 60 there.
During the course of my work enc
of his private secretaries came in re-
peatedly with kilograms and messages
for the kaiser, and he would usually
excuse himself and read them. Some
times he would be summoned outside
to consult with important persons who
were there to see him, but he was
never gone more than ten minutes at
time.
did not think he looked exception
ally well. He seemed to be very tired
and he had very little to say-in itself
an indication that he was not exactly
normal.
/. When my work for the morning was
over and his valet, who had assisted
me, had been excused, the kaiser
gazed at me for a moment or two and
then, aprOpos of nothing, burst out
with the rather remarkable announce
ment: "The man who brought this
catastrophe on the world, Davis,
should be strung up by the neck, and
that man is not l, as the world seems
to think !! The car Of Russia and he
king of England, when they were at
the wedding Of my daughter-guest~
at my own house, mind you, an0 my
blood relatives-hatched this plot
against me- They were envious of
my power, but they will now learn
what that power is"
In the same breath almost he made
the inconsistent remarks England
will never be able to raise an efficient
army; 1t took Germany one hundred
years to accomplish what she has
done I"
Some time after this, one Of the big
gest merchants in Berlin told me that
he had heard on the stock exchange
that the kaiser had made the remark
that the king and czar had Matched
the plot against him. and as had
repeated the kaiser's statement to no
one, l realized that he must have told
the same thing to others. II this YER
sion of the starting of the war was put
into circulation with the idea Of alb
solving the kaiser, it certainly didn't
carry conviction even among the Ger.
mans themselves. The merchant who
spoke to me about 1t, at any rate, made
fun of the idea. and never heard the
point seriously raised by anyone else
Of influence.
Before I left the kaiser that morn
lag he spoke Of the Anglo-French loan
which had been foated In America
and condemned us severely for coun'
tenancing 1t. When told him that
Germany had also fioated loan In
America, he replied: "But ours wal
only $10,OOOO0O, while theirs il $500.
00O,O00l" to which l naturally rejoinet
that the size of the loan could GER
tainly not affect the question of oul
neutrality In floating 1t.
He criticized our bankers who han
died the loan, and when asked him 1
he had ever seen the number of Ger
man names that appeared on the lis
Of bankers who were interested In II
he said he hadn't read the list, but h
was quite sure there was one bank Il
New York which wouldn't touch II
",rhat bank wouldn't touch anything
that would be detrimental to Ger
many!" he added.
+ Several months later ] was Gale
to Pless again and was shown to tn
same room had visited on the forme
occasion. When the kaiser entered h
stood erect, with his hands to his side
clicked his heels together and salute
me as soldier salutes superior off
/ Ger, smiling as he did SO, and ! knee
he was in good hum0r.
Nevertheless he had but little to ga!
His criticism of Mr.. Wilson on this o.
casion l have recorded elsewhere
these pages.
In June OF 1917, after the great arm
headquarters had been removed
Homburg Y. d. Hohe, and Krenznac
1.-TWO neighboring villages) was Gale
there to see the kaiserin, and thre
weeks later went there again to sc
the kaiser. noticed at the station tn
kaiser's private train composed Of fly
dark green cars upon each of whic
was plainly marked the imperial CO,
Of arms. The cars had special foldir
steps.
y Two rooms were assigned. to me 4