The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1918-09-13
THE KAISER AS KNEW HIM"
Continued from Second Page)


/ out to the unfortunate British captain.
| Booty is undoubtedly a legitimate
| incident of war, but it is legitimate
/ only as an incident Otherwise booty
| becomes loot. In any event, when in
| vading troops seize private property 1t
| is customary to pay for it. That the
| Germans were good takers but poor
| payers is revealed by two incidents
/ which the kaiser narrated to me, and
the keen enjoyment he derived from
| them can be fully understood only by
| those who know how much the kaiser
| appreciates getting something for
| nothing.
"Roumania wanted our gold for food
| products" he told me. "They demand
| ed pure gold and they set enormous
| prices on their wares; but we needed
what they had to sell and we were
| ready to pay even the outrageous
| prices they demanded. And then they
| foolishly declared war against US and
we got it all for nothingi When ]
| spoke to Hindenburg about the con-
| templated campaign against Rouma-
MIA he said, This will be a very inter
estfng campaign 1t was. We got all
we wanted and didn't have to pay
penny for it,
The kaiser beamed all over as he
contemplated the results of Rouma-
MAS entry in the war.
When the German troops entered
Tarnapol, Russia, at a later time they
captured vast quantities of American
made hospital supplies.
eve were just figuring what this
seizure amounted to, and my army
| doctors were strutting around as il
they owned the world" declared the
kaiser, when one of my officers was
approached by a group of long-haired,
greasy Jews, who claimed that these
supplies belonged to them. They are
our private property; we bought them
and we should be compensated if you
seize Them they contended. Did you
pay for themY my officer asked. No,
we didn't pay for them. but we gave
our notes. they replied. Then said
my officers, when you take up those
notes Wen pay for these stores; in
the meanwhile We'll just take them
thing, in fact, that we needed so very
badly, and we got them all for moth
mgr
/ did not know at that time that the
German army lacked medical supplies,
but later / saw paper bandages in use.
/ have previously referred to the
kaiser's defense of the use of Zeppe-
Inns against Paris, London and other
nonmilitary cities. He claimed that II
was proper to make war on civilians,
because England was endeavoring to
starve Germany. On one occasion /
| pointed out to him that In 1870 the
Germans had besieged Paris and had
starved its population.
'oThe cases are entirely different"
| he answered hastily. ''Then we were
besieging city and the civilian pop
ulation had plenty of opportunity to
evacuate it before the siege began.
England is besieging a whole nation
| and trying to starve my women and
| children, who have nothing to do with
war;
/ couldn't help thinking of the
'whole nations" which had been alb
| solutely crushed under the kaiser's
heel-Of Belgium, Servia and Poland.
The kaiser never admitted that the
destruction of the Lusitania was q re-
suit of special instructions from him
to the U-boat commander. but in dis
cussing the general subject of subma-
| rine warfare he asked:
What right have Americans to take
passage on these vessels, anyway? II
| they came onto the battlefield they
| would not expect US to stop firing,
| would they? Why should they expect
| any greater protection when they en-
! ter the war zone at sea?
Don't ever forget" he went on, "a
| bullet from a pistol would be enough
| to sink one of our U-boats. How can
we stop and board vessels we encoun-
| ter to ascertain whether they are neu-
| trail and not carrying contraband? If
| what appears to be a neutral should
| in fact prove to be a belligerent, or If
| bellfgerent should heave to in re-
| Spouse to the command of one of our
| submarines, how could we safely send
| boarding party over when a rifle
|
| send US to the bottom? Obviously If
| America persists in sending munitions
| to the allies, there is but one thing
| for US to do-sink the vessels"
| When l suggested that while the
vulnerability of the submarine un-
| doubtedly lessened it's value In con-
nection with the right of search which
! belligerents have under international
| law, still the law ought to be OBJ
served, the kaiser interrupted me has
Gly with the remark:
/ international lawi There i6 no
such thing as international law any
| more!"
In that assertion, of course, lies the
answer to all the questions which have
arisen in connection with the conduct
| of the war. If the Germans recog-
nized no international law but were
| guided solely by their ideas of expedi-
ency and the demands Of 'kultur,
then the whole course of the war be-