The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1918-12-12
By
Arthur N.Davis, DDS.
American DenfEsf
10 the Kaiser from
1904 20 1918

| Ford IS a great business man." the
kaiser went on, "and l am sure he
means all right, but what a mistake
1t is to allow a man so ignorant Of
world affairs to 90 ridiculous thing
like tbs !"
1 told the kaiser that it had been
suggested in some of the American
| papers that if Ford really wanted to
end the war, all he had to do was to
pay Germany S1OO.OOO,OOO and buy
Belgium back.
"One hundred million dollars!" the
kaiser repeated. and then after a mo-
ments reflection, as though he had
been turning over some figures in his
mind, mo, Davis. it will cost much
more than that TO get Belgium back !"
1t occurred to me that if the kaiser
really meant what he said on that oc-
casiOn. all his talk about peace with
out annexation" was obviously a myth
and that the only hope of Belgium's
redemption lay in the military defeat
of Prussia. Subsequent developments
amply confirmed that view.
In the winter of 1916. we were talk
ing of the sentiment in America and
the conversation turned to Won Berns-
torff.
''Von Bernstorff has been doing very
good work in your country" the kaiser
commented.
''Well, your majesty" replied, sit is
said in America that if he had not been
such clever diplomat he would long
ago have been compelled to leave"
oil
''he hasn't had very easy time of it.
The American press as a whole has
been cOnspicuOusly anti-German, al
though I understand that one of your
newspaper publishers has been friend
" to US. MIR. Hearst, for instance, has
helped our cause very much in your
country. He has been telling the truth
about affairs, which is more than most
of the other papers have been doingl"
Just before the king of Greece abdi-
| Gated, the kaiser referred to the atti-
tude of the American press again.
1.-The way the American newspapers
and the press of the allied countries
generally are presenting the Grecian
situation to the world is absolutely
! false and a diSgraceI'' he declared, bit
terly. ''They are entirely misrepre-
| senting the facts. Mr.. Hearst is the
| only one, as far as I can find, who has
revealed the real conditions and told
the truth about them. My, 1 wonder
what the people have to say now that
Mr.. Hearst has finally exposed the
whole thingI" 1t was only q short
time afterwards that the king abdicat-
ed and revealed Enthusiastically which
papers had correctly interpreted the
trend of Grecian politics.
The kaiser spoke to me many times
| about the writings of William Bayard
Hale
Have you been following HaIe's ar
ticles?" he inquired. what he is
writing about the war is excellent and
| is really the best material published.
| He voices my sentiments exactly. and
it would be well for every American to
! follow this writer's work.
1 had to confess that there was one
! American at least who was not only
not following Hale's writings, but had
never heard of the writer, and the
kaiser seemed to be somewhat dis
| pleased.
He referred to Hale several times
subsequently ana IN the meanwhile
| had ascertained that the man in ques-
| ton was the representative in Berlin
| of the Hearst newspapers and l sub
| seQuently learned that he had pub
| lished book called American Rights
and British Pretensions at Sea- which
explained at once to me why the kaiser
was so enthusiastic about him.
In the course of one of our many
conversations on the subject of Amer
lean munitions, the kaiser paid his re-
| spects to Mr.. Schwab.
what can one expect from Schwab,
! who is using the Bethlehem steel plant
to work against us?'' he asked. He is
of Austrian Jew extraction and would
work against anyone for the sake of
| the money that's in it -
I'm following affairs in America
very closely" he told me on another
occasion, before we entered the war.
mot all of your senators are against
US. Senator Stone. for instance, is
taking a very strong neutral stand,
understand, and it is pity there are
not more like him.
Just before left for my trip to
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