The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1918-10-24
THE KAISER AS ! KNEW HIM FOR
FOURTEEN YEARS
Copyright, 1918, by Mcclure News
paper Syndicate)
CHAPTER Viii,

LiegnftZ, in SileSia, having been In
vited by some journalistic friends Of
mine to accompany them in the motor
allowed the press. The military repre-.
s~entatives OF England. France. Amer.
lea and other countries were there
with the kaiser's staff to witness the
display of Germany's military power.
Apparently they were very much i'm.
pressed, for l heard afterwards that
one Of the French officers who had
been present had written a book In
which he said: with such an army,
Germany could n France In six
months I"
l happened to mention this fact to
the kaiser shortly afterwards and his
significant comment was:
six months! l should hope so. II
wouldn't take that lOng!"
The confident belief that when "Der
Tag"-"the day"-finally arrived. Ger.
many would crush her enemies and &C.
cOmplish her object within a few
months at the outside IA held not
only by the kaiser but by the people
generally and their conduct when the
war broke out clearly disclosed 1t.
When Germany's mar power was
modified, no n In Germany believed
it would be very long before they
would all be back and every effort was
made to make their few weeks Of &C.
tive service as little irksome as pos
sible. "~Liebesgaben," gifts of love,
consisting of clothing and food Of
every description, were forwarded to
them by their relatives and friends In
the most lavish manner, although, Of
course, at that time the German com.
missary vas able to satisfy all the sol
diers' requirements.
One of my patients told me that she
had sent seventeen hundred pounds OF
sauSageS to II regiment within a
week, and when / asked her why she
had been SO generous she replied that
her chauffeur was a member Of the
regiment!
The extent to which the country's
resources were squandered in those
early months is evidenced by the fact
that the soldiers had such an excess
Of ill-fitting wooden wearing apparel
that they used many Of the knitted ar
ticles as earpieces and v for their
horses. No one had the slightest idea
that the time might cChe when the
whole nation would be clothed In pa
per!
At this late day 1t can hardly be
necessary to establish how thoroughly
prepared the Germans were for the
war, but al incident which occurred in
the early days of the conflict may not
be out of place to show the s~elf-satis-
fled and confident attitude which all
the Germans assumed.
Two officers sitting at a table in an
ou%t-Of-door cafe shortly after the war
began overheard n of several ladies
who were passing remark: Look at
those officers sitting there drinking.
Why are they not at the front fight
ingY One Of the officers got up and,
approaching the ladies, said: "Our
work was completed months ago. We
worked from early morning till late at
night on plans which our armies are
now carrying out. 1t Is our time to
rest"
The resistance that France would be
able to put up was always very lightly
estimated, and IL the Intervention Of
England was at al taken into cOnsid-
Grafton, the comparatively small army
she could place in the field was re-
garded as but a drop in the bucket com
nm rod vrtth %hA vpn11 tn0I NnrvNnD
horde that was ready to sweep across
the border. How could England's $4,000
men cope with Won Kluck's 5000 or
the hastily modified French armies re-
sist the thoroughly prepared, equipped
and well-disciplined German warriors?
1t is really not to be wondered at
that the Germans firmly believed that
they would bring the allies to their
knees within q comparatively few
weeks and that the cOnquering Ger
man armies would celebrate Sedan
day. September 2. In Paris. What &C.
tually happened Is, of course, TOT well
known here to require recital. but I
know that the Germans were kept In
absolute ignorance of the marvellous
resistance the allies were able to put
up In those critical days Of August and
September. 1914. and to this day the
majority Of Germans have not heard
of the battle of the Marine!
Just after the English passed their
cOnscriptiOn law I was called to see
the kaiser at the great army headquar-
tiers, which at that time were at Pless.
Although the war had then lasted two
or three times as long as the Germans
had expected. the kaiser masked the
depression he must have felt by put
ting on q bold front.
"How foolish for England to start
conscription now" he declared. "She
thinks she can accomplish In q few
months what II has taken Germany a
hundred years to attain. Armies and
omcers cannot be DEVELOPED over night.
We have never stopped preparing since
the days IT Frederick the Great"
Ito be continced)