Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1918-09-05
Ambassador Gerard's Study of
KdiSerisxn.

From an admirable review of James
": Gerard,s book. Face to Face With
katseriSm," in the London Spectator,
we reproduce the following:
In his opening sketch of the personality
OF the German emperor Mr.. Gerard gives
him full credit for manliness, great abil-
lily. versatility, knowledge OF foreign
countries. business capacity, accessibility.
and g%eniaitv Ton occasion). But these
qualities are combined with duplicity and
surprising craft. He notes his un-German
vehemence, and even violence, of speech
and gesture and his feverish restlessness.
Holding that "one-man power always fails
In the end" Mr.. Gerard sets himself to
answer the question. who does the
kaiser's thinking?" His answer shows
that Germany is not really a one-man
snow. Although the reichstag has no real
power. being subordinate to the bundesrat,
and the chancellor is responsible to
neither but to the kaiser, the greatest
power in Germany is hat of the great
general staff, which in the last resort con-
trolls. or at any rate has latterly con
trolled, the emperor. The break with
America over the unrestricted submarine
campaign was determined not by the
foreign office but by the army chiefs.
Heads may fall but the system remains.
writing In January, 1917, Mr.. Gerard
ascribes to Tirpitz the saying that Hin
denburg was the real ruler Of Germany.
HIS w view was that Ludendorff, who
supplied Hindenburg with brains, was
already the real dictator OF Germany.
Mr.. Gerard notes that since the fall Of
frince f~urstenberg there have been no
outstanding imperial favorites. He has
no hesitation in saddling the responsibility
Tor the sinking of the Lusitania, which
ne regards as the ultimate cause of Amer
icas intervention, on the kaiser. 1t was
not a lmistake; 1t was deliberately planned
and approved by the kaiser. in spite Of his
subsequent disavowals. at a time when,
Tor a while. he controlled the great gen.
'eral staff. With a few exceptions. 1t was
greeted with universal rejoicing in Ger
many. "frightfulness' being a Prussian
heritage from the days Of the Order Of
Teutonic Knights. Nothing is more i'm
pressive In these pages than Mr.. Gerard's
repeated warning that mo trick and no
evasion. no brutality, will be untried by
Germany in this war. . . There is
nothing that kaiserism is not capable of
irving In the hope of victory
The passages from Mr.. Gerard's diary
from June. 1915, to January, 1917, based on
notes OF conversations with the kaiser,
chancellor, and minister's, and on per
sonar observations and close study of the
press. are chiefly remarkable as showing
the steady growth of the hatred of Amer
lca IN Germany. In publishing them Mr..
Gerard is clearly DESTROYS of enlighteninE
his countrymen as to the systematic du-
plicity OF the policy OF the German gov
ernment towards America. He did not
believe all the stories OF German afro
cities. but the brutalities they admitted
excited his horror. The cruel treatment
OF prisoners is constantly referred to.
notably the deliberate starvation of the
russians. His relations with Bethmann
Hollweg appear to have been on the
whole uniformly friendly, and he speaks
OF the ~ex-chancellor with good will. and
even respect. as a m%oderating influence
overborne by the war party. He was, and
evidently still is. under no illusions as to
the possibility of Germany's being ever