The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1918-10-18

allies will feel what the power OF Ger
many Is long before English cOnscrlp-
tion can avail them anything"
"And while England ~ slowly build
ing up her insignificant army" the
kaiser went on, "she will see Americas
navy and merchant marine constantly
growing and the dollar replacing the
pound as the unit of the worlds
finance. No, Davis. England will soon
be sick of the war and win look with
fear upon Americas growing powerr'
The French army. too, was generally
bellttled and the Russians were be-
lieyed to be absolutely negligible. The
French army was NO poorly equipped,
1t was pointed out. that the officers
had TO 90 TO the field In patent-leather
boots. and on the Russian front, only
the irst-llne men had guns, the others
being armed with clubsl
Eventually. officers and soldiers re-
turning from the western front on fur
Tough or passing through the country
brought the report of the defeat before
Paris. Soldiers who participated in
that disastrous retreat wrote from the
new trenches 10 their friends and rel
ntiyes telling Of the terrible expert
ences they had undergone, when they
went for days with nothing to eat but
raw potatoes and turnlps which they
picked from the fields.
When these reports finally spread
through Germany the people began 10
realize that their generals In the west
were not meeting with the same success
that Won IIindcnburg had had in the
east and Won Hlndenburg became the
Idol Of the people Immediately. a fact
that was very dlstasteful to the high
command.
The kaisers dislike OF Won linden
burg was OF long standing. He had
never forgiven that general for the mis-
take he made during military maneuy-
ers In peace time when by brilliant
stroke OF strategy he had succeeded In
capturing the kalser's forces, including
the kaiser and his whole staff
| have referred In previous chapter
to the kaiser's unhounded confidence
after the Italian collapse In 1917
"Now. we've got the alliesl' he ex
claimed. with an air OF concluslveness
which emphasized the optimism h'
displayed.
After the capture OF RoumanIa, hi
exhibited similar degree of exulta
ton. He believed that In that achieve
ment he hud successfully solved the
food prOblem--the one cloud which
constantly darkened the kaiser's horl
zon.
"Now the allies will never succeed II
starving u.s." he said to me In my of
flce shortly after the Roumanlan drive
"wlth Roumanla In our pockets anC
Servia already ours. their wonderful
agricultural possibilities will suppl,
our food needs and foil our enemies
efforts to starye us. Indeed, they hat
better look out for themselves. Dom
forget we have monopoly on thu
potash mines of the world. Wlthou
proper fertilization, American crop
win 60 on decreasing and decreasing
and they won't get any potash until w
get ready to let them have I'll"
The failure Of. the Zeppelins from
military standpoint was undoubtedly
great disappointment TO the Germal
people ut large. who had counted $
much upon them to bring disaster I
England, but II cannot be said that tn
kaiser shared their chagrln. ON tn
contrary, have reason TO believe tina
he never expected very much from tina
arm Of his military force except as
might be useful to terrorize the civ
population.
A day or two after Zeppelln's dealt
In 1917. patient If mine, lady, haI
pened TO remark that II was too ba
that the count had not lived to see tn
triumph OF his invention. and when
, saw the kaiser shortly afterwards
repeated her remark to see what B
would say.
"Isam convinced that the count live
long enough to see all that the zel
, pellns were capable of accomplishing
was his only comment. II recalled q
/ answer he had given me some year
+ before when both zeppelins and al
, planes were in their infancy and | hs
{ asked him which held the create
/. promise. awe do not know. Tin
/ alone will tell" was his reply.
! The last time eonyersed with q
i kaiser was ON November 70. 1917. I
10 that time we had sent over t6e,0'
= troops, according 10 the figures whi'
! have since been revealed by Secretal
!. Baker. According to the kaiser's !
formation. however, we had only -
\ 600 men In France at that time al
: he was of the opinion that we wou
) never have many more.
|. America is having fine time II
ing TO raise an army" he declar'
t satirtcally. II hear that 1.60o mutini'
g the other day In New York and !
= fused 20 get on transport. and
a town In the Northwest composed pri
d cipany Of citizens Of Swedish bio
( refused to register at ALL We are g
e ting excellent information about |
conditions in America"
h. shortly before this had come the re