Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-01-28

Significance, a sinister meaning which
cannot be entirely overlooked. In
later ages. historians may. indeed,
date new periods from that day.
Whatever we know of the mans
childhood and early youth is shrouded
cal backstairs gossip. Intimate facts
about royal personages rarely become
known until long after their death.
, What we do know is hat Prince Will
liam on his tenth birthday was APP
pointed a second lieutenant in the
First Regiment Of the Guards. Until
his eighteenth yea he studied at
Kassel and at Bonn, mingling with the
aristocracy as we'll as with the bour-
goisie of his country. -
From the descriptions and memoirs
of h a period it is possible to COM
pose an attractive picture of the
young prince. He was not dashing-
but was essentially what the polite
French call a "charmeur." Unusual
brightness has not been revealed. The
ambitions which later were destined
to become disastrous to five con-
%tinents, had not developed. The
friends. and his probable future as
reigning monarch.
When he assembled the throne of
Prussia and the German empire, he
was only % years old At that time
he Immediately served notice upon the
world at large that he was about to
make Germany a power, and that he
relied chiefly upon his army to ac-
complish that purpose. Later on, he
added the navy. and prophesied that
Germany's future was on the sea.
(Just now it appears to be rather at
sea-
We have stories and anecdotes
galore from the quiet period of the
emperor's life. We see him as the
ideal German Hausvater who
possesses the average amount of
homely virtues and no excessive vices.
honor of the emperor. A few years
6 when the Eulenburg affair turned
things upside down in Germany, the
emperor's reputation emerged purified
from the Investigations.
Speaking in all seriousness, there is
reason to doubt the sanity of the en-
peror. His highly developed sense Of
the importance Of Ego may be classi-
fed by specialists as paranoia or some
other kind of mania. If Max Nordau
had dared. he would undoubtedly
have included the German emperor
among all the other supposed madmen
whom he described in his book on
Degeneration" What Lombroso has
thought on the subject, has not be-
come generally known, but he had
very clear ideas about the relation
ship between madness and genius.
1t was not until the beginning of the
present century that the madness Of
the emperor exhibited itself in con-
vincing symptoms. His kiel speech
in Q00 ohnvIf I,i, ~r~,r a.
Huns n himself as Attila betrayed
the sad fact that his mind was in a
weakening condition. His constant
illusions to some secret and very spe-
cla4 alllance with Providence lent COL
or to n assumption that his egotis-
tical fanaticism had become sheer in
sanity.
Isn't that clear from the following
excerpt taken from a speech which
the emperor delivered at Koenigs-
berg on August %, 1910: "Consid-
ering myself as the instrument of the
Lord, without needing the view and
opinions of the day, I 60 my way
This remark. incidentally, called
forth a parliamentarian investigation.
IN 1913 a vast number of German
Festschrifte was published in com-
memoration of the centennial, OF the
liberation of the German states. Tins
dAu dSdiH IL was possible to find ref
erences to Emperor William as the
prince OF peace who for a quarter Of
a. century had done everything pos
sible to develop the Industries, COM
merce and science of his country
without risking its existence through
any wars.
1t was true. Upon several occasions
the emperor really had exerted his
nfluence for the purpose of avert
ing war when great International
c~atastrophes appeared to be impend-
ing.
But in light of later events, it is
reasonable to question his motives. Did
he avert war because he was a lover
of peace? Did he develop his vast
armies AS a lover of peace?
1t seems nearer the truth to be-
fieve that he did not want any war
in Europe until he was ready to take
part.
X X X
Certain indications point. toward
the possibility that the emperor did
want a war in 1913. German enthus-
Isl was then at its height. The peo-