The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1918-10-11
The Kaiser as | Knew Him
for Fourteen Years
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By ARTHUR NJ. DAVIS. D. D. S.
Copyright. 1915 by Newspaper syndicate)


Some of the arguments the kaiser
raised in his discussions with me re-
garding the war were so weak and
untenable that one might well doubt
his sincerity in urging them, but /
shall give them for what they are
worth.
''They refer to US as the Huns !" the
kaiser observed bitterly. 'If your
people could see what the Russians
ern Prussia they would know then |
who are the real Huns! They de- |
stroyed everything they could lay |
their hands on. In one of my shoot |
ing lodges which the Cossacks entered |
they even knocked out the teeth of the
boars' heads which hung on the walls
With knives they cut out the covers of
my chairs. They had special fire
bombs which they threw on peaceful
villages. These bombs had been con-
structed in peace times and were de-
signed solely for pillage and destruc-
ton.
Instead of treating their soldiers
as prisoners of war we should have
strung them up by the neck-every
one of theml"
Several prominent Poles, who were
| patients of mine and whose fine es-
| tates in Poland were looted and de-
1nolished, told me positively that the
| destruction and depredations were
committed entirely by German troops.
/ Ha Nffa,l f1N
when they were in possession of that
section of the country, but it was not
until they were driven out by the Ger
mans that the acts of vandalism were
committed and they had convincing
evidence that in every case the Ger
man soldiers and not the Russians
were responsible.
The outrages committed by the Ger
| mans in their treatment of prisoners
of war will probably never be known
in their entirety. We do know that
they executed Captain Fryatt, the
commander of British merchant YES
sci, who was captured after he mad
rammed a German U-boat. don't
know to what extent the kaiser was
directly responsible for that dastardly
crime, but from what he said regard
ing the capture of another British cap
tain, the commander of the Baralong
it was quite evident that he was II
entire sympathy with acts of that
character.
A German U-boat had sunk a Brit
ish vessel upon which were some o.
the relatives of the crew of the Bara
J long. The crew of this U-boat wa.
subsequently captured by the Bara
long, and according to reports in Ger
many they were harshly treated. Ther
: it was reported that the Baralong hat
; been captured and that her captain
and the crew would be summaril.
] dealt with.
, 81 hear we have captured the cap
) tain of the Baralong," the kaiser de
| clared to me at that time. IF we cal
prove that he's the man Wen fix him
] The manner in which the kaise
!. spoke left no doubt in my mind tina
the direst punishment would be mete
] out to the unfortunate British captain
! Booty is undoubtedly a legitimat
e incident of war, but it is legitimat
only as an incident. Otherwise boot
e becomes loot. In any event, when II
: vading troops seize private property
q is customary to pay for it. That tn
. Germans were good takers but poo
e payers is revealed by two incident
Y which the kaiser narrated to me, an
d the keen enjoyment he derived frol
/ them can be fully understood only b
e those who know how much the kaise
appreciates getting something fC
It nothing.
n 'Roumania wanted our gold for foo
It products" he told me. "They demant
IT ed pure gold and they set enormoU
s prices on their wares; but we needle
what they had to sell and we wei
8 ready to pay even the outrageor
f. prices they demanded. And then the
It foolishly declared war against US an
n we got it all for nothing! When
% spoke to Hindenburg about the col
y templated campaign against Roum
,r mia he said. This will be very int
d esting campaign 1t was. We got q
we wanted and didn't have to pay
e penny for it."
a. The kaiser beamed all over as
It contemplated the results of Roum
ID MAS entry in the war.
a When the German troops entere
N Tarnapol, Russia, at later time the
,e captured vast quantities of America
N made hospital supplies.
''We were just figuring what tn
e. seizure amounted to, and my arm
H. doctors were strutting around as
ID they owned the world" declared Il
ut kaiser, swhen one of my officers W;
to approached by group of long-haire
greasy Jews, who claimed that the
10 supplies belor Eed to them. They a
s. our private J4operty; we bought the
m and we should be compensated II "
g seize them they contended. Did "
ve pay for them? my officer asked. n
ch we didn't pay for them, but we ga
i'd our notes. they replied. Then, sa
BY my officers, when you take up tho