Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-11-21
CAN WILHELM SNEAk BACH
TO SAFETY AND NEW POWER?
PeriIs of an Allied Policy Likel, to Defea,
the Purpose Which Guided the World
Through Eour Years of Tnrment

Through Four Years of Torment
WHEN the mysterious agency that has
" come to be known in type as Ger
man Wireless" placidy announced yes
terday that the former Kaiser probably
would return to Potsdam, a screech Of
joyous triumph must have burst from
the heart of every Bolshevik, every blaz-
ing radical, every anarchist and every
lunatic who refuses to believe in estab-
llshed government. For it really begins
to appear that we may fail in the funda-
mental purpose of the war
Wilhelm hasn't been eliminated Ger
many seems willing to receive the return
ing murderer warmly upon her bosom.
1t seemed little while ago that the
world was fighting to get to the root and
origin of the war and to destroy the
menace Of militaristic lunacy at its
source At the instant of achievement,
after four years of horror endured for
this essential service. the hand of civili-
cation was stayed. 1t is logical to
assume that those who suffered most will
want to know who protected the greatest
criminal in history. Were Allied leaders
outwitted? Was there a loophoe in the
armistice terms? Is the world of aspir-
ing humanity to realize in all bitterness
that there is still secret respect and
sympathy in Europe for evil kings, aid
and respect for sinners whose crimes are
but great enough and hidden force
established to guard the monstrous
agencies of which Wilhelm was the in
stlument?
German Wireless" is worth listening
to these days. 1t is lavish with guiding
revelations. 1t has never ceased to speak
with respect of Wilhelm, the runaway.
Wilhelm had one remaining oppor-
tunity to justify himself. He could have
blown out his brains or jumped off
dock
Thus he would have spoiled perfectly
good hell but he would have given the
burdened world a sense of safety and
assurance, for which it would have been
app-ecative. That he did neither of
these things and added cowardice to the
list of his sins hasn't shaken the regard
in which every good Hun still appears
to hold him
Germany is trained in servility. 1t is
adrift and gloomy without its kings
There are times when it appears that the
nerve of the nations initiative is
nt hot hn t,,
will grieve endlessly unless they have
some one to boot them about and tell
them what to do. And so it is not diff
cult to imagine new and aspiring fed
Grafton of German States made subject
at some future day to the old hypnosis
Of a Potsdam. in which the former
Emperor or others of his cult are re-
stored to power under one disguise or
another.
That is contingency which no one
expected when the clamor rose for a
merciful and constructive peace. And if
it is a prospect that allures the men
directing affairs in Germany, then, in
Gods name, let Germany have starvation
and frightfulness for a while. Let it
have pillage and trampling armies and
perpetual division. If devilism is to per-
siSt it must be fought, not with words
but with fire. Only recently it appeared
that the spirit of the German people
had been reused; that they were aware
of the matchless wrongs inflicted in their
name upon a peaceful world that they
were touched and dignifed by a sense of
contrition and a determination to res
establish their place in the civilized
order. But it seems now that Germany
is only beaten and that at heart the
people are about as they always were.
This is no time for hate. Hate gets
you nowhere. 1t makes for no permanent
result The logic of the case involving
cold and clear. There is, in fact, no place
on earth for the Hohenzollern. There is
no place where he may be permitted tc
remain alive without being a menace tc
| civilization in one way or another
The Government or even the socia
| order tnat attempts 10 shield MN Will dc
SO at the risk of its life. Alive, he must
remain an incitement to the just sus,
picion of those who have faith in the
fixed processes of human justice. Wher.
ever he is sheltered there will be danger
of revolution against the forces that give
him protection. And if he is returned
to Germany the world can have no peace
The sooner the Allied or the enlightened
if there be any, seize the one-time War
Lord, court-martial him and shoot him
the sooner will it be possible to restore
the equilibrium of civilization.
There is a large part of the world
that will never be quieted, never recon-
ciled and never at peace while Wilhelm
: 4 IL !.