The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1918-10-25
CHAPTER Ix-contlnued.

Bulgarians are wonderful lighters" he |
confessed to me, shortly after the war
began. They're out-of-door people
and they have the strength and STAN
ina which fighters require. If they
keep ON the way they're going they'll
be in Constantinople in weeki Con-
found those Turks We furnished
them guns and ammunition and
trained their officers, but If they won't
fight we can't make them. We've done
our best!"
The defeat of the Turks lessened
their value to the kaiser as an ally
and he Immediately put into effect a
measure for increasing the German
standing army from 100000 to 100000
Ito restore the balance of power, they
said For this purpose a "Wehrbei-
trag" or increased armament tax, was
levied on capital and, incidentally, l
was informed that / would have to
pay my share. The idea of paying
tax to upbuild the German army,
which was already SO powerful that
it menaced the peace of the world,
did not appeal to me at all and
smoke to Ambassador Gerard about 1t.
He advised me to pay 1t under protest,
agreeing with me that there was no
reason why an American should be
required to contribute to the German
war budget However, had to pay it.
The German efforts at colonization,
which were more or less of failure
because the Germans refused to in
habit the German possessions, and the
measures adopted to conquer the COM
mercial markets of the world were an
important part of the program of world
domination which Germany planned
for herself, and 1t is not unlikely that
If she had confined her efforts along
those lines she might have progressed
further along her chosen path than she
has advanced by bathing the world in
blood
Il have nearly 100000 people, !"
the kaiser said to me on one occasion,
land we shall have to find room for
them somewhere. When we became
an empire England had her hands on
nearly everything. Now we must
fight to get ours. That is why / am
developing our world markets, just as
your country secured Hawaii and the
Philippines as stepping stones to the
markets of the far east, as l under
stand it, That's why developed the
wonderful city of Kiao-Chau."
His plans In this connection were
changed somewhat apparently by the
developments of the present war, for
he told me that when it was over the
- fnrafa 70 70 he
United States any more.
mo more American emigration fol
as after the war;" he said. my
people will settle in the Balkans and
develop and control that wor3erru
country. I have been down there ane
/ know 1t is marvellous land for oul
purposes"
The kaiser's vision of the part he
would take IN the reconstruction OF
stricken Europe was indicated by 6
remark he made to me in 1916 wheT
! was visiting him at the army head
quarters at Pless.
Here / am nearly sixty years o.
age" he soliloquized, land must re
build the whole of Europe!"
Although the kaiser so freely admit
ted his designs on the world at large
he was impatient of any expansion
ON the part of other nations. He Otter
spoke of England's grabbing" pro
pensity and viewed with suspicion ou
annexation of Hawaii and the Philip
pines and our development of Cub;
after the Spanish-American war. HI
professed to see in our new policy
striving after world power which wa!
inconsistent with the principles upol
which our government was founded.
He objected to our interference II
Mexican affairs, although, as was dis
closed by the Zimmerman note to Vol
Eckhardt, he yas making every effor
to have Mexico interfere with ours.
what right has President Wilson
to attempt to dictate the internal poll
cies of Mexico7" he asked. "Why no
let them fight their battles out alone?
Abiding to Americas threat to en-
ter the present war, he asked: 'Wha
right has America to insist upon tn
Monroe doctrine of America and thel
mix in European affairs? Let her rec
ognize also a Monroe doctrine of Bu
rope and keep her hands out of thi
conflict ~
There is no doubt that the kaiso
imagined that the great arthy and nav.
he had built up would enable him t
carry out his ambitious program with
ont effective resistance.
The one power he most feared hu
for which he professed the utmost con
tempt was England. He had an idei
that England would never dare Z
measure swords with Germany an
tharshe could provoke war when tn
opportune moment came without mucl
fear of England's Intervention.
In 1911, when the international stu
alton over the Moroccan affair wa
particularly acute as result of Ger
many's having sent gunboat to Aga
dir to demonstrate that she was seri
Gus in her demands. the kaiser hat
gr@st h..nes that war with Franc