Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1918-09-20
Kaiser Heir Prince of Failure
John w. Harrington in New York Times.

Frederick William, crown prince of Ger
MANY. was an innocent faced, fiaxen-haired child
shooting off the heads of girl dolls with toy can
non in the imperial German nursery, when a
witch flew in at the window and put into his
hands blunderbuss.
~ am giving you this fine weapon" said
she, because it is so much like you Its mouth
is large it makes great deal OF noise; its aim
is uncertain; it generally fires itself when half
ready, and it is more deadly in the hands of
friends than when turned on foes"
With these simple words so the story goes,
she whirled away through the air and was seen
no more.
How true was her estimate of the youthful
Hohenzollern has been shown in the great war,
for the heir of the kaiser has invariably been on
hand with military mistakes at the critical time,
At least he has received the credit for the
plumbers whether or not he was really guiding
the armies he was supposed to command. AS
menace to the success OF German campaigns,
has has not missed a point in the game. He IS
known as the best friendly enemy the allies ever
had His being ousted by Foch from the
Rheims scissors salient is the most recent Of
long series of errors which have cost the lives
of hundreds of thousands of his fellow coun-
trymen.
Undoubtedly this is most stupid war;" the
crown prince said in a duly authorized interview
with DR.. William Bayard Hale, when the strug
gle had just begun, and he has made his words
come true, as far as he is concerned, in more
ways than one.
Frederick Williams weakness for putting on
dress uniforms, SO as TO be ready to go into
captured places at the head of his victorious
troops is one of his besetting burders He has
the habit of not waiting until the hare is caught
before making the hassenpfeffer. His first mis-
calculation concerns the triumphal entry OF
Paris, which did not happen according to sched-
ule. But, though the kaiser has not been able to
provide any entries for him, such as Julius
Caesar and Napoleon used to have, there have
been plenty of kilograms of congratulation and
awards of medals 1t is said that on occasion
the headstrong and Unbalanced heir has over
ruled experienced commanders, making neces-
sary an undue haste to chide failure with medals.
The first German drive toward Paris in 1914 was
hardly smothered before the crown prince got
his iron cross. That was soon followed by the
Star of the House of Hohenzollern.
One of the most wanton wastes of life in
the war was at the capture of Longwy, and later
when the position was abandoned by the army
of the crown prince. The retreat was hdeous
bungle which aroused even the horror OF the
German emperor. The story goes that he sent
for one of the generals and berated him for
sacrificing some of the best regiments in the
German army in what could have been managed
as rear guard action with only scant loss of
life
1T was not my fault" replied the general,
according to current version. Your brat of a
son insisted upon it,
Whereupon, said the cabled account, the
general saluted, turned quickly, and left the
presence of majesty. While the kaiser and the
attendants were standing more or less petrifed
with establishment at the boldness of these
words, shot was heard in the anteroom to
which the chief had gone. He had committed
suicide.
1t did not concern Frederick William
whether such commanders as Hindenburg and
eMackensen opposed the grand assault on Yer
dun, that ancient citadel near the French Dor
der, which was so splendidly defended. There
was nothing in any of his operations in the vi
cinity which would have encouraged the crown
prince, had he been competent leader, to pro-
claim 1--WE must take Verdun." He had the
grand army of assault prepared As leader
of the war party of Germany he spread the idea
far and wide that the hour of France had struck.
He swayed the judgment of the kaiser until
from Potsdam came the boast that the end Of
the war was at hand.
The Blunderbuss of the boche was driven
back from his positions near Verdun as often
as seven times week. He had no grasp of the
fact that the great natural fortihcaton, trans
formed from medieval hold into a modern
fortress, was capable of making unlimited re-
sistance There was not move for months to
come which did not bear the impress of
mand of the German forces-and the crown
prince is said to have been the dominant infu-
| ence.
| There came stories that the hoodoo of the
Hohsnzollerns had been sent into seclusion, and
the sane part of Germany began to hope once
more that he would not again be giving aid and
comfort to its enemies by leading armies against
| them But he came back Next he was heard
of in Champagne and in other parts of northern
France He had lost his interest in Verdun, but
| he was very busy.
Fritz" to quote from dispatch OF the
kaiser to the kaiserism, was the first on the
Aisne."
If he was, he did not stay long, for bulletins
| arrived before long of his TANKS being ham,
mered to pieces and of rapid retreats and then
came the official publication of high praise for
the famous victory that he had won. 1t is esti-
mated that the operations of the crown prince
in 1917 cost 100000 lives, and accomplished
! little or nothing.
The princely dress uniform was all ready
that year for the pageant entitled The Tri-
umphal Entry into Rheims, Led by Prince
! Frederick William of Hohenzolern," but co.
! 900 German lives were the price of the folly. II
became thereafter an almost daily detail tc
change the place of the forces of the crown
prince on the map.
One of the most ludicrous episodes in the
military career OF this apostle OF misfortune was
is writing to the kaiser, from the banks OF the
liver Ailette, that he was moving heavy artl
cry trains unnoticed because the rumble Of
wheels could not be heard amid the croaking o.
lyriads of frogs. But the frogs did not save
lin and his armies from good beating HI
was so harshly deal with by the subsequen
drives of the French that the kaiser felt it nee
essary to make public a telegram to him ano
the German people. In this message the crown
prince was again congratulated on bringing thu
assaults of the enemy to failure. 1t was neces
sary to collect the usual group OF scapegoats t.
the heir of the kaiser should receive vote o
thanks at the peace table of the allies for tn,
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