The evening leader., 1918-09-02


what" asked President Wilson Of
Mr.. Gerard on the latter's final re.
turn from Germany in 1917, sis the
underlying cause of all this horror
"Mr. President" replied the exam
bassador, "it's this king business
An equally forceful answer might
have been "this queen business"
Have we ever paused to analyze the
tremendous influence a few women
have managed to exert on the present
world conflict? If not, we had better
take double breath and do SO. Tho
matter is of engrossipg interest today
beside recent rumors linking the name
of Austria's Italian-born empress with
Austria's recent disastrous offensive
If the former Zita of Parma has real,
ly played hand for the allies, then il
is high time, because all the othe,
royal women it is proposed TO emu
merate below as having vitally infiul
enced the course Of the war have
emerged as veritable crowned "Hun-
esses" operating either openly or co.
verify as agents of Berlin.
Tocure a cancer you must get al
the root.
The late King Edward VII and tht
kaiser had battle royal in the roya
marriage mart in the decades preced-
ing Armageddon-both of them jour
neying around, planting English Oh
German princesses on or in the imme'
diate vicinity of the various European
thrones offering vacancies in this par
ticular line. Eugenically it was al
wrong-this incessant inter-breeding
among cousins and even nearer rela-
tions, a system which has reduced
royalty mentally, morally and physi-
cally to what it too often is today
but automatically and politically, at
the time, it was all right. 70 the man
in the street it may seem wrong to
place ones son with a rival firm in
order to get all the latest intelligence
of that firms doings; but then, you
see, kings can do no wrong-even if
queens can!
Many Great Women Ran Wars.
In his succinct reply Mr.. Gerard
may have had it in his mind to con-
denim autocracy for which all kings
stood solidly till the advent of Ed
ward VII; he may, again, have in
tended to single out the secret treaty
as something altogether rotten in the
state; but l think, above all, knowing
continental court life as he does, ex-
Ambassador Gerard meant, first and
foremost, to condemn the royal mar
riage mart with it's attendant direct
consequences for hundreds of millions
of people who merely desire to live
and let live.
You may strew the ground with
roses, ring wedding peal after peal
give half holidays to school children
receive Illuminated addresses and gc
through al the rest of the stereotypee
royal maiaiage celebrations, including
the prostitution of the press, whose
leader writer's have no option but tt
write gushing trash or lose their jobs
but you cannot disconnect from The
bulging fact that these alliances art
a curse to humanity, altogether apar
from the fact that, in the romance
line, they are about on par with s
sale of Circassian virgins in the mar
ket place of Tashkent.
The ex-czarina, ex-Queen Sophie o.
Greece, the queen of Holland, tn,
queen of Sweden, the queen mother O
Spain, and now, so they say, the EN-
press of Austria. =.
1t is a curious thing that if yol
search back in history you find nj
cases of female royal treachery an,
wire-pulling analogous to those of to
day. Of great women who ran war
there have been many. Cleopatra ha,
a most successful winter at genera
headquarters; Catherine of Russia an
Elizabeth Of England stand out as tw
of the greatest personalities, male 0
female, of all time; Maria Theresa o