Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1918-11-21
Kaiser and His Power Completely
Crushed by Hosts of
Civilization.
PLUNGED WORLD INTO WAR
Once Miahtiest Of Monarchs Leads
His People From Peace and Pros
perity Into Ruin - Insane
Dream Ends With His
Abdication.

perOr and king OF Prussia, mas dDui-
Gated.
He was:
William II, German emperor and
king of Prussia, sole arbiter over the
fate of 100000 men, women and
children; commander in chief of the
German army and navy, and supreme
war lord; overload of four Kingdoms,
six grand duchies, five duchies. seven
municipalities, three 'free towns" and
one "reichsland," Alsace-Lorraine, vir-
tual owner of POS, $50 square miles
with a total frontier length of 4,57O
miles; owner of dependencies in vari-
Gus parts of the, globe aggregating
1,O27,S2O square miles and 100000
natives.
Now, and ever after. he is:
Herr Wilhelm Hohenzollern-by the
grace of his people.
A dream of world dominion obsess-
ing the mind of Emperor William
plunged the world into war. Upon
him and the tremendous military en-
gine of destruction of which he was
the embodiment, the exponent and the
leader, rests the responsibility of de-
1iberately planning and bringing about
the greatest conflict the world has
ever seen.
Sought World Dominion.
He signed the order for the German
mobilization. He stood sponsor for
the terrorism and brigandage which.
under the guise of warfare, ravished
Belgium, laid waste the cities of
France, depopulated and outraged Ser
fbia and sent the Lusitania with her
freight of women and children to a
grave in the Atlantic.
Against these his cry 81 did not will
the war; availed as nothing. Before
the bar of humanity William was adj
Judged guilty of the greatest crime
since the crucifixion. In him human
ity saw the last of the autocrats, the
final Caesar.
Assertions that he was at heart
peaceful, so persistently circulated for
years as to give them the stamp of
German propaganda, became branded
as false. He who had long proclaimed
himself the prince of peace stood re-
Nealed as humanity's scourge.
Claims Almighty as His Ally.
Many doubt whether William was
entirely sane. He said repeatedly that
he possessed a divine mandate to rule
that the Almighty was his "uncondi-
tional and avowed ally" 1t is not en-
tirely clear whether such outgivings
were the product of a disordered brain
or were due to unbounded egotism and
an effort to impress his subjects with
the idea of reverent and unquestioning
submission.
His speeches to his armies in which
he asserted he and they were .instru-
ments of divine judgment upon Ger
many's enemies" were regarded by
many outside of Germany as pieces of
rhetoric. intended only to deceive his
own people.
Few statesmen realized that the en-
peror in his shining armor," maneu-
vering his armies and fleets, building
up the German military system, ce-
menting the central empires and Tur-
key. and fostering the preaching of the
supremacy of autocracy, was erecting
a machine that one day would make
war upon all civilization.
Yet the world was warned by some
far-sighted men that the emperor
would one day bring catastrophe upon
the nations. These men saw in him
then and see him now as mad inyen-
tor, given in his youth the most dam
gerous OF all toys1his army and navy.
Ihey were his playthings. He de-
Neioped them throughout the years to
The point where he had to put them
TO test Like a crazed inventor. he
feared the end of his reign would find
his inventions untried, so Crashed tha
nrst opportunity to wage a world war.
Seixes Pretensc to Open War.
Meantime the German war nartv
grew, with William at its head and
the scheme of world dominion awaited
the hour to begin its attainment n
came with the assassination of the
Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand
and his wife at Sarajevo.
hecaiied from yachting trim. VIII
nam presided at a conference Mt POTS
uam or representatives of the German
ana Austrian armies, navies ana com.
mercial interests There, according 70
the best information obtainable. rbe
decision was reached to make the a.
sassination of the archduke n nratans,
for the world war for which Garnorr
had long prepared
In the diplomatic exchanges hetu-.<,,,
Germany and Austria on one side a.,
Great Britain. France and Russia a 4
the other William posed as one wishing
for peace but driven to war.
he signed the order for the mobir,1.-
ton Of the German army. ana from
fhat moment war was inevitable
publication Of the .Wflly- Nfcsxr.
correspondence In 1917 placed the Ger