The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-09-23

kind is ever heard.
 The Kaiser was very much interested in our negro problem. It seemed to nave a great fascination for him, and he re quently referred to it. He told me thas he, understood there were 15,0oo.ooO ne-a groes in this country, but they were dy- ing off in great numbers through con sumption and other diseases. to Whlch they offered but poor resistance. A
 The negro will always be great proo- lem in your country, however he added "They don't mix socially with the whites and there will be constant friction fMg brother Prince Henry), when he returnea from his visit to America, told me lot about these negroes. Indeed, one of the was choir of negro voices. He said they sang some wonderful melodies. and thefr voices were as clear as bells"
 After the war started, the
 Kaiser referred to the negroes
 again. "Now is your chance to
 settle your negro prohlems'' he de-
 clared, half facetiOusly. of <,
 course. sJf America insists upon
 coming into the war, why don't
 she send her negroes across and
 let us shoot them downs,
 Evidently the Kaiser was unaware Of. the value we Splaced on our colored troops, or of the excellent account they. gave of themselves in Cuba and on the.
 Mexican border; and, of course, he was
 still to learn of the part they were to play on the French front. Shooting negroes down hasn't proved nearly as simple an
 operation as the Kaiser imagined 1t
 might be.
 WANTS TO EXCHANGE
 Before the war, I suggested to the
 Kaiser that it might be of mutual ad-
 vantage to my country and Germany to arrange for an exchange of medical and der tai professors, and he was very much
 taken with the idea He sent Dr. Non
 Illberg, his private physician and a doc
 tor in tha German army, to see me about
 the project. and 1 was asked to lay
 out a plan for consideration. At about
 the same time he asked me to recom-
 mend any changes that might occur to
 me that would add to the efficiency Of
 the wonderful dental institute at the
 University of Berlin. The breaking out.
 of war, however, put an end to these projects of peace. What power for good the Kaiser might have been in the world but for his cursed thirst for world dominion!
 The Kaiser enjoyed American humor. He was very fond of Mark Twain, and he followed one or two of the American monthlies and weeklies more or less reg ularly He told me that, one evening while in his sitting-room in the Berlin palace, reading something in an Ameri- can magazine, he ran across a story which caused him to laugh so much and SC loud that the ladies of the court, who heard him in an adjacent room. casne running in with their Emitting to see what the matter was. The Kaiser had little respect for our architecture. He thought our skyscrapers, of which he had seen Illustrations. were hideous. aHow terrible to desecrate the landscape with such tall build ings,- he commented. 'They hurt the eve, How can people live in thems''
 I explained that most of the build ings to which he referred were office buildings, but that we did have four teer and fifteen story apartment houses and hotels, and even higher ones, m which the upper floors were used for living purposes just the same as the flower ones. He couldn't believe it pos sibie that people would consent to live so far above the ground, and from his lo own aversion to visit a place that was even one story above the ground 1loor, rather got the idea that he was afraid os height. Under the building laws pre- vailing in Germany no building or more than five stories may be erected.
 ENyIES INVENTION GENIUS Perhaps the quality that he envied most in us was our inventive genius, When Orville Wright was flying at Ten pelhofer Field, in Berlin, in the early days of aviation, the Kaiser could not restrain his admiration.
 q wish I could encourage my people to become great inventors, such ms America has produced. he declared. rather hOpelessly. 'I ad-
 nide your wonderful inventive l gcnius..
 When a fleet of our battleships vis- lited Kiel some six years ago the Kaiser paid them visit and Was very much interested. It was reported at the time that he had even crawled through the coal bunkers to study the construction of the hold of one of the vessels, which is quite consistent with his usual prac- tice. He is too vain to imagine that any member of his naval staff could pos sbly acquire more valuable Information in an investigation of that kind than he could himself. Incidentally. a tour of inspection. of this character gave nm an opportunity to discuss matters With his officers with some degree of accu- racy.
 When he called to sec me shortly al- terward he told me of his experience. q went over the ships from top to bottom he declared. ",rhey are ex- cellent vessels, every one of them, and T was very much impressed With the way they are manned and officered, Il have only one criticism--the lattice work coming towers or fighting masts. The only possible use can see in them would be to train vines on them and install an elevator inside. and serve tea in the afternoon to the ladies on top-the most beautiful place | for serving afternoon tea l can inag- inc.
 "But. seriously speaking" he went on, q can't see that these masts have any ora etical value. On the contrary l. can see very serious disadvantages in them No matter what nation you might be fighting, your enemy would always be able to recognize you at distance, De fore YOU could identify him, because the warships of all other nations look very much alike at distance.
 TALKS OF COMING TOWERS saThey say these coming towers are armed'' he went on, but you would never get close enough to your enemy to use such small guns. Again, If one i nj those masts were hit it would send shower of steel about the heads oi the men on board and would not only put many of them out of action, but would be in the way. Suppose, too, the mast were struck down and hung over ~ater. and would not only seriously i'm pede the vessel but 1t would cause the shin to. list and expose larger area on one side than would be safe No Davis. tvour fighting masts as l have said, nieht answer first-rate for serving tea, but don't think much of them for ac- tive service.