The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-09-19

years against the Hohenzollern regime 1 was the inequality of taxation. They | were constantly clamoring for repeal of the laws which exempt royalty and the nobility from payment of taxes, and their demands cannot long remain un- needed. The reform vote and equal tax ation is the rallying-cry wherever socialists assemble in Germany; it may vet be transformed in battie-cry which will crush Junkerism forever.
 RIDICULED MlLLIONAIRES As I have previously mentioned, he ridiculed the standing of American mil |lionaires as art collectors and anti quarians. pointing out that while they had the money to acquire the treasures of the art world, they lacked the edu- cation and culture to appreciate them "There is MT. Morgan with an origi- Inal letter of Martin Luther. for which he paid s75,Oo0. I understand,'' he de- clared.. What right has Morgan, an American, to retain that letter--a man who hasn't the education to appreciate its value but whose dollars enabled him to acquire it? That letter belongs in the Martin Luther museum in Wittenberg and I am going to ask him for II" Very shortly after that 1 noted that Morgan had been invited to Kiel to the Kaiser's yacht races, that he had donat- ed the Martin Luther letter to the Kali ser, and that, in return, no doubt, he he'd been decorated with the order of the Black Eagle of the second class! The Kaisers indignation at the thought that this Martin Luther letter should be in any country but Germany is in striking contrast to the satisfac- tion he always derived from the sight of the wonderful old astronomical in- struments which had been stolen by the Germans from the wall of Pekin during the Boxer uprising and which the Kais- CT had had installed in the" Orangerie" lat Potsdam. just back of the palace of Sans Souci.
 The Kaiser did not condemn the accu- mutation of millions in large business enterprises. In fact he rather admired the efficiency and success of our lead ing manufacturers and merchants. In 1916, asked him whether he had heard that Mr. Ford was on his way over from America in chartered ship with delegation.
 Who, Peace Ford?" he inquired. I told the Kaiser what I had read of the Ford expedition.
 COMMENTS ON FORD "How can your country allow man like that to do this thing-a man who has played no part in the politics of his own couptry and is entirely ignorant of international affairs--a man who, I understand, was formely in the bicycle business and knows very little outside of business matters2 T haven't the slightest doubt Mir. Ford is great business man." the Kali ser went on, "and I am sure he means all right, but what a mistake 1t is to allow man so ignorant of world af- fairs to do a ridiculous thing like this!" l I told the Kaiser that it had been sug- gested in some of the American papers that if Ford really wanted to end the lwar, all he had to do was to pay Ger many $100,ooo.ooo and buy Belgium back.
 One hundred million dollars.' the Kaiser repeated. and then after mo- ment's reflection, as though he had been turning over some figures in his mind, No, Davis. it will cost much more than that to get Belgium back. It had occurred to me that if the Kaiser really meant what he said on that occasion, all his talk about peace without annexation" was obviously a myth and that the only hope of Belg- | ium's redemption lay in the military defeat of Prussia. Subsequent develop ments amply confirmed that view.
 TALKS OF BERNSTORFF Tn the winter of 1916, we were talk ling of the sentiment in America and
 the conversation turned to von Bern
 storff.
 "von Bernstorff has been doing very good work in your country" the Kaiser icommented.
 "Well, your Majesty" replied, .it is said in America that if he had not been Isuch a clever diplomat he would long Iago have been compelled to leave"
 "From aIl hear." the Kaiser
 said, ~he hasn't had . very easy 4 time of 1t. The American press as
 a whole AaS been conspicuously T anti-German, although ! under
 stand that one of your newspaper
 publishers has been very friend- ly to us. MT. Hearst, for fn-
 stance, has helped cur cause very much in your country. He has
 been telling the truth about af-
 fairs, which is more than most of
 the other papers have been dOtng!v
 Just before the King of Greece abdi-
 cated. the Kaiser referred to tbe attitude of the American press again. "The way the American newspapers and the press of the allied countries gem ] erally are presenting the Grecian situa-
 ton to the world is absolutely false and l iaSdisgrace." he declared. bitterly. .sThey iare entirely misreprqsenting the facts. MT. Hearst is the only one, as far as lean find: who has revealed the real con lditions and told the truth about them. My, wonder what the people have to say now that Mr Hearst has finally exposed