The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1918-11-28
ABD|CAT|ON ENDS
KA|SER'S DREAM
insane Ambition Leads His Pe0-
pile to Ruin.
POWER WRECKED; HE QUITS
Man Who Plunged the World Into War
viii Go Down Into History as
Most Hated Ruler World
Has Ever Known.

The kaiser has abdicated and the
crown prince has renounced his right
TO the throne Of Germany.
The grandiose scheme of world con-
quest or downfall has ended in the
complete downfall of German military
might and of the rule of the Hohen-
Zollerns.
For decades the militaristic oligarchy
of Prussia, supported by philosophers,
historians, teachers, preachers and
men of business had directed the
moral, intellectual and material re-
sources of the empire along consistent
lines toward the tremendous concen-
tration and consummation Of organ
ized force which in 1914 the kaiser let
loose upon the world.
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
bia and sent the Lusitania with her
freight Of women and children to a
grave in the Atlantic.
Civilization will never forget that 1t
was the minions of the emperor who
officially shot to death Edith Cavell,
the English nurse who befriended the
Belgians in Brussels.
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-
vealed as humanity's scourge, and
against him and all that he represent
ed rose the new world of democracy
and freedom.
Claims Almighty as His Ally.
Many doubt whether William was
entirely sane He said repeatedly that
he possessed 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 inven-
tor, given in his youth the most dan
gerous of all toys-his army and navy.
They were his playthings. He de-
veloped them throughout the years to
the point where he had to put them
TO a test. Like crazed inventor. he
feared the end of his reign would find
his inventions untried, so grasped the
first opportunity to wage world war.
Meantime the German war party
grew, with William at it's head, and
the scheme of world dominion awaited
the hour to begin its attainment. 1t
came with the assassination of the
Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand
and his wife at Sarajevo.
Recalled from yachting trip, Will
liam presided at conference at Pots
dam of representatives of the German
and Austrian armies, navies and COM
mercial interests. There, according to
the best information obtainable, the
decision was reached to make the as
sassination of the archduke pretense
for the world war for which Germany
had long prepared.
In the diplomatic exchanges between
Germany and Austria on one side and
Great Britain, France and Russia on
the other William posed as one wishing
for peace but driven to war.
He signed the order for the mobiliza-
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