Emmons County record. [volume] (Williamsport, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1884-current, 1918-10-24
The Kaiser as | KnewHi lin
for Fourteen Years
! ~1 80
i By ARTHUR N. DAVIS, D. D. S.
Copyright. 1911. " the Mcclure Newspaper Syndicate,

lure Newspaper SynolcoIoJ
that in the outcome of that conflict his
European program would make cor i'd
cradle progress. He told me that he
had map Of the war urea placed in
his motor and that with pegs he fol-
lowed the fortunes Of the fighting
armies while he was travelling.
The Turkish defeats were naturally
a great disappointment to him.
"These Montenegrins. Serbians and
Bulgnrians are wonderful fighters" he
confessed to me, shortly after the war
began. They're out-of-door people
and they have the strength and STAN.
ina which fighters require. II they
keep on the way they're going they'll
be In Constantinople in week! Con.
found those Turks! We furnished
them guns and ammunition and
trained their officers, but II they won't
fight we can't make them. We've done
our bestv'
The defeat Of the Turks lessened
their value to the kaiser as an ally
and he Immediately put into effect a
measure for increasing the German
standing army from $4,000 to 9OO.OOO
to restore the balance Of power. they
said. For this purpose a "Wehrbei-
trag." or increased armament tax, was
levied on capital and, incidentally, I
was informed that I would have to
pay my share. The idea Of paying a
tax to upbuild the German army,
which was already so powerful that
1t menaced the peace of the world,
did not appeal to me at all and l
spoke to Ambassador Gerard about 1t.
He advised me to pay 1t under protest.
agreeing with me that there was no
reason why an American should be
required to contribute to the German
war budget. However, had to pay 1t.
The German efforts at colonization.
which were more or less of failure
because the Germans refused to in
habit the German possessions. and the
measures adopted to conquer the COM
mercial markets Of the world were an
important part of the program Of world
which Germany planned
for herself. and it Is not unlikely that
II she had confined her efforts along
those lines she might have progressed
further along her chosen path than she
has advanced by bathing the world In
blood.
II have nearly. 100000 people,"
the kaiser said to me on one occasion,
"and we shall have to find room for
them somewhere. When we became
an empire England had her hands on
nearly everything. Now we must
fight to get ours. That is why am
our world markets. Just as
your country. secured Hawaii and the
Philippines as stepping stones to the
markets Of the far east, as under
stand 1t That's why developed the
wonderful city Of Kiao.C hau."
His plans In this connection were
changed somewhat apparently by the
developments Of the present war, for
he told me that when 1t was over the
Germans would not emigrate to the
United States any more.
mo more American emigration for
us after the war" he said. my
people will settle in the Balkans and
develop and control that wonderful
country I have been down there and
I know 1t IL q marvellous land for our
purposes"
The kaiser's vision Of the part he
would take In the reconstruction Of
stricken Europe was indicated by a
remark he made to me in 1916 when
I was visiting him at the army head
quarters at Pleas.
"Here am nearly sixty years Of
age" he soliloquized. "and must. ye-
build the whole Of Europe!"
Although the kaiser 80 freely admit
ted his designs on the world at large.
he was impatient Of any expansion
on the part Of other nations. Hevoften
spoke Of England's grabbing" pro-
pensity and viewed with suspicion our
annexation of Hawaii and the Philip
pines and our development Of CUBA
after the Spanish-American war. He
professed to SEQ in our new policy a
striving after world power which was
inconsistent with the principles upon
which our government was founded. .
He objected to our interference in
Mexican affairs. although. as was dis
closed by the Zimmerman note to Won
Eckhardt, he was making every effort
to have Mexico interfere with ours.
"What right has President Wilson
to attempt to dictate the internal poll
cies of Mexico?" he asked. "Why not
let them fight their battles out aloneT
Abiding to Americas threat to en-
ter the present war, he asked: what
right has America to insist upon the
Monroe doctrine of America and then
mix in European affairs? Let her rec
ognize also Monroe doctrine Of Eu-
rope and keep her hands out Of this
conflict"
There Is no doubt that the kaiser
imagined that the great army and navy
he had built up would enable him to
carry out his ambitious program with
out effective resistance.
The one power he most feared but
for which he professed the utmost con-
tempt was England. He had an idea