Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1918-10-02

Copyright. 1S1A ~ the Nc
CertaM It rs the war brought no
change in tie kaisers personal habits.
Even to curry favor with the socialis-
tic element he never unbent to the
slightest degree In his outward dis
play Of knsly attributes. In oil his
career the German people had never
seen their kaiser other than In his
royal uniform. and at all military pa
rades or reviews he always rode Q
white horse, that he might be most
conspicuous, and bore the royal mace
which his ancestors had carried centu-
ries before him. With the death
struggle between medieval monarchy
and democracy raging about him the
kaiser was determined to yield not q
little Of his prerogatives. His auto:
mobile still made its coming known by
its distinctive "tade-tada-ta-ta" and
the royal palaces were maintained In
all their accustomed pomp.
But while the kaiser's armies were
triumphant In the field, the principle
which he was combating was every
where gaining ground. On March 10,
1917, the car abdicated and Russia,
whose autocratic form of government
had long been the envy Of the German
arlstocracy, became republic!
"The downfall of the Russian en-
pire was brought about by England
because she feared that the car was
about to make separate peace" the
kaiser commented to me. 'As a mat
ter of fact, however. neither the czar
nor his government ever approached
us on that subject, and when England
overthrow the Russian monarchy she
defeated her very purpose. With the
car on the throne Russia would prob
ably have gone on fighting u.s."
Although the kaiser bore no particu-
lar love for the car. whom he was
fighting, he had no desire to convert
the empire into democracy, and his
bitterness toward England for what
he thought was her part In the estab-
lishment Of the Russian republic was
very pronounced.
When, few months later, the abdl-
cation of the car was followed by the
abdication of King Constantine Of
Greece, the kaiser sustained another
blow which hurt him more than the
defeat Of one Of his armies would
have done.
'They are trying to force their rot
ten form Of democratic government on
Greece" he declared fiercely. The
way they have treated my poor sister.
the queen of Greece. is shame and a
disgrace. They talk about our inva-
sion of Belgium, but their actions In
Greece are infinitely worse. I have
studied the English people for twenty
five years, and they always try to
cover their acts with religion and the
talk Of benefits to civilization and hu-
mainly, but, hypocrites that they are,
they continue to grab all they can get
their hands on just the same y
The fact that Greece had treaty
with Serbia which required her to take
up arms II Serbia were attacked and
that she had failed to meet her obli-
cations In that respect was naturally
OF no significance to the kaiser, to
whom treaties were but scraps OF pa
per.
The keynote Of the kaiser's military
program lay In the fact that he real
lied that 1t was necessary for him to
win In order to hold his throne. ! feel
quite sure that II the allies were will
ling to concede to Germany all the ter
ritory she has conQuered-Belgium,
Serbia, Poland. Roumania, Russia and
part Of France, and restore all her col
onies, upon condition that the kaiser
step down from the throne, he would
reject the proposition without mo-
ment's hesitation.
"Your country would like to make q
republic out of Germany" he COM
mented, "a republic like France, per-
haps, going down and down all the
time-a country ruled by lawyers"
And he mentioned half dozen of the
great French statesmen who were
members OF the legal profession. "It's
sad thing for country when it gets
into the hands Of the lawyers. France
and Italy are already controlled by
them, and America and England are
rapidly following their example !"
The kaiser regarded the German
people az his own property to do with
80 hn Nknd whoy peforrod IN the
German people" in conversation he
would delicately correct me BY refer
ring In his reply to my people"
When, for instance, said on. one oc-
CASTOR, II understand. your majesty.
that the German people are anxious
for peace" he answered, Eyes, Davis,
my people are strongly in favor OF
peace, but they want German peace
mo allied peacel"
He believed that just as the universe
Il ruled by God go should the earth
be dominated by an earthly ruler and
that God had selected him for the task.
To displace him in favor Of repub-
lican form of government, to substi-
tute a ruler elected by the people for
a monarch designated by God was In
his opinion the basest sort of sacrilege,
and the unfortunate part of it all was
that the majority of his people CO.
incided with him. They preferred to
be ruled by hand of iron rather than
to rule themselves. Some day they