The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1918-09-05

bration Of his silver wedding. It was
about twenty-four by eighteen inches
In size. It showed the kaiserin and
himself In q sort Of cloud floating above
. birdseye view Of Berlin, with tho
palace and the cathedral dimly seen
below.
II don't know just what this master.
piece was meant to signify, but I had 1t
framed and placed it in my Office. It
evoked from q little boy who entered
the room with his mother the follow
ing astonished remark: .Oh, mother,
look at the kaiser In heavenl"
A postcard picture Of the kaiser,
signed by his own hand, was In his
own estimation one Of the most price
less gifts he could bestow. I remem
Der his donating n Of them to an
American charity bazaar In Berlin to
be auctioned oil. He thought that the
fact that the card came from his Inn
perial majesty gave It q value which
could not be measured IN dollars and
cents. A piece Of 3ewelry OF q sum
Of money might have been duplicated
or even excelled By q gift Of similar
character from any American million
nire- for whose wealth the kaiser ire
Quently expressed the utmost contempt
but what could surpass the value 06
an autograph OF the kaiseri
No doubt the royal banqueb wefe
prepared much upon the same prin-
ciple, for II was . common saying
among the German aristocrecy that one
had better feel wen before going 10 q
banquet at the palace
! happened to mention 10 the kaiser
the reputation his banquets held among
his people He was not at an taken
abQck. :
"ThatAs goodI" he commented 'The
Germans r too fat anyway. The ma
3ortty Of the People eat too much"
Long after automobiling became
more or less general, the kaiser stu
employed q horse and carriage for
ordinary travel, relying upon his free
use Of the railways nbr longer dis
tances. When; however, the redchstag
passed q law compelling royalty to pay
Tor their railroad travel, the kaiser
took to automobiles They charged
him 1000 marks, he told me, for the
use Of a train on one Of his shooting
trips, and that apparently was more
than he could standp
"Autos are expensive" he declared
but they don't cost me that much"
The kaiser speaks English with but
the slightest trace Of a foreign accent.
His ,diction Is perfect. HI speaks
French, too, very 1uently, and, I be-
lieve, italian. He is widely read on
almost all subjects and knows the lit
erature Of England, France and Amer.
lea as well as that of Germany. Mark
Twain was one Of his favorite Amer
lean authors and Longfellow his choice
Of American poets.
He prides himself on his acquain-
lance with history and has little re-
spect for the political opinions of 9TH
ers whose knowledge Of history is less
complete.
Shortly after Carnegie had donated
five million marks to Germany to fur
ther world-peace, I happened to be
talking to the kaiser Of American mil
Ionaires and the steelmaster was
mentioned.
"Of course, Carnegie rs q nice old
man and mean WE'LL" remarked the
kaiser, condescendingly, ''but he is to-
tally ignorant Of world history. He's
Just advanced US five million for
world-peace. We accepted it naturally,
but, of course, we intend to continue
our policy of maintaining our army and
navy in full strength"
Indeed. there Is hardly any subject
to which the kaiser has devoted any
considerable attention in which he
doesn't regard himself as the final au-
thority.
As an art collector and antiquarian
he claims first place and he Is rather
inclined to feel that second place
should be left vacant He aways re-
scented very much the acquisition by
American millionaires Of art treasures
and antiquities which their wealth en-
abled them to buy, but which their
limited acquaintance with history and
their lack Of culture and refinement
made them unable to appreciate
the kaiser's estimation.
OF his own taste In art little need be
said. The monuments which he caused
to be erected to his ancestors and their
advisors and which adorn the Sieges
Alice, the street he had opened through
the Tiergarten especially for them. are
at the same time a monument to the
kaiser's ideas Of art They are the
l~aughing-stock Of the artistic world.
They have been 80 frequently defaced
BY vandals whose artistic taste they
offended that It was necessary to sta
ton policemen In the Sieges Alice to
~~,r-S k1noro TX Ma 14~~ - h~~~~I~--