Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1918-11-21

plunged the world into a Upon
him and the tremendous military en-
CINE OF destruction Of which he was
the embodiment, the exponent and the
rests the responsibility of de-
liberuteIy planning and bringing about
the greatest conflict the world has
ever seer.
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 sen the Lusitania with her
freight Of women and children to a
grave In the Atlantic.
Against these his cry y did not will
the war" awaited as nothing. Before
the bar Of humanity William was adj
judged guilty of the greatest crime
since the crucitixion. 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 h%umanity's scourge.
Claims Almighty as His Ally.
Many doubt whether William was
entirely sane. He said repeatedly that
he possessed a divine mandate to rule,
| that the Almighty vas his "uncondl'
| tional and avowed ally" 1t is not en-.
| tirely clear whether such outgiylngs
| 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
muny's enemies" We're regarded BY
many outside of Germany as pieces OF
rhetoric, intended only to deceive his
own people.
Few statesmen realized that the em
peror In his shining armor," maneu
verlng his armies and fleets, building
up the German military system, &c
menting the central empires and Tur
key. and fostering the preaching Of tn,
supremacy Of %autocracy, WINS erectlnl
a machine that n day would max
war upon oil civilization.
Yet the world was warned by som,
farsighted me that the empero
would one day bring catastrophe upol
the nations. These men saw in hir
then and see him now as a mad inver
tor, given In his youth the most dar
gerous Of oil toys-his army and nav,
They were his p~laythings. He d,
veloped them throughout the years (
the point where he had to put theI
to a test. Like a crnzed inventor, h
feared the end Of his reign would fin
his Inventions untried, SO grasped III
first opportunity to wage o world wa
SEXES Pretense to Open War.
Meantime the German wal part
grew. with William at Its head, m
the scheme Of world dominion awaite
the hour to begin It's attainment.
came with the assassination Of Il
Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdlnar
: and his wife Mt S~arajevO.
/ Recalled from a yachting trip, W
!. Liam presided ut q conference mt Pot
I dam Of representatives Of the C;erml
. and Austrian armies, navies and col
/. mercinl Interests. There, according
. the best information obtainable, II
|, decision was reached to make the q
sassInation Of the archduke q pretcn
for the world war for which Germal
had long prepared.
,, In the diplomatic exchanges betwe,
D Germany and Austria on one side al
I Great Britain, France and Russia
= .he other william posed as one wishIu
Tor peace but driven to war.
Ho signed the order for the mobili,
: ton Of the German army, and frt
that moment war was inevitable.
I Publication Of the "Willy. Nick
. correspondence In 1917 placed the q,