Denver labor bulletin., 1918-11-16

A dream of world dominion obsess-
ing the mind of Emperor William
plunged the world into war Upon
him and the tremendous military en-
gine of destruction of which he was
the embodiment, the exponent and the
leader rests the responsibility Of de-
liberately planning and bringing about
the greatest conflict the world has
ever seen.
1t did not matter to the world that
the emperor's personal share in the
swift events Immediately preceding
the war had been obscured. The
world convicted him of organizing,
directing and maintaining at the top
notch of efficiency the great German
military machine. It remembered that
he signed the order for the German
mobilization.
Stood Sponsor for Terrorism.
1t remembered that he stood spon-
sor for the terrorism and brigandage
which, under the guise of warfare,
ravished Belgium, laid waste the cities
of France depopulated and outraged
Serbia and sent the Lusitania with her
freight of women and children to a
grave in the Atlantic.
Civilization will never forget that
it was the minions of the emperor who
officially shot to death Edith Cavell,
the English girl who befriended the
Belgians in Brussels.
Last of the Autocrats-
Against these his cry Il did not will
the war" availed as nothing. Before
the bar of humanity William was ad-
judged guilty of the greatest crime
since the crucifxion. In him human
ity saw the last Of the autocrats, the
cpaI Aseor@tans That he
at heart peaceful, so persistently cir
culated for years as to give them the
stamp of German propaganda, became
branded as certainly false.
He who had long proclaimed himself
the prince of peace stood revealed as
humanity's scourge, and against him
and all that he represented rose the
new world of democracy and freedom.
Doubt as to His Sanity.
Many doubt whether William is en-
tirely sane He has said repeatedly
that he possessed a divine mandate TO
rule, that the Almighty was his 'un-
conditional and avowed ally" 1t is
not entirely clear whether such out
givings have been the product of a
disordered brain or due to unbounded
egotism and an effort to impress his
subjects with the idea Of reverent and
unquesuoning submission.
His speeches to his armies in which
he asserted he and they were "in-
struments of divine judgment upon
many outside of Germany as pieces
of rhetoric, intended only to deceive
his own people.
Claimed Affinity With God
Williams claim to close affinity with
God was the burden of dozens of his
speeches long before as well as after
the beginning Of the war. OF these,
perhaps, none more clearly defined his
claim than his notorious divine right"
speech delivered at Brandenburg in
1890, in which he said he regarded the
German people as "a responsibility"
conferred upon him by God and that
it was my duty to increase this heri-
tage for which one day i shall be
called upon to give account Those
who try to interfere with my task l
shall crush"
In all this the world saw before the
war not a menace but a comedy. 1t
laughed with the then Captain Joseph
B. Coghlan of the United States navy
when, returning from the war with
Spain and telling Of the clash with
the commander of the German squad
ron at Manila bay, the captain recited
the famous poem, "Hoch Der Kaiser"
In this the concluding refrain was, in
the supposititious words of the en-
peror:
Scott pulls nit me-and nit him
! MEINSELF-Und Gott."
Few Statesmen Foresaw Outcome.
Few statesmen realized then that
the deluded emperor in his shining
armor," maneuvering his armies and
his fleets, building up the German mill
pires and Turkey, and fostering the
preaching of the supremacy of autoc-
racy, was erecting machine that one
day would make war upon all civili-
zation.
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 n mad in
ventor given in his youth the most
dangerous of all toys-his army and
navy. They were his playthings. He
developed them thruout the years to
the point where he had to put them to
test. Like a crazed inventor, he
feared the end of his reign would find
his inventions untried; so grasped the
first opportunity to wage a world
war.
Sarajevo Tragedy Brings Crisis.
Meantime the German war party
grew with William. as its 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,
4 4 r.