Cresco plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1913-1945, 1919-01-17
copyright. 1913.
CHAPTER Kill.

CHAPTER Kill.
The Kaiser at Army Headquarters.
To what extent the kaiser is respon-
sible for the failures and entitled to
credit for the successes Of his armies
ii the present war, am not in q p0-
sition to say, but if he did not actually
direct the military policy, he at least
kept closely in touch with everything
that was going ON. From the very be-
ginning Of hostilities he lived the ma.
jor part Of the time at the great army
headquarters and was in constant con-
sultation with his military leaders.
! had several opportunities to see
the kaiser while he was at the various
great army headquarters. ,,>~. ....~
In the spring of 1916 l received q
Dng-distance telephone message from
The great army headquarters, which
was then in the palace of the Prince
van Pless at Pless, to the effect that
the kaiser wanted me to 60 there.
During the course Of my work one
Of his private secretaries came in re-
3
for the kaiser, and he would usually
excuse himself and read them. Some.
times he would be summoned outside
to consult with important persons who
were there to see him, but he was
never gone more than ten minutes ut q
time.
did not think he looked exception
ally well. He seemed to be very tired
and he had very little to say-in itself
an indication that he was not exactly
normal.
When my work for the morning was
over and his valet. who had assisted
me, had been excused, the kaiser
gazed at me for a moment or two and
then, apropos of nothing, burst out
with the rather remarkable announce
ment: "The man who brought this
catastrophe on the world, Davis,
should be strung up by the neck, and
that man is not l, as the world seems
to think! The car Of Russia and he
king Of England, when they were at
the wedding Of my daughter-guests
Mt my own house, mind you, ana my
blood relatives-hatched this plot
against me. They were envious OF
my power, but they will now learn
what that power isl
IN the same breath almost he made
the Inconsistent remark: "Eagland
win never be able to raise an eGhcient
army; 1t took Germany one hundred
years to accomplish what she has
done"
Some time after this, one of the big
gest merchants In Berlin told me that
he had heard on the stock exchange
that the kaiser had made the remark
that the king and car had Matched
the plot against him, and as had
repeated the kaiser's statement to no
one, I realized that he must have told
the same thing to others. If this YER
sion Of the starting of the war was put
into circulation with the idea Of alb
solving the kaiser, it certainly didn't
carry conviction even among the Ger.
mans themselves. The merchant who
spoke to me about 1t, at any rate, made
fun Of the idea, and never heard the
point seriously raised by anyone else
Of influence.
Before I left the kaiser that morn.
Ing he spoke of the glo-French loan
which had been floated in America
and condemned us severely for coun-
tenancing it. When 1 told him that
Germany had also floated loan in
America, he replied: "But ours was
only $10,OOO,OOO, while theirs is $780,
100000" to which l naturally rejoined
that the size of the loan could GER
tainly not affect the question of our
neutrality in floating it.
He criticized our bankers who han
died the loan, and when 1 asked him If |
he had ever seen the number Of Ger |
man names that appeared on the list |
Of bankers who were interested in 1t,
he said he hadn't read the list, but he !
was quite sure there was one bank in |
New York which wouldn't touch 1t. !
That bank wouldn't touch anything |
that would be detrimental to Ger
many!" he added.
Several months later l was called |
to Pless again and was shown to the
same room had visited on the former
occasion. When the kaiser entered he !
stood erect, with his hands to his side,
clicked his heels together and saluted
me as soldier salutes superior Off.
Ger, smiling as he did so, and I knew
be was In good humOr.
Nevertheless he had but little to say.
His criticism of Mr.. Wilson on this &C.
casion have recorded elsewhere in
these pages.
In June of 1917, after the great army I
headquarters had been removed to |
H0mburg '. d. Hohe, and Krenznach |
1.-TWO neighboring villages) was called |
there to see the kaiserin, and three |
weeks later went there again to see
the kaiser. noticed at the station the |
kaiser's private train composed Of five |
dark green cars upon each Of which |
was plainly marked the imperial coat |
Of arms. The cars had special folding |
steps.
Two rooms were assigned to me on |
80 - %ho ,,~v,n~ Aoore - <1,~ |