Evening star., 1919-03-31
EX-KAISER BLAMES DOWNFALL
ON MASONS AND SOCIALISTS
Writes Lusitania Was Mr.. Wilson's Excuse.
Intimate Friend Says America
Planned Hun Alliance.
BY GORDON STILES.

| BY GORDON STILES.
Cnblegram to The Evening star and
Chicago Daily Views. Copyright, 1919.
| BERLIN, Germany, March 10. by
! courier to London. March 2S.-"Free-
masonry plotted the downfall OF the
/ Hohenzollern and Hapsburg houses;
but for the armistice this war wou1d
have ended in complete German VIC
| tory; Germany's defeat was due to the
evil Vaccinations Of the German so
ciaI democrats" This is what the for
mer kaiser thinks.
My statement is based on several
letters, written in the ex-emperor's 8
own hand, which I have seen today.
! They were addressed to Dr.. Theodor
Schiemann Of the University of Ber-
lin. who for twenty years has oeen an
intimate. friend of William II. The
letters were shown to me in the course
of long interview, In which learn
ed much Of the frame of mind OF the
| former German ruler.
| The interview took place IN Dr..
Schiemann'a home, in the west. end OF
Berlin. Intensely loyal to his old
| imperial friend, the man interviewed
showed himself convinced in his own
BILE for the ,bloodshed and misery
! charged to his account.
Americans Emperor's Confidants.
you. wish me to tell you more
about the emperor than can be gath :
cred from newspapers and pamphlets.
said Dr. JSchiemann.. Il might. refer
you to sonee of your own coHntrymen
who have enjoyed confidential rela-
| Lat III. ptxy- ohrto mr.
ray Butler, John Burgess. Benjamin
| Ide Wheeler and others.
II have seen more of what has been
going on behind the scenes than most
others. With. regard to the emperor
!, few cen he in. a4bettsr position to
/ character. My personal acquaintance
with him began in 1904. / was in
vited to dine with him on the Pau
eninsel (near Potsdam). He confided
! to me the decisive reason for his
break with Bismarck. 1t had been
i Bismarck's intention. he said, to allow
the great strike on the Rhine In 1880
| to grow and mature to its full extent
and then to suppress it by fon4e OF
arms in order to do away with uni
versal suffrage and crush the labor
movement once for all. Such a plan
(: was abhorrent to the emperor, who
refused to make himself responsible
, for it; whereupon Bismarck said he
would take the responsibility upon
himself.
{ ."The emperor told me that he had
written down everything and the
world would know after his death
Doubtless other motives played their
part in the dismissal OF Bismarck. but
this was the chief one. I dwell upon
this because the attitude here taken by
| the emperor contracts sharply with
many of his later utterances against
social democracy in Germany.
Still Corresponds With Ex-Kaiser.
'Fron that time on my personal re-
latfons with the emperor became more
intimate. / was. often his guest ct
! PottsdaYn, Berlin and elsewhere. We
also kept up a correspondence. which
! still continues"
Here prof. schiemann went on to
outline the emperor's policy, which.
| he said, was to secure for Germany
! the leading position in the world. both
: in commerce and advance of civiiika-
/ ton. With reference to Wilhelm's at
| titude toward England and the Anglo
| Saxon world, Prof. Schiemann said;
! There you touch a point upon which
German opinion is greatly divided
mean the high admiration that the
! emperor held for all that was English.
F., My heart always opens to them when
/ am among them he told me: Evi-
i IDENTIFY a strong strain of English
| blood has remained in the emperor.
| and l think the English are conscious
| of It. With him as we'll as with them,
| a kind of dept amoureaux' Qiking
despite themselves) makes itself felt
az soon as practical politics bring
! about open or concealed conflict. =
! His letters to me have shown nae
| that he resents the attacks against
, his person by certain sections Of the
English press far more than similar
attacks from the French or Russian
press, which he expects almost as, a
matter of course. Nothing would
have pleased him better than to bring
! about an alliance between England
and Germany. Attempts in that di-
| rection have been made more than
| once.
America Planned Alliance.
! TT will interest you, too. to learn
| than more than once America has
J brought forward a plan for securing
, the world peace by an Anglo Amer
| ican- German alliance. In 1909 s. 8.
/ Mcclure. the editor. visited me and
asked me to write an article favor
ing such an alliance. l compiled the
article which appeared In May. 1910,
! Mr.. Mcclure wrote to me and I laid
my plan before Mr.. Pierpont Mort
gan. / had already consulted Elihu
Root. was sure that the United
States would eagerly Join in carrying
out this proposal for the union of tho
| three great nations. In this connece
tion." added DR.. Schiedmann. "ths
emperor knew and approved of my
iActtyities."" =.
But according to the former kaiseTs
letters even while he was dreaming
! these happy dreams Of q solution. of