Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1919-01-02
BY SIR VALENTINE cAlRoL.



slall never be cant down there shall no
harm happen unto me.
This Verse occurs in one of the
psalms (x.,e) appointed 10 be read
a; evening prayer on the SECOND day
Of the month.
On the memorable evening OF
August 2,19l4. when William IL had
at last thrown off the mask and
flung at as also, by marching mis- ar
rnies across the frontiers OF neutral
Belgium, the wanton challenge by
which he thought to consuinmatc his
life schemes of world dominion, my old
friend. the late Sir Cecil Spgtrg Rice,
whose presoiencc had lorg ago lead the
catastrophe trena of the yoans m
peror's ambitions when hc and l were
together in Berlin during the first de-
cade OF the new reisn, cited to me
those singularly appropriate words OF
the pspinist, adding. with ali the fer
vour Of his patriotic faith, Rut 1T
rests stiii with us to see that the last
verse of the am psalm shall also be
fulfilled. and that the man of the earth
be no more exalted"
1t Was in that spirit that on the
very neXt day the British people took
up William lls challenge, and for four
and a quarter years has borne it's share
and more than it's share. in the great
est and most righteous struggle in the
worlds history. And now the end has
come. n verify, the man of the
earth is no more exalted" but cast
down" with She dust, fleeing igno-
minously, both from the foe whom he
had once dared to cali "contemptible'
and from the wrath OF his OWE people
who have turned away from him to
the very men whom he formally de-
nounced as ''chur!s without a father
land"
There is none to pity him but it would
oe merely to belittle the tremendous
effort it has required to hurl him down
from the pinnacle on which he stood
only a few Years ago as the arbiter OF
the worlds destinies if We We're to deny
to him certain elements of daemonic
greatness. Only a man who had taught
himself to believe that he was born
something more than a nan who pos
sessed of ruthless energy and untiring
industry, who combined the most en-
~traordinary versatility of methods with
a fiXity of purpose that amounted al
most to an obsession. could have eN-
plotted as he did to his own ends all
the material and Intellectual forces of
a gifted n laborious and, with obvi-
Gus limitations. highly educated nation.
His Egotism.
His Unsuitable egotism was only
%equalled by his belief in his w heaven
born omniscience and o~mnipotence. He
was determined to excel in all things;
as a war lord I'm shining armor," and
as 1.-The Admiral Of tie Atlantic" who
was to place the trident in Germany's
right hand;' as a prophet M a preach
err who had inherited the virile German
Of Luther: as a consummate disciple of
his favorite ancestor, Frederic the
Great, in the most tortuous wiles Of Sc
cret diplomacy; as the unerring patron
of the fine arts and the far sighted
promoter of German commerce. indus
try. and finance. and eve as an ex-
pert authority al all the latest develop
ments Of applied science which could
minister to the economic as we'll as
the military supremacy Of his Ger
man empire.
Did he not boast, when he dropped
the old pilot and set Germany-"full
steam ahead"-on her new course, that
he himself was ito lead her forth into
CnOreaIuI OIL Gays Oh SplenOOE ana pros.
perity?"
A consummats Actor.
A strange blend of medieval mysti-
! cism and of the coarsest modern ma
terialism, he could exercise an almost
hypnotic charm on those whom It suit
ed him to persuade or to cajole. and he
could be brutal beyond words even to
the most loyal OF his servants when
they had outlived his liking. Intoler-
ant of any contradiction. he surround
ed himself for choice with m%ediocrities
and sycophants. Always ready to lend
an, ear to talebearers, he was quick to
believe at one the very worst even Of
those who had been. perhaps for years,
his chosen friends and confldanta. His
own private life neverslaid, him open to
reproach, but foul and notorious a
dals occurred frequently amongst his
immediate encourage. and Berlin be-
came under his very yes the most de-
PRAYED capital In Europe. A consum-
mate actor. with the whole world, un-
fortunately. a. his stage. ne would at
one moment play the vulgar buffoon
Bryce Urges