The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1919-01-17
CHAPTER Discontinued.


Bulgarians are wonderful fighters" h
confessed to me, shortly after the wa
began They're out-of-door peopl
and they have the strength and STAN
ana which fighters require If the
keep on the way they're going They'll
be in Constantinople In week Con
found those Turks! We furnished
them guns and ammunition ant
trained their officers but If they won
fight we can't make them. We've don,
our besti"
The defeat of the Turks lessenet
their value to the kaiser as an ally
and he Immediately put into effect 9
measure for increasing the German
standing army from 10000 to 100000
TO restore the balance of power, they
said. For this purpose a "Wehrbei-
frag," or increased armament tax, was
levied on capital and, incidentally, I
was informed that / would have to
pay my share. The idea of paying a
tax to upbuild the German army.
which was already so powerful that
st nenaced the peace of the world
did not appeal to me at all and
spoke to Ambassador Gerard about It,
he advised me to pay 1t under protest,
agreeing with me that there was no
reason why an American should be
required to contribute to the German
war budget However. had to pay 1t.
The German efforts at colonization,
which were more or less of a failure
because the Germans refused to in
habit the German possessions. and the
measures adopted to conquer the COM
mercial markets of the world were an
Important part of the program of world
domination which Germany planned
Cor herself, and it is not unlikely that
tt she had confined her efforts along
those lines she might have progressed
further along her chosen path than she
has advanced by bathing the world in |
blood.
~ 81 have nearly 100000 people" |
fhe kaiser said to me on one occasion,
sand we shall have to find room for |
: them somewhere. When we became |
Z an empire England had her hands on
nearly everything. Now we must
: fight TO get ours. That is why ] am
developing our world markets, just as
your country secured Hawaii and the
! Philippines as stepping stones to the
markets of the far east as | under
stand it. That's why | developed the
wonderful city of Kiao-Chau."
His plans In this connection were
changed somewhat apparently by the
developments of the present war, for
he told me that when it was over the
Germans would not emigrate to the
United States any more. .
mo more American emigration for I
us after the war" he said. MY I
people will settle in the Balkans and c
develop and control that wonderful t
country. have been down there and t
I know it is marvellous land for our G
purposes" 2
The kaiser's vision of the part he s
would take In the reconstruction Of
stricken Europe was indicated by a
remark he made to me In 1915 when Fl
q was visiting him at the army head 81
quarters at P1ess. W
"Here I ap nearly sixty years OF o
age" he soliloquized, "and must re- h
build the whole of Europe," el
Although the kaiser so freely admit IN
ted his designs on the world at large, II
he swas impatient of any expansion Il
on the part Of other nations He often nj
spoke of England's grabbing" pro- OF
pensity and viewed with suspicion our til
annexation of Hawaii and the Philip fir
pines and our development of Cuba
after the Spanisil-Ameriean war. He th
,rofessed to see in our new policy DC
striving after world power which was p,
Inconsistent with the principles upon TO
which our government was founded. tn
HIe objected to our interference In NJ
dexican affairs, although, as WAS dis ST
.iosed by the Zimmerman note to Won ia
cckhardt. he was making every effort be
O have Mexico interfere with ours. fit
-'lYhat right has President Wilson fol
0 attempt to dictate the internal poll wa
les of Mexfco?" ne asked. "Why not
e them fight their battles out alone?" WI
Abiding to Americas threat to en-
er the present war, he asked: "What res
light has America to Insist upon the II
Ionroe doctrine of America and then SO
tx In European affairs? Let her rec sol
gnize also a Monroe doctrine OF Eu- sor
3pe and keep her hands out OF this an,
,nf1fct r.
There Is no doubt that the kaiser the
aagined that the great army and navy
I had built up would enable him to pre-
.rry out his ambitious program with am
1t effective resistance. des
The one power he most feared but !
II which he professed the utmost con- ella
mpt was England. He had an idea sell
at England would never dare to oil
easure swords with Germany and pal
1T he could provoke war when the goi
DpOxtune moment came without much the
ar Of EngIand's Intervention. Uni
n 1911, when the international stu exc
lo0 over the Moroccan affair was or
lxficularly acute q . result OF Ger Y
1nyss having sent : gunboat to Aga Cru
/ ~ Aemon1trate that she ~was ser1- Gee
= = Aef Aenands, the kaiser had !"
kopps that VIZ with France the