The Cordova daily times., 1919-12-12
BARES KA|SER'S
 BRUTAL NATURE
Captain Persius Tells of Franks
 of Former Ruler.
vULGARITY HIS DELIGHT

Officers Forced to Submit to Indigni.
 ties and Bodily Injury-Former At.
 tache of Embassy in Washington Fa- . vors Furnishing RascaIs"-Asks for
 General Cleaning Up All Around 1. Wants Treaty Studied.
 Capt. Lothian Persius, German naval attache at Washington for a number of years long before the war, and sub- sequently Germany's leading naval critic, devotes a good deal of space in his "Personal "Reminiscences" to acrid ridicule of the once sacred person of the kaiser, and to advocacy of the proposition that German officers guilty of atrocities should be punished. Per haps nothing written by a prominent German since the war ended so amaz- ingly illustrates the apparent change in the point of view of at least some Germans. Of the kaiser, Captain Per sius says:
 "There are no great men in the eyes of their valets. William II never was a great man in the eyes of anybody, although he was ever assuming a heroic pose, whether the occasion was solemn or ridiculous. But William II in the eyes of his valets and attendants was not only not great, he was even contemptibly small, mean and coward ly, enjoying the humiliation, degrada- tion and pain he inflicted upon those in his power
 "With my own eyes I have seen him dash the contents of half-filled cham pagne glass into the face of an ad- miral who happened to be standing near him on the bridge of a vessel. l saw him scrape the caviar off his sand wich and fling the mess into the eyes of some officer of high rank unfortu- nately within reach of the imperial joker Of course, all these 'pranks' were perpetrated when his majesty was in a state of intOXicatiOn, which at times happened to occur early in the morning."
 Captain Persius states that all mem- bers of the officers corps realized that promotion was to be accelerated only by humble submission to the kaiser's whims and pranks; that some admirals would have been deposed for incom- potency had they not been devoted and meek objects of the imperial jester; and that Tirpitz remained so long in ? power because he would stand for anything" even to permitting the kaiser to pull his whiskers. and kick him in the stomach.
 The naval critic then adds these an- ecdotes of the kaiser's idiosyncrasies:
 "A cruiser was at target practice. William II was on board, the sun smil- ing, the weather calm and beautiful. William II happened to be in the best of humor. With his strong right hand he was dealing blows right and left, as he was wont to do on occasions like this. His favOrites considered them selves fortunate when they received an imperial punch.
 "His majesty was very happy, jest ing and joking. On the bridge his body surgeon was standing, leaning backward against the railing. The old man, a general in rank, seemed to be tired from standing. He was leaning heavily upon the railing, bending back ward and dreamily looking into the sky.
 "The old man was in a comfortable position, as comfortable as the circum- stances, including the august presence of the imperial majesty, would permit. He was quietly basking in the warm sun.
 Suddenly William II sprang in front of the old man and in a most cruel manner (by hitting the old man a vio- lent blow in tender spoD inflicted terrible pain.
 "The poor old general staggered. One could tell by the expression of his face that he was half mad from pain. He held on to the railing with his hands, and half fainting sank upon his knees.
 "The emperor, proud of his splendid joke,' laughed vehemently. But when he saw the result his practical joke had had he merely turned away, with out word of apology. The old sur geon was no longer persona grata. He had winced while receiving an i'm perial favor!
 "We had returned from a long cruise in a ship of which Prince Henry, the kaiser's brother, was the com mander. At Kiel the kaiser himself wanted to inspect our ship. He came on board, again in the best of humor.
 "The bridge of the vessel was crowded with officers of high rank and other dignitaries. While the emperor was talking to some one, his adjutant, an admiral, happened to turn his back. Immediately the imperial right fist shot out and hit the admiral in the small of the back-a powerful blow.
 "The admiral was stunned and