Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-04-09


his servants in actual want; and his
own family "scrimped."
Ills was a strange mixture of per-
sonalities. indeed-the little man
whose ambition and greed led hin.
TO attempt to conquer the world.
kaiscr's Wages $1,OOO,OOO a Year
But how is it possible?" asks the
reader whose Statesman Year
Book tells him that the Kaiser has
an income of about four million
dollars per year, and who rcmem-
bers, perChance, Williams boaStful
speech in which he said he was the
biggest landowner in Germany.
Whether the latter assertion is
true L cannot say, but those four
millions were shining reality and
uncncumbered, save for the obliga-
ton to pay five appanages of fifteen
thousand dollars each per annum to
PruSsian Princes. That left William
about three million nine hundred
thousand dollars a year to bless
himself with" besides his private in
come of fifty thousand dollars per
month.
The $4,000 formed the nucleus of
Ills Majesty's private purse, and
were always spoken for three
months in advance for his uniform
and toilet accounts, his private
Journeys and amusements.
The civil list discharged the cost
of representation, the needs of the
kaiserin and the children, all the
expenses of the household, and pro-
vided funds for the maintenance of
the royal theaters, palaces and gar
dens.
out of much smaller official in
come William | saved an immense
fortune, though he kept up a scpa-
rate court for his Queen for thirty
years, and, for u Prussian, was cx-
cccdingly liberal toward ladies that
engaged his fancy.
William Is Always i'm Debt
The present Kaiser actually wound
up year after year with q tremen-
dous deficit, and his court, outward
ly splendid and richly endowed, was
more penurious than that of the
meaneSt Prince of the Empire.
Indeed, my maid assured me that
at Buckeburg, where the monarch
received only as many marks as the
President of the United States gets
dollars per year, the grooms were
better fed and lodged than under
stewards in Potsdam.
The reason for this is obvious
enough: the Kaiser has no Concep-
ton whatever of the value of money.
and ordered for himself anything
that pleased him, what he saw and
read about, without paying the least
heed to the pecuniary consequences.
If he desired an article, it must be
procured in the quickest possible
manner.
With the Empress, things were
M II II
times listen to reason when the
Court or House marshals pleaded
poverty on account of imperial raids
on their treasures.
The entire civil list was kept at
the disposal of these two august per-
sonages, and all the members of the
royal household, as well as purvey-
ors, servants, laborers, and scrub
women, suffered in conSecuence-a
state of affairs that led to constant
friction among the court officials, en-
forced a most niggardly and dis
graceful general regimen, and dis
credited the Kaiser's name with
merchants and everybody else hav-
ing business with the court.
l had noticed for some time that
n certain dealer in flowers, Unter den
Linden, served me with excessive
zeal, though my purchases were not
extensive by any means. My car
rage no sooner stopped at his door.
when this man rushed out bowinc
ana scraping, and adding to NV
titles some / never dared hone to
acquire. / also observed that he
charged me less than the prices
marked. So one day 1 asked him
why: Your Ladyship belongs to the
Court"
Slow I'm Paying His Bills
But l said, "others do. and I
settled state of the royal finances
have seen the carriage of the Coun-
tess Won B, halt a considerable
time in front of your store before
one of the employees came to ask
her pleasure"
Well" said the florist, you be-
long to the court and pay cash.
For that reason / would rather sell
YOU three-mark bouquet than q
fifty-mark flower-piece to the lady
YOU mention or" (and he lowered
his voice. Ito even the Emperor or
Empress.
II am wcll-tO-dO man, thank the
lord: but when il comes TO waiting
u year and n half before ones bills
arc paid by the royal treasury, 1 feel
like cursing my appointment. And
the worst of it is. the all-highest
example is followed by almost every
body connected with the court"
Had No Fixed Income
But nothing illustrates the I'M
moro thoroughly than the fact that
the 1iaiserin had no certain income
of her own. Her court-marshal was
obliged to fight for every dollar re-
CURED beyond the ordinary pay of
servants and help with the Kaiser's
court and house marshalS. who often
refused to grant necessary funds
until Augusta Victorias cxpross
commands compelled them to honor
TIC disputed bills.
a rather amusing incident OF that