The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1919-01-17
By
Arthur N.Davis, DDS.
American Dsnfisf
TO the Kaiser from
1904 70 1918

to the greatest moral courage of any md
Is l ever knew!" The fact that Nj
ID Roosevelt had given Germanys flee
ID twenty-four hours notice to stear
re from Venezuelan waters didn't serv
to lessen the kaiser's admiration 70
,e him.
It I heard him shower praise OF
Il Roosevelt many times and l haven
2. the slightest doubt that he was quit
r sincere
e After the war started, when Roose
d Welt showed very plainly that no mat
ter what nice things the kaiser nigh
i have thought and said of him, he Ger
i tainly didn't reciprocate the feeling
. the kaiser was very much disappointed
e I'm terribly disappointed in Mr.
| Roosevelt" he declared. after the
! way my wife and / entertained him
when he was here as our guest, for
: him to take the stand he has is very
. ungentlemanly. l gave a great review
for hlm-the greatest honor I could be-
stow upon him and thing which had
never been done for private citizen.
He was not president then. you know.
l used to admire him very much, but
now l think the man has gone crazy
and lost his mind. / never thought he
would turn against us like that" He
did not seem TO realize that patriotic
American owed allegiance to his own
country.
In 1915 I asked him whether he had
heard that Mr.. Ford was on his way
| over from America in a chartered ship
| with a delegation.
| "Who, Peace-Ford?" he inquired.
| I told the kaiser what had read of
| the Ford expedition.
How can your country allow man
| like that to do this thing-a man who
has played no part In the politics of his
own country and is entirely ignorant
of International affaIrs-a man who,
understand. was formerly in the BIZ
cycle business and knows very little
outside of business matters7
Il haven't. the slightest doubt Mr. |
Ford Is great business man." the |
kaiser went on, land 1 am sure he |
means all right, but what a mistake
it is to allow man so ignorant of
world affairs to do a ridiculous thing
like tbssl"
I told the kaiser that It had been
suggested In some of the American
papers that If Ford really wanted to
end the war, all he had to do was to
pay Germany s1O0.OOO,OO0 and buy
Belgium back.
Zone hundred million dolars!" the
kaiser repeated. and then after q mo-
ment's reflection, as though he had
been turning over some figures in his
mind, mo, Davis, 1t will cost much
more than that to get Belgium back o.
1t occurred to me that If the kaiser
really meant what he said on that oc-
casion. all his talk about 'peacewith-
put annexation" was obviously myth
and that the only hope Of Belgium's
lay In the military defeat
IF Prussia. Subsequent developments
amply confirmed that view.
In the winter of 1916, we were talk
ng of the sentiment in America and II
he conversation turned to Won Berns- / II
orr. 1
Won Bernstorff has been doing very
,ood work In your country" the kaiser
commented.
WELL your majesty" replied, ''it is
aid In America that If he had not been P
UGH clever diplomat he would long
go have been compelled to leave"
from all I hear" the kaiser said,
he hasn't had very easy time Of it.
he American press as a whole has is
cen consplcuously anti-German, al g.
nough / understand that one of your h
ewspaper publishers has been friend m
7 to us. Mr.. Hearst, for instance, has tt
elped our cause very much In your al
ountry. He has been telling the truth pl
bout affairs, which is more than most ps
the other papers have been doing /" E
Just before the king of Greece abdi- ri
tied, the kaiser referred to the atti- in
lde of the American press again. m
"The way the American newspapers al
Id the press of the allied countries BIO
are presenting the Grecian In
tuation to the world is absolutely
lse and disgrace ~ he declared, bit er
rly. "They are entirely misrepre- G,
nting the facts. Mr.. Hearst is the DO
lily one, as far as / can find, who has Is
vealed the real conditions and told an
e truth about them. My, / wonder lei
hat the people have to say now that eli
r. Hearst has finally exposed the Liz
hole thingl" 1t was only a short be-
ne afterwards that the king abdicat- IN,
and revealed Enthusiastically which
pers had correctly interpreted the
end of Grecian politics.
The kaiser spoke to me many times esl
out the writings Of William Bayard Ell
lie.
Have you been following Hale's ar me
lesT' he inquired. "What he is OF
iting about the war is excellent and Di
really the best material published. cal
voices my sentiments exactly, and KIN
would be well for every American to Ma
low this writer's work" sht
had to confess that there was one
lerican at least who was not only w
following Hale's writings, but had
yer heard of the writer, and the Az
User seemed to be somewhat dis
ased.
He referred to Hale several times
and In the meanwhile / pal