The New York herald., 1921-04-10

that time would have been capable of stimu
lating men to action had the words been
followed by deeds to correspond.
/ very well remember the enthusiasm
aroused by the coronation speech and the
Kings utterances upon other public occa
sons. If they had been followed by ener
getic purposes of the same emphatic char
acter they might at that time have pro-
duced powerful effect all the more as the
peoples feelings were not yet blunted In
respect Of political emotions. In the years
1871 and 1S42 more was to be achieved with
fewer means than in 1S49.
We can form an impartial Judgment Of
these matters now that the then desirable
object has been attained and the need of
1910 Is no longer present In the national
mind: on the contrary "The best is the
enemy of the good" is one of the soundest
Of proverbs against which the Germans
are theoretically more inclined to trespess
than other nations,
Wilhelm III. resembed Friedrich Wilhelm
Nv. in this, that the foundation of their
policy was rooted in the conception that the
King. and he alone, is more closely ac-
quainted with the will Of God than other
men. governs in accordance with the same.
without discussing his aim with his sub
jects or announcing ii to them. Friedrich
Wilhelm w. had no doubt of his specially
privileged position in respect of the Deity;
his honest belief corresponds with the
picture of the high priest of the Jews, who
alone stepped behind the curtain.
In certain respects we shall seek in vain
for any resemblance between Wilhelm IL.
fat fat
grandfather; pecularties which were the
principal features of the characters of
Friedrich Wilhelm H., Wilhelm l. and
Friedrich III. We're not to the fore in the
young sovereign.
certain timid dlstrust OF their own
capacity for work had, through the four
generations, made way for certain degree
of assured sef-confdence such as we have
not seen upon the throne since the time of
Frederick the Great; but only l thinL. in
the person of the relgning sovereign.
His brother. Prince Henry of Prussia.
seems to possess the same distrust of his
own powers and the same secret diffidence
as are found, on closer acquaintance, Mt the
bottom Of the characters of Kaisers Fried
rich and Wilhelm l.. despite all their con
sciousness of their Oympian rank.
Kaiser's First Great Mistake
Made in the Strike of 1880
In the latter his profound and pious trust
in God was needed as surety, in the face
of his unassuming and humble conception,
before man and God, of his own personality,
for the steadfastness Of those resolutions
which he made manifest In the time Of con-
hict. Both rulers atoned by their goodness
Of heart and their honest love of the truth
for their occasional deviations from the cur
rent estimation Of the practical influence of
kingly birth and amounting.
The Kaiser. with his Christian but not
always Gin the worldly sense) successful
tendency to Cancellation began with his
worst enemy, Social Democracy.
This first mistake. which was embodied
in the management of the strike of 1889.
led to increased pretensions on the part OF
the Socialists and fresh III humor on the
part Of the monarch as soon as 1t became
evident that under the new Government,
Just as under the old, the monarch could
not. with the best will in the world, change
the nature Of things and Of the human race.
The Kaiser was without experience in the
sphere Of human desires ana human tovet-
business but that he had .ost his early con-
fdence In the judgment and experience or
others was a result Of intrigue by which he
was confirmed In his underestimation of the
difficulty of governing. not only by oficious
advisers but also by place-hunting generals
and aides. Perhaps he will suffer the same
dislluslon In respect of Social Democracy
as his grandfather suffered in 1862 in re-
spect Of the progressives.
(To BE Confinucd.l
Copyrighf, 1921. bv Harper C Bros.