New-York tribune., 1922-06-04
The Crown Princes Story
BY William l.. Mcpherson

MEMOIRS or THE CROWN PRINCE
scribnsrs sons 1877 $500.
In the guise Of personal memoirs
the former Crown Prince Of Prussia
nas presented 20 tho German public
an ingenious analyNs of the causes
of Gemany's defeat. This gives his
book n much greater Importance than
IL could have had rs n mere record Of
his own political md military expert
enco. which WIS confcsscdly rather
limited.
The propaganda motive Of tho work
is obvious. Ever since the war Ger
man leaders have been irving dcs-
perately 10 shift the blame FOR failure
from their own shoulders 90 the shoul-
ders 81 Others. The cX-Cr0wn Prince.
although not generally considered a7
one Of the responsible factors Boo -
debacie, has gone perhaps further than
anybody else in exonarating knself
and pointing tho finger of conG-mna-
tion a. neighboring scapegoats.
Who lost the war for Germany? The
authors list Of War Criminals b.
most extensive. II includes his eXiled
ALPHABETICALLY the greatest culpr.i
because Of his ali-inclusive authority
-llolweg. the kalser's trusted
agent in the held Of politics; Won T.r-
pitt, the creator o. the German navy
and of the fatal naval tension with
Great Britain; Won Moltke. the mud
der Of the First Marne; Won Falken-
hayn. the loser AZ Nerdun. and the
various Majority and Independent So
cialist politicians eager 90 make party
capital out Of the war. Hindcnhurg
and Ludendorf are about tho only ones
who escape, the latter's extreme en-
nifty 10 Bcthmann-Holiweg creating
a firm bond Of sympathy between him
and the Crown Prince.
All these men committed errors
more or less injurious % the German
cause. and the author could have little
difficulty In indicting them. individual
ly and scverally, out of the war
records. But IN drawing his lndict
ment he ingeuiously suggests that
these various errors we're potent &C.
him while they were being made that
he depiorcd them and in many cases
protested against them. The imprcs-
sion is ariics-ly given that Of all the
post-Bismarckians the young Prince
alone had thoroughly mastered the
Bismarckian policy. that be was practi-
callv the only man IN tho empire who
foresaw the perls 81 war. who could
have averied war. II HE counsels mac
been followed. ard who, once Germany
was rashly prccip.tated into the war
could have ended 10 by saving peace
Of negotiation.
The younger William was, however,
AZ ne laments. always a prophet with
out honor in his own country.
His structures or the Kaiser arc not
moderated by hlial piety. re blurts
out the brutal truth. The Kaiser, he
saws. had. after 1908. ceased 20 be
real power in the German state. The
violent outbreak in tho Rcichstag that
wear against his undue personal inter-
ference in tho conduct Of foreign rela-
tiors unncrved him. and be- became
thereafter the shadow of q ruler. sur
rounded by Intermediates who isolated
him from real contact with affairs and
governed under cover In his stead
Thee men hatiefed and deceived tncir
master. who was content with the show
rather than the Aetuality of kaiser
hood.
Bethmann- Hollweg. as the Chaneei-
lor of this later period. comes m ior
the major share Of the Crown Princes
obiurgation. He is described as mort,
seif-distrustful obsessed with hesi'a-
tions and doubts and the victim OF po-
litical illusions. The Crown Prince
agrees with Prince Lichnowsky that
German foreign policy was made over
subservient 10 Austrian foreign policy,
and that Germany was fooiishly drawn
into the war in pursuance o. petty
Austrian quarrel with Serbia. he
scores the Chancellor for his credulity
in supposing that Great Britain could
be kept neutral He finds ell Of Seth
mann -Hollwcc's peace maneuvers blum
9erinr and half-heartod. lie follows
LudendorT in accusing the Chancellor
of compromising with the politicians IN
the Reiehstsg and Of not resoiuicly
supporting the war.
According 10 the Crown Prince. he
himself would not have challenged