The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1922-09-28
BY WILHELM HoHENzoLLERN


When l began my reign, General Won
Caprivi was Chief of the Admiralty.
He was the last General to hold his
post. ! at once took energetically in
hand the development and reform
in fact, one may say the foundation
anew-of the Imperial German Navy,
based on my preliminary studies in
England and at home. That was not
to the liking of the General, who was
able but rather self-willed and not
entirely devoid of pride.
Unquestionably he had rendered val
liable services in mobilization, i'm
provement of the officers corps and
the improvement and development of
the torpedo boat organization. On the
other hand the building of ships and
the replacement of worn out material
were in a deplorable state, to the det-
riment of the fleet and to the dis
satisfaction of the shipbuilding indus
try, which was growing and looking
about for employment.
Being an old Prussian General, Ca
priVi's way of thinking was that of
his day-that of his comrades of 1864
1854, 1870, 1871-in his eyes, the army
had always done everything and would
continue to do so in the future; there
fore, no great demands for money to
be devoted to the navy should be i'm
posed upon the country, since, should
this be done, there was danger that
the sums destined to the army might
be decreased and its development
thereby hampered. This idea, from
which he was not to be dissuaded, is
false. The amounts granted did not
How into reservoir from which they
might be directed, by the mere turning
OF valve, now into army, now into
navy channels. Whenever Caprivi was
unwilling to demand anything for
naval construction, in order, by so do
ing, to turn more money toward the
army, things did not happen as he fore
saw. BY his actios the army received
not one penny more, but merely what
ever the Minister of War asked for and
received in accordance with his bud
get.
There was need of creating a Secre-
taryshfp of State for the navy which,
entirely independent of the Ministry of
War, should have as it's duty to de-
mand and obt lin for the navy as much
as was required for the protection of
our commerce and colonies. And that
is what came to pass later on.
Caprivi soon came to me with the re-
quest that l relieve him from his post
He stated that he was not satisfied
with it in itself; that, moreover, I had
all sorts of plans for the future affect
ing the navy which he considered i'm
possible of realization, in the first
place, because there existed no means
of replacement for the officer corps
at that time the yearly influx of cadets
was between sixty and eighty-and a
large navy without a large officer
corps was unthinkable. In addition to
this, he informed me, he had soon
seen in the course of the inspection
tours of His Majesty that the Emperor
knew more about naval matters than
he, the General, which placed him in
an impossible situation in relation to
his subordinates.
In view of these circumstances,
parted with him, placing him in COM
mand of an army corps. Following the
motto, "The navy for the seamenH
chose, for the first time, an Admiral
as its chief, step which was received
in maritime circles with great joy.
The man chosen was Admiral Count
Monts
Bismarck's Successor
When | was soon afterward con-
fronted with the rather unexpected re-
tirement of Prince Bismarck, l found
the choice of his successor a difficult
one. Whoever it might be was sue
to have hard task without any pros
pect of appreciation for what he might
achieve; he would be looked upon as
the usurer of a post to which he was
not entitled and which he was not
qualified to fill. Criticism, criticism,
nothing but criticism-that was sure to
be the daily bread upon which the new
Chancellor must reckon; and he was
also certain of becoming the target for
the hostility of all those who favored
Prince Bismarck as well as with that
of the many who previously could not
do enough in opposition to him. There
was bound to be a strong enmity to-
ward the new Chancellor. in which the
old Prince himself would not be the
least serious factor.
After taking all this into considera-
ton, it was decided to choose a man
belonging to Prince Bismarck's gener-
alton, who had held leading position
in the wars and had already filled a
Government position under him. His
age was guarantee that he would be
a careful and calm adviser for the
orphaned" young Emperor
Very soon the question arose of the
extension of the reinsurance treaty
with Russia. Caprivi declared that, out
of consideration for Austria, he was I'M
able to renew it, since the threat
against Austria contained therein,
when it became known in Vienna-as
it almost unavoidably would-was such