The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1924-04-20
AFRAID TO TELL
WILHELM TRUTH
ABOUT AFFAIRS
Was Constantly Fighting
Against Modern Trend
Of Thought |


This is the third of series Of in
stallments, appearing Sundays. from
=. the diary OF Count zedltz, for IL
years marshal at the Kaiser's court.
The diary notes are not arranged In
strict chronology but cover parts Of
the first two decades Of the century.
"y fc,me qn cbamberia,n e TO Emperor vii.
liam III.
Last year Minister of Finance Won
Rheinbaben figured out that he would
be able to build the Kaiser's new
palace at Posen for cost of three
million marks. according to the archi-
tects' plans. He arranged for this sum
with the finance commission of Parlia-
rnent and obtained it with much less
trouble than had been expected. In
the meantime the Emperor has slooked
over the plans and has altered them.
adding number of gorgeous and ex-
pensive details. For instance, he has
ordered the building of cour d'hon-
neur large enough for four-horse
carriage to turn in comfortably, as
well as suitable apartments for the
Crown Prince, the Crown Princess,
other princes, and large additional re-
ception rooms. Hence the total cost is
10 be 100000 marks, and six mil
lions if we include the furniture.
Our poor Minister of Finance! He
now faces the task of going back to
the finance commission of Parliament.
and demanding double the sum which
he assured them last year would be the
cost of the palace -.
It is interesting to observe how,
chiefly during the Emperors recentsill-
ness, his extravaganza has increased
and how his love of outer pomp and
magnificence has become steadily more
marked. He wasted hours every day
talking over the new decorations of the
White hall of state, the appointment of
ladies-in-waiting to the Empress, the
aping of Austrian and Italian court
etiquette, the appointment of imperial
heralds for festive occasions. =
If one considers how at the present
moment many urgent social and pOliti-
cal questions need ~investiga ting and
solving, how important it is for the
Emperor to learn what the world is
doing, and to learn Furthermore how
TO work with instead of against the
modern trend of thought then the fact
that he spends his time searching
historical garrets for historical junk
gives one cold SILVER of apprehension.
/ am not a professional pessimist.
But / know that today (1903) Ger
many is at the crossroads; and while
j doubt that we are on the eve of
actual revolution, yet it is this very
carelessness of the Emperor and the
upper classes, this. refusal to under
stand the soul of the German race
and the German nations modern de-
yeiopment, this lazy gliding back into
reactionary channels, which may well
bring on a political catastrophe.
The Emperor looks into the past, not
frafp tho (f1tYra FThora wa .haVa tho !
whole trouble in a nutshell :.
A few days ago Prince Joachim Al
brecht Won Hohenzollern was dropped |
from the army lists, dismissed in dis
grace, with no longer the right to wear
the imperial uniform. Most people who
are able to think unprejudicedly be-
lieve that this judgment was not only
harsh, but Incredibly unfair.
The prince had been accused because
ne lives with a woman who, simply
for the sake of bearing his name, had
contracted a marriage, really a mock
marriage, with a ruined and worthless
aristocrat, certain Baron Liebenberg.
She never lived with the latter. The
Baron's divorce proceedings, naming
the prince as correspondent, were moth
ing but blackmail.
Certain people wanted the courts to
to have an official guardian appointed
for him. They asked the prince to sub
nit to this decision. But on advice of
his lawyer, Krause, the prince refused
to do so, and now, as a punishment,
ne has been dropped from the army
IN disgrace.
Quite justifiedly, the prince de-
manded: "Why should l be declared
incompetent What have / done to be
labeled insane?"
The only consequence is that because
of his official disgrace, sO-called decent
society will have less and less to do
with him, driving him more and more
into the arms of this adventures,
Baroness Liebenberg, and throwing him
into the company of all sorts of ques-
tionable elements who will use him to
their advantage, cheat him, and de-
moralize him still further.
The other day His Majesty said to
some intimates:'
''Whenever member of my own
family offends the moral code make
point of treating him most harshly, so
as to give warning example to my
sons."
= Fine morality to destroy the lives of
others so as vicariously to help the
morals of ones sons
The Crown Prince Narrow
Yesterday November %, 190S) dur
ing the hunts at Syringe, the Crown
Prince had long talk about the politi-
cal situation with General Won Moltke,
the chief of staff The Crown Prince
voiced the opinion that only war
would be able to help us out of our
muddle. General Won Moltke replied
that the time of cabinet wars" wars
forced for Interior reasons by gov
ernment, was past, and that war,
which the German nation did not want
nor understand and with which it had
no sympathy was an extremely danger
Gus experiment. 1t amounted practically
RMATR1FnI