Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-01-18
ROYALTY OF WORLD
MEETING DIFFICULTIES
Truly, Kings Have Fallen Upon Evil
& Times-What FOrbears
Have Done.
Continued From First Page)

cry OF King Alfonso. One morning, so
Mr.. Moore related the King insisted
that he drive with him to a nearby
city where his majesty was to deliver
an address to a large body of working
men. Mr.. Moore inquired why the
King was so insistent on his going
along. oh" laughed Alfonso, lit
would make such a good newspaper
story for king and an ambassador to
go up with the same bomb
But all these events force upon our
minds the fact that we are witnessing
the closing episodes in one of the
greatest dramas in all history, the final
downfall of the royal families of Eu-
rope. And few Americans realize what
a stupendous drama it has been. 1t is
a drama that stretches back over a
thousand years, back to those doughty
forest barons of Germany, France, Rus
STA, England and old Spain, who
emerged fighting, sword in hand, at
the head of their peoples during the
breakup Of the old Roman Empire.
Heroic Figures Then.
They were those heroic figures who
built up that marvellous economic and
political structure of feudalism and
threw over it all the glamour Of knight
hood and the romance Of chivalry. Men
they were, who were ready at mo-
ment's call to spend their last drop of
blood fighting for the color of a rose,
the tilt of a feather in hat, the inf1ec-
ton of a Latin verb or the smile of
lady love. 1t has been a drama of blood
and iron, of hate and love, Of intrigue
and openness, of uglineSs and beauty, of
duplicity and nobility, of mud and
ashes, pageantry and glory; a drama
played upon a continental stage in
which the actors have been kings and
queens. princes and princesses of the
blood; the superS marching armies; the
stage properties crowns and thrones
and palaces; drama where states and
principalities were given as love tokens;
where the destinieS of whole peoples
were thrown upon the gaming tables
and where wedding gifts were empires.
And one of the strange injustices of
history is that, as we sit here in our
comfortable box seat of America and
wait for the curtain to ring down, we
are actually asked by popular opinion
to believe that most of the actors and
actresses in this gigantic drama were
nincompoops and fools. Indeed, here in
democratic America, where we despise
such high-sounding titles as count"
duke" and king" and are content
with such modest, self -effacing designa-
tons as grand exalted ruler" or most
high and magnanimouS potentate of the
ancient and honorable order of some
tradition that the royal families of Eu-
rope are low-browed, low-bred, run out,
idiotic lot, and always have been So
Not so long ago I heard a public
speaker of the oratorial type, with
''Websterian brow and Clay head"
prove to his satisfaction and that Of an
applauding audience that 70 per cent
OF these notable persons were inbeciles,
mental delcientS and insane. Of course,
this fatters our self-complacency be-
cause we all like to be made to feel we
are the equals or superiors of persons
who have made a great stir on the
world stage.
What Researches Revealed.
In order to place the royal families in
their true light, We must turn to the
two great researches made by DR.. Fred
erick Adams Woods, formerly lecturer in
biology at the Massachusetts, Institute
Of Technology, and now residing in
Rome, Italy. entitled, Mental and
Influence Of Monarchs." DR.. Woods
spent years Of labor and a large private
income in vast scientific study Of these
interesting people All told, he studied
exhaustively the 832 kings and queens
and their brothers and sisters who have
left any records at all about their per-
sonal characters and achievements, TAX
OA1Ay J4tOoE IlO If1lk
TO secure unbiased estimates.
He traced their blood relationships
and summed up all the adjectives and
phrases that historians have used to de-
scribe them-both the good and the bad
descriptions. In this way he eliminated
his personal Judgment. He then ranked
them on the basis of these historical es-
Inmates In 10 separate grades for INTEL
lect and 10 separate grades for moral
character. The fact came out In start
ling relief that those in grades nine and
10-the two highest grades-were
mostly related to each other" while
those In the lowest grades were also
bound together by the invisible bond Of
blood. The period studied covered about
five centuries in the Northern families
and about 10 among the families Of the
South OF Europe.
What, then, are the facts with refer
ence 70 this immense assumption Of
royal mediocrity and degeneracy? Well,
the simple and amazing fact Is, as
Woods shows, that the royal families of
Europe have produced more truly great
men and great women than any other
series Of interrelated families Of which
we have any exact record in the whole
history OF the world. There Is nothing
like II in all the known records OF man
kind.
No Outstanding Geniuses.
1t is true that just now there are no
outstanding geniuses among the 1000
or more royal persons living This is
easily explainable. In the first place,
nearly all Of the members now living
are descended from the mediocre
branches Of the family, and these
mediocre branches have been mostly
due 70 unfortunate marriages within
the last 100 years. They are mostly
descended Vther from ancestors who
have always been inconspicuous for
genius, such as the Bourbons and
Hapsburgs, H from small princes and
the like; or Else they have sprung from
ancestors who married outside the
great strains Of genius that for more
than flve centuries and in some coun-
tries for nearly ten centuries made the
royal families the chief single factor in
shaping the economic and political
destinies, not only Of Europe, but Of
the whole western world. II Is also
true that we are too close TO the royal
families now living 70 make a Just esti-
mate Of their abilities and character.
But, let us, for example, go back to
the time of Frederick the Great, and
from that pinnacle Of royal genius look
further back over the preceding CEN
turtles. If ever boy was born to the
purple" it was surely that boy Fred
erick Hohenzollern, born in the year
l7l2. To be a great military COM
mander, autocratic and domineering,
was his manifest destiny. II is difficult
TO imagine any environment that would
have prevented his tremendous talents
from influencing his day and time. You
may say that this was due TO his great
opportunities. But, II so, what shall we
say Of his brother Henry, who, his
torians agree, was probably a greater
military and intellectual genius than
Frederick While Henry ranks as high
4e Fa N q