Evening star., 1931-12-11
MANY LAWSUITS
WON BY H-KA|SER
Efforts to Tax His Horses,
Theaters and Shops
Always Failed.

Wilhelm Hohenzollern, gentleman
woodchopper of Doom and ertwhile
Kaiser of Germany, probably expert
enced mingled sensations Of surprise
and regret the other day when Ger
man court decided against him In a
suit brought by an employe on his
former estate near GraditZ.
Being sued was more or less a mat
ter of routine with Wilhelm. During
his reign in Germany he had to fight
more than score of suits, most of
them involving taxation.
Much as the Germans loved their
Kaiser, they felt that Wilhelm and 9TH
er high pOtentates of Germany should
pay their taxes like the average Ger
man citizen.
Rulers Refused to Pay.
Lawyers, radicals Socialists and
other malcontents were leaders in va
rious movements to force Kaiser We'll
helm, the King Of Saxony and a score
of other members of royalty to pay
their taxes. The potentates refused,
so the courts, the Parliament and the
taxation authorities spent many busy
months discussing remedies.
4lC IlOuDtC Wdo llldb WILLIE ltUI1 ulOSL
kinds of taxes the sovereigns we're ex-
empt, they refused payment where they
were not exempt. The potentates had
no romantic scruples against squabbling
over few pennies. Indeed, they were
highly litigous and gladly sacrificed
few dollars in law costs to save a few
cents in taxes.
In "a years the former Kali
ser fought 13 lawsuits in order
to free himself from different imposts.
He won them ALL but every year a new
point came up and the smiling lawyers
set to work again.
Saved $4,000 Annually.
In Prussia the ultimate authority was
the Berlin higher court of administra-
ton, which existed to decide disputes
between the state and citizens. This
court again and again declared that
Prussia'S sovereign was free from
taxes, imperial, state and municipal.
Thereby Wilhelm saved about $240 900
a year.
But owing to the fact that Wilhelm
was many things as well as a sover-
eign, the problem Of his taxation LA
bility cropped up forever anew, like
the cat in the immortal song.
AS rule the claimants were the mu-
inequalities. These municipalities, DEM
ocratic in spirit, were obliged to see
that all of the taxes were gathered in,
and If they wrongfully let anyone off
they legally were responsible for the
money. Rather than take any risk
they fought the Kaiser in court.
After the first half dozen cases had
been decided they learned they could
not get the Kaiser as sovereign" or as
citizen of private means" and they
then went after him as "tradesman."
The local taxation authorities at Gra-
ditz awoke to the fact that Wilhelm
was breeding horses within their dis
trict and that he sold a large number
OF thoroughbred5 at considerable profit,
They assessed him for $3.50 as
horse breeder, but Wilhelm fought the
case in the court and beat the asses
sors.
Royal Theaters Escape.
The radical Berlin municipality
thrice attempted to make Wilhelm pay
up. Two Of the suits arising from
these attempts to assess the Kaiser were
decided shortly before the outbreak
of the World War and the Kaiser won
both decisions
The municipality proposed to impose
an amusement tax, such as many Prus-
sian towns had at the time. It in
cluded heavy tax on theater tickets.
The promoters of the tax insisted that