An Old Voice

In the Current History magazine, George Sylvester Viereck, described as "in closer personal relations with the former Emperor than anyone outside his immediate entourage,"presents the exiled All Highest's views on Germany's War Guilt, the Treaty of Versailles, the Experts' Plan and the League of Nations. The article is sealed with the ex-Kaiser's stamp of approval: "I am deeply grateful for this capital essay. I authorize its publication as it is, and have no changes to suggest* "William I. R."

The ex-Kaiser, it is enough to say, does not think that Germany was responsible for the War, and it is quite evident that he entertains similar convictions about himself, for he says: " 'I turned my face to the Prince of Peace, not to Mars'."

The Versailles Treaty is breaking-down " 'the entire structure reared for the protection of labor'," says the ex-Kaiser. Mr. Viereck adds: "In the

Prussia of Frederick the Great, every man was allowed to 'seek Heaven in his own fashion.' The same principle prevailed under the old Kaiser. But in the Germany of William II, no man, in his own fashion or otherwise, was permitted to go to the devil."

The Experts' Plan the Kaiser of Doom condemns because it is " 'impossible of execution. It may temporarily mitigate certain economic ills, but it saps almost beyond recovery the patient's power of resistance. Germany under the agreement is compelled to sign her own death warrant as a free Nation.' "

To His All-Highness the League is " 'too intimately associated with the Peace Treaty of Versailles. No such arrangement, no world court, can eliminate war. I detest war. I have kept the peace of Europe on at least two occasions, when the chances were in our favor, when England was engaged in the Transvaal and Russia in the Far East.'"

This kind of thing, of course, flows as logically and as naturally from William's brain as does milk from a ripe coconut. Real touches of the ancient Imperial and Royal bombast are contained in the following excerpts:

" 'In the final arbitrament both I and my people will stand guiltless before the Supreme Court of History and of God.'"

" 'I do not wish to abandon my reserve by mixing in questions of politics, to take sides, or to set one Nation or party against the other'" (as if he could).

" 'The Hohenzollern dynasty never desired world hegemony. Its scions did not even aspire to be masters of Europe in the approved Napoleonic fashion imitated by Poincare. Two Princes of the house of Hohenzollern, Frederick the Iron and the Great Elector, refused the throne of Poland, stating: "We are German Princes. It is difficult enough to rule the Germans!" (Here the ex-Kaiser sadly smiled.) 'We have no desire to rule the earth.' "

The late Woodrow Wilson, according to the Kaiser, desired to go down in history as "the greatest Englishman" of his time. According to His ex-Majesty, he " 'sacrificed American lives to the Moloch of Anglo-Saxon supremacy.' "

In the introduction to the article,

some interesting facts are given about

the present life of the "Master oi Doom":

"He holds in his home at Doom every morning religious exercises at which are present his wife, his official circle and all his servants; these exercises consist of Bible reading and prayers. On Sundays, he conducts formal services and delivers a sermon on a text from the Bible. His correspondence further reveals the fact that his domestic relations are happy; his references to his wife, Hermine, display the deepest affection.'

*The italics are the Kaiser's.