Face to Face with Kaiserism

nd that they have been alike at all periods of history, capable o

s much subject to nerves as western peoples. He answered in the affirmative but said they were taught from infancy to control their nerves. I asked him how, and he said the principle of the system was dee

t the letter of the Aztec mother to her daughter, giving advice and counsel, mentioned by Prescott in his history, might have been written by a New England

re the

tands the ancient castle of the Teutonic Knights recently restored by the German Kaiser. The Knights at one time conquered and occupied much of the territory that is now modern Prussia. A military religious order, they att

y courts. War was an industry and the poor German peasants were frequently bartered as slaves to the war-god, as the Hessians were sold by their ruler to the British in our War of the Revolution. The Germans were then the mercenaries of Europe, savages skilled in war, without mercy towards the towns unfortunate enough to be given to t

acred images broken, vestments and services and works of art taken from the plundered churches and sacred relics insulted, broken and scattered. For nine months the orgy continued, the inhabitants being tortu

te and civilisation will make him ferocious." We all have seen how prophetic was this sentence. Skilled in chemistry, in science, well educated, made rich by manufacturing and foreign commerce, the Prussians of

hen drawn up in battle array used to sing

r." (America, you are better off.) The poet who died in 1832 fores

ery short time while war hung in the balance there was a period almost of rejoicing, among the si

d and fortress falling before them, there came a period of intense exaltation, a period when the most reasonable Ger

of 1914-1915, when it became apparent that Germany would not win by a sudden

ry estates. Life on these estates, which are administered solely for profit, is not like country life in England or America. The houses are plain and, for the most part, without the conveniences of bath rooms a

ysical constitution, disorganised by over-eating and over-drinking, can be regulated somewhat. Many Germans tak

they might decide that the earth offered fairer possibilities than life in the ba

lower scale than those of other western nations with the possible exception of Russia, Italy and the Balkan States. The professional and business classes earn very little. The re

ce. The theatres at first were closed but later opened. Only plays of a serious or patriotic nature were originally permitted. Dancing was tabooed, but in the winter of 1

direct control of the government and where the people feel that in attending church they are only attending an extra drill, a drill where they will be told of the glories of the aut

low Platz. I made the acquaintance of Mr. Reinhardt and his charming wife who takes part in many of his productions. I dined with them in their picturesque house on the Kupfer Graben. In the Deutsches Theatre the great revolving stage makes change of

nds and saying, "What, will these hands ne'er be clean?" the actress taking this part in Berlin gave a very distinc

my last winter in Berlin the hit of the season was "Erdgeist," a play by Wedekind, whose "Spring's Awakening," given in New York in the spring of 1917, horrified and disgusted the most hardened Broadway the

he police arrest the son for theft, giving the mother such a shock that she dies of apoplexy on the stage. In the second act, the two lovers have a duel and one is killed. In the third act, the surviving lover commits suicide, and, in the fourt

rowded houses. Reinhardt, during the last winter I was in Berlin, produced Strindberg's "Ghost Sonata," in quite a wonderfu

gs, but towards bloodshed and grewsomeness, ghosts and mystery-effect doubtless of

oreign Office sitting by my desk one day, in 1916, remarked how splendid it was that Germany had nearly two milli

d on farms would go back to their homes with such a hatred of all things German that it would not be safe for Germans to travel in countries from which these pri

airs, a certain low cost of manufactured products or of carrying charges in the shipping trades made possible by enslaving the workmen who toil long hours for small wages-a certain superiority in chemical production because trained chemists, willing to work at one semi-m

d, Rathenau, Simon, Warburg in finance; Borchardt and others in surgery, and almost the whole medical profession; the Meyers, the Ehrlichs, Bamberger, Hugo Schiff, Ne

years ago lived under disabilities that had survived from the Middle Ages. They were not allowed to bear Christian names. The marriages of Jews and Christians were forbidden. Jews could not own houses and lands. They were not permitted to engage in agriculture and could not become members of the guilds or unions of handicraftsmen. When a Jew travelled he was compelled to pay a tax in each province through which he passed. Jews attending the fair at Frankfort on the Oder were compelled to pay a head tax, and were admitted to Leipzig and

hand, is handed down from the time when Jews were forbidden by law to become producers and, therefore, were com

e middle of the page and then turn it so that the longer sides are upright, you get an idea of the size. There are no editorials in German newspapers, but articl

this will be inserted in parentheses. "This statement comes well from the old hyprocrite whose country has been supplying arms and ammunition to the enemies of Germany. The Editor." A few sentences more or a paragraph of the note and another interlineation of this kind. Small newspapers have a news service furnished

s gave a tea or how Mrs. Jones, of Toledo, is visiting Mrs. Judge Bascom for Thanksgiving. If a prince o

n Catholic. The Berliner Tageblatt is nearest our idea of a great independent, metropolitan, daily newspaper. Other newspapers r

tures, perhaps, of the executioner and his sword, with articles from poets and women's organisations, with appeals for pardon and talk of brainstorms and the other hysterical concomitants of murder trials in the United States. But in the German newspape

proceedings often omit names and it is possible in Berlin for a m

as paid to the vain-glorious flaunting of German triumphs. Following an old custom ten or fifteen trumpeters climbed the tower of Rathhaus or City Hall and there quite characteristic

sary to tell the people of a German retreat the newspapers would have great headlines across the front of the first page announcing the si

s the news of the retreat of the German forces broken to the people that to-da