Face to Face with Kaiserism

ꤨ
Face to Face with Kaiserism, by James W.

The Project Gutenberg eBook, Face to Face with Kaiserism, by James W. Gerard
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

Title: Face to Face with Kaiserism
Author: James W. Gerard

Release Date: July 3, 2007 [eBook #21991]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FACE TO FACE WITH KAISERISM***
E-text prepared by Rick Niles, Irma Spehar, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)

Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 21991-h.htm or 21991-h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/2/1/9/1/21991/21991-h/21991-h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/2/1/9/1/21991/21991-h.zip)

FACE TO FACE WITH KAISERISM
by
JAMES W. GERARD
Late Ambassador to the German Imperial Court, Author of "My Four Years in Germany"

[Illustration]

New York George H. Doran Company Copyright, 1918, by George H. Doran Company Copyright, 1918, by The Public Ledger Company Copyright, Canada, 1918, by The Public Ledger Company
Printed in the United States of America

TO
COLONEL EDWARD M. HOUSE
STATESMAN AND FRIEND
THE AUTHOR
DEDICATES THIS BOOK

[Illustration]
[Illustration: PAPER MONEY USED IN PRISON CAMPS]
[Illustration: FACSIMILE OF A PRISON CAMP MONEY CERTIFICATE ISSUED AT THE PRISON CAMP OF NEUHAMMER]
[Illustration: PAPER MONEY ISSUED AGAINST PROPERTY IN GERMANY. REALLY A "GREENBACK" OR ALMOST FIAT MONEY]
[Illustration: POSTAGE STAMPS ISSUED AT RUHLEBEN PRISON CAMP. USED BY PRISONERS WRITING TO EACH OTHER IN THE CAMP.]
[Illustration: FACSIMILE REPRODUCTION OF THE KAISER'S VISITING CARD]
[Illustration: THE VISITING CARD OF THE CROWN PRINCE, REPRODUCED IN FACSIMILE]
[Illustration: THE KAISER AND VON TREUTLER TAKEN IN THE NORWEGIAN TOWN OF ODDE IN 1910]

INTRODUCTORY NOTE
In some measure this book is a continuation of MY FOUR YEARS IN GERMANY, the narrative here being carried up to the time of my return home, with some observations on the situation I have found in the United States.
What I want especially to impress upon the people of the United States is that we are at war because Germany invaded the United States--an invasion insidiously conceived and vigorously prosecuted for years before hostilities began;--that this war is our war;--that the sanctity of American freedom and of the American home depend upon what we do NOW.
JAMES W. GERARD.
NEW YORK, APRIL FIRST, 1918.

CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I PERSONALITY OF THE KAISER AND SOMETHING OF THE KING BUSINESS 13
II WHO DOES THE KAISER'S THINKING AND WHO DECIDED ON THE BREAK WITH AMERICA? 32
III WHO SANK THE "LUSITANIA"? 42
IV THE KAISER AND "LèSE-MAJESTé" 49
V WHEN THE KAISER THOUGHT WE WERE BLUFFING 55
VI THE INSIDE OF GERMAN DIPLOMACY 73
VII GERMANY'S PLAN TO ATTACK AMERICA 84
VIII GERMANY'S EARLY PLOTS IN MEXICO 111
IX THE KULTUR OF KAISERDOM--THE GERMAN SOUL 129
X THE LITTLE KAISERS 143
XI ROYALTY'S RECREATION 148
XII THE ETERNAL FEMININE 157
XIII HOME LIFE AND "BRUTALITY" OF THE PEOPLE 166
XIV AIMS OF THE AUTOCRACY 174
XV AUSTRIA-HUNGARY--THE KAISER'S VASSAL STATE 196
XVI GERMAN INFLUENCE ON THE NORTHERN NEUTRALS 217
XVII SWITZERLAND--ANOTHER KIND OF NEUTRAL 230
XVIII A GLIMPSE OF FRANCE 237
XIX MY INTERVIEW WITH THE KING OF SPAIN 251
XX GERMAN SPIES AND THEIR METHODS 263
XXI EN ROUTE HOME--KAISERISM IN AMERICA 273
XXII THAT INTERVIEW WITH THE KAISER 300
XXIII THE FUTURE KAISER--THE CROWN PRINCE AND HIS BROTHERS 312
XXIV WHEN GERMANY WILL BREAK DOWN 323
XXV THE ERRORS OF EFFICIENT GERMANY 340
XXVI PRESIDENT WILSON AND PEACE 346
XXVII AFTER THE WAR, WHAT? 368

ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
THE KAISER AND VON TREUTLER Frontispiece
THE IRON CROSS 36
THE UNITED STATES EMBASSY STAFF, BERLIN 50
FACSIMILE OF AN ORDER ISSUED BY COMMANDER OF GERMAN PRISON CAMP OF DOEBERITZ 78
COVER OF PAMPHLET BY JOHN L. STODDARD 104
PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN IN COURTYARD OF EMBASSY, AUGUST, 1916 126
EXAMPLE OF A COMMEMORATIVE MEDAL OFFERED FOR SALE 152
VIEWS OF A TYPICAL HOLSTEIN COUNTRY HOME 188
MAIN STAIRWAY IN THE AMERICAN EMBASSY, BERLIN 210
AMBASSADORS SHARP AND GERARD, PARIS, FEBRUARY, 1917 240
THE "INFANTA ISABELLA" 274
PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN AFTER BANQUET GIVEN AMBASSADOR GERARD ON JANUARY 6TH, 1917 304
THE CROWN PRINCE AND CROWN PRINCESS 316
REPRODUCTION OF ZEPPELIN POST CARD OF PATRIOTIC SENTIMENT 336
ZEPPELIN POST CARD SOLD IN GERMANY 336

FACE TO FACE WITH KAISERISM
CHAPTER I
PERSONALITY OF THE KAISER AND SOMETHING OF THE KING BUSINESS
To the American mind the Kaiser is the personification of Germany. He is the arch enemy upon whom the world places the responsibility for this most terrible of all wars. I have sat face to face with him in the palace at Berlin where, as the personal representative and envoy of the President of the United States, I had the honor of expressing the viewpoint of a great nation. I have seen him in the field as the commanding general of mighty forces, but I also have seen him in the neutral countries through which I passed on my return home and in my own beloved land--in the evidence of intrigue and plotting which this militaristic monarch has begotten and which is to-day "the Thing," as President Wilson calls it, which has brought the American people face to