THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN. PORTLAND, AUGUST 5, 1J)17.
WAR IS VITAL TO U. S.
KAISER'S SUPPRESSED CABLE MESSAGE OF AUG. 10, 1914
Former Ambassador Gerard
Paints Vivid Picture.
ti s ' ft t ' '
GERMANS WILL NOT STARVE
7.1
Tirst Chapter of Book Deals With
l-'irst Days ot Great Conflict.'
Political and Diplomatic Inter
course Revealed In Message.
ofif,r: (TplVnrnnliir firs Ulrntfrfini flrirfK " f'
Gerrat
Cflrgrapljtc Its Ufutfdjcn Hfidjs.
K -jf. .Ut R mltt.laCtfl.
14
I 7.7
toJ----.. 191
fontinul F-om Tirpt Fase.)
less indemnities are obtained from
other countries, the weight of the
great war debt will fall upon the peo
ple, perhaps makes them readier to
risk all in a final attempt to win the
war and impose indemnities upon not
only the nations of Europe, but upon
the United States of America.
"We are engaged in a war against the
greatest military power the world ever
has seen; against a people whose coun
try was for so many centuries a theater
of such devastating wars that fear is
bred in the very marrow of their souls,
making them ready to submit their
lives and fortunes , to an autocracy
which for. centuries has ground their
faces, but which has promised them,
as a result of the war, not only secur
ity, but riches untold, and the domin
ion of the world; a people which, as
from a high mountain, have looked
upon the cities of the world and the
plories of them, and have been promised
these cities and these glories by the
devils of autocracy and of war.
.We are. warring against a nation
whose poets and professors, whose
pedagogues and whose priests have
united In-stirring its people to a white
pitch of hatred, first against Russia,
then against England, and now against
America.
I'-Boat Peril Real.
The V-boat peril is a very real one
for Kngland. Russia either may break
up Into civil wars or become so inef
fective that the millions of Herman
troops engaged on the Russian front
may be withdrawn and hurled against
the western lines. We stand in great
peril, and only the exercise of ruthless
realism can win this war for us. If
Germany wins this war it means the
triumph of the autocratic system. It
means the triumph of those who believe
not only in var as a. National
industry, not only in war for itself,
but in war as a high and noble occu
pation. Unless Germany is beaten
every nation will be compelled to turn
Itself into an .rmed camp until the
German autocracy- either brings the
whole world under Its dominion, or for- (
ever is wiped out as a form of govern
ment We are In this war because we were
forced into it, because Germany not
only murdered our citizens on the high
seas, but filled our country'wlth spies,
and sought to incite our people to civil
war. We were given no opportunity to
discuss or negotiate. The 4& hours' ul
timatum sent by Austria to Serbia was
not, as Bernard Shaw said, "a decent
time in which to ask a man to pay his
hotel bill." What of the six-hour ulti
matum given to me in Berllri on the
evening of January 31, 1917,- when I
was notified at 6 that ruthless warfare
would commence at 12? Why, the
German government, which up to that
moment had professed amity and a de
ire to stand by the Sussex pledges,
knew that it took almost two days to
send a cable to America! I believe that
we are not only Justly in this war, but
prudently in this war. If we had stayed
out and the war had been drawn or
won by Germany, we would have been
attacked and that while Europe stood
grinning by not directly at first, but
through an attack on some Central or
South American state, to which it
would be at least as difficult for us to
send troops as for Germany. And what
If this powerful nation, vowed to war,
once were firmly established in South
or Central America? What of our
boasted isolation then?
It is only because I believe that our
people should be informed that 1 have
consented to write this book.
I'rom ovr on We JVeed Dorm.
There are too many thinkers, writers
and speakers in the United States; from
now on we need the doers, the organ
izers and the realists, who alone can
win this contest for us, for democracy
an-1 for permanent peace!
Writing of events so new, I am, of
course, compelled to exercise a great
discretion, to keep silent on many
things of which I would speak, to sus
pend many judgments, and to hold for
future disclosure many things, the re
lation of which now perhaps would
only serve to increase bitterness or to
cause Internal dissension In our own
land.
The American who travels through
Germany in Summer time, or who
spends a month having his liver tickled
at Homburg or Carlsbad, who has his
digestion restored by Doctor Dapper, at
Kissingen, or who relearns the lost art
of eating meat at Doctor Dengler's, In
Baden, learns little of the real Ger
many and its rulers, and in these ar
ticles I tell something of the real Ger
many, not only that my readers may
understand the events of the last three
years, but that they may judge of what
is likely to happen In our future with
that country.
I
First Days of the Great War; Political
and Diplomatic
At the commencement of the great
war, I, for some days, was cut off from
communication with the United States,
but we soon established a chain of com
munication, at first through Italy and
later by way of Denmark. At all times
cables from Washington to Berlin, or
vice versa, took on the average two
days in transmission.
After the fall of Liege. Von Jagow
sent for me and asked me whether I
would transmit through the American
Legation a proposition offering Bel
gium peace and indemnity if no fur
ther opposition were made to the pass
age of German troops through Belgium.
As the proposition was a proposition
for peace, I took the responsibility of
forwarding it, and sent the note of the
Herman government to our Minister at
The Hague for transmission to our
minister in Belgium.
Doctor Van Dyke, our Minister at The
Hague, refused to have anything to do
with the transmission of this proposi
tion, and turned the German note over
to the Holland Minister for Foreign
Affairs, and. through this channel, the
proposition reached the Belgian govern
ment. The State Department cabled me a
message from the President to the Em
peror, which stated that the United
States stood ready at any time to medi
ate between the warring powers, and
directed me to present this proposition
direct to the Emperor.
Audience With Kalaer Held.
T therefore asked for an audience
with the Emperor, and received word
from the chief court marshal that the
Emperor would receive me at the pal
ace In Berlin on the morning of Au
gust 10. I drove In a motor into the
tluatuomme burd:
Rr.
mil
SB. 191 ten
voir
U&r
on
fcurd) . .
ir.lttj
ffieleeramm
, I J If
1
, ,msi vrv'llVf S fi.Y ,r :v n rrrri vy..v-..Tr. ...-.-....s ... - - . ' "jj
le'gramm
Jlrf ..4h'yy... .5fe....iC...vvay . -J&c --..K. .-iv:!,
Mi
A.m.... t .. r,... ..-tt y .... ..x.-. . r ..... T . m I iw II ww -
Us WL&fa$ nnh g$n$$.'
AwWVlt Affix l-lS. Wr3&Ahlh . U 'foZtltJs WnvMv'
" Ju ,"vV
tare:
tS. 191 tat
4
torn
Orf3rbrl tra 191
Uft .5?, nltt hi Ct.
cm
feanfr
Mitt
Gclcoramm
in. fbh&f -te Maif nnb
I
tL.lthh tisJl-- Jwavt 1A'4
1 JT
r.
A . . J.' 7 ATVI
1.7f. - 1 U jL, JU Y rf &-r-
fVtVf fW .... ..fe
e I 6 1 t, i 2 S A .if ;
. ..
7..MvJLJ. -Jr.
&J far, ft.,' faJfa-d.
dtfvu- ..rwurj ft&hwjf iwhs ,1 plwjM
m.. ..... Ji . A A.
I f r) MM. I I ilf 1 V Mil T9 JV I
f -I ' v - ' .
CL.
"
V If - yf
Facsimile of Important Document Written in Palace Garden at Berlin.
Students of handwriting and orthography-will note in this imperial
autographic rescript, which is penciled by the Emperor in the English
language, that the great Hohenzollern is not a "born speller." For ex
ample, Emperor William has twice misspelled "received"; he has not
mastered the spelling of "decisions"; in perturbation of mind, perhaps,
he wrote "fullfulled," and, at one point, the spelling of "Czar" appears
"Zar." "Allready" 6hows the influence of German orthography, and
other misspellings readily may be detected. The care with which the
Emperor crossed out, interlined and underscored his phrases indicates
the importance which he attached to the document. In the printed text of
the letter, correction has been made of the Emperor's mistake in number
ing the paragraphs.
No doubt other peculiarities will be discovered by the readers of the
autographed letter, which is a personal explanation, now published for
the first time, by the head of the German autocracy to the head of the
greatest republic as to how the world war began. As such it will be
subject of historical criticism for all time.
The text of the Kaiser's message is included In Mr. Gerard's article
printed today.
tConciuded oa Pas I&, Column 1.)