The Dominion. monday, february 20, 1911. THE KAISER'S POLICY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1056, 20 February 1911, Page 4

The Dominion. Monday, february 20, 1911. THE KAISER'S POLICY.

The policy of the German ; EmIqv many years has been a standing problem of European, in--7, oCt '. r ° wor H politics. One time tho Kaiser poses as tho apostle of .peace ; - anon he is War Lord in "shining armour." Whatever the Emperor's l policy may. bo, to the piosent, ho has held fast tho Becrct. It is scarcely possible to beliovo that, in recant years, ho has had but one or moro specific objects in view, that to rea'liso those objects has been the Alpha and Omega of his policy or policies. Little evidence can be adduced to show that ho, has held steadfastly to even one line of action. On tho contrary, his many sudden- journcyings, combined with an array of unexpected, undiplomatic speeches, seem to suggest that ho may bo dazzled at times by meteoric flashes of inspiration, and led to pursuo with considerable noise and ostentation what proves to be but an illusion, some mere will-o'-the-wisp. Publicists nowadays, -wc are afraid, place little reliance® on political news which'emanates from Borlin. _Thc trail of tho Press! Bureau is' over foreign, intelligence whose.point of origin' is tho Wil-helm-Strasso.' Wo in New Zealand arc not unacquainted' with sections of an otherwise reputable presS'being strangely influenced by the Government of the day. New Zealand, however, has not yet got tho length of a Press Bureau. _ Probably, if the Administration remaini in offico much longer that may be a dcVolopment. Tho fact should be' well known that, in Germany, tho Government exercises an unsleeping censorship ovor all political news published in Germany or dispatched to foreign countries. Not news alone! is provided. The Press Bureau supplies tho newspapers of tho Fatherland with opinions—leading articles, .that js—ready mado, on the great questions of tho day. • _ A recent Contemporary Review devoted an entire article to the German Press Bureau.* The .writer of ""s article is Mr. G. V. Williams ( Lulcnspiogel"), one of the bcst-. ! known of foreign correspondents rc- : sidont in Berlin. He reveals the truth all too clearly that political informatippv;whether concerned, with fact or \vith' miblic opinion, when jlonyed from' Berlin can never be considered wholly rcliablo. , Tho truth may be suppressed and imaginary: facts issued in its place, while tho so-exiled public opinion'of the country is manufactured, within the Bureau to,tho order,of officials. We quote a few sontenie's .from Mr', Williams's articlo:, "To tho Government the Presk Bureau is unquestionably, a valuable instrument, for it is tho keyboard of that great organ, public opinion, of which the newspapers .are tho stops. It is not Gornian policy to ride too ruthlessly, ';er' public opinion at homo, but to direct it gently, to guide it in tho path dcsinkl by' tho Government, and, above all, • to tako advantage of passing popular sentiment." • Tho writer goes on to say that, oven discarding non-German glasses, the •ves .Bureau assumes a horrible, inquisitorial aspect, is reactionary, nnd a hindrance both to .the ripening of tho Gorman to political maturity-and to the advance of the Empire in modorn political development. With the latter issues tho oufcsido world ' is loss interested" than with v 'the spurious news and, manufactured opinion have upon communities' that 'accept theni as honest, true, and trustworthy. When tho activities of / Germany s Press Bureau nro' kept;'in ,view, tho frequent surprising, -enigmatical, and contradictory intelligence ' hailing from Berlin becomes explicable. German officials; it would appear, dearly love to test the credulity of tho ioreignor,; in moments, of excitement, of doubt, or of straincomcs tho inevitable ballon ■_ ■d'essai, the "feclo]r".of .the public jjulsc, the searcher into the public mind. The most remarkablo". feature of all is that; in. some quarters, oven the greatest nonsense dispatched from the Wilhelm-Strasso still. continues to cxcito and alarm., • Tty) . contention is not| advanced that, all news from Berlin is necessarily false: only, that".not always is it possiblo to dccido what is truo and what is inspired. Of lato from Berlin havo como tidings that the Triplo.. Alliance was never stronger than it is at the present timd,. that llussia , and .Germany. havo agreed upon a common policy in the Near East and in Persia,- and that the Young Turks look upon Germany as their.chief support, and upon . tho Kaiser as their firmest friend' and sngest counsellor. When the Wil- ; hclm-Strasse officials wax eloquent about Germany's diplomatic successes the valuo of their achievements is usually capable of imniediato realisation. Intelligence from other capitals whoso methods arc less open to doubt than Borlin serves to keep tho balanco even. When the history of the past monthp becomes known it .will doubtless bo fourid that Germany's diplomatic gains towards the Close'of 1910 were neither so brilliant nor so valuable as 'Berlin desired tho - world to- believe. Tho ; Triple Alliance a strange combination, and tho wonder is that its component parts have for so many ycai'3 presented n semblance of cohesion, Italy mistrfists her allies, i the Hohenzollkrns dread tho House of llapsuuro rising to eminence. Nor can much importance be attached to Germany's influence in Turkey. The JtAISER found favour in Annul, Ham id's eves because the Germans had made him believe that Germany alone of all the Great Powers had no territorial designs on his European or Asiatic possessions, and,'for 'the further that he had been

led to trust in the Kaiser support ing him against revolutionaries at home and enemies abroad. Such, it is alleged, is the purport of sai-clisanl secret correspondence discdvered at Yildiz Kiosk. Both Sultan and Sublime Porte were deceived, and no party knows tho fact better than the Young Turks. Tho Kaiser's movements and his utterances never faij to command attention and comment, nnd ho certainly possesses in an exceptional degree the ability to puzzle the other world. Powers.