KAISER FIXED DATE.

Taranaki Daily News, 9 January 1918, Page 6

KAISER FIXED DATE.

AMERICAN AMBASSADOR'S' EXPOSURE. HOSTILITIES 'DECIDED ON AT CONFERENCE IN BERLIN, (By Henry Morgenthau, former American Ambassador to Turkey). This war is no accident. Nor did it come about through the temporary breakdown of European diplomacy. It was carefully planned and deliberately executed in cold blood'. The spirit and motives behind it were the spirit and motives that brought about the w*r between Prussia and Denmark, the war between Prussia and Aimtria, and the war between Prussia and France. It was undertaken in the furtherance of a definite iprogramme of Prussian Imperialism. Whenever the question of peace is raised, <the Kaiser solemnly asserts that he did not will this war, but that, with the help of the good German God, he will see it through to the end. He did will this war, and he brought it about when it suited his purposes and his preparations. The 'Serbian incident was more than excuse. It -was an opportunity. On August 18, 1914, as American Ambassador at Contantinople, I called on the aiarquis of Pallaicini, the AustroHungarian Amba»!>od;r ; to congratulate him on the Emperor's eighty-fourth birthday. After exchanging the usual diplomatic compliments suitable to such an occasion, he spoke of the condition of the Emperor's health and his great physical and mental activity, in spite of the strain to which he was subjected. The conversation then turned to tlie war, which was, in its third week, and his Excellency told me that when 'he visited the Emperor in his Imperial Majesty had said that war wasiflneTitable because of conditions in the Balkans. The Austria Crown Prince was murdered at Sarajevo on June 28; yet weeks before that the Austrian Emperor had confided to his Ambassador to Turkey that war was inevitable. CONFIRMED BY WANGENHEIM. A still more remarkable confirmation came to ine from Baron Wangenheim, the German Ambassador at Constantinople. In an oullmrnt of enthusiasm after the arrival of the Goeben and the Breslau in the Dardanelles, he having directed their movements by wireless while they were endeavoring' to escape from the British Fleet, the German Ambassador informed me that a conference had been held in Berlin in the early part of July, at which, the date of the war was fixed. This conference was presided over by the Kaiser; the Baron Wangenheim was present to report on conditions in Turkey. Moltke, the Chief of Staff, was there, and so was Grand Admiral von Tirpitz. With them were the leaders of Gcrm«n finance, the directors of the railroads and the captains of industry whose aid was essential to the Kaiser in putting Jus vest military machine into operation. Each was asked if he was ready for war. All replied in the affirmative except the financiers, who insisted that they must have two weeks in which to sell foreign securities and arrange their loans. At the time this conference was held nobody outside the inner circles of the Berlin and Vienna Governments dreamed of war as a result of the Sarajevo assassinations. They took eood care that no suspicion should be aroused. The Kaiser went straightway to Norway on bis yacht. The Chancellor left Berlin for a rest. The Diplomatic Corps had no intimation of the impending calamity, FINANCIERS GOT BUSY From the date of this conference the German financiers were busy with their part while the army marked time. All the great stock exchanges experienced an acute financial depression as'Germanowned stocks were quietly pushed into tlie market. In New York, as T found afterwards, there were astonishing vlumps in quotations. It was not to me alone that Baron Wangenheim told (he story of this' Berlin conference. Only recently the Marquir Garroni, the Italian Ambassador at Constantinople, announced that Baron Wangenheim said the same thing to him, Italy at that time being a member of the Triple Alliance. The decision for war which the Austrian Emperor had confided to his Ambassador to Turkey in May, and which the Kaiser fully revealed to his lieutenants in July, was the culmination of plans that had been under way for twenty-five years. When tlie Kaiser came to the throne he found a mighty military machine already constructed for his use. It was not enough. It was necessary to create a mighty industrial, financial and transportation machine as well, and to build a navy that could mobilise this power for use anywlfere on the globe. The Kiel Canal was a war measure. Government aid to German industries was a war measure. Government regulation an estimation of agriculture was a war measure. The German railroad systems were developed with an eye singly to moving vast armies to the east and to the west. Everything that could contribute to the winning of a war was encouraged by the Government. Krupp's was made almost a national institution under the personal patronage of the Kaiser who, Iby the way, was one of its stock-holders.

PURPOSE OP PRINCE'S VISIT HERE. In pursuance of the war plans of the Kaiser and the Pan-Germans who inspired him and probably used him a3 the agent of their ambitions, the world was besieged by armies of Prussian spies, advancing Prnssian interests and doing Prussia's work everywhere. Not a nation escaped this infamous invasion. The Kaiser's brother, Prince Henry, as sent to the United States, ostensibly to assist in the launching of he Imperial yacht; in reality, to rekindle among Americans of German descent their Vaterland's lieb and organising them into German societies that could be directed from Berlin to suit the exigencies of the Imperial policy. At least 80,000 Germans were turned loose upon Spain, and probably a quarter of a million upon England. France was overrun with them. There was no occupation, calling or industry in which they did not make their way. They swarmed over South Africa, over the Near East and the Far East, and all of tliem were card indexed for the use of Berlin. Nothing was overlooked. Nothing is more characteristic of the Prussian methods than the manlier in which they obtained possession of Turkey. Turkey w»s vital to Pan-Germanism.

It was an essential part of the Muttcl Europa programme, and when the Kaiser was ready to strike, Turkey was already a vassal of Germany, to be used as ftorlin saw fit, either neutral or bel-, ligercnt, but always in Germany's interest. It came about that some of Germany's carefully laid schemes in other countries went wrong, and the money invested turned out to be a total loss, but the Turkish investment paid dividends from the start. t~ — 07.0 TOOTH POWDER has become popular in thousands of homes. Have .Vou tried it? fid ner tin everywhere.