Face to Face with Kaiserism   By: James W. Gerard (1867-1951)

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