Face to Face with Kaiserism

by James W. Gerard

The Bundesrath had nothing to say about the commencement of this war. They never voted on the question. The German Constitution, as a matter of fact, gives the Kaiser the right to declare war himself, providing that the war is a defensive war. In 1914, the Kaiser first announced, without presenting any evidence, that Germany had been attacked, and then declared war on the strength of this statement, never since substantiated.

The text book writer adds: "The people are represented in the Reichstag as the American people are represented in Congress." If the American people were represented in Congress under the same unfair representation from which the German people suffer, there would soon be a revolution in this country. The districts which elect members to the Reichstag have not been changed since 1872, so that millions of Germans are not represented at all in the Reichstag.

"Professor" Prokosch remarks: "The Bundesrath is like the Senate of the United States. It is composed of representatives of the particular States."

Of course, the only difference is that our Senators are elected by the people and the members of the Bundesrath are appointed by the ruling kings and princes of the German states and vote exactly as they are told by these rulers.

This is only to show how carelessly, if not maliciously, Professor E. Prokosch of the University of Texas and his helper, C. M. Purin of the State Normal School at Milwaukee, have handled the German Constitution, doubtless to give the impression to school children in America that the German empire instead of being a despotic autocracy, is ruled in very much the same manner as our own republic.

Frederick the Great, who admitted that he went to war "in order to be talked about," who boasted that he had only one cook and a hundred spies, who was one of the most tyrannical kings of all history, has a whole book dedicated to him for use in the Public Schools of New York. Frederick Betz, head of the Department of Modern Languages in the East High School of Rochester, New York, is the author of a book called, "About a Great King and Others." The author in the preface states that the anecdotes which he prints do not narrate the story of the lives of these famous Germans, but, nevertheless, give glimpses of what they did and may help to show why the Germans held them in such high esteem. The book contains four anecdotes about King Frederick William I, the father of Frederick the Great, a villainous king who was prevented from executing his own son only by the protests of the other kings of Europe.

Then follow forty-nine anecdotes about Frederick the Great, all of them, of course, revealing him as a good king and a popular character; eight anecdotes about Beethoven, Mozart, Schiller, and Lessing, and the remainder of the book is made up of one anecdote about Queen Louise, one about Field Marshal Blücher, eighteen anecdotes about Bismarck, three about the Emperor William I, and three about the present Emperor.

The booklet entitled "German Poems for Memorizing," with music to some of the poems, edited by Oscar Burkhard, Assistant Professor of German in the University of Minnesota, contains a number of German patriotic poems and prints the "Wacht am Rhein" twice, once in the text and once with music. "Deutschland über Alles" is printed twice in the same way.

I should like to be present at the trial in the secret court in Germany of a schoolmaster who dared to teach his pupils to sing the "Star Spangled Banner" or the "Battle Hymn of the Republic." Prokosch and Purin seem to be popular with the Board of Education, for they are represented by another book called "Conversation and Reading Book," which is full of stories and patriotic anecdotes. Charlemagne, Barbarossa and Frederick the Great are all exhibited as great men to be emulated. There is a picture of the coronation of Charlemagne which represents the Pope about to place the iron crown on Charlemagne's head while the Deity, attended by seraphim and cherubim, floating on clouds overhead, lends his presence to the ceremony; only another example of how the Prussians believe that God is the tribal Deity of their nation who takes a personal interest in all their ceremonies and wars.

A long article appears in these books entitled, "The Germans in the United States." It implies that William Penn had no success until he called in Dr. Daniel Pastorius of Frankfort. Among the bits of history set forth the author alleges that, in 1760, there were more than a hundred thousand Germans in Pennsylvania, and that on account of their importance in this State it was proposed to make German the official language, the proposition being beaten by only one vote! The article says further: "The only reason why the contentious Puritans succeeded in making English the language of the country and in impressing their character on its politics was because the German immigrants were poor, downtrodden people."