The Berlin Lokalanzeiger publishes the following description of the Kaiser by Sven Hedin:
"I had the happiness of speaking to the Kaiser in former years, and he has not altered. Latterly I have met him frequently, and I can only say that he has lost nothing of his freshness and elasticity. His appearance has not altered in the least, and yet every day he puts in twenty-four hours of work. Everything must be reported to him and he takes part in everything.
"I am often asked: 'How is the Kaiser able to bear this physical and mental strain?' I think the correct answer is that he is able to bear it because his conscience is clear; that he feels himself innocent before God and man of having caused this war and that he knows he has done everything in his power to prevent it. The Germanic cause cannot wish for any better representative than the Kaiser, and it would almost appear that he had been born for this crisis. For, just as he did all in his power to keep the peace, he feels now that he is responsible for the development of German destiny, and with this in view he devotes to the cause all his feelings, thoughts and acts."
["A FRIGHTFUL HECATOMB."]
The disadvantage of having a sovereign who insists upon being his own generalissimo must have weighed heavily of late upon the German armies in the west. A French soldier engaged in the district just south of the Somme gives particulars, gathered from German prisoners, of the Kaiser's recent visit to his lines in this region. He says:
"To prove their zeal in his presence the German officers increased their daily quota of about 100 shells for firing at the French to 3,000 in twenty-four hours. The next day the imperial traveller was five miles south of Lihous, where the same ceremonial was organized for his reception. There was a regular debauch of shells from cannon, guns and mortars. There, again, the infantry showed little eagerness to attack us, but some blows and threats improved their sense of duty.
"There was a frightful hecatomb. They again tried to capture the villages of Dilrens and Quesnayen Santerre on the following day, but, although encouraged by the presence of Emperor William, they failed ingloriously. One officer says 500 German bodies already have been buried and many still are on the ground."