CHAPTER VIII
I HAVE A FRIENDLY TALK WITH THE GERMAN CROWN PRINCE AND SECURE ASENSATIONAL INTERVIEW
After the pacification of New Haven and the re-establishment of itsindustries, our division of the German army, numbering about fivethousand men, swung to the north, through Wallingford, Meriden, andMiddletown, and marched toward the capital of the State.
I shall always remember the morning of June 17, 1921, when, at therequest of the Crown Prince, I rode at his side for an hour before weentered Hartford. I was amazed at the extent of the Prince's informationand at his keen desire for new knowledge. He asked about the number ofmen employed in the Hartford rubber works, in Colt's armory, in the Pratt& Whitney machine-shops, and spoke of plans for increasing the efficiencyof these concerns. He knew all about the high educational standards ofthe Hartford High School. He had heard of the Hotel Heublein, and of thesteel tower built by its proprietor on the highest point of TalcottMountain--had already arranged to have this tower used for wirelesscommunication between Hartford and the German fleet. He knew exactly howmany Germans, Italians, and Swedes there were in Hartford, exactly howmany spans there were in the new three-million-dollar bridge across theConnecticut. He looked forward with pleasure to occupying as his Hartfordheadquarters the former home on Farmington Avenue of Mark Twain, whoseworks he had enjoyed for years.
"You know Mark Twain was a great friend of my father's," said the CrownPrince. "I remember how my father laughed, one evening at the palace inBerlin, when Mark Twain told us the story of 'The Jumping Frog ofCalaveras County.' It's rather a pity that afterward Mark--but never mindthat."
"Your Imperial Highness has a wonderful memory for details," I remarked.
"That is nothing," he smiled. "It's our business to know these things;that is why we are here. We must know more about New England than the NewEnglanders themselves. For example, ask me something."
"Does your Imperial Highness--" I began. But he stopped me with a jollylaugh. I can still see the eager, boyish face under its flashing helmet,and the slim, erect figure in its blue-and-silver uniform.
"Never mind the Imperial Highness," he said. "Just ask somequestions--any question about Hartford."
"The insurance companies?" I suggested.
"Ah! Of course I know that. We considered the insurance companies infixing the indemnity. Hartford is the richest city in America inproportion to her population. Let's see. Of her life insurance companies,the Aetna has assets of about a hundred and twenty million dollars; theTravellers' about a hundred million; the Connecticut Mutual about seventymillion; the Phoenix Mutual about forty million--besides half a dozensmall-fry fire insurance companies. We're letting them off easily withtwenty million dollars indemnity. Don't you think so, Mr. Langston?"
This informal talk continued for some time, and I found the Princepossessed of equally accurate and detailed information regarding otherNew England cities. It was positively uncanny. He inquired about theBancroft Japanese collection in Worcester, Massachusetts, and wanted toknow the number of women students at Wellesley College. He asked if I hadseen the portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds at the Athenaeum in Providence.He had full details about the United States Armory at Springfield, and heasked many questions about the Yale-Harvard boat races at New London,most of which I was, fortunately, able to answer.
Frederick William was curious to know what had given Newport its greatpopularity as a summer resort, and asked me to compare the famouscottages of the Vanderbilts, the Belmonts, the Astors, along the cliffs,with well-known country houses in England. He knew that Siasconset onNantucket Island was pronounced "Sconset," and he had read reports onmarine biology from Woods Hole. He even knew the number of watches madeat Waltham every year, and the number of shoes made at Lynn.
I was emboldened by the Crown Prince's good humour and friendly manner toask the favour of an interview for publication in the London _Times_,and, to my great satisfaction, this was granted the next day when we weresettled in our Hartford quarters, with the result that I gained highcommendation; in fact my interview not only made a sensation in England,but was cabled back to the United States and reprinted all over America.Needless to say, it caused bitter resentment in both countries againstFrederick William.
"The responsibility for the present war between Germany and the UnitedStates must be borne by England," he said in this memorable utterance."It was the spirit of hatred against Germany spread through the world byEngland and especially spread through America that made the United Statesunwilling to deal with the Imperial government in a fair and friendlyway, touching our trade and colonising aspirations in South America andMexico.
"We Germans regard this as a most astonishing and deplorable thing, thatthe American people have been turned against us by Britishmisrepresentations. Why should the United States trust England? What hasEngland ever done for the United States? Who furnished the South witharms and ammunition and with blockade runners during the Civil War?England! Who placed outrageous restrictions upon American commerce duringthe great European war and, in direct violation of International law,prohibited America from sending foodstuffs and cotton to Germany?England!
"What harm has Germany ever done to the United States? Turn over thepages of history. Remember brave General Steuben, a veteran of Frederickthe Great, drilling with Washington's soldiers at Valley Forge. Rememberthe German General De Kalb who fell pierced by red-coat balls andbayonets at the battle of Camden. Remember General Herckheimer with hisband of German farmers who fought and died for American independence atthe battle of Oriskany.
"Then go to Greenwood cemetery and look at the graves of German soldiers,rows and rows of them, who gave their lives loyally for the Union atAntietam, at Bull Run and at Gettysburg.
"The United States is a great nation with vast resources," he went on,"but these have been largely wasted, owing to the inefficiency andcorruption inevitable in all democracies."
"Your Imperial Highness does not think much of American efficiency?"
The prince threw back his head with a snort of contemptuous amusement.
"Ha! What can one expect from a government like yours? A government ofincompetents, politicians, office seekers."
"I beg your pardon," I protested.
"I do not mean to offend you," he laughed, "but hasn't the whole worldknown for years that America was utterly defenceless? Haven't youAmericans known it since 1914? Haven't you read it in all yournewspapers? Hasn't it been shouted at you from the housetops by all yourleading men?
"And yet your senators, your congressmen, your presidents and theircabinet officers did nothing about it, or very little. Is that what youcall efficiency? America remained lacking in all that makes for militarypreparedness, did she not? And she tried to be a world power and defendthe Monroe doctrine! She told Germany in 1915 what Germany might do withher submarines and what she might not do. Ha! We were at a disadvantagethen, but we remembered! You, with your third-rate navy and yourtenth-rate army, told us what we might do! Well, you see where yourefficiency has brought you."
I sat silent until this storm should pass, and was just making bold tospeak when the prince continued:
"Do you know where America made her great mistake? Oh, what a chance youhad and missed it! Why did you not declare war on Germany after ourinvasion of Belgium? Or after the sinking of the _Lusitania?_ Or afterthe sinking of the _Arabic?_ You had your justification and, with yourmoney and resources, you could have changed the course of the great war.That is what we feared in Berlin. We were powerless to hurt you then andwe knew you would have time to get ready. Yes, if America had gone intothe war in 1915, she would be the greatest power on earth to-day insteadof being a conquered province."
These words hurt.
"America is a long way from being a conquered province," I retorted.
He shook his head good-naturedly, whereupon I resolved to control mytemper. It would be folly to offend the prince and thus lose my chance tosecure an interview of international importance, wh
ich this proved to be.
"We hold New York already," he continued. "Within three weeks we shallhold New England. Within three months we shall hold your entire Atlanticseaboard."
"We may win back our lost territory," said I.
"Never. We are conquerors. We will stay here exactly as the Manchuconquerors stayed in China. Exactly as the Seljuk conquerors stayed inAsia Minor. Your military strength is broken. Your fleet will bedestroyed when it reaches the Caribbean. How can you drive us out?"
"Our population is over a hundred million."
"China's population is over three hundred million and a handful ofJapanese rule her. Remember, America is not like Russia with her heartdeep inland. The military heart of America lies within a radius of 180miles from New York City and we hold it, or soon will. In that smallstrip, reaching from Boston to Delaware Bay, are situated nine-tenths ofthe war munition factories of the United States, the Springfield Armory,the Watervliet Arsenal, the Picatinny Arsenal, the Frankfort Arsenal, theDupont powder works, the Bethlehem steel works, and all these willshortly be in our hands. How can you take them from us? How can you getalong without them?"
"We can build other munition factories in the West."
"That will take a year or more, in which time we shall have fortified thewhole Appalachian Mountain system from Florida to the St. Lawrence, sothat no army can ever break through. Do you see?"
The prince paused with a masterful smile and played with a large signetring on his third finger.
"Surely Your Imperial Highness does not think that Germany can conquerthe whole of America?"
"Of course not, at least not for many years. We are content with yourAtlantic seaboard, the garden spot of the earth in climate and resources.We shall hold this region and develop it along broad lines of Germanefficiency and German _kultur._ What wonderful improvements we will make!How we will use the opportunities you have wasted!
"Ha! Let me give you one instance among many of your incredibleinefficiency. Those disappearing carriages of your coast defence guns! Isuppose they were the pet hobby of some politician with an interest intheir manufacture, but Gott in Himmel! what foolishness! The gunsthemselves are good enough, but the carriages allow them an elevationof only ten percent against a thirty percent elevation that is possiblefor guns of equal calibre on our battleships, which means that ourtwelve-inch guns outrange yours by a couple of miles simply because wecan fire them at a higher angle."
"You mean that one of your super-dreadnoughts--"
"Exactly. One of our super-dreadnoughts can lie off Rockaway Beachand drop shells from her twelve-inch guns into Union Square, and thetwelve-inch guns of your harbour forts, handicapped by their stupidcarriages, could never touch her."
The conversation now turned to other subjects and presently the princewas led by enthusiasm or arrogance to make a series of statements thatgave extraordinary importance to my interview, since they enraged thewhole Anglo-Saxon world, particularly our Western and Middle Westernstates. Fortunately I submitted my manuscript to Frederick William beforecabling the interview to London, so there was no danger of hisrepudiating my words.
With brutal frankness this future ruler of a nation maintained thatagainst German arms America must now go down to defeat just as Englandwent down to partial defeat in 1917 and for the same unchangeable reasonthat the fittest among nations inevitably survive.
"Ask your readers in the London Times, Mr. Langston, why it was that inthe fall of 1915 Germany had been able to put into the field nine millionfully equipped, highly efficient soldiers, whereas England, with nearlythe same population, counting her white colonies, had been able to sendout only two and a half million, a third of these being physicallydefective? Why was that?
"Was it lack of guns and ammunition? Lack of officers and training?Partly so, but something else was lacking, I mean patriotism among theEnglish masses that would give them the desire to fight for England, alsoa high standard of physical excellence that would make them able to fighteffectively and to endure the hardships of the trenches.
"Now why should there be more patriotism in Germany than in England? Whyshould the masses of Germany excel the masses of England in physicalvigour?
"I will tell you why, and the answer applies in some degree to America;it is because the German system of government is better calculated tocreate patriotism and physical vigour, just as it is better calculated tocreate an efficient war machine. In Germany we have concentration ofpower, a benevolent paternalism that knows the needs of the people andsupplies them whether the people wish it or not. For example, in Germanywe have to a great extent abolished poverty and such degrading slumconditions as prevail in English and American cities. We know that slumslead to drink, vice and physical unfitness. We know that we must kill theslums or see the slums kill efficiency and kill patriotism.
"In Germany we hold the capitalist class within strict bounds. We allowno such heaping up of huge fortunes as are common in America through theexploitation of the weak by the strong. We Germans protect the weak andmake them stronger, but you English and Americans make them weaker byoppressing them. You make slaves of children in a thousand factories,crushing out their strength and their hope, so that a few more of you canbecome millionaires. Do you think those children, grown to manhood, willfight for you very loyally or very effectively when you call on them torally to the flag? What does such a flag mean to them?"
"What does the American flag mean to thousands of American steel workersforced to toil at the furnaces twelve hours a day for two dollars? Twelvehours a day and often seven days a week lest they starve! Why shouldthese men fight for a flag that has waved, unashamed, over their miseryand over the unearned and undeserved fortunes of their task masters,Andrew Carnegie and J. P. Morgan? Why should the down-trodden miners inColorado fight to perpetuate a John D. Rockefeller system of government?"
"What does Your Imperial Highness mean by a John D. Rockefeller system ofgovernment?"
"I mean the English and American system of individualism gone mad--everyman for himself and the devil take the hindermost. The result is atrampling on the many by the few, a totally unfair division of theproducts of toil and such wicked extremes of poverty and riches as arefamiliar in London and New York but are unknown in Germany.
"In Germany the masses are well housed and well nourished. In all ourcities cheap and wholesome pleasures abound, music, beer gardens, greatparks with playgrounds and dancing pavilions. It is literally true thatwork at fair wages with reasonable hours is provided for every Germancitizen who is able to work. And those unable to work are taken careof,--pensions for the aged, homes for the disabled, state assistance forpoor mothers. There are no paupers, no factory slaves in Germany. Thecentral government sees to this, not only as a matter of humanity, but asgood policy. We know that every German citizen will fight for the Germanflag because he is proud of it and has personal reason to be grateful toit, since it represents fair play, large opportunity, a satisfactory lifefor him and his children."
The prince maintained that here were new elements in the problem ofGermany's conquest of America. Not only were the invaders more valiantwarriors possessed of a better fighting machine, but they came with amoral and spiritual superiority that must make strong appeal to Americansthemselves.
"After yielding to us by force of arms," he went on, "your people willcome to welcome us when they see how much better off, how much happierthey will be under our higher civilisation. Mr. Langston, we understandyour nation better than it understands itself. I assure you, Americansare sick of their selfish materialism, they are ashamed of the degradingmoney worship that has stifled their national spirit."
Here I challenged him angrily.
"Do you mean to say that we have no national spirit in America?"
"Not as Germans understand it. You live for material things, forpleasures, for business. You are a race of money schemers, moneygrovellers, lacking in high ideals and genuine spiritual life withoutwhich patriotism is an empty word. Who
ever heard of an American workingfor his country unless he was paid for it?
"Think what America did in the great war! Why was your president sowrought up in 1915 when he assailed Germany with fine phrases? Was itbecause we had violated Belgium? No! When that happened he had nothing tosay, although the United States, equally with England, was a signatory ofthe Hague Conference that guaranteed Belgium's integrity. Why did notyour president protest then? Why did he not use his fine phrases then?Because the United States had suffered no material injury throughBelgium's misfortune. On the contrary, the United States was sure to gainmuch of the trade that Belgium lost. And that was what he cared about,commercial advantage. You were quick enough to protect your trade andyour money interests. You were ready enough to do anything for gold,ready enough, by the sale of war munitions, to bring death and miseryupon half of Europe so long as you got gold from the other half. Highideals! National spirit! There they are!"
Conquest of America: A Romance of Disaster and Victory, U.S.A., 1921 A.D. Page 11