The Kaiser's Anniversary.

New York Times 100 years ago today, June 8, 1913:
    The twenty-fifth anniversary of Kaiser Wilhelm II.'s accession to the Imperial throne of Germany will be celebrated seven days hence in a festival mood throughout his dominions and by people of German blood the world over, with the sympathy of all the nations. The anniversary is celebrated, in a forehanded way, in The Sunday Times this morning by the publication of a series of tributes to him by eminent contemporaries, which are all of greater import than merely perfunctory words of praise, and in some cases amount to appreciations and explanations of the man which, combined, constitute such an exposition of his character, his aims, his outlook, and his influence throughout the quarter century and at present as has not hitherto been accessible in so brief a compass.
    It is through no mere desire to be complimentary, and it is by no confusion of the wish with the thought, that the two ex-Presidents of the United States, the Duke of Argyll, Lord Blyth and Sir Gilbert Parker, Arthur von Gwinner, he financier; Alfred H. Fried, the peace advocate; Andrew Carnegie, Hugo Muensterberg, and Nicholas Murray Butler agree in hailing the Kaiser as "the greatest individual force in the practical maintenance of peace in the world." Their opinions are backed by evidence; the testimony is full and convincing. It is not a new estimate of the German Emperor's place in the world, but it is one not accepted until now, through lack of comprehension, and one only deeply impressed on the popular mind by Wilhelm's firm attitude in the period of international doubt and unrest following the victory of the allies in the Balkan war.
    It is well to remember now that, to quote Count Bernstorff, "the German people look back on twenty-five years of peace and prosperity," but we cannot help remembering, too, that through nearly all the twenty-five years other peoples have been fearing or expecting a warlike outburst from the nation which under Wilhelm's rule has been developing its industries, strengthening its finances, improving its cities, and upbuilding its means of defense. The Emperor came in, surrounded by cuirassiers, as the veritable Hohenzollern war lord. As Mr. Fried so well says, "the retarded rise of Germany to the position of a united nation fostered an exaggerated national consciousness and a warlike tradition." The impulsive young Kaiser, dismissing at the outset of his career the trusted counselor of his grandsire, the acknowledged pillar of the German State, and, to employ Punch's famous metaphor recalled by Mr. Carnegie, embarking without a pilot on his perilous voyage, seemed the very personification of the new national energy and a new menace to Europe. The idea has lingered through twenty-five years of proof to the contrary, in Herr von Gwinner's words: "At the head of the strongest
army the world has seen, Wilhelm II. has kept peace during a quarter of a century, while all his big neighbors, without any exception, have been warring and conquering." His influence, in Lord Blyth's words, "has been steadily and persistently exerted for peace." Since he has ruled Germany he has not shed a drop of blood, and the hope expressed by Mr. Carnegie and Mr. Fried that in the future he may take the initiative toward the formation of a union of the leading European military Powers to prevent all future wars by military repression may yet be realized.
    In celebrating the Kaiser's twenty-fifth anniversary, therefore, Germany and the world will not only do honor to a wise and aggressive ruler, an intellectual force strongly exerted for the advancement of German industry, art, and literature, but to the acknowledged war lord, head of the world's greatest military force, who has devoted himself consistently and tirelessly to the preservation of peace.