“We must assume that President Wilson deliberately tells an untruth.  Not the German Government but the German race, hates this Anglo-Saxon fanatic, who has stirred into flame the consuming hatred in America while prating friendship and sympathy for the German people.”

The Lokal Anzeiger was right when it said the German people hated America.  The Lokal Anzeiger was one of the means the Government used to make the German people hate the United States.

The North German Gazette, which prints only editorials dictated, or authorised by, the Secretary of State, said: 

“A certain phrase in President Wilson’s speech must be especially pointed out.  The President represents himself as the bearer of true freedom to our people who are engaged in a severe struggle for their existence and liberty.  What slave soul does he believe exists in the German people when it thinks that it will allow its freedom to be meted out to them from without?  The freedom which our enemies have in store for us we know sufficiently.

“The German people, become clearsighted in war, and see in President Wilson’s word nothing but an attempt to loosen the bonds between the people and princes of Germany so that we may become an easier prey for our enemies.  We ourselves know that an important task remains to us to consolidate our external power and our freedom at home.”

But the mask fell from the face of Germany which she shows the outside world, when the Kaiser issued his Easter proclamation promising election reforms after the war.  Why did the Kaiser issue this proclamation again at this time?  As early as January, 1916, he said the same thing to the German people in his address from the throne to the Prussian Diet.  Why did the Kaiser feel that it was necessary to again call the attention of the people to the fact that he would be a democrat when the war was over?  The Kaiser and the German army are clever in dealing with the German people.  If the Kaiser makes a mistake or does something that his army does not approve it can always be remedied before the mistake becomes public.

Last Fall a young German soldier who had been in the United States as a moving picture operator was called to the General Staff to take moving pictures at the front for propaganda purposes.  One week he was ordered to Belgium, to follow and photograph His Majesty.  At Ostend, the famous Belgian summer resort, the Kaiser was walking along the beach one day with Admiral von Schroeder, who is in command of the German defences there.  The movie operator followed him.  The soldier had been following the Kaiser several days so His Majesty recognised him, ordered him to put up his camera and prepare to make a special film.  When the camera was ready His Majesty danced a jig, waved his sceptre and then his helmet, smiled and shouted greetings to the camera man—­then went on along the beach.

When the photographer reached Berlin and showed the film to the censors of the General Staff they were shocked by the section of the Kaiser at Ostend.  They ordered it cut out of the film because they did not think it advisable to show the German people how much their Emperor was enjoying the war!