"A PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS"

Well has it been said that "all Europe looks to America". This country has indeed proved a "happy hunting-ground" for post-War lecturers and visitors of every description. We have had visits from Margot Asquith, Lady Astor, distinct "personalities", not to mention Foch, Joffre, Diaz, and various other "mere men". But this desire to see the "land of the free" has heretofore been confined to those of Allied sympathies; we have never had the opportunity to hear Von Tirpitz on "The German Navy as 1 Thought It Was", or (De) Ludendorf's famous "The Eternal Triangle and the Triple Alliance". The Hindenburg line is still known only through the pages of the public press. But at last the voice of our opponents in the "late unpleasantness" is to be heard; the memoirs of the Ex-Kaiser (X standing as usual for the unknown) are shortly to be laid before the American public by the McClure Syndicate.

What revelations may we not expect to enjoy! The "inside" story of the Kaiser's life as laid bare not long ago by his family physician will undoubtedly be quite outclassed. To be sure, "memoirs" are usually associated with the dead. But perhaps the late Emperor considers himself as good as dead--politically at least. And "dead men's tales" are always the most interesting! That they are expected to find a ready audience over here is evident, for McClure paid in the neighborhood of a quarter of a million dollars for them--enough to buy several cords of wood for the industrious "hermit of Amerongen". It appears that his Highness has in reality been "sawing wood" all these years and to no idle pecuniary purpose.

Whether these memoirs of one so intimately connected with the War will have a political as well as sensational interest, remains to be seen. With the exception of the chapter on "Bismarck", most of the book will deal with men still living--some of them in a "retirement not unlike that of the Kaiser. As for the former, let us hope that it will throw some further light on the incident so brilliantly alluded to by the London Punch in "Dropping the Pilot". Does Wilhelm regret his action, we wonder, and if so will he have the courage to say so? Or will he "temper Justice with Mercy" (for himself)? "A penny for your thoughts" is proverbial; the Kaiser is to get many such ponnies. Let us hope he has many thoughts to offer in exchange.