DIPLOMATIC WORK OF FIRST WINTER IN BERLIN
During this first winter in Berlin, I spent each morning in the
Embassy office, and, if I had any business at the Foreign Office,
called there about five o'clock in the afternoon. It was the
custom that all Ambassadors should call on Tuesday afternoons
at the Foreign Office, going in to see the Foreign Minister in
the order of their arrival in the waiting-room, and to have a
short talk with him about current diplomatic affairs.
In the previous chapter I have given a detailed account of the
ceremonies of court life, because a knowledge of this life is
essential to a grasp of the spirit which animates those ruling
the destinies of the German Empire.
My first winter, however, was not all cakes and ale. There were
several interesting bits of diplomatic work. First, we were then
engaged in our conflict with Huerta, the Dictator of Mexico,
and it was part of my work to secure from Germany promises that
she would not recognise this Mexican President.
I also spent a great deal of time in endeavouring to get the
German Government to take part officially in the San Francisco
Fair, but, so far as I could make out, Great Britain, probably
at the instance of Germany, seemed to have entered into some
sort of agreement, or at any rate a tacit understanding, that
neither country would participate officially in this Exposition.
After the lamentable failure of the Jamestown Exposition, the
countries of Europe were certainly not to be blamed for not spending
their money in aid of a similar enterprise. But I believe that the
attitude of Germany had a deeper significance, and that certain,
at least, of the German statesmen had contemplated a
_rapprochement_ with Great Britain and a mutual spanking
of America and its Monroe Doctrine by these two great powers.
Later I was informed, by a man high in the German Foreign Office,
that Germany had proposed to Great Britain a joint intervention
in Mexico, an invasion which would have put an end forever to
the Monroe Doctrine, of course to be followed by the forceful
colonisation of Central and South America by European Powers. I
was told that Great Britain refused. But whether this proposition
and refusal in fact were made, can be learned from the archives
of the British Foreign Office.
During this period of trouble with Mexico, the German Press,
almost without exception, and especially that part of it controlled
by the Government and by the Conservatives or Junkers, was most
bitter in its attitude towards America.
The reason for this was the underlying hatred of an autocracy
for a successful democracy, envy of the wealth, liberty and
commercial success of America, and a deep and strong resentment
against the Monroe Doctrine which prevented Germany from using
her powerful fleet and great military force to seize a foothold
in the Western hemisphere.
Germany came late into the field of colonisation in her endeavour
to find "a place in the sun." The colonies secured were not habitable
by white men. Togo, Kameroons, German East Africa, are too tropical
in climate, too subject to tropical diseases, ever to become
successful German colonies. German Southwest Africa has a more
healthy climate but is a barren land. About the only successful
industry there has been that of gathering the small diamonds that
were discovered in the sands of the beaches and of the deserts
running back from the sea.
On the earnest request of Secretary Bryan, I endeavoured to persuade
the German authorities to have Germany become a signatory to the
so-called Bryan Peace Treaties. After many efforts and long
interviews, von Jagow, the Foreign Minister, finally told me
that Germany would not sign these treaties because the greatest
asset of Germany in war was her readiness for a sudden assault,
that they had no objection to signing the treaty with America,
but that they feared they would then be immediately asked to
sign similar treaties with Great Britain, France and Russia,
that if they refused to sign with these countries the refusal
would almost be equivalent to a declaration of war, and, if they
did sign, intending in good faith to stand by the treaty, that
Germany would be deprived of her greatest asset in war, namely,
her readiness for a sudden and overpowering attack.
I also, during this first winter, studied and made reports on
the commercial situation of Germany and especially the German
discriminations against American goods. To these matters I shall
refer in more detail in another chapter.
Opposition and attention to the oil monopoly project also occupied
a great part of my working hours. Petroleum is used very extensively
in Germany for illuminating purposes by the poorer part of the
population, especially in the farming villages and industrial
towns. This oil used in Germany comes from two sources of supply,
from America and from the oil wells of Galicia and Roumania. The
German American Oil Company there, through which the American
oil was distributed, although a German company, was controlled by
American capital, and German capital was largely interested in
the Galician and Roumanian oil fields. The oil from Galicia and
Roumania is not so good a quality as that imported from America.
[Illustration: PROGRAMME OF THE MUSIC AFTER DINNER WITH THE KAISER
AT THE ROYAL PALACE, BERLIN.]
Before my arrival in Germany the government had proposed a law
creating the oil monopoly; that is to say, a company was to be
created, controlled by the government for the purpose of carrying
on the entire oil business of Germany, and no other person or
company, by its provisions, was to be allowed to sell any
illuminating oil or similar products in the Empire. The bill
provided that the business of those engaged in the wholesale
selling of oil, and their plants, etc., should be taken over
by this government company, condemned and paid for. The German
American Company, however, had also a retail business and plant
throughout Germany for which it was proposed that no compensation
should be given. The government bill also contained certain curious
"jokers"; for instance, it provided for the taking over of all
plants "within the customs limit of the German Empire," thus
leaving out of the compensation a refinery which was situated
in the free part of Hamburg, although, of course, by operation
of this monopoly bill the refinery was rendered useless to the
American controlled company which owned it.
In the course of this investigation it came to light that the
Prussian state railways were used as a means of discriminating
against the American oil. American oil came to Germany through
the port of Hamburg, and the Galician and Roumanian oil through
the frontier town of Oderberg. Taking a delivery point equally
distant between Oderberg and Hamburg, the rate charged on oil
from Hamburg to this point was twice as great as that charged
for a similar quantity of oil from Oderberg.
I took up this fight on the line that the company must be compensated
for all of its property, that used in retail as well as in wholesale
business, and, second, that it must be compensated for the good-will
of its business, which it had built up through a number of years
by the expenditure of very large sums of money. Of course where
a company has been in operation for years and is continually
advertising its business, its good-will often is its greatest
asset and has often been built up by the greatest expenditure
of money. For instance, in buying a successful newspaper, the
value does not lie in the real-estate, presses, etc., but in
the good-will of the newspaper, the result of years of work and
expensive advertising.
I made no objection that the German government did not have a
perfect right to create this monopoly and to put the American
controlled company entirely out of the field, but insisted upon
a fair compensation for all their property and good-will. Even a
fair compensation for the property and good-will would have started
the government monopoly company with a large debt upon which it
would have been required to pay interest, and this interest, of
course, would have been added to the cost of oil to the German
consumers. In my final conversation on the subject with von
Bethmann-Hollweg, he said, "You don't mean to say that President
Wilson and Secretary Bryan will do anything for the Standard
Oil Company?" I answered that everyone in America knew that
the Standard Oil Company had neither influence with nor control
over President Wilson and Secretary Bryan, but that they both
could and would give the Standard Oil Company the same measure
of protection which any American citizen doing business abroad
had a right to expect from his government. I also said that I
thought they had done enough for the Germans interested in the
Galician and Roumanian oil fields when they had used the Prussian
state railways to give these oil producers an unfair advantage
over those importing American oil.
Shortly after this the question of the creation of this oil monopoly
was dropped and naturally has not been revived during the war,
and I very much doubt whether, after the war, the people of
liberalised Germany will consent to pay more for inferior oil in
order to make good the investments of certain German banks and
financiers in Galicia and Roumania. I doubt whether a more liberal
Germany will wish to put the control of a great business in the
hands of the government, thereby greatly increasing the number
of government officials and the weight of government influence
in the country. Heaven knows there are officials enough to-day
in Germany, without turning over a great department of private
industry to the government for the sole purpose of making good
bad investments of certain financiers and adding to the political
influence of the central government.
In May, 1914, Colonel House and his beautiful wife arrived to pay
us a visit in Berlin. He was, of course, anxious to have a talk
with the Emperor, and this was arranged by the Emperor inviting
the Colonel and me to what is called the _Schrippenfest_,
at the new palace at Potsdam.
For many years, in fact since the days of Frederick the Great,
the learning (_Lehr_) battalion, composed of picked soldiers
from all the regiments of Prussia, has been quartered at Potsdam,
and on a certain day in April this battalion has been given a
dinner at which they eat white rolls (_Schrippen_) instead
of the usual black bread. This feast has been carried on from
these older days and has become quite a ceremony.
The Colonel and I motored to Potsdam, arrayed in dress-suits, and
waited in one of the salons of the ground floor of the new palace.
Finally the Emperor and the Empress and several of the Princes and
their wives and the usual dignitaries of the Emperor's household
arrived. The Colonel was presented to the royalties and then a
Divine Service was held in the open air at one end of the palace.
The Empress and Princesses occupied large chairs and the Emperor
stood with his sons behind him and then the various dignitaries
of the court. The Lehr Battalion was drawn up behind. There were
a large band and the choir boys from the Berlin cathedral. The
service was very impressive and not less so because of a great
Zeppelin which hovered over our heads during the whole of the
service.
After Divine Service, the Lehr Battalion marched in review and
then was given food and beer in long arbours constructed in front
of the palace. While the men were eating, the Emperor and Empress
and Princes passed among the tables, speaking to the soldiers.
We then went to the new palace where in the extraordinary hall
studded with curious specimens of minerals from all countries,
a long table forming three sides of a square was set for about
sixty people. Colonel House and I sat directly across the table
from the Emperor, with General Falkenhayn between us. The Emperor
was in a very good mood and at one time, talking across the table,
said to me that the Colonel and I, in our black dress-suits,
looked like a couple of crows, that we were like two undertakers
at a feast and spoiled the picture. After luncheon the Emperor
had a long talk with Colonel House, and then called me into the
conversation.
On May twenty-sixth, I arranged that the Colonel should meet
von Tirpitz at dinner in our house. We did not guess then what
a central figure in this war the great admiral was going to be.
At that time and until his fall, he was Minister of Marine, which
corresponds to our Secretary of the Navy Department, and what
is called in German _Reichsmarineamt_. The Colonel also
met the Chancellor, von Jagow, Zimmermann and many others.
There are two other heads of departments, connected with the
navy, of equal rank with the Secretary of the Naval Department
and not reporting to him. These are the heads of the naval staff
and the head of what is known as the Marine Cabinet. The head
of the naval staff is supposed to direct the actual operations
of warfare in the navy, and the head of the Marine Cabinet is
charged with the personnel of the navy, with determining what
officers are to be promoted and what officers are to take over
ships or commands.
While von Tirpitz was Secretary of the Navy, by the force of
his personality, he dominated the two other departments, but
since his fall the heads of these two other departments have
held positions as important, if not more important, than that
of Secretary of the Navy.
On May thirty-first, we took Colonel and Mrs. House to the aviation
field of Joachimsthal. Here the Dutch aviator Fokker was flying and
after being introduced to us he did some stunts for our benefit.
Fokker was employed by the German army and later became a naturalised
German. The machines designed by him, and named after him, for
a long time held the mastery of the air on the West front.
The advice of Colonel House, a most wise and prudent counsellor,
was at all times of the greatest value to me during my stay in
Berlin. We exchanged letters weekly, I sending him a weekly bulletin
of the situation in Berlin and much news and gossip too personal
or too indefinite to be placed in official reports.
War with Germany seemed a thing not even to be considered when
in this month of May, 1914, I called on the Foreign Office, by
direction, to thank the Imperial Government for the aid given
the Americans at Tampico by German ships of war.
Early in February, Mr. S. Bergmann, a German who had made a fortune
in America and who had returned to Germany to take up again his
German citizenship, invited me to go over the great electrical
works which he had established. Prince Henry of Prussia, the
brother of the Emperor, was the only other guest and together
we inspected the vast works, afterwards having lunch in Mr.
Bergmann's office. Prince Henry has always been interested in
America since his visit here. On that visit he spent most of
his time with German societies, etc. Of course, now we know he
came as a propagandist with the object of welding together the
Germans in America and keeping up their interest in the Fatherland.
He made a similar trip to the Argentine just before the Great
War, with a similar purpose, but I understand his excursion was
not considered a great success, from any standpoint. A man of
affable manners, no one is better qualified to go abroad as a
German propagandist than he. If all Germans had been like him
there would have been no World War in 1914.
On March eighteenth, we were invited to a fancy-dress ball at
the palace of the Crown Prince. The guests were mostly young
people and officers. The Crown Princess wore a beautiful Russian
dress with its characteristic high front piece on the head. The
Crown Prince and all the officers present were in the picturesque
uniforms of their respective regiments of a period of one hundred
years ago. Prince Oscar, the fifth son of the Kaiser, looked
particularly well.
The hours for balls in Berlin, where officers attended, were a
good example for hostesses in this country. The invitations read
for eight o'clock and that meant eight o'clock. A cold dinner
of perhaps four courses is immediately served on the arrival of
the guests, who, with the exception of a very few distinguished
ones, are not given any particular places. At a quarter to nine
the dancing begins, supper is at about eleven and the guests go
home at twelve, at an hour which enables the officers to get
to bed early. During the season there were balls at the British
and French Embassy and performances by the Russian Ballet, then
in Berlin, at the Russian Embassy.
The wonderful new Royal Library, designed by Ihne, was opened
on March twenty-second. The Emperor attended, coming in with
the beautiful Queen of Roumania walking by his side. She is an
exceedingly handsome woman, half English and half Russian. Some
days later I was presented to her at a reception held at the
Roumanian Minister's and found her as pleasant to talk to as good
to look upon.
At the end of March there was a Horse Show. The horses did not
get prizes for mere looks and manners in trotting and cantering,
as here. They must all do something, for the horse is considered
primarily as a war horse; such, for instance, as stopping suddenly
and turning at a word of command. The jumping was excellent,
officers riding in all the events. It was not a function of
"society," but all "society" was there and most keenly interested;
for in a warlike country, just as in the Middle Ages, the master's
life may depend upon the qualities of his horse.
I have always been fond of horses and horse-racing, and the
race-tracks about Berlin were always an attraction for me.
Many of the drivers and jockeys were Americans. Taral was a
successful jockey for my father-in-law, Marcus Daly. He is the
trainer of one of the best racing stables in Germany, that of
the brothers Weinberg, who made a fortune in dye-stuffs. "Pop"
Campbell, who trained Mr. Daly's Ogden, a Futurity winner, is
also a Berlin trainer. The top notch jockey was Archibald of
California. McCreery, who once trained for one of my brothers,
had the stable which rivalled the Weinbergs', that of Baron
Oppenheim, a rich banker of Cologne.
The German officers are splendid riders and take part in many
races. The Crown Prince himself is a successful jockey and racing
stable owner.
On June fifth, at the annual hunt race, the big steeplechase of
the year, the Emperor himself appeared at the Grünewald track,
occupying his private box, a sort of little house beyond the
finish.
Bookmakers are not allowed in Germany. The betting is in mutual
pools. About seventeen per cent of the money paid is taken by the
Jockey Club, the State and charities, so that the bettor, with
this percentage running always against him, has little chance
of ultimate success.
Many of the races are confined to horses bred in Denmark and the
Central Empires.
All of us in the Embassy joined the Red White Tennis Club situated
in the Grünewald about five miles from the centre of Berlin.
The Crown Prince was a member and often played there. He is an
excellent player, not quite up to championship form, but he can
give a good account of himself in any company short of the top
class. He has the advantage of always finding that the best players
are only too glad to have an opportunity to play with him. At
this Tennis Club during all the period of the feeling of hatred
against America we were treated with, extreme courtesy by all
our German fellow members.
We saw a great deal of the two exchange professors in the winter
of 1913-14, Professor Paul Shorey of the University of Chicago
and Professor Archibald Coolidge of Harvard. These exchange
professors give courses and lectures in the universities and
their first appearance is quite an event. On this first day in
1913, they each delivered a lecture in the University of Berlin,
and on this lecture day Prince August Wilhelm, representing the
Kaiser, attended. The Kaiser used invariably to attend, but of
late years I am afraid has rather lost interest in this enterprise
at first so much favoured by him.
The _Cologne Gazette_ at one time after the commencement
of the war, in an article, expressed great surprise that America
should permit the export of munitions of war to the Allies and
said, quite seriously, that Germany had done everything possible
to win the favour of America, that Roosevelt had been offered a
review of German troops, that the Emperor had invited Americans
who came to Kiel on their yachts to dine with him, and that he
had even sat through the lectures given by American exchange
professors.
Before the war there was but one cable direct from Germany to
America. This cable was owned by a German company and reached
America via the Azore Islands. I endeavoured to obtain permission
for the Western Union Company to land a cable in Germany, but
the opposition of the German company, which did not desire to
have its monopoly interfered with, caused the applications of
the Western Union to be definitely pigeon-holed. In August, 1914,
after the outbreak of the war, when I told this to Ballin of
the Hamburg American Line and von Gwinner, head of the Deutsche
Bank, and when they thought of how much they could have saved
for themselves and Germany and their companies if there had been
an American owned cable landing in Germany, their anger at the
delay on the part of official Germany knew no bounds. Within a
very short time I received an answer from the Foreign Office
granting the application of the Western Union Company, providing
the cable went direct to America. This concession, however, came
too late and, naturally, the Western Union did not take up the
matter during the war.