Village books

From
the days when the patricians of Rome forced the people into war
whenever the people showed a disposition to demand their rights,
autocracies have always turned to war as the best antidote against
the spirit of democracy.


CHAPTER VI
AT KIEL JUST BEFORE THE WAR
Kiel, situated on the Baltic, on the eastern side of the peninsula
of Jutland near the Baltic entrance of the Kiel Canal, is the
principal naval centre of Germany.
When the Germans decided to build up a great fleet the Emperor
used every means to encourage a love of yachting and of the sea,
and endeavoured to make the Kiel Week a rival of the week at
Cowes, the English yachting centre.
With this end in view, the rich Germans were encouraged and almost
commanded to build and race yachts; and Americans and others who
visited Kiel in their yachts were entertained by the Emperor
in an intimacy impossible if they had come to Berlin merely as
tourists, residing in a hotel.
In June, 1914, we went to Kiel as guests of Allison Armour of
Chicago, on his yacht, the _Utowana_.


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