| Herr von Kiderlen |
From the New York Times of December 31, 1912: The death of the German Foreign Secretary isreported. He will be replaced with Gottlieb von Jagow, who would be the Foreign Secretary for the beginning of World War One.
"NEW BISMARCK" OF GERMANY DEAD
Alfred von Kiderlen-Waechter, Foreign Secretary, Dies Suddenly in His Stuttgart Home.
BERNSTORFF MAY SUCCEED
Ambassador to Washington Regarded in Berlin as Most Likely Candidate for the Post
Special Cable to the New York Times.
Berlin, Dec. 30 - Alfred von Kiderlen-Waechter, the Secretary of Foreign Affairs since July 1910, who had been called "the new Bismarck," died at Stuttgart this morning as a result of heart failure after an illness of less than three days. He was 60 years of age.
Herr von Kinder, as he was commonly known in Germany, left Berlin on Christmas Eve to spend the holidays with his sister, Baroness von Gemmingen. He appeared his usual jovial self until Saturday, when signs of indisposition showed themselves, and he failed rapidly. The funeral will be held at Stuttgart on Thursday.
Herr von Kinderlen-Wächter, who ranked with the late Baron Marschall von Bieberstein as a shrewd diplomat, was the fourth Foreign Secretary in ten years and the second to die in the harness. His death is a great loss to the Government at this particular crisis in international politics, as he was accounted the greatest exppert on Near Eastern affairs in Germany. He was stationed for ten years at Bucharest and repeatedly served as deputy for von Bieberstein as Ambassador at Constantinople.
His last public utterance was a striking Anglophile speech in the Reichstag on Dec. 2 when he laid stress on "the gratifying intimacy" in Anglo-German relations in connection with the Balkan situation.
Although he was the leading spirit in Germany's adventure at Agadir, in the Summer of 1911, which had for its aim among other things the smashing of the entente cordiale, he was given numerous proofs in recent times of his cordial desire for an understanding with Great Britain. It ws a sonsummation which lay close to his heart, and he was devoting much energy to this plan at the time of his death.
He did not stand among the apostles of limitless naval competition, and his point of view often brought him into conflict with Admiral von Tirpitz, the head of teh Admirialty, and other zealous advocates of a "forward" naval policy.
Herr von Kinderlen-Wächter had steadily and rapidly grown in favor with the Kaiser of late. Owing to the inexperience of Herr von Bethmann-Hollweg, the imperial Chancellor, in foreign affairs, the direction of the relations of Germany with other countries had passed almost exclusively into the hands of the Foreign Secretary. He was in supreme charge of the policy of Germany in the crisis which arose from the Balkan war, and his voice and influence were consistently on the side of conciliation and peace.
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