(eBook PDF) Introduction to Information Systems,

7th Edition pdf download

https://ebooksecure.com/product/ebook-pdf-introduction-to-
information-systems-7th-edition/

Download more ebook from https://ebooksecure.com

We believe these products will be a great fit for you. Click
the link to download now, or visit ebooksecure.com
to discover even more!

(Textbook) Introduction to Information Systems 6th

Edition

http://ebooksecure.com/product/textbook-introduction-to-
information-systems-6th-edition/

(eBook PDF) Introduction to Information Systems 3rd

Edition

http://ebooksecure.com/product/ebook-pdf-introduction-to-
information-systems-3rd-edition/

(eBook PDF) Introduction to Information Systems 16th

Edition

http://ebooksecure.com/product/ebook-pdf-introduction-to-
information-systems-16th-edition/

(eBook PDF) Introduction to Information Systems, 4th

Edition

http://ebooksecure.com/product/ebook-pdf-introduction-to-
information-systems-4th-edition-2/
(eBook PDF) Introduction to Information Systems 8th
Edition

http://ebooksecure.com/product/ebook-pdf-introduction-to-
information-systems-8th-edition/

(eBook PDF) Introduction to Geographic Information

Systems 8th

http://ebooksecure.com/product/ebook-pdf-introduction-to-
geographic-information-systems-8th/

(Original PDF) Introduction to Business Information

Systems (Custom Edition)

http://ebooksecure.com/product/original-pdf-introduction-to-
business-information-systems-custom-edition/

Introduction to Geographic Information Systems 9th

Edition (eBook PDF)

http://ebooksecure.com/product/introduction-to-geographic-
information-systems-9th-edition-ebook-pdf/

(eBook PDF) Introduction to Geographic Information

Systems, 9th Edition

http://ebooksecure.com/product/ebook-pdf-introduction-to-
geographic-information-systems-9th-edition/
Introduction to
Information Systems
R. KELLY RAINER • BRAD PRINCE

SEVENTH EDITION
vi Preface

Active Learning Pedagogical Structure

We recognize the need to actively involve students in prob­ Other pedagogical features provide a structured learning sys­
lem solving, creative thinking, and capitalizing on opportuni­ tem that reinforces the concepts through features such as
ties. Therefore, we have included in every chapter a variety of chapter-opening organizers, section reviews, frequent applica­
hands-on exercises, activities, and mini-cases, including exer­ tions, and hands-on exercises and activities.
cises that require students to use software application tools. Chapter-opening organizers include the following peda­
Through these activities and an interactive website, we enable gogical features:
students to apply the concepts they learn.
• The Learning Objectives provide an overview of the key con­
cepts students should come away with after reading the
Diversified and Unique Examples from chapter.
• Web Resources highlight ancillary materials available on the
Different Industries book companion site and within WileyPLUS for both instruc­
Extensive use of vivid examples from large corporations, small tors and students.
businesses, and government and not-for-profit organizations • The Chapter Outline lists the major chapter headings.
helps to enliven concepts by demonstrating the capabilities • An opening case identifies a business problem faced by an
of IT, its cost and justification, and innovative ways in which actual company, describes the IT solution applied to the
real corporations are using IT in their operations. Each chapter business problem, presents the results of the IT solution, and
constantly highlights the integral connection between IT and summarizes what students can learn from the case.
business. This is especially evident in the “IT’s About Business”
• New “What’s in IT for Me?” “teasers” give students a quick
boxes.
hint about skills in their majors for which this chapter will
help prepare them.
Misuse of IS Study aids are provided throughout each chapter. These
include the following:
Like other textbooks, this text presents many examples of IS
success. But we also provide numerous examples of IS failures, • IT’s About Business cases provide real-world applications,
in the context of lessons that can be learned from such failures. with questions that relate to concepts covered in the text.
Misuse of IS can be very expensive, as we illustrate. Icons relate these sections to the specific functional areas.
• Highlighted Examples interspersed throughout the text illus­
trate the use (and misuse) of IT by real-world organizations,
Innovation and Creativity thus making the conceptual discussion more concrete.
In today’s rapidly changing environment, creativity and innova­ • Tables list key points or summarize different concepts.
tion are essential for a business to operate effectively and prof­ • End-of-section reviews (Before You Go On . . .) prompt stu­
itably. Throughout the text we demonstrate how IT facilitates dents to pause and test their understanding of basic con­
these concepts. cepts before moving on to the next section.

End-of-chapter study aids provide extensive opportunity

Global Focus for the reader to review and actually do something with the
concepts they have just studied:
Because an understanding of global competition, partnerships,
and trading is essential to success in business, we provide a • What’s in IT for Me? is a unique chapter summary section that
broad selection of international cases and examples. We dis­ demonstrates the relevance of topics for different functional
cuss how IT facilitates export and import, the management of areas (accounting, finance, marketing, production/opera­
multinational companies, and electronic trading around the tions management, and human resources management).
globe. • The Chapter Summary, keyed to learning objectives listed at
the beginning of the chapter, enables students to review the
major concepts covered in the chapter.
Focus on Ethics • The end-of-chapter Glossary facilitates studying by listing
With corporate scandals appearing daily in the news, ethics and defining all of the key terms introduced in the chapter.
and ethical questions have come to the forefront of business • Discussion Questions and Problem-Solving Activities pro­
people’s minds. In addition to a chapter that concentrates on vide practice through active learning. These exercises are
ethics and privacy (Chapter 3), we have included examples and hands-on opportunities to use the concepts discussed in
cases that focus on business ethics throughout the chapters. the chapter.
 P R EFACE vii

• A Case presents a brief case study organized around a busi­ Weekly Updates
ness problem and explains how IT helped to solve it. Ques­
tions at the end of the case relate it to concepts discussed in Weekly updates, harvested from around the web by David Firth
the chapter. of the University of Montana, provide you with the latest IT news
and issues. These are posted every Monday morning through­
out the year at http://wileyinformationsystemsupdates.com/
and include links to articles and videos as well as discussion
Online Resources questions to assign or use in class.

www.wiley.com/college/rainer Image Library

This text also facilitates the teaching of an introductory IS
All textbook figures are available for download from the web-
course by providing extensive support materials for instructors
site. These figures can easily be added to PowerPoint pres­
and students. Go to www.wiley.com/college/rainer to access
entations.
the Student and Instructor websites.

Instructor’s Manual OfficeGrader

The Instructor’s Manual, created by Dr. Bob Gehling, Profes­ OfficeGrader is an Access-based VBA macro that enables au­
sor Emeritus, Auburn University at Montgomery, includes a tomatic grading of Office assignments. The macros compare
chapter overview, teaching tips and strategies, answers to all Office files and grade them against a master file. OfficeGrader
end-of-chapter questions, supplemental mini-cases with essay is available for Word, Access, Excel, and PowerPoint for Of­
questions and answers, and experiential exercises that relate fice 2010 and Office 2013. For more information, contact your
to particular topics. Wiley sales representative or visit www.wiley.com/college/
microsoft and click on “OfficeGrader.”

Test Bank
The Test Bank, written by Jennifer Gerow of Virginia Military
Reef Polling
Institute, is a comprehensive resource for test questions. It Reef Polling—by iClicker—a new mobile-optimized engage­
contains multiple-choice, true/false, short answer, and essay ment system, Reef Polling increases engagement with students
questions for each chapter. The multiple-choice and true/false by allowing instructors to poll students during class. After a
questions are labeled according to difficulty: easy, medium, or quick registration with Reef, students can use their own devices
hard. as a clicker. Instructors can take attendance, check for compre­
hension, or turn in-class activities—individual or group—into
competitive games through polling.
Respondus ComputerizedTest Bank
Respondus is a powerful tool for creating and managing exams
that can be printed to paper or published directly to Black­ Inside Track
board, ANGEL, Brightspace by D2L, Canvas, Moodle, and other
A career-coaching program that offers free resources to stu­
learning systems. Exams can be created offline using a famil­
dents as they select their careers. Students get an initial coun­
iar Windows environment, or moved from one LMS to another.
seling session at no additional cost, but can pay for additional
Whether you are a veteran of online testing or relatively new to
sessions on their own.
it, Respondus will save you hours on each project.

PowerPoint Presentations CareerShift

The PowerPoint Presentations, updated by Amit Shah of Frost- A leading online job search tool, CareerShift enables students
burg State University, consist of a series of slides for each chap­ to conduct their own job search using the power of search and
ter of the text that are designed around the text content, in­ the power of organization. They can conduct campaigns for
corporating key points from the text and all text illustrations as jobs and keep all their resources and communication in one
appropriate. spot.
viii Preface

WileyPlus with ORION Student Resources include:

WileyPLUS with ORION adaptive practice improves outcomes • Video Lectures—The authors are featured in these video lec­
with robust practice problems and feedback, fosters engage­ tures which provide explanations of key concepts throughout
ment with course content and educational videos, and gives the book. Note: This feature is only available in WileyPLUS.
students the flexibility to increase confidence as they learn and • Practice Quizzes—These quizzes give students a way to test
prepare outside of class. With ORION, instructors can see how themselves on course material before exams. Each chapter
their students learn best & adjust material appropriately. For exam contains fill in the blank, application, and multiple
students, ORION allows them to focus on their weakest areas choice questions that provide immediate feedback with the
to make study time more efficient. correct answer.
WileyPLUS helps instructors: • Microsoft Office 2010/2013/2016 Lab Manual & Instructor Re­
sources—by Ed Martin, CUNY-Queensborough—a thorough
• Save time by automating grading of practice, homework, introduction to the Microsoft Office products of Word, Excel,
quizzes and exams Access, & PowerPoint with screenshots that show students
• Create a focused and personalized course that reflects their step-by-step instructions on basic MS Office tasks.
teaching style
• Quickly identify and understand student learning trends to
improve classroom engagement Wiley E-Textbook
• Improve their course year over year using WileyPLUS data E-Textbooks are complete digital versions of the text that help
students study more efficiently as they:
Instructor Resources include:
• Access content online and offline on your desktop, laptop,
• Video Lectures—The authors are featured in these video lec­
and mobile device
tures which provide explanations of key concepts throughout
the book. Note: This feature is only available in WileyPLUS. • Search across the entire book content
• Activity Links and Starter Files—Apply the Concept activ­ • Take notes and highlight
ities link out to the web providing videos for students to • Copy and paste or print key sections
view and use in the activities. When appropriate, students
are provided with starter files to complete as part of the Wiley E-Text: Powered by Vitalsource® provides students
deliverable. with anytime, anywhere to course content. With the Wiley
E-Text, students can:
• Database Activity Solution Files—Every database activity in
the book comes with a solution file that can be used in the • Create a personalized study plan
Office Grader Application or by an individual to grade the stu­
• Easily search content and make notes
dents’ submissions.
• Share insights and questions with peers
• Database Activity Starter Files—When appropriate, students
are provided with starter files to complete as part of the de­
liverable.
• Instructor’s Solutions Manual—Contains detailed solutions Wiley Custom
to all questions, exercises, and problems in the textbook.
This group’s services allow you to:
• Practice Quizzes—These quizzes give students a way to test
themselves on course material before exams. Each chapter • Adapt existing Wiley content and combine texts
exam contains fill in the blank, application, and multiple • Incorporate and publish your own materials
choice questions that provide immediate feedback with the
• Collaborate with our team to ensure your satisfaction
correct answer.
• Reading Quizzes—These quizzes reinforce basic concepts
from the reading.
• Spreadsheet Activity Solution Files—Every spreadsheet activ­
Wiley Custom Select
ity in the book comes with a solution file that can be used in Wiley Custom Select allows you to build your own course ma­
the Office Grader Application or by an individual to grade the terials using selected chapters of any Wiley text and your own
students’ submissions. material if desired. For more information, contact your Wiley
• Access Relational Database—Magic Inventory & Magic Vendor sales representative or visit http://customselect.wiley.com/.
 P R EFACE ix

Acknowledgments
Creating, developing, and producing a text for an introduction
to information technology courses is a formidable undertak­ Reviewers
ing. Along the way, we were fortunate to receive continuous
Jeanetta Chrystie, Southwest Minnesota State University
evaluation, criticism, and direction from many colleagues who
David Chun, University of Miami
regularly teach this course. We would like to acknowledge the Wendy Chun, University of Miami
contributions made by the following individuals. Ruth Gilleran, Babson College
We would like thank the Wiley team: Darren Lalonde, Exec­ Sandeep Goyal, University of Louisville
utive Editor; Emma Townsend-Merino, Assistant Development Brian Kovar, Kansas State University
Editor; Rebecca Costantini, Associate Product Designer; Chris Maikel Leon Espinosa, University of Miami
DeJohn, Executive Marketing Manager; and Ethan Lipson, Edi­ Cynthia Nitsch, University of San Diego
torial Assistant. We also thank the production team, including Sal Parise, Babson College
Dorothy Sinclair, Senior Content Manager; and Valerie Vargas, Gregory Reinhardt, University of Louisville
Senior Production Editor. Thanks also go to Wendy Lai, Senior Kevin Scheibe, Iowa State University
Paul Wheatcraft, Portland Community College
Designer; and Billy Ray, Senior Photo Editor. We also would like
to thank Robert Weiss for his skillful and thorough editing of
the manuscript.
We also acknowledge and appreciate Bob Gehling, Amit
Shah, and Jennifer Gerow for their work on the supplements,
and David Firth for his work on the Weekly Updates. Many
thanks also to Alina M. Chircu and Marco Marabelli of Bentley
University for developing material that enhances our coverage
of business processes and ERP. Finally, we thank all the faculty
listed here who have generously shared their varied opinions
by reviewing the manuscript or completing our user surveys.

KELLY RAINER

BRAD PRINCE
Brief Contents
PREFACE v
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS viii

1 Introduction to Information Systems 1

2 Organizational Strategy, Competitive Advantage, and Information

Systems 33

3 Ethics and Privacy 65

4 Information Security 85

5 Data and Knowledge Management 118

6 Telecommunications and Networking 158

7 E-Business and E-Commerce 192

8 Wireless, Mobile Computing, and Mobile Commerce 219

9 Social Computing 250

10 Information Systems within the Organization 283

11 Customer Relationship Management and Supply Chain

Management 307

12 Business Analytics 339

13 Acquiring Information Systems and Applications 369

TE CHN OLO G Y G U I D E 1 Hardware 395

TE CHN OLO G Y G U I D E 2 Software 407

TE CHN OLO G Y G U I D E 3 Cloud Computing 415

TE CHN OLO G Y G U I D E 4 Artificial Intelligence 436

INDEX 449
 Contents
PREFACE v Discussion Questions 82
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS viii Problem-Solving Activities 83
Chapter Closing Case 83
1 Introduction to Information
Systems 1 4 Information Security 85

Opening Case 1 Opening Case 85

Introduction 2 Introduction 87
1.1 Why Should I Study Information Systems? 5 4.1 Introduction to Information Security 88
1.2 Overview of Computer-Based Information 4.2 Unintentional Threats to Information Systems 90
Systems 9 4.3 Deliberate Threats to Information Systems 92
1.3 How Does IT Impact Organizations? 17 4.4 What Organizations Are Doing to Protect
1.4 Importance of Information Systems to Society 22 Information Resources 101
Summary 28 4.5 Information Security Controls 102
Chapter Glossary 29 Summary 112
Discussion Questions 30 Chapter Glossary 114
Problem-Solving Activities 30 Discussion Questions 115
Closing Case 30 Problem-Solving Activities 115
Closing Case 116

2 Organizational Strategy, 5 Data and Knowledge

Competitive Advantage, and
Management 118
Information Systems 33
Opening Case 118
Opening Case 33 Introduction 119
Introduction 35 5.1 Managing Data 122
2.1 Business Processes 35 5.2 The Database Approach 124
2.2 Business Process Improvement, Business 5.3 Big Data 128
Process Reengineering, and Business Process 5.4 Data Warehouses and Data Marts 136
Management 41 5.5 Knowledge Management 143
2.3 Business Pressures, Organizational Responses, and 5.6 Appendix: Fundamentals of Relational Database
Information Technology Support 45 Operations 146
2.4 Competitive Advantage and Strategic Information Summary 154
Systems 54 Chapter Glossary 155
Summary 61 Discussion Questions 156
Chapter Glossary 62 Problem-Solving Activities 156
Discussion Questions 63 Chapter Closing Case 156
Problem-Solving Activities 63
Closing Case 63
6 Telecommunications and
Networking 158
3 Ethics and Privacy 65
Opening Case 158
Opening Case 65 Introduction 159
Introduction 66 6.1 What Is a Computer Network? 160
3.1 Ethical Issues 67 6.2 Network Fundamentals 164
3.2 Privacy 73 6.3 The Internet and the World Wide Web 168
Summary 82 6.4 Network Applications: Discovery 173
Chapter Glossary 82 6.5 Network Applications: Communication 176
xii Contents

6.6 Network Applications: Collaboration 179 9.6 Social Computing in Business: Human Resource
6.7 Network Applications: Educational 183 Management 275
Summary 186 Summary 278
Chapter Glossary 186 Chapter Glossary 279
Discussion Questions 188 Discussion Questions 280
Problem-Solving Activities 188 Problem-Solving Activities 280
Closing Case 189 Closing Case 281

7 E-Business and E-Commerce 192

10 Information Systems within the
Organization 283
Opening Case 192
Introduction 193 Chapter Opening Case 283
7.1 Overview of E-Business and E-Commerce 195 Introduction 284
7.2 Business-to-Consumer (B2C) Electronic 10.1 Transaction Processing Systems 285
Commerce 201 10.2 Functional Area Information Systems 286
7.3 Business-to-Business (B2B) Electronic 10.3 Enterprise Resource Planning Systems 293
Commerce 208 10.4 ERP Support for Business Processes 299
7.4 Ethical and Legal Issues in E-Business 211 Summary 304
Summary 215 Chapter Glossary 305
Chapter Glossary 215 Discussion Questions 305
Discussion Questions 216 Problem-Solving Activities 305
Problem-Solving Activities 217 Closing Case 306
Closing Case 217
11 Customer Relationship Management
8 Wireless, Mobile Computing, and Supply Chain Management 307

and Mobile Commerce 219 Opening Case 307

Introduction 309
Opening Case 219 11.1 Defining Customer Relationship Management 309
Introduction 220 11.2 Operational Customer Relationship Management
8.1 Wireless Technologies 221 Systems 313
8.2 Wireless Computer Networks and Internet 11.3 Other Types of Customer Relationship Management
Access 230 Systems 320
8.3 Mobile Computing and Mobile Commerce 236 11.4 Supply Chains 322
8.4 The Internet of Things 242 11.5 Supply Chain Management 324
Summary 246 11.6 Information Technology Support for Supply Chain
Chapter Glossary 247 Management 328
Discussion Questions 247 Summary 334
Problem-Solving Activities 248 Chapter Glossary 335
Closing Case 248 Discussion Questions 336
Problem-Solving Activities 336
9 Social Computing 250 Closing Case 336

Opening Case 250 12 Business Analytics 339

Introduction 251
9.1 Web 2.0 253 Opening Case 339
9.2 Fundamentals of Social Computing Introduction 340
in Business 260 12.1 Managers and Decision Making 341
9.3 Social Computing in Business: Shopping 265 12.2 The Business Analytics Process 345
9.4 Social Computing in Business: Marketing 269 12.3 Descriptive Analytics 348
9.5 Social Computing in Business: Customer 12.4 Predictive Analytics 354
Relationship Management 273 12.5 Prescriptive Analytics 360
 CON TEN TS xiii

12.6 Presentation Tools 361 TG 2.3 Application Software 411

Summary 365 Summary 413
Chapter Glossary 366 Glossary 413
Discussion Questions 366 Discussion Questions 414
Closing Case 367 Problem-Solving Activities 414

13 Acquiring Information Systems and Technology Guide 3 Cloud

Applications 369
Computing 415
Opening Case 369
TG 3.1 Introduction 416
Introduction 370
TG 3.2 What Is Cloud Computing? 417
13.1 Planning for and Justifying IT Applications 371
TG 3.3 Different Types of Clouds 420
13.2 Strategies for Acquiring IT Applications 374
TG 3.4 Cloud Computing Services 423
13.3 Traditional Systems Development Life Cycle 380
TG 3.5 The Benefits of Cloud Computing 426
13.4 Alternative Methods and Tools for Systems
TG 3.6 Concerns and Risks with Cloud Computing 428
Development 385
TG 3.7 Web Services and Service-Oriented
Summary 390
Architecture 431
Chapter Glossary 391
Summary 434
Discussion Questions 392
Glossary 435
Problem-Solving Activities 392
Discussion Questions 435
Closing Case 393
Problem-Solving Activities 435

Technology Guide 1 Hardware 395

Technology Guide 4 Artificial
Introduction 395 Intelligence 436
TG 1.1 Introduction to Hardware 396
TG 1.2 Strategic Hardware Issues 396 TG 4.1 Introduction to Artificial Intelligence 436
TG 1.3 Computer Hierarchy 396 TG 4.2 Artificial Intelligence Technologies 438
TG 1.4 Input and Output Technologies 398 TG 4.3 Artificial Intelligence Applications 441
TG 1.5 The Central Processing Unit 400 Summary 446
Summary 405 Chapter Glossary 446
Glossary 405 Discussion Questions 447
Discussion Questions 406 Problem-Solving Activities 447
Problem-Solving Activities 406

Technology Guide 2 Software 407 INDEX 449

Introduction 407
TG 2.1 Software Issues 408
TG 2.2 Systems Software 410
 CHAPTER 1

Introduction to
Information Systems
CHAPTER OUTLINE LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1.1 Why Should I Study Information Systems? 1.1 Identify the reasons why being an informed user of information
systems is important in today’s world.

1.2 Overview of Computer-Based Information 1.2 Describe the various types of computer-based information
Systems systems in an organization.

1.3 How Does IT Impact Organizations? 1.3 Discuss ways in which information technology can affect
managers and nonmanagerial workers.

1.4 Importance of Information Systems to 1.4 Identify positive and negative societal effects of the increased
Society use of information technology.

Opening Case
experience lasts for an entire season. If a player drafts a bad team, then
POM MKT FanDuel and DraftKings
he or she is stuck with that team for several months. Serious fantasy
FanDuel (www.fanduel.com), founded in 2009, and DraftKings (www league players also analyze large amounts of statistics, roster changes,
.draftkings.com), founded in 2012, operate web-based daily fantasy and injury reports. Many casual players do not have time for such anal­
sports (DFS) games. The two companies began operations by taking yses. In contrast to these leagues, FanDuel and DraftKings allow cus­
advantage of an exclusion in the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling En­ tomers to play for just a day, a weekend, or a week.
forcement Act. This statute bans credit card issuers and banks from The companies allow players to participate for free or bet up
working with poker and sports-betting websites, effectively prevent­ to $5,000 to draft a team of players in the National Football League
ing U.S. customers from participating in those industries. The federal (NFL), the National Basketball Association (NBA), Major League Base­
statute, however, exempts fantasy sports because they are considered ball (MLB), and the National Hockey League (NHL). Players can com­
games of skill, not luck. To maintain legal status, the operator of a fan­ pete head-to-head against another individual or in a league with up
tasy sports business must follow four rules: (1) publish prize amounts to 125,000 teams. The winner is the one with the best player statistics,
before the games begin, (2) make prize amounts independent of the which translate into fantasy points. The companies take an average of
number of players in the game, (3) level the playing field by allowing 9 percent of each prize.
anyone in a league to draft any player they want, and (4) disregard MIS FanDuel and DraftKings spend millions of dollars on com­
point spreads and game scores. puting power from Amazon Web Services and other cloud computing
FanDuel and DraftKings deliver simple and fast fantasy betting. providers. Cloud computing (discussed in Technology Guide 3) enables
After paying an entry fee, players become eligible to win daily cash pay­ the companies to manage, as only one example, the increase in web
outs based on the statistical performance of athletes in games played traffic just before Sunday’s NFL kickoff. At that time, the firms must
that day. Traditional fantasy sports often frustrate players because the manage hundreds of thousands of simultaneous users, who make a

1
2 CHAPT E R 1 Introduction to Information Systems

myriad of roster changes per hour. The companies also provide mil­ operations. Specifically, they now provide areas for players of all skill
lions of live scoring updates per minute during games, meaning that levels, particularly to make beginning players feel comfortable and
they must manage almost 10 terabytes of network traffic during game welcome. Both companies’ employees are prohibited from competing
day. (A terabyte equals 1 trillion bytes.) on rival sites. The firms have created tiers of players so that beginning
Professional sports have noted that FanDuel and DraftKings, with players can avoid playing against professional players. Along these
their easy-to-use apps, appeal to young and mobile sports fans. Fur­ lines, FanDuel introduced “Experienced Player Indicators” and Draft­
thermore, these fans have money at stake, so they are more inclined to Kings introduced “Experienced Player Badges.”
watch games on television than they otherwise would. An increase in Interestingly, in the spring of 2016, FanDuel suspended contests
viewers leads to an increase in advertising rates for the teams. In fact, on college sports in all states as part of a negotiation with the National
in 2015, FanDuel signed multiyear sponsorship agreements with 15 Collegiate Athletic Association.
NFL teams. These deals generally include stadium signage, radio and As a result of their problems, the companies’ market values have
digital advertising, and other promotions. Interestingly, the NBA owns decreased markedly and neither company was profitable in 2016. As
an equity stake in FanDuel. of fall 2016, some 20 states have pending legislation permitting DFS.
The two companies had tremendous success. In 2015, they And the unanswered question? Why have the two DFS companies
processed a combined $3 billion in player-entry fees and realized a not yet merged?
combined revenue of $280 million. By the fall of 2016, the companies
Sources: Compiled from D. Van Natta, “Welcome to the Big Time,” ESPN,
claimed to have almost 60 million players in the United States.
August 24, 2016; A. Carr, “The Most Dangerous CEO in Sports,” Fast Company,
Despite their success, FanDuel and DraftKings faced serious prob­ May 2016; D. Purdum, “DraftKings, FanDuel to Stop Offering College Fantasy
lems. Their first problem is that they can operate only as long as the Games,” ESPN.com, March 31, 2016; A. Berzon, “Fantasy Sports Industry
federal government and state governments allowed them to do so. At Mounts Lobbying Blitz,” Wall Street Journal, February 15, 2016; M. Brown,
the federal level, the government could close the fantasy loophole in “FanDuel Lays Off Workers as Legal Pressure Mounts,” Forbes, January 20,
2016; J. Brustein, “New York Gambles on a Daily Fantasy Ban,” Bloomberg
the 2006 statute at any time. At the state level, each state can decide
BusinessWeek, November 23–29, 2015; R. Axon, “Facing Threat from N.Y.
that DFS constitutes gambling and prohibit DFS in that state. Attorney General, FanDuel Suspends Entries in State,” USA Today, November
Significantly, the federal statute does not give daily fantasy sports 17, 2015; L. Baker, “FanDuel, DraftKings Vow to Fight New York’s Halt on
businesses immunity from state laws. In November 2015, New York Bets,” Reuters, November 12, 2015; D. Alba, “DraftKings and FanDuel Scandal
Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sent cease-and-desist letters to Is a Cautionary Startup Tale,” Wired, October 9, 2015; D. Roberts, “Flight of
Fantasy,” Fortune, October 1, 2015; D. Roberts, “Are DraftKings and FanDuel
both companies, declaring that their games constituted illegal gam­ Legal?” Fortune, September 24, 2015; J. Brustein and I. Boudway, “Just a
bling under state law and ordering both to stop accepting bets from Fantasy,” Bloomberg BusinessWeek, September 14–20, 2015; K. Wagner,
New York residents. “DraftKings and FanDuel Are Battling over Your Favorite Teams,” www
Shortly thereafter, the two companies agreed on a strategy to .recode.net, July 17, 2015; R. Sandomir, “FanDuel and DraftKings, Leaders
in Daily Fantasy Sports, Are Quickly Gaining Clout,” New York Times, July
push for legislation clarifying daily fantasy sport’s legality in each
13, 2015; S. Rodriguez, “Yahoo Enters World of Daily Fantasy Sports, Takes
state. On June 18, 2016, the DFS bill passed the New York state leg­ on DraftKings and FanDuel,” International Business Times, July 8, 2015; B.
islature and on August 3, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed Schrotenboer, “FanDuel Signs Deals with 15 NFL Teams, Escalating Daily
it into law. FanDuel and DraftKings immediately began allowing New Fantasy Integration,” USA Today, April 21, 2015; D. Primack, “DraftKings
York residents to play again. and FanDuel Close in on Massive New Investments,” Fortune, April 6, 2015;
S. Bertoni, “Fantasy Sports, Real Money,” Forbes, January 19, 2015; B.
Their second problem involves litigation. Three federal grand ju­
Schrotenboer, “Fantasy Sports Debate: Gambling or Not Gambling?” USA
ries—in Boston, New York, and Tampa, Florida—have notified one or Today, January 12, 2015; www.fanduel.com, www.draftkings.com, accessed
both companies that they are under criminal investigation. Further­ September 20, 2016.
more, a class-action lawsuit, consolidated in Massachusetts, alleges
conspiracy, fraud, negligence, and other claims. The lawsuit repre­ Questions
sents losing DFS players from 25 states and the District of Columbia. 1. Describe how information technology is essential to the compa­
Their third problem is that industry analysts estimate that 60 per­ nies’ operations.
cent of the firms’ revenue comes from approximately 15,000 high-
2. Is information technology one of the companies’ problems? Ex­
volume players wagering at least $10,000 per year. Some 50 players
plain your answer.
who are analytics-driven professionals each wager at least $1 million
per year. These figures underscore the fact that the vast majority of 3. Describe the companies’ information technology infrastructure.
DFS players lose. Now discuss possible technological problems that the companies
As of the fall of 2016, FanDuel and DraftKings are conducting might have.
expensive state-by-state campaigns seeking regulatory and legal 4. The companies face serious problems that are not related to in­
clarity on the gambling issue. To be permitted to operate in various formation technology. Can information technology help them ad­
states, the two companies had to make needed improvements in their dress these problems? Why or why not? Explain your answer.

Introduction
Before we proceed, we need to define information technology and information systems. Infor­
mation technology (IT) refers to any computer-based tool that people use to work with infor­
mation and to support the information and information-processing needs of an organization.
 Introduction 3

An information system (IS) collects, processes, stores, analyzes, and disseminates informa­
tion for a specific purpose.
IT has far-reaching effects on individuals, organizations, and our planet. Although this text
is largely devoted to the many ways in which IT has transformed modern organizations, you will
also learn about the significant impacts of IT on individuals and societies, the global economy,
and our physical environment. IT is also making our world smaller, enabling more and more
people to communicate, collaborate, and compete, thereby leveling the competitive playing
field.
This text focuses on the successful applications of IT in organizations. That is, how orga­
nizations can use IT to solve business problems and gain a competitive advantage in the mar­
ketplace. However, as you see in this chapter’s opening case, not all business problems can be
solved with IT. This situation means that you must continue to develop your business skills!
When you graduate, you either will start your own business or you will work for an organi­
zation, whether it is public sector, private sector, for-profit, or not-for-profit. Your organization
will have to survive and compete in an environment that has been radically transformed by
information technology. This environment is global, massively interconnected, intensely com­
petitive, 24/7/365, real-time, rapidly changing, and information-intensive. To compete success­
fully, your organization must use IT effectively.
As you read this chapter and this text, keep in mind that the information technologies you
will learn about are important to businesses of all sizes. No matter what area of business you
major in, what industry you work for, or the size of your company, you will benefit from learning
about IT. Who knows? Maybe you will use the tools you learn about in this class to make your
great idea a reality by becoming an entrepreneur and starting your own business! In fact, as you
see in the chapter opening case and IT’s About Business 1.1, you can use information technol­
ogy to help you start your own business.
The modern environment is intensely competitive not only for your organization, but for
you as well. You must compete with human talent from around the world. Therefore, you per­
sonally will have to make effective use of IT.
Accordingly, this chapter begins with a discussion of why you should become knowledge­
able about IT. Next, it distinguishes among data, information, and knowledge, and differenti­
ates computer-based information systems from application programs. Finally, it considers the
impacts of information systems on organizations and on society in general.

IT’s About Business 1.1

New Delivery Services Use Information Technology and delivery fleets in their attempt to serve customers who are will­
ing to pay a bit extra to have things done quickly. These companies
POM
also often do not hire their workers. Rather, they use independent
Webvan, an online grocery business that went bankrupt in 2001, is contractors who are willing to forgo benefits packages (e.g., health
considered to be the largest dotcom failure in history. The compa­ insurance, 401(k) plans) for jobs they can perform whenever they
ny’s business model was to deliver products to customers’ homes want to.
within 30 minutes of a time the customer chose. The delivery services differ from more established grocery
Today, busy consumers are increasingly looking for the con- delivery companies such as FreshDirect (www.freshdirect.com),
venience of having many items delivered on demand, with food Peapod (www.peapod.com), and AmazonFresh (https://fresh
being the largest category. In fact, despite the well-known failure of .amazon.com) because they do not actually sell groceries directly
Webvan, many same-day, third-party delivery services are emerg­ to you. Instead, you select what you want online or through an app
ing to compete in the delivery industry, which is worth about $70 and choose a delivery time. The service then sends a contractor to
billion a year. Delivery services are an excellent strategy for small the store to pick up your order and deliver it to your door. Let’s take
businesses to differentiate themselves from their competitors and a look at some of these services.
to compete with giant online retailers.
Delivery service providers include some of the largest firms Instacart. Instacart (www.instacart.com) delivers items from
in technology and retail, as well as specialized startups. The major chains such as Safeway, Whole Foods, and Costco as well as local
challenge facing these companies is how to deliver groceries and markets. Instacart has no physical infrastructure. In fact, the com­
other items door-to-door without incurring unmanageable costs. pany consists of two grocery-delivery smartphone apps.
These companies use information technology, such as apps Customers place orders using Instacart’s website or mobile
on GPS-enabled smartphones, to bypass the need for warehouses app. A separate app, used by more than 4,000 personal shoppers
4 CHAPT E R 1 Introduction to Information Systems

whom Instacart has hired across 15 cities, guides the shoppers to for items from some of the stores it delivers from. Another down­
stores from which they buy goods. The app can actually identify the side is that shoppers may miss out on using coupons or browsing
aisle and the shelf where an item is located. The goal is to deliver for cheaper alternatives in the store. Also, the orders do not always
orders within one hour of the order being placed. go according to plan. For example, if an item is sold out, then the
Personal shoppers fill several orders at once as they go from delivery person has to call the customer for instructions on what
store to store. The app suggests the optimal driving route to a cus­ to do.
tomer’s home, taking into account weather, traffic, sporting events, Perhaps the most serious challenge in the delivery market is
and local construction. Instacart charges a premium based on the competition from many large, established companies that offer de­
size of each purchase. The company also offers a $99-per-year livery services. Consider these examples:
membership that waives the delivery fee for orders greater than
• Amazon (www.amazon.com) was looking into crowdsourc­
$35.
ing (see Chapter 6) to use a mobile app to hook up individuals
Postmates. Postmates (https://postmates.com) works like to deliver packages and existing brick-and-mortar stores to
this: The company’s 13,000 couriers receive orders on their smart- warehouse them.
phones. For example, a customer wants 18 pounds of crushed ice, • Walmart, which gets half of its sales from groceries, is explor­
and Postmates offers the courier $4.80 to pick up the ice and deliver ing the online food business (http://grocery.walmart.com).
it. When the courier accepts the job, his phone guides him to the Customers order online and Walmart employees select and
grocery store and then to the customer. bag the products. When customers arrive at the store, em­
The majority of deliveries made by Postmates are hot meals. ployees load the groceries into the customers’ cars.
The company analyzes data such as food-preparation times to be­
• Safeway grocery stores (https://shop.safeway.com) offers its
come more effective at stacking—as their couriers drop off one or­
“fresh to your door” delivery service.
der, their next pickup is already assigned and being prepared.
Although roughly 80 percent of Postmates’ orders are pre­ • Starbucks (www.starbucks.com) offers a delivery service.
pared food, the company is expanding to deliver other commodi­ With the intense competition in the delivery services market,
ties; for example, healthcare and beauty products. Postmates has it is too early to predict any results. However, the companies dis­
also reached a deal with Apple to deliver MacBooks and other prod­ cussed in this case are receiving large amounts of venture capital
ucts the same day that customers purchase them online. funding.
Uber. In 2015, Uber (www.uber.com) launched an option on its
Sources: Compiled from B. Solomon, “Why GrubHub Is Building What Its
app, called UberEats, in New York and Chicago. UberEats delivers CEO Calls ‘A S***** Business,’” Forbes, April 20, 2016; J. Russell, “India’s
meals from local restaurants, with the “menu” items changing Ola Takes a Leaf Out of Uber’s Book with New Grocery-Delivery Service,”
daily. UberEats is displayed on the Uber app only when a user is in TechCrunch, July 21, 2015; L. Rao, “Instacart Is Asking Its Customers to
an area that is covered. Do Something New,” Fortune, June 26, 2015; K. Kokalitcheva, “Why On-
Demand Delivery Startup Postmates Really Raised $80 Million,” Fortune,
GrubHub/Seamless. GrubHub/Seamless (www.grubhub.com) June 25, 2015; M. Kosoff, “$2 Billion Grocery Delivery Startup Instacart Is
Reclassifying Some of Its Workers as Employees,” Business Insider, June
is a top online ordering provider, partnering with more than 45,000
22, 2015; G. Bensinger, “Amazon’s Next Delivery Drone: You,” Wall Street
restaurants. The app allows customers to flip through menus, place Journal, June 16, 2015; A. Connolly, “Amazon Considers Copying Postmates
orders, and pay for delivery through the web or a mobile app. In with New Crowdsourced Delivery Service,” The Next Web, June 16, 2015;
2015, the company bought out competitors Restaurants on the Run L. Heller, “Amazon’s Uber-Like Delivery Service Could Be Coming Soon,”
and DiningIn. These acquisitions enable GrubHub/Seamless to own Forbes, June 16, 2015; P. Vasan, “Tech Giants Serving Up Real Compe­
tition for FreshDirect,” CNBC, June 12, 2015; J. Pinsker, “What Does the
the “last mile” of the supply chain and become a one-stop shop for
On-Demand Workforce Look Like?” The Atlantic, May 20, 2015; L. Jennings,
food, from ordering to delivery. “New Services Disrupt Restaurant Delivery Landscape,” Nation’s Restaurant
News, May 18, 2015; K. Taylor, “We Tested Chipotle and McDonald’s New
Ola Cabs. Ola Cabs (Ola; https://www.olacabs.com) provides
Delivery Services. Here’s What Happened,” Entrepreneur, May 6, 2015;
different types of cab service in India. Customers can reserve a cab R. Paley, “Watch Out Seamless: New Delivery Services Are Invading Your
through a web browser or a mobile app. The company commands Turf,” Yahoo!, May 1, 2015; A. Stevenson, “Death to Amazon? Postmates’
about 60 percent of the market share in India. In 2015, Ola launched Boost to Small Business,” CNBC, April 29, 2015; P. Sawers, “Uber Launches
a grocery delivery service, Ola Store, that offers customers a choice a Curated Meal-Delivery Service in New York and Chicago,” Venture Beat,
April 28, 2015; K. Steinmetz, “Go Fetch,” Time, March 16, 2015; B. Solomon,
of 12,000 items in 13 categories, everything from fruits and vegeta­ “America’s Most Promising Company: Instacart, the $2 Billion Grocery App,”
bles to baby items. Forbes, January 21, 2015; D. Matthews, “Watch Out, Seamless and Grub­
These companies do experience challenges. To begin with, the Hub—Amazon Is Coming for You,” Fast Company, December 3, 2014.
workforce that is essential to this business model may present a
problem. That is, their labor costs will probably rise. Also, several Questions
on-demand companies are being sued for classifying their couriers
1. Describe the information technology used and developed
as independent contractors rather than as employees to avoid pro­
by the entrepreneurs who founded Instacart, Postmates,
viding them with benefits packages. In June 2015, California’s labor
GrubHub/Seamless, Uber, and Ola Cabs. What is the impact
commissioner ruled that a driver for Uber should be classified as a
of these technologies on the costs of starting a business?
company employee.
Another challenge is that convenience can be expensive be­ 2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of being an in­
cause delivery charges can vary greatly. For example, Instacart of­ dependent contractor for a company?
fers flat rates, whereas Postmates’ fees depend on the distance of 3. Would you consider a job as a courier for one of these com­
the delivery. Besides delivery costs, Instacart charges a premium panies? Why or why not?
 Why Should I Study Information Systems? 5

1.1Why Should I Study Information

Systems?
You are part of the most connected generation in history: You have grown up online; you are,
quite literally, never out of touch; you use more information technologies (in the form of digital
devices), for more tasks, and are bombarded with more information, than any generation in
history. The MIT Technology Review refers to you as Homo conexus. Information technologies
are so deeply embedded in your lives that your daily routines would be almost unrecognizable
to a college student just 20 years ago.
Essentially, you practice continuous computing, surrounded by a movable information
network. This network is created by constant cooperation between the digital devices you carry
(for example, laptops, tablets, and smartphones); the wired and wireless networks that you
access as you move about; and web-based tools for finding information and communicating
and collaborating with other people. Your network enables you to pull information about vir­
tually anything from anywhere, at any time, and to push your own ideas back to the web, from
wherever you are, through a mobile device. Think of everything you do online, often with your
smartphone: register for classes; take classes (and not just at your university); access class syl­
labi, information, PowerPoints, and lectures; research class papers and presentations; conduct
banking; pay your bills; research, shop, and buy products from companies and other people;
sell your “stuff”; search for, and apply for, jobs; make your travel reservations (hotel, airline,
rental car); create your own blog and post your own podcasts and videocasts to it; design your
own page on Facebook and LinkedIn; make and upload videos to YouTube; take, edit, and print
your own digital photographs; stream music and movies to your personal libraries; use RSS
feeds to create your personal electronic newspaper; text and tweet your friends and family
throughout your day; send Snaps; and many other activities. (Note: If any of these terms are
unfamiliar to you, don’t worry. You will learn about everything mentioned here in detail later
in this text.)

The Informed User—You!

So, the question is: Why you should learn about information systems and information technol­
ogies? After all, you can comfortably use a computer (or other electronic devices) to perform
many activities, you have been surfing the web for years, and you feel confident that you can
manage any IT application that your organization’s MIS department installs.
The answer lies in you becoming an informed user; that is, a person knowledgeable about
information systems and information technology. There are several reasons why you should
become an informed user.
MIS In general, informed users tend to get more value from whatever technologies they
use. You will enjoy many benefits from being an informed user of IT, including:

• You will benefit more from your organization’s IT applications because you will under­
stand what is “behind” those applications (see Figure 1.1); that is, what you see on your
computer screen is brought to you by your MIS department, who is operating behind your
screen.
• You will be in a position to enhance the quality of your organization’s IT applications with
your input.
• Even as a new graduate, you will quickly be in a position to recommend—and perhaps help
select—the IT applications that your organization will use.
• Being an informed user will keep you abreast of both new information technologies
and rapid developments in existing technologies. Remaining on top of things will
help you to anticipate the impacts that new and improved technologies will have on
your organization and to make recommendations on the adoption and use of these
technologies.
6 CHAPT E R 1 Introduction to Information Systems

@ Slaomir Fajer/iStockphoto
FIGURE 1.1 MIS provides
what users see and use on their
computers.

• You will understand how using IT can improve your organization’s performance and team­
work as well as your own productivity.
• If you have ideas of becoming an entrepreneur, then being an informed user will help you
use IT when you start your own business.

Going further, managing the IS function within an organization is no longer the exclusive
responsibility of the IS department. Rather, users now play key roles in every step of this pro­
cess. The overall objective in this text is to provide you with the necessary information to con­
tribute immediately to managing the IS function in your organization. In short, the goal is to
help you become a very informed user!

IT Offers Career Opportunities

MIS Because IT is vital to the operation of modern businesses, it offers many employment
opportunities. The demand for traditional IT staff—programmers, business analysts, systems
analysts, and designers—is substantial. In addition, many well-paid jobs exist in areas such as
the Internet and electronic commerce (e-commerce), mobile commerce (m-commerce), net­
work security, telecommunications, and multimedia design.
The IS field includes the people in various organizations who design and build information
systems, the people who use those systems, and the people responsible for managing those
systems. At the top of the list is the chief information officer (CIO).
The CIO is the executive who is in charge of the IS function. In most modern organizations,
the CIO works with the chief executive officer (CEO), the chief financial officer (CFO), and other
senior executives. Therefore, he or she actively participates in the organization’s strategic plan­
ning process. In today’s digital environment, the IS function has become increasingly strategic
within organizations. As a result, although most CIOs still rise from the IS department, a grow­
ing number are coming up through the ranks in the business units (e.g., marketing or finance).
Regardless of your major, you could become the CIO of your organization one day. This is an­
other reason to be an informed user of information systems!
 Why Should I Study Information Systems? 7

TA B LE 1 .1 Information Technology Jobs

Position Job Description

Chief Information Officer Highest-ranking IS manager; responsible for all strategic planning in the organization
IS Director Manages all systems throughout the organization and the day-to-day operations of the entire IS
organization
Information Center Manager Manages IS services such as help desks, hot lines, training, and consulting
Applications Development Manager Coordinates and manages new systems development projects
Project Manager Manages a particular new systems development project
Systems Analyst Interfaces between users and programmers; determines information requirements and technical
specifications for new applications
Operations Manager Supervises the day-to-day operations of the data or computer center
Programming Manager Coordinates all applications programming efforts
Social Media Manager Coordinates all social media development efforts and all social media monitoring and response
efforts
Business Analyst Focuses on designing solutions for business problems; interfaces closely with users to demonstrate
how IT can be used innovatively
Systems Programmer Creates the computer code for developing new systems software or maintaining existing systems
software
Applications Programmer Creates the computer code for developing new applications or maintaining existing applications
Emerging Technologies Manager Forecasts technology trends; evaluates and experiments with new technologies
Network Manager Coordinates and manages the organization’s voice and data networks
Database Administrator Manages the organization’s databases and oversees the use of database-management software
Auditing or Computer Security Oversees the ethical and legal use of information systems
Manager
Webmaster Manages the organization’s website
Web Designer Creates websites and pages

Table 1.1 provides a list of IT jobs, along with a description of each one. For further details
about careers in IT, see www.computerworld.com/careertopics/careers and www.monster.com.
Career opportunities in IS are strong and are projected to remain strong over the next 10
years. In fact, the U.S. News & World Report listed its “100 best jobs of 2016,” Money listed its
“best jobs in America for 2016,” and Forbes listed its “10 best jobs” for 2016. Let’s take a look at
these rankings. (Note that the rankings differ because the magazines used different criteria in
their research.) As you can see, jobs suited for MIS majors rank extremely high in all three lists.
The magazines with their job rankings are as follows:

U.S. News & World Report (out of 100)

3: Computer systems analyst
13: Software developer
20: Web developer
29: IT manager

Money
1: Software engineer
7: IT Analyst

Forbes (out of 10)

3: Information security analyst
7: Software engineer
8: Computer systems analyst
8 CHAPT E R 1 Introduction to Information Systems

Not only do IS careers offer strong job growth, the pay is excellent as well. The Bureau of
Labor Statistics, an agency within the Department of Labor that is responsible for tracking and
analyzing trends relating to the labor market, notes that the median salary in 2016 for “com­
puter and information systems managers” was approximately $130,000, and predicted that the
profession would grow by an average of 15 percent per year through 2022.

Managing Information Resources

Managing information systems in modern organizations is a difficult and complex task. Several
factors contribute to this complexity. First, information systems have enormous strategic value
to organizations. Firms rely on them so heavily that, in some cases, when these systems are
not working (even for a short time), the firm cannot function. (This situation is called “being
hostage to information systems”). Second, information systems are very expensive to acquire,
operate, and maintain.
A third factor contributing to the difficulty in managing information systems is the evo­
lution of the management information systems (MIS) function within the organization. When
businesses first began to use computers in the early 1950s, the MIS department “owned” the
only computing resource in the organization, the mainframe. At that time, end users did not
interact directly with the mainframe.
In contrast, in the modern organization, computers are located in all departments, and al­
most all employees use computers in their work. This situation, known as end user computing,
has led to a partnership between the MIS department and the end users. The MIS department
now acts more as of a consultant to end users, viewing them as customers. In fact, the main
function of the MIS department is to use IT to solve end users’ business problems.
MIS As a result of these developments, the responsibility for managing information
resources is now divided between the MIS department and the end users. This arrangement
raises several important questions: Which resources are managed by whom? What is the
role of the MIS department, its structure, and its place within the organization? What is the
appropriate relationship between the MIS department and the end users? Regardless of
who is doing what, it is essential that the MIS department and the end users work in close
cooperation.
There is no standard way to divide responsibility for developing and maintaining informa­
tion resources between the MIS department and the end users. Instead, that division depends
on several factors: the size and nature of the organization, the amount and type of IT resources,
the organization’s attitudes toward computing, the attitudes of top management toward com­
puting, the maturity level of the technology, the amount and nature of outsourced IT work, and
even the countries in which the company operates. Generally speaking, the MIS department
is responsible for corporate-level and shared resources, and the end users are responsible for
departmental resources. Table 1.2 identifies both the traditional functions and various new,
consultative functions of the MIS department.
So, where do the end users come in? Take a close look at Table 1.2. Under the traditional
MIS functions, you will see two functions for which you provide vital input: managing systems
development and infrastructure planning. Under the consultative MIS functions, in contrast,
you exercise the primary responsibility for each function, while the MIS department acts as
your advisor.

Before you go on . . .

1. Rate yourself as an informed user. (Be honest; this isn’t a test!)

2. Explain the benefits of being an informed user of information systems.
3. Discuss the various career opportunities offered in the IT field.
 Overview of Computer-Based Information Systems 9

TA B LE 1 .2 The Changing Role of the Information Systems Department

Traditional Functions of the MIS Department

Managing systems development and systems project management
• As an end user, you will have critical input into the systems development process. You will learn
about systems development in Chapter 13.
Managing computer operations, including the computer center
Staffing, training, and developing IS skills
Providing technical services
Infrastructure planning, development, and control
• As an end user, you will provide critical input about the IS infrastructure needs of your department.
New (Consultative) Functions of the MIS Department
Initiating and designing specific strategic information systems
• As an end user, your information needs will often mandate the development of new strategic
information systems.
You will decide which strategic systems you need (because you know your business needs better than
the MIS department does), and you will provide input into developing these systems.
Incorporating the Internet and electronic commerce into the business
• As an end user, you will be primarily responsible for effectively using the Internet and electronic
commerce in your business. You will work with the MIS department to accomplish this task.
Managing system integration including the Internet, intranets, and extranets
• As an end user, your business needs will determine how you want to use the Internet, your
corporate intranets, and extranets to accomplish your goals. You will be primarily responsible for
advising the MIS department on the most effective use of the Internet, your corporate intranets, and
extranets.
Educating the non-MIS managers about IT
• Your department will be primarily responsible for advising the MIS department on how best to
educate and train your employees about IT.
Educating the MIS staff about the business
• Communication between the MIS department and the business units is a two-way street. You will be
responsible for educating the MIS staff on your business, its needs, and its goals.
Partnering with business-unit executives
• Essentially, you will be in a partnership with the MIS department. You will be responsible for seeing
that this partnership is one “between equals” and ensuring its success.
Managing outsourcing
• Outsourcing is driven by business needs. Therefore, the outsourcing decision resides largely with
the business units (that is, with you). The MIS department, working closely with you, will advise you
on technical issues such as communications bandwidth and security, as well as other issues.
Proactively using business and technical knowledge to seed innovative ideas about IT
• Your business needs will often drive innovative ideas about how to effectively use information
systems to accomplish your goals. The best way to bring these innovative uses of IS to life is to
partner closely with your MIS department. Such close partnerships have amazing synergies!
Creating business alliances with business partners
• The needs of your business unit will drive these alliances, typically along your supply chain. Again,
your MIS department will act as your advisor on various issues, including hardware and software
compatibility, implementing extranets, communications, and security.

1.2 Overview of Computer-Based

Information Systems
Organizations refer to their management information systems functional area by several
names, including the MIS Department, the Information Systems (IS) Department, the Infor­
mation Technology (IT) Department, and the Information Services Department. Regardless of
the name, however, this functional area deals with the planning for—and the development,
Discovering Diverse Content Through
Random Scribd Documents
 CHAPTER IV.—THE TIDINGS OF
FREDERIC’S DOOM

S
ix years of married and semi-independent life went by, and left
Prince William of Prussia but little changed. He worked
diligently up through the grades of military training and
responsibility, fulfilling all the public duties of his position with
exactness, but showing no inclination to create a separate rôle in the
State for himself. The young men of the German upper and middle
classes, alive with the new spirit of absolutism and lust for conquest
with which boyish memories of 1870 imbued their minds, looked
toward him and spoke of him as their leader that was to be when
their generation should come into its own—but that seemed
something an indefinite way ahead. He could afford to wait silently.
His summer home at Marmorpalais, charmingly situated on the
shore of the Heiligen Sea at Potsdam, did not in any obvious sense
become a political centre. The men who came to it were chiefly
hard-working officers, and the talk of their scant leisure, over wine
and cigars, was of military tasks, hunting experiences, and personal
gossip rather than of graver matters. The library, which was William’s
workroom in these days, has most of its walls covered with racks
arranged to hold maps, presumably for strategic studies and
Kriegspiel work. The next most important piece of furniture in the
room is a tall cabinet for cigars. The bookcase is much smaller.
When winter came Prince William and his family returned to their
apartments in the Schloss at Berlin. Nurses clad in the picturesque
Wendish dress of the Spreewald bore an increasing prominent part
in this annual exodus from Potsdam—for almost every year brought
its new male Hohenzollern.
 Thus the early spring of 1887 found William, now past his twenty-
eighth year, a major, commanding a battalion of Foot guards, the
father of four handsome, sturdy boys, and two lives removed from
the throne.
Then came, without warning, one of those terrible, world-
changing moments wherein destiny reveals her face to the awed
beholder—moments about which the imagination of the outside
public lingers with curiosity forever unsatisfied. No one will ever tell
what happens in that soul-trying instant of time, We shall never
know, for example, just what William felt and thought one March
day in 1887, when somebody—identity unknown to us as well—
whispered in his ear that the Crown Prince, his father, had a cancer
in the throat.
The world heard this sinister news some weeks later, and was so
grieved at the intelligence that for over a year thereafter it fostered
the hope of its falsity, and was even grateful to courtier physicians
and interested flatterers who encouraged this hope. Civilization had
elected Frederic to a place among its heroes, and clung despairingly
to the belief that his life might, after all, be saved.
But in the inner family circle of the Hohenzollerns there was from
the first no illusion on this point. The old Emperor and his Chancellor
and the Prince William knew that the malady was cancerous. Their
information came from Ems, whither Frederic went upon medical
advice in the spring of 1887, to be treated for “a bad cold with
bronchial complications.” Later a strenuous and determined attempt
was made to represent the disease as something else, and out of
this grew one of the most painful and cruel domestic tragedies
known to history. At this point it is enough to say that the Emperor
and his grandson knew about the cancer before even rumours of it
reached the general public, and that their belief in its fatal character
remained unshaken throughout.
To comprehend fully and fairly what followed, it will be necessary
to try to look at Frederic through the eyes of the Court party. The
view of him which we of England and America take has been,
beyond doubt, of great and lasting service to the human race—in
much the same sense that the world has been benefited by the
idealized purities and sweetnesses of the Arthurian legend. We are
helped by our heroes in this practical, work-a-day, modern world as
truly as were our pagan fathers who followed the sons of Woden.
Every one of us is the richer and stronger for this image of Frederic
the Noble which the English-speaking peoples have erected in their
Valhalla.
But it is fair to reflect, on the other hand, that this fine,
handsome, able, and good-hearted Prince could not have created for
himself such hosts of hostile critics in his own country, could not
have continually found himself year by year losing his hold upon
even the minority of his fellow-countrymen, without reason. It is
certain that in 1886—the year before his illness befell—he had come
to a minimum of usefulness, influence, and popularity in the Empire.
Deplore this as we may, it would be unintelligent to refuse to inquire
into its causes.
Moreover, we are engaged upon the study of a living man, holding
a great position, possibly destined to do great things. All our
thoughts of this living man are instinctively coloured by prejudices
based upon his relations with his father, who is dead. Justice to
William demands that we shall strive fairly to get at the opinions and
feelings which swayed him and his advisers in their attitude of
antagonism to our hero, his father.
 His critics say that Frederic was an actor. They do not insist upon
his insincerity—in fact, for the most part credit him with honesty and
candour—but regard him as the victim of hereditary histrionism. His
mother, the late Empress Augusta, had always impressed Berliners in
the same way—as playing in the rôle of an exiled Princess, with her
little property Court accessories, her little tea-party circle of imitation
French littérateurs, and her “Mrs. Haller” sighs and headshakings
over the coarseness and cruelty of the big roaring world outside.
And her grandfather was that play-actor gone mad, Czar Paul of
Russia, who tore the passion so into tatters that his own sons rose
and killed him.
 Once given the key to this view of Frederic’s character, a strange
cloud of corroborative witnesses are at hand. Take one example.
Most of the pictures of him drawn at the period of his greatest
popularity—during and just after the Franco-German war—pourtray
him with a long-bowled porcelain pipe in his hand. The artists in the
field made much of this: every war correspondent wrote about it.
The effect upon the public mind was that of a kindly, unostentatious,
pipe-loving burgher—and so lasting was it that when, seventeen
years later, he was attacked by cancer, many good people hastened
to ascribe it to excessive smoking. I had this same notion, too, and
therefore was vastly surprised, in Berlin, years after, when a General
Staff officer told me that Frederic rather disliked tobacco. I instanced
the familiar pictures of him with his pipe. The instant reply was: “Ah,
yes, that was like him. He always carried a pipe about at
headquarters to produce an impression of comradeship on the
soldiers, although it often made him sick.”
It was hard work to credit this theory—until it was confirmed by a
passage in Sir Morell Mackenzie’s book. In response to the
physician’s question, Frederic said the report of his being a great
smoker was “quite untrue, and that for many years he had hardly
smoked at all.” He added that probably this report, coming from
soldiers who had seen him sometimes solacing himself after a hard-
fought battle with a pipe, had given him his “perfectly undeserved
reputation” as a devotee of tobacco.*

* “The Fatal Illness of Frederic the Noble,” p. 20.

But the most striking illustrations of this trait, which Germans

suspected in Frederic, are given in Gustav Freytag’s interesting book,
“The Crown Prince and the Imperial Crown.” It may be said in
passing that even among Conservatives in Berlin there is a feeling
that Freytag should not have published this book. No doubt it tells
the truth, but then Freytag owed very much to the tender friendship
and liking of Frederic, who conspicuously favoured him above other
German writers, and wrote kindly things about him in his diary—and,
if the truth had to be told, some other than Freytag should have told
it. Coupled as it is in the public mind with Dr. Friedberg’s desertion,
heretofore spoken of, this behaviour of another of the dead Prince’s
friends is felt to help justify the low opinion of German gratitude held
among scoffing neighbours. As a Berlin official said in comment to
the writer: “When men like Friedberg and Freytag do these things to
the memory of their dead patron, it is no wonder that foreigners call
us Prussians a pack of wolves, ready always to leap upon and
devour any comrade who is down.”
Freytag was the foremost correspondent attached to Frederic’s
headquarters in 1870-71, and enjoyed the confidence of the Crown
Prince in extraordinary measure. Thus he is able to give us a
detailed picture of the man’s moods and mental workings, day by
day, during that eventful time. And this picture is a perfect panorama
of varying phases of histrionism.
The Crown Prince was sedulously cultivating the popular
impression of himself as a plain, hail-fellow-well-met, friendly Prince.
But Freytag says: “The traditional conception of rank and position
dwelt ineradicably in his soul; when he had occasion to remember
his own claims, he stood more vehemently on his dignity than others
of his class.... Had destiny allowed him a real reign, this peculiarity
would probably have shown itself in a manner unpleasantly
surprising to his contemporaries.” *

* “The Crown Prince and the German Imperial Crown,” by

Gustav Freytag, p. 27.

More important still is this remark on the following page: “The

idea of the German Empire grew out of princely pride in his soul; it
became an ardent wish, and I think he was the originator and
motive power of this innovation.”
The fact that it was Frederic who conceived the idea of the Empire
first came to the world when Dr. Geffcken printed that famous
portion of the Crown Prince’s diary which led to prosecutions and
infinite scandal. Freytag’s subsequent publication surrounds the fact
with most curious minutiae of detail.
As early as August 1st, before his Third Army had even crossed
the Rhine, Frederic had broached the idea of an empire, with Prussia
at its head. All through the campaign which followed his head was
full of it. He busied his mind with questions of titles, precedence,
&c., to grow out of the new creation. One afternoon—August 11th—
he strolled on the hillside with Freytag for a talk. “He had put on his
general’s cloak so that it fell around his tall figure like a king’s
mantle, and had thrown around his neck the gold chain of the
Hohenzollern order, which he was not wont to wear in the quiet of
the camp—and paced elated along the village green. Filled with the
importance which the emperor idea had for him, he evidently
adapted his external appearance to the conversation.” During this
talk he asked what the new title of the King of Prussia should be,
and the anti-imperialist Freytag suggested Duke of Germany. Then
“the Crown Prince broke out with emphasis, his eyes flashing: ‘No!
he must be Emperor!’” * To create this empire Frederic was quite
ready to forcibly coerce the Southern German States. Bismarck and
William I., whom we think of as rough, hard, arbitrary men, shrank
from even considering such a course. To the enthusiastic and slightly
unreal Frederic it seemed the most natural thing in the world. The
account in his diary of the long interview of Nov. 16, 1870, with
Bismarck makes all this curiously clear. “What about the South
Germans? Would you threaten them, then?” asks the Chancellor.
“Yes, indeed!” answers our ideal constitutional Frederic, with a light
heart. The interview was protracted and stormy, Bismarck ending it
by resort to his accustomed trick of threatening to resign, a well-
worn device which twenty years later was to be used just once too
often.

* Freytag, p. 20.

In this same diary, under date of the following March (1871),

Frederic writes: “I doubt whether the necessary uprightness exists
for the free development of the Empire, and think that only a new
epoch, which shall one day come to terms with me, will see that....
More especially I shall be the first Prince who has to appear before
his people after having honourably declared for constitutional
methods without any reserve.”
One feels that these two passages from his own diary—the
utterances of November and the reflections of March—show
distinctly why the practical rulers, soldiers, and statesmen of Prussia
distrusted Frederic. They saw him more eager and strenuous about
grasping the imperial dignity than any one else—willing even to
break treaties and force Bavaria, Saxony, and Würtemberg into the
empire at the cannon’s mouth, and then they heard him lamenting
that until he came to the throne there would not be enough
“uprightness” to insure The Empress Frederic “constitutional
methods.” Candidly, it is impossible to wonder at their failure to
reconcile the two.
 An even more acute reason for this suspicion and dislike lay in
Frederic’s relations with the English Court. To begin with, there was
a sensational and fantastic uxoriousness about his attitude toward
his wife which could not command sympathy in Germany. Freytag
tells of his lying on his camp bed watching the photographs of his
wife and children on the table before him, with tears in his eyes, and
rhapsodizing about his wife’s qualities of heart and intellect to the
newspaper correspondent, until Freytag promised to dedicate his
next book to her. “He gave me a look of assent and lay back
satisfied.” This in itself would rather pall on the German taste.
 Worse still, Frederic used to write long letters home to his wife
every day—often the work of striking the camp would be delayed
until these epistles could be finished—and then the Crown Princess
at Berlin would as regularly send the purport of these to her royal
relatives in England and thence it would be telegraphed to France.
Bismarck always believed, or professed to believe, that there was
concerted treachery in this business. No one else is likely to credit
this assumption. But at all events the fact is that this embarrassing
diffusion of news was discovered and complained of at the time, and
charged against Frederic, and was the reason, as Bismarck bluntly
declared during the discussion over the diary, why the Crown Prince
was not trusted by his father or allowed to share state secrets.
As for the Empire itself, though the original idea of it was his,
Frederic suffered the fate of many other inventors in having very
little to do with it after it was put into working order. He presented a
magnificently heroic figure on horseback in out-of-door spectacles,
and his cultured tastes made the task of presiding over museums
and learned societies congenial. But there his participation in public
affairs ended.
The Empire he had dreamed of was of a wholly different sort from
this prosaic, machine-like, departmental structure which Bismarck
and Delbruck made. Frederic’s vision had been of some splendid,
picturesque, richly-decorated revival of the Holy Roman Empire.
There are a number of delightful pages in Freytag’s book giving the
Crown Prince’s romantic views on this point. * When the first
Reichstag met in 1871, to acclaim the new Emperor in his own
capital, Frederic introduced into the ceremony the ancient throne
chair of the Saxon Emperors, which may now be seen in Henry’s
palace at Goslar, and which, having lain unknown for centuries in a
Harz village, was discovered by being offered for sale by a peasant
as old metal some seventy years ago.

* Fryetag, pp. 115-130.

 Among practical Germans this attempt to link their new Empire
with the discredited and disreputable old fabric, which had been too
rotten for even the Hapsburgs to hold together, was extremely
distasteful. Yet Frederic clung to this pseudo-mediævalism to the
last. When he came to the throne as Kaiser his first proclamation
spoke of “the re-established Empire.” And those who were in Berlin
at the time know how a whole day’s delay was caused by the
dissension over what title the new ruler should assume—the secret
of which was that he desired to call himself Kaiser Friedrich IV, thus
going back for imperial continuity to that Friedrich III who died while
Martin Luther was a boy, and who is remembered only because he
was the father of the great Max and was the original possessor of
the Austrian under lip.
Freytag indeed says that to that first proclamation Frederic did
affix a signature with an IV—the assumption being that Bismarck
altered it.
The reader has been shown this less satisfying aspect of Frederic,
as his associates saw him, because without understanding it the
attitude of both his father and his son towards him would be flatly
unintelligible. They did not believe that he would make a safe
Emperor for Germany.
The old William all the same loved his son deeply, and manifested
an almost extravagant delight at the creditable way in which he
carried himself through the Bohemian and French campaigns. In the
succeeding years of peace it is obvious enough that the venerable
Kaiser grew despondent about his son’s association with Radicals
and their dreams—and it is equally clear that there were plenty of
advisers at hand to confirm the old man in these gloomy doubts.
Hence, though he cherished a sincere affection for “Unser Fritz” and
his English wife, and would gladly have had them much about him,
he could not help being of the party opposed to them—the party
which lost no opportunity of exalting young William in his
grandfather’s eyes as the real hope of the Hohenzollerns. Thus there
was a growing, though tacit, estrangement between the father and
son.
When Frederic was stricken with disease, however, the kindly old
father suffered keenly. There was great sweetness of nature in the
tough martial frame of William I, and there is an abiding pathos in
the picture we have of his last moments—the stout nonogenarian
who fought death so valiantly even to his last breath that it seemed
as if he could not die, rolling his white head on the pillow, and
moaning piteously, “Poor Fritz! Poor Fritz!” with his rambling
thoughts beyond the snow-clad Alps, where his son was also in the
destroyer’s grasp.
As for young William, his estrangement from his father, if less
noted, had been more complete. He belonged openly to another
party, and moreover smarted under the reproach of being unfilial,
which the friends of his parents, largely of the writing and printing
class, publicly levelled at him.
Placed in this position, the shock of the news that his father had
an incurable disease must have come upon him with peculiar force.
We can only dimly imagine to ourselves the great struggles fought
out in his breast between grief for the father, who had really been an
ideal parent, loving, gentle, solicitous, and tenderly proud, and
concern for the Empire, which might be doomed to have a wasting
invalid at its head for years. On the one side was the repellent
thought that this father’s death would mean his own swift
advancement, for the grandfather could clearly live but little longer.
On the other side, if his father’s life was prolonged, it meant the
elevation to the throne of a sick man, whose fitness for the crown of
this armed and beleaguered nation would at all times have been
doubtful, and who, in his enfeebled state, at the mercy of the radical
agitators and adventurers about him, might jeopardize the fortunes
of Empire and dynasty alike.
Torn between these conflicting views, it is not strange that William
welcomed a middle course, suggested, I am authoritatively
informed, by Frederic himself.
The Crown Prince returned to Berlin from Ems thoroughly
frightened. He had no doubt whatever that he was suffering from
cancer and expected to die within the year. Like all men of an
expansive and impressionable temperament, he was subject to fits
of profound melancholia—as Freytag puts it, “fond of indulging in
gloomy thoughts and pessimistic humours;” so much so that he
“sometimes cherished the idea of renouncing the throne, in case of
its being vacant, and leaving the government to his son.” * He had
grown lethargic and dispirited through years of inaction and
systematic exclusion from governmental labours and interests. He
returned from Ems now, in this April of 1887, in a state of complete
depression.

* Freytag, p. 78,

The evident affection and sympathy with which both his father
and son received him, gave an added impulse to the despairing
ideas which had conquered his mind since his sentence of death by
cancer had been uttered.
In the course of a touching interview between the three
Hohenzollerns, Frederic with tears in his eyes declared that he did
not desire to reign, and that if by chance he survived his father he
would waive his rights of succession in favour of his elder son. This
declaration was within a brief space of time repeated in the presence
of Prince Bismarck, and was by him reduced to writing. The paper
was deposited among the official private archives of the Crown at
Berlin, and presumably is still in existence there.
 CHAPTER V.—THROUGH THE
SHADOWS TO THE THRONE

T
he fact that the Crown Prince Frederic, despondent and
unnerved in the presence of a mortal disease, had voluntarily
pledged himself to renounce his rights of succession, was
naturally not published to the world. Although it is beyond doubt
that such a pledge was given, nothing more definite than a
roundabout hint has to this day been printed in Germany upon the
subject. There are no means of ascertaining the exact number of
personages in high position to whom this intelligence was imparted
at the time. As has been said, the Emperor, the Chancellor, and the
young heir were parties to Frederic’s original action. Certain
indications exist that for a time the secret was kept locked in the
breasts of these four men. Then Frederic confessed to his wife what
he had done.
The strangest feature of this whole curious business is that
Frederic should ever have taken this gravely important step, not only
without his wife’s knowledge, but against all her interests. Her
influence over him was of such commanding completeness, and his
devotion to her so dominated his whole career and character, that
the thing can only be explained by laying stress upon his admitted
tendency to melancholia and assuming that his shaken nerves
collapsed under the emotional strain of meeting his father and son
with sympathetic tears in their eyes.
With the moment when the wife first learned of this abdication the
active drama begins. She did not for an instant dream of suffering
the arrangement to be carried out—at least until every conceivable
form of resistance had been exhausted. We can fancy this proud,
energetic princess casting about anxiously here, there, everywhere,
for means with which to fight the grimly-powerful combination
against her husband’s future and her own, and can well believe that
in the darkest hour of the struggle which ensued this true daughter
of the Fighting Guelphs never lost heart.
For friends it was hopeless to look anywhere in Germany. She had
lived in Berlin and Potsdam for nearly thirty years, devoting her large
talents and wide sympathies to the encouragement of literature,
science, and the arts, to the inculcation of softening and merciful
thoughts embodied in new hospitals, asylums, and charitable
institutions, and the formation of orders of nurses; most earnestly of
all, to the task of lifting the women of Germany up in the domestic
and social scale, and making of them something higher than mere
mothers of families and household drudges. Nobody thanked her for
her pains, least of all the women she had striven to befriend. Her
undoubted want of tact and reserve in commenting upon the foibles
of her adopted countrymen kept her an alien in the German mind, in
spite of everything she did to foster a kindlier attitude. The feelings
of the country at large were passively hostile to her. The influential
classes hated her vehemently.
That she should link together in her mind this widespread and
assiduously-cultivated enmity to her, and this new and alarming
conspiracy to keep her husband from the throne, was most natural.
She leaped to the conclusion that it was all a plot, planned by her
ancient and implacable foe, Bismarck. That her own son was in it
made the thing more acutely painful, but only increased her
determination to fight.
Instinctively she turned to her English home for help. Although
nearly two centuries have passed since George I entered upon his
English inheritance, and more than half a century has gone by since
the last signs of British dominion were removed from Hanover, the
dynastic family politics of Windsor and Balmoral remain almost
exclusively German. In all the confused and embittered squabbles
which have kept the royal and princely houses of Germany by the
ears since the close of the Napoleonic wars, the interference of the
British Guelph has been steadily pitted against the influence of the
Prussian Hohenzollern. Hardly one of the changes which, taken
altogether, have whittled the reigning families of Germany from
thirty down to a shadowy score since 1820, has been made without
the active meddling of English royalty on one side or the other—
most generally on the losing side. Hence, while it was natural that
the Crown Princess should remember in her time of sore trial that
she was also Princess Royal in England, it was equally to be
expected that Germany should prepare itself to resent this fresh case
of British intermeddling.
The scheme of battle which the Crown Princess, in counsel with
her insular relatives, decided upon was at once ingenious and bold.
It could not, unfortunately, be gainsaid that her husband, Frederic,
had formally pledged himself to relinquish the crown if he proved to
be afflicted with a mortal disease. Very well; the war must be waged
upon that “if”.
A good many momentous letters had crossed the North Sea,
heavily sealed and borne by trusted messengers, before the system
of defence was disclosed by the first overt movement. On the 20th
of May, 1887, Dr. Morell Mackenzie, the best known of London
specialists in throat diseases, arrived in Berlin, and was immediately
introduced to a conference of German physicians, heretofore in
charge of the case, as a colleague who was to take henceforth the
leading part. They told him that to the best of their belief they had
to deal with a cancer, but were awaiting his diagnosis. On the
following day, and a fortnight later, he performed operations upon
the illustrious patient’s throat to serve as the basis for a
microscopical examination. With his forceps he drew out bits of
flesh, which were sent to Prof. Virchow for scientific scrutiny. Upon
examining these Prof. Virchow reported he discovered nothing to
“excite the suspicion of wider and graver disease,” * thus giving the
most powerful support imaginable to Dr. Mackenzie’s diagnosis of “a
benign growth.”
 * Mackenzie’s “Frederic the Noble,” p. 34.

The German physicians allege that Dr. Mackenzie drew out pieces
of the comparatively healthful right vocal cord. The London specialist
denies this. Nothing could be further from the purpose of this work
than to take sides upon any phase of the unhappy and undignified
controversy which ensued. It is enough here to note the charge, as
indicating the view which Prof. Gerhardt and his German colleagues
took from the first of Mackenzie’s mission in Berlin.
This double declaration against the theory of cancer having been
obtained, the next step was to secure the removal of Frederic. The
celebration of the Queen’s jubilee afforded a most valuable occasion.
He came to England on June 14th—and he never again stepped foot
in Berlin until he returned as Kaiser the following year. Nearly three
months were spent at Norwood, and in Scotland and the Isle of
Wight. A brief stop in the Austrian Tyrol followed, and then the
Crown Prince settled in his winter home at San Remo. On the day of
his arrival there Mackenzie was telegraphed for, as very dangerous
symptoms had presented themselves. He reached San Remo on
November 5, 1887, and discovered so grave a situation that Prince
William was immediately summoned from Berlin.
That the young Prince had been placed in a most trying position
by the quarrel which now raged about his father’s sick-room, need
not be pointed out. The physicians who stood highest in Berlin, and
who were backed by the liking and confidence of William’s friends,
were deeply indignant at having been superseded by two
Englishmen like Mackenzie and Hovell. This national prejudice
became easily confounded with partisan antagonisms. The Germans
are not celebrated for calm, or for skill in conducting controversies
with delicacy, and in this instance the worst side of everybody
concerned was exhibited.
One recalls now with astonishment the boundless rancour and
recklessness of accusation which characterized that bitter wrangle.
Many good people of one party seriously believed that the German
physicians wanted to gain access to Frederic in order to kill him. On
the other hand, a great number insisted that Mackenzie was
deceiving the public, and had subjected Frederic to the most terrible
maimings and tortures in order to conceal from Germany the fact of
the cancer. The basest motives were ascribed by either side to the
other. The Court circle asked what they were doing, then, to the
Crown Prince that they hid him away in Italy; the answering
insinuation was that very good reasons existed for not allowing him
to fall into the hands of the Berlin doctors, who were so openly
devoted to his heir.
In a state of public mind where hints of assassination grow
familiar to the ear, the mere charge of a lack of filial affection sounds
very tame indeed.
That William deserved during this painful period the reproaches
heaped upon him by the whole English-speaking world is by no
means clear. Such fault as may be with fairness imputed to him,
seems to have grown quite naturally out of the circumstances. He
was on the side of the German physicians as against Mackenzie; but
after all that has happened that can scarcely be regarded as a crime.
He could not but range himself with those who resented the tone Dr.
Mackenzie and his friends assumed toward what they called “the
Court circles of Berlin.”
When he reached San Remo in November, it was to note the death
mark clearly stamped on his father’s face; yet he heard the English
entourage still talking about the possibility of the disease not being
cancer. The German doctors had grievous stories to tell him about
how they had been crowded out and put under the heel of the
foreigner. Whether he would or not, he was made a party to the
whole wretched wrangle which henceforth vexed the atmosphere of
the Villa Zirio.
The outside world was subjecting this villa and its inhabitants to
the most tirelessly inquisitive scrutiny. Newspaper correspondents
engirdled San Remo with a cordon of espionage, through which
filtered the gossip of servants and the stray babbling of
tradespeople. Dr. Mackenzie—now become Sir Morell—confided his
views of the case to journalists who desired them. The German
physicians furtively promulgated stories of quite a different hue,
through the medium of the German press. Thus it came about that,
while Germany as a whole disliked deeply the manner in which
Frederic’s case was managed, the English-speaking peoples
espoused the opposite view and condemned as cruel and unnatural
the position occupied by the Germans, with young William at their
head.
As the winter of 1887-8 went forward, it became apparent that
the Kaiser’s prolonged life had run its span. The question which
would die first, old William or middle-aged Frederic, hung in a
fluttering balance. Germany watched the uncertain development of
this dual tragedy with bated breath, and all Christendom bent its
attention upon Germany and her two dying Hohenzollerns.
March came, with its black skies and drifting snow wreaths and
bitter winds blown a thousand miles across the Sclavonic sand
plains, and laid the aged Kaiser upon his deathbed. Prince William,
having alternated through the winter between Berlin and San Remo,
was at the last in attendance upon his grandfather. The dying old
man spoke to him as if he were the immediate heir. Upon him all the
injunctions of state and family policy which the departing monarch
wished to utter were directly laid. The story of those conferences will
doubtless never be revealed in its entirety. But it is known that, if
any notion had up to that time existed of keeping Frederic from the
throne, it was now abandoned. William was counselled to loving
patience and submission during the little reign which his father at
best could have. Bismarck was pledged to remain in office upon any
and all terms short of peremptory dismissal through this same brief
period.
It was to William, too, that that last exhortation to be
“considerate” with Russia was muttered by the dying man—that
strange domestic legacy of the Hohenzollerns which hints at the
murder of Charles XII, recalls the partition of Poland, the despair of
Jena, and the triumph of Waterloo, and has yet in store we know not
what still stranger things.
William I died on March 9, 1888. On the morning of the following
day Frederic and his wife and daughters left San Remo in a special
train and arrived at Berlin on the night of the 11th, having made the
swiftest long journey known in the records of continental railways.
The new Kaiser’s proclamation—“To my People”—bears the date of
March 12th, but it was really not issued until the next day.
During that period of delay, the Schloss at Charlottenburg, which
had been hastily fitted up for the reception of the invalid, was the
scene of protracted conferences between Frederic, his son William,
and Bismarck. Hints are not lacking that these interviews had their
stormy and unpleasant side, for Frederic had up to this time fairly
maintained his general health, and could to a limited extent make
use of his voice. But all that is visible to us of this is the fact that
some sort of understanding was arrived at, by which Bismarck could
remain in office and accept responsibility for the acts of the reign.
The story of those melancholy ninety-nine days need not detain us
long. Young William himself, though standing now in the strong light
of public scrutiny, on the steps of the throne, remained silent, and
for the most part motionless. The world gossiped busily about his
heartless conduct toward his mother, his callous behaviour in the
presence of his father’s terrible affliction, his sympathy with those
who most fiercely abused the good Sir Morell Mackenzie. As there
had been tales of his unfilial actions at San Remo, so now there
were stories of his shameless haste to snatch the reins of power
from his father’s hands. So late as August, 1889, an anonymous
writer alleged in “The New Review” that “the watchers by the sick
bed in Charlottenburg were always in dread when ‘Willie’ visited his
father lest he might brusquely demand the establishment of a
Regency.”
 Next to no proof of these assertions can be discovered in Berlin. If
there was talk of a Regency—as well there might be among those
who knew of the existence of Frederic’s offer to abdicate—it did not
in any way come before the public. I know of no one qualified to
speak who says that it ever came before even Frederic.
That a feeling of bitterness existed between William and his
parents is not to be denied. All the events of the past year had
contributed to intensify this feeling and to put them wider and wider
apart. Even if the young man had been able to divest himself of the
last emotion of self-sensitiveness, there would still have remained
the dislike for the whole England-Mackenzie-San Remo episode
which rankled in every conservative German mind. But neither the
blood nor the training of princes helps them to put thoughts of self
aside—and in William’s case a long chain of circumstances bound
him to a position which, though we may find it extremely unpleasant
to the eye, seemed to him a simple matter of duty and of justice to
himself and to Prussia.
The world gladly preserves and cherishes an idealized picture of
the knightly Kaiser Frederic, facing certain death with intrepid calm,
and labouring devotedly to turn what fleeting days might be left him
to the advantage of liberalism in Germany. It is a beautiful and
elevating picture, and we are all of us the richer for its possession.
But, in truth, Frederic practically accomplished but one reform
during his reign, and that came in the very last week of his life and
was bought at a heavy price. To the end he gave a surprisingly
regular attention to the tasks of a ruler. Both at Charlottenburg and,
later, at Potsdam, he forced himself, dying though he was, to daily
devote two hours or more to audiences with ministers and officials,
and an even greater space of time in his library to signing State
papers and writing up his diary. But this labour was almost wholly
upon routine matters.
Two incidents of the brief reign are remembered—the frustrated
attempt to marry one of the Prussian Princesses to a Battenberg and
the successful expulsion of Puttkamer from the Prussian Ministry of
the Interior.
The Battenberg episode attracted much the greater share of public
attention at the time, not only from the element of romance inherent
in the subject, but because it seemed to be an obvious continuation
of the Anglo-German feud which had been flashing its lightnings
about Frederic’s devoted head for a twelvemonth. Of the four
Battenberg Princes—cousins of the Grand Duke of Hesse by a
morganatic marriage, and hence, according to Prussian notions, not
“born” at all—one had married a daughter, another a granddaughter
of the Queen of England. This seemed to the German aristocracy a
most remarkable thing, and excited a good deal of class feeling, but
was not important so long as these upstart protégés of English
eccentricity kept out of reach of German snubs.
A third Battenberg, Alexander, had made for himself a
considerable name as Prince of Bulgaria: in fact, had done so well
that the Germans felt like liking him in spite of his brothers. The way
in which he had completely thrashed the Servians, moreover,
reflected credit upon the training he had had in the German Army. In
his sensational quarrel with the Czar, too, German opinion leaned to
his side, and altogether there was a kindly feeling toward him.
Perhaps if there had been no antecedent quarrel about English
interference, even his matrimonial adoption into the Hohenzollern
family might have been tolerated with good grace.
As it was, the announcement at the end of March that he was to
be betrothed to the Princess Victoria, the second daughter of
Frederic, provoked on the instant a furious uproar. The Junker class
all over Germany protested indignantly. The “reptile” press promptly
raised the cry that this was more of the alien work of the English
Empress, who had been prompted by her English mother to put this
fresh affront upon all true Germans. Prince Bismarck himself
hastened to Berlin and sternly insisted upon the abandonment of the
obnoxious idea. There was a fierce struggle before a result was
reached, with hot feminine words and tears of rage on one side,
with square-jawed, gruff-voiced obstinacy and much plain talk on
the other. At last Bismarck overbore opposition and had his way.
Prince William manifested almost effusive gratitude to the Chancellor
for having dispelled this nightmare of a Battenberg brother-in-law.
The solicitude about this project seems to have been largely
maternal. Sir Morell Mackenzie says of the popular excitement over
the subject: “I cannot say that it produced much effect on the
Emperor.” As for the Princess Victoria, she has now for some time
been the wife of Prince Adolph of Schaumburg-Lippe.
Although it did not attract a tithe of the attention given the
Battenberg marriage sensation, the dismissal of Puttkamer was
really an important act, the effects of which were lasting in Germany.
This official had been Minister of the Interior since 1881—a
thoroughgoing Bismarckian administrator, whose use of the great
machinery of his office to coerce voters, intimidate opposition, and
generally grease the wheels of despotic government, had become
the terror and despair of Prussian Liberalism; To have thrown him
out of office it was worth while to reign only ninety-nine days.
Ostensibly his retirement was a condition imposed by Frederic
before he would sign the Reichstag’s bill lengthening the
Parliamentary term to five years. The Radicals had hoped he would
veto it, and the overthrow of Puttkamer was offered as a solace to
these wounded hopes. But in reality Puttkamer had been doomed
from the outset of the new reign. He was conspicuous among those
who spoke with contempt of Frederic, and in his ministerial
announcement of the old Kaiser’s death to the public, insolently
neglected to say a word about his successor. Questioned about this
later, he had the impertinence to say that he could not find out what
title the new Kaiser would choose to assume.
Puttkamer’s resignation was gazetted on June 11th, and that very
evening Prince Bismarck gave a great dinner, at which the fallen
Minister was the guest of honour. In one sense the insult was
wasted, for out at Potsdam the invalid at whom it was levelled could
no longer eat, and was obviously close to death. Indirectly, however,
the affront made a mark upon the world’s memory. We shall hear of
Puttkamer again.
On the 1st day of June Frederic had been conveyed by boat to
Potsdam, where he wished to spend his remaining weeks in the
most familiar of his former homes, the New Palace, the name of
which he changed to Friedrichskron. He was already a dying man.
Two clever observers, who were on the little pier at Gleinicke,
described to me the appearance of the Emperor when he was
carried up out of the cabin to land. Said one: “He was crouched
down, wretched, scared, and pallid, like a man going to execution.”
The other added: “Say rather like an enfeebled maniac in charge of
his keepers.”
Yet, broken and crushed as he was, he was Kaiser to the last. The
announcement of Putt-kamer’s downfall came on June 11th. Frederic
died on June 15th.
It was in the late forenoon of that rainy, gray summer day that the
black and white royal standard above the palace fell—signifying that
the eighth King of Prussia was no more. A moment later orderlies
were running hither and thither outside; the troops within the palace
park hastily threw themselves into line, and detachments were at
once marched to each of the gates to draw a cordon between
Friedrichskron and all the world besides.
In an inner room in the great palace the elder son of the dead
Kaiser, all at once become William II, German Emperor, King in
Prussia, eighteen times a Duke, twice a Grand Duke, ten times a
Count, fifteen times a Seigneur, and three times a Margrave—this
young man, with fifty-four titles thus suddenly plumped down upon
him, * seated himself to write proclamations to his Army and his
Navy.

* With the possible exception of the Emperor of Austria,

William is the most betitled man in Europe. Beside being
German Emperor and King of Prussia, he is Margrave of
Brandenburg, and the two Lausitzes; Grand Duke of Lower
Rhineland and Posen; Duke of Silesia, Glatz, Saxony,
Westphalia, Engern, Pomerania, Luneburg, Holstein-Schleswig,
Magdeburg, Bremen, Geldern, Cleve, Juliers and Berg,
Crossen, Lauenburg, Mecklenburg, of the Wends and of the
Cassubes; Landgrave of Hesse and Thuringia; Prince of
Orange; Count-Prince of Henneburg; Count of the Mark, of
Ravensberg, of Hohenstein, of Lingen and Tecklenburg, of
Mansfeld, Sigmaringen, Veringen, and of Hohenzollern;
Burgrave of Nuremberg; Seigneur of Frankfurt, Rügen, East
Friesland, Paderborn, Pyrmont, Halber-stadt, Münster,
Minden, Osnabrück, Hildesheim, Verden, Kammin, Fulda, Nassau
and Moers.
CHAPTER VI.—UNDER THE SWAY OF
THE BISMARCKS

D
uring the three days between the death and burial of Frederic
the world saw and heard nothing of his successor save these
two proclamations to the Army and Navy. This in itself was
sufficiently strange. It was like a slap in the face of nineteenth-
century civilization that this young man, upon whom the vast task of
ruling an empire rich in historical memories of peaceful progress had
devolved, should take such a barbaric view of his position. In this
country which gave birth to the art of printing, this Germany wherein
Dürer and Cranach worked and Luther changed the moral history of
mankind and Lessing cleared the way for that noble band of poets of
whom Goethe stands first and Wagner is not last, it seemed nothing
less than monstrous that a youth called to be Emperor should see
only columns of troops and iron-clads.
The purport of these proclamations, shot forth from the printing
press while the news of Frederic’s death was still in the air, fitted
well the precipitancy of their appearance. William delivered a long
eulogy upon his grandfather, made only a passing allusion to his
father, recited the warlike achievements and character of his remoter
ancestors, and closed by saying: “Thus we belong to each other, I
and the army; thus we were born for one another; and firmly and
inseparably will we hold together, whether it is God’s will to give us
peace or storm.”
Exultant militarism rang out from every line of these utterances.
The world listened to this young man boasting about being a war
lord, with feelings nicely graded upon a scale of distances. Those
near by put hands on sword hilts; those further away laughed
contemptuously; but all alike, far and near, felt that an evil day for
Germany had dawned.
The funeral of old William at Berlin in March had been a spectacle
memorable in the history of mankind—the climacteric demonstration
of the pomp and circumstance of European monarchical systems. A
simple military funeral, a trifle more ornate than that of a General of
division, was given to his successor. The day, June 18th, was the
anniversary of Waterloo.
It may have been due to thoughts upon what this day meant in
Prussian history; more probably it reflected the chastened and
softening influences of these three days’ meditation in the palace of
death; from whatever cause, William’s address to the Prussian
people, issued on the 18th, was a much more satisfactory
performance. The tone of the drill sergeant was entirely lacking, and
the words about his father, the departed Frederic, were full of filial
sweetness. The closing paragraph fairly mirrors the whole
proclamation:
“I have vowed to God that, after the example of my fathers, I will
be a just and clement Prince to my people, that I will foster piety
and the fear of God, and that I will protect the peace, promote the
welfare of the country, be a helper of the poor and distressed, and a
true guardian of the right.” Pondering upon the marked difference
between this address and the excited and vain-glorious harangue to
the fighting men of Germany which heralded William’s accession, it
occurred to me to inquire whether or not Dr. Hinzpeter had in the
interim made his appearance at Potsdam. No one could remember,
but the point may be worth the attention of the future historian.
Studying all that has since happened in the variant lights of these
proclamations of June 15th and June 18th, one sees a constant
struggle between two Williams—between the gentle, dreamy-eyed,
soft-faced boy of Cassel, and the vain, arrogant youth who learned
to clank a sword at his heels and twist a baby moustache in Bonn.
Such conflicts and clashings between two hostile inner selves have a
part in the personal history of each of us. Only we are not out under
the searching glare of illumination which beats upon a prince, and
the records and results of these internal warrings are of interest to
ourselves alone.
William, moreover, has one of those nervous, delicately-poised,
highly-sensitized temperaments which responds readily and without
reserve to the emotion of the moment. Increasing years seem to be
strengthening his judgment, but they do not advance him out of the
impressionable age. In the romantic idealism and mysticism of his
mind, and in the histrionic bent of his impulses, he is a true son of
his father, a genuine heir of the strange fantastic Ascanien strain,
which meant greatness in Catharine II, madness in her son Paul,
and whimsical staginess in his grand-daughter Augusta.
Like his father, too, his nature is peculiarly susceptible to the
domination of a stronger and more deeply rooted personality. The
wide difference between them arises from this very similitude.
Frederic spent all his adult life under the influence of the broad-
minded, cultured, and high-thinking English Princess, his wife.
William, during these years now under notice, was in the grip of the
Bismarcks.
The ascendency of this family, which attained its zenith in these
first months of the young Kaiser’s reign, is a unique thing in the
history of Prussia. The Hohenzollerns have been hereditarily a stiff-
backed race, much addicted to personal government, and not at all
given to leaning on other people. From 1660 to 1860 you will search
their records in vain for the name of a minister who was allowed to
usurp functions not strictly his own. The first Frederic William was a
good deal pulled about and managed by inferiors, it is true, but they
did it only by making themselves seem more his inferiors than any
others about him. No Wolsey or Richelieu or Metternich could thrive
in the keen air of the Mark of Brandenburg, under the old kingly
traditions of Prussia.
 Bismarck rose upon the ruins of those traditions. In 1862 the
Prussian Diet and Prussian society generally were in open revolt
against the new king, William I. Constitutionalism and the spread of
modern ideas had made the old absolutist system of the
Hohenzollerns impossible; budgets were thrown out, constituencies
were abetted in their mutiny by the nobles, and the newspaper press
was fiercely hostile. The King, a frank, kindly, slow-minded old
soldier, did not know what to do. The thought of surrendering his
historic prerogatives under pressure, and the resource of sweeping
Berlin’s streets with grape-shot, were equally hateful to him. In his
perplexity he summoned his Ambassador at Paris to Berlin, and
begged him to undertake the defence of the monarchy against its
enemies. He made this statesman, Otto von Bismarck, Minister of
the King’s House and of Foreign Affairs, and avowedly a Premier who
had undertaken to rule Prussia without a Parliament.
It was the old story of the Saxons, being invited to defend the
British homestead, and remaining to enjoy it themselves.
The lapse of a quarter of a century found this King magnified into
an Emperor, enjoying the peaceful semblance of a reign over
48,000,000 of people, where before he had stormily failed to govern
much less than half that number. He had grown into the foremost
place among European sovereigns so easily and without friction, and
was withal so honest and amiable an old gentleman, that it did not
disturb him to note how much greater a man than himself his
Minister had come to be.
The relations between William I and Bismarck were always frank,
loyal, and extremely simple. They were fond of each other, mutually
grateful for what each had helped the other to do and to be. It
illumines one of the finest traits in the great Chancellor’s character to
realize that, during the last eighteen years of the old Kaiser’s life.
Bismarck would never go to the opera or theatre for fear the
popular reception given to him might wound the royal sensitiveness
of his master.
 Bismarck, having all power in his own hands, became possessed
of that most human of passions, the desire to found a dynasty, and
hand this authority down to his posterity. There was a certain
amount of promising material in his older son Herbert—a robust,
rough-natured, fairly-acute, and altogether industrious man—ten
years older than the Prince William, now become Kaiser. The
strength of Prince Bismarck’s hold upon the old William was only
matched by the supremacy he had thus far managed to exert over
the imperial grandson. He dreamed a vision of having Herbert as
omnipotent in the Germany of the twentieth century as he had been
in the last half of the nineteenth.
The story of his terrible disillusion belongs to a later stage. At the
time with which we are dealing, and indeed for nearly a year after
William’s accession in June of 1888, the ascendency of the Bismarcks
was complete. Men with fewer infirmities of temper and feminine
capacities for personal grudges and jealousies might possibly have
maintained that ascendency, or the semblance of it, for years. But a
long lease of absolute power had developed the petty sides of their
characters. During the brief reign of Frederic they had had to suffer
certain slights and rebuffs at the hands of his Liberal friends who
were temporarily brought to the front. To their swollen amour propre
nothing else seemed so important now as to avenge these
indignities. The new Kaiser they thought of as wholly their man, and
they proceeded to use him as a rod for the backs of their enemies.
It remains a surprising thing that they were allowed to go so far in
this evil direction before William revolted and called a halt. For what
they did before a stop was put to their career it is impossible not to
blame him as well as them. In truth, he began by being so wholly
under their influence that even his own individual acts were coloured
by their prejudices and hates.
If he had been momentarily softened by the pathetic conditions
surrounding his father’s funeral, his heart steeled itself again soon
enough under the sway of the Bismarcks. He entered with gratuitous
zest upon a course of demonstrative disrespect to his father’s
memory.
Frederic had been born in the spacious, rambling New Palace at
Potsdam, and in adult life had made it his principal home. Here all
his children save William were born, and here William himself spent
his boyhood, as Mr. Bigelow has so pleasantly told us, * playing with
his brother Henry in their attic nursery, or cruising in their little toy
frigate on the neighbouring lakes. Here Frederic at the end came
home to die, and in the last fortnight of his life formally decreed that
the name of the New Palace should henceforth be Friedrichskron—or
Frederic’s Crown.

* New Review, August, 1889.

All who have seen the splendid edifice, embowered in the ancient
royal forest parks, will recognize the poetic and historic fitness of the
name. From its centre rises a dome, surmounted by three female
figures supporting an enormous kingly crown. There was a time
when Europe talked as much about this emblematic dome as we did
a year or so ago about the Eiffel Tower, though for widely different
reasons. It was not remarkable from any scientific point of view, but
it embodied in visible bronze a colossal insult levelled by Frederic the
Great at the three most powerful women in the world. When that
tireless creature emerged from the Seven Years’ War, he began
busying himself by the construction of this palace. Everybody had
supposed him to be ruined financially, but he had his father’s secret
hoards almost intact, and during the six years 1763-9 drew from
them over £2,000,000 to complete this structure. With characteristic
insolence he reared upon the dome, in the act of upholding his
crown, three naked figures having the faces of Catherine of Russia,
Maria Theresa of Austria, and Mme. Pompadour of France, each with
her back turned toward her respective country. The irony was
coarse, but perhaps it may be forgiven to a man who had so notably
come through the prolonged life-and-death struggle forced upon him
by these women.
 At all events, it was an intelligent and proper thing to give the
palace the name of Friedrichskron, and one would think that, even if
the change had been less fitting than it was, the wish of the dying
man about the house of his birth could not but command respect.
One of William’s first acts was to order the discontinuance of the
new name, and in his proclamation he ostentatiously reverted to the
former usage of “New Palace.”
To glance ahead for a moment, there came in September an even
more painful illustration of the unfilial attitude to which William had
hardened himself. The Deutsche Rundschau created a sudden
sensation by printing the diary of Frederic, from July 11, 1870, to
March 12th of the following year, covering the entire French
campaign and all the negotiations leading up to the formation of the
German Empire. Quotations have already been made in these pages
showing that this diary demonstrated authoritatively the fallacy of
Bismarck’s claim to be the originator of the Empire. Frederic and the
others had had, in fact, to drag him into a reluctant acceptance of
the imperial idea. The shock of now all at once learning this was felt
all over Germany. Every mind comprehended that the blow had been
aimed straight at the Chancellor’s head. Nobody seemed to see,
least of all Bismarck, that the diary really gave the Chancellor a
higher title than that of inventor of the Empire, and revealed him as
a wise, far-seeing statesman, who would not submit to the
fascination of the imperial scheme until he made sure that its
realization would be of genuine benefit to all Germany. So far,
indeed, was he from recognizing this that he allowed the publication
to rob him of all control over his temper.
The edition of the Rundschau was at once confiscated, and on
September 23rd Bismarck sent a “report” to the Emperor upon the
diary. He set up the pretence of doubting its genuineness as a cloak
for saying the most brutal things about its dead author. The charge
was openly made that Frederic could not be trusted with any State
secrets owing to the fear of “indiscreet revelations to the English
Court,” and therefore “stood without the sphere of all business