Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1873-07-18
INTERVIEW WITH BISMARCK,

!
wrangling in the country IS to who shall
be minister as there is at present as tC
who shall be marshal
INTERVIEW WITH BISMARCK.
The following is the full text of the
interview Of a correspondent of the Ill
nois Sddts Zeitung with the great Ger.
man statesman;
Bismarck-''From which part of Ger.
many are you? By accent you are 8
Rhinelander."
COres.-''No; Anhalt is my narrowel
fstherland."
"Anhalt? Well, you will now find
matters quite pleasant there. 1t is the
only German State which finds itself IL
the enviable position not to be Obliged
to levy taxes. Since the settlement with
the duke about the domainial property
the State can meet its expenses from
the revenues of its own property. The
trifiing taxes which still exist seem tC
be levied only for appearance sake"
81 have consequently found the peO-
pie very eontented."
| 81 should think so. The only one who
might have cause to complain is the
duke, for the settlement has not been
advantageous to him. But he does not
complain, and so all is we'll"
'tBut, as far as know, the small State
has disprOportionately high unprOduc-
tive debt-paper money. When the i'm
perial law regulates the paper money
| questions the State may be seriously en-
barrassed by it. How will this law OPP
crate then?'
''The plan is to limit the issue of paper
| money in accordance with the popula-
l ton. The present state of things is in
tOlerable. A number of Small States
have acted recklessly. While in Prussia
there is hardly two-thirds of q thaler
paper money per head, many States
! have issued from four 20 six thalers per
head. 1t is now propOse5aa 20 fix the rate
at one thaler per head. l am opposed
| to it, because Prussia would then re-
ceive six millions in addition to its pres
| ent eighteen millions. [ should Eot con-
slider this a blessing. The finances OF
Prussia are in a healthy condition; and
such unnecessary addition would be
too much of good thing. If had my
way, the rate would be fixed at two
thirds of a thaler per head, as it is in
| Prussia
THAT would be the State paper
money; but what is to become of the
bank-note money!"
"With that We have nothing to do for
the present. In the meantime the
banks will simply be made to cover a
certain percentage Of their notes with
coin"
"And no other restriction? Ifear that
! similar troub 'es may arise from it as we
have experienced in American
The chancellor, who, while eonvers-
! MI vrrfrh rafa of sil
handed it to his visitor. ''There is a
contribution to the coinage question.
! This piece has been sent me from Swift
zerland, where a large number of them
are said to eirculate.n
The piece was large Roman thaler,
/ coinage of 1870; but the bust upon it,
which the inscription represented as the
likeness of +" Pic NonOf, Ponti, Roman
u.s." displayed the Well-knoWn feature
of Bismarck.
What does it mean?"
"LOOk at it carefully. A wag has
amused himself by altering the pope's
face by scraping, erasing and etching.
You may still trace the upper part of
the papal robe by closely examining the
piece"
The trick has been highly successful.
and collectors of curiOsities would, no
doubt pay a high price for some speci-
mems Of the altered piece. The visitor
accidentally happened to be in a posi-
ton to exhibit q coin equally rare in
Europa Mexican twenty pesos piece,
with an admirable bust of Macmillan.
The chancellor looked at it attentively.
ga fine coinagel He was a thorough
ly estimable character--all the more
remarkable as personal courage, self
sacrifice and enthusiasm are so rare in
his family. / should have liked to see
similar pieces, at one hundred mark,
coined. Our coinage system, as now
adopted, does not suit me-"
81 am glad 10 hear this, for abroad also
the present system is regarded, in many
respects, as a mistake. 1t is therefore
noe to be charged to you"
Certainly not. II is impossible that
l should myself attend to all the mat
ters for which l am nominally response
bic, or even to decide upon them. Not
understanding enough about these coin
and money questions, | leave them alto
gether to Delbruek. He may, perhaps,
be too much of theorist. But 1 am
certainly held responsible for everything.
You know it is the same with great
newspaper. There the editor must also
bear the responsibility for much that he
has not even seen before it was printed
This expression led to the relations
between the chaneellor's Office and the
press. The question was put, in what
sense should the papers designated "of-
ficiaP be taken as organs of the gov
eminent? The answer was entirely
frank:
GAN demand is that the papers
place at my disposition so much blank
space for communications which ema-
nate hence; for the rest they may write
what they like. With such papers as
offer hateful, malicious and passionate
opposition, enter. naturally into no re-
lations; but Otherwise-you see your
self-the papers which receive commu-
nications from us are entirely independ-
ent in their Judgment of cur measures.
You probably know Mr.. Aegidi of old.
He has the whole business in charge,
though Bucher has the leading control.
He is a man of very fine discretion"
81 know we were, l may say, col
leagues for years in the National lett
ing, also in our conception of your pol
icy in 1886. You have made valuable
acquisition in him."
"Yes, - replied the chancellor, with
pleased laugh; ''it gave me trouble
enough. His antecedents in IS4S were
not forgotten, and kings nearly always
eonstrue political opposition as per-
sonsI offense. Had l been the same l
was, Bueher would have been the last l
could have thought of. We came from
the same province; he was then a vio-
lent republican, | a fierce Junker, and
after many a session there was, perhaps,
no man whom I would so gladly have
knitted as him. But all that is past.
Also with the king. | still saw king; a
habit OF thlrLy-seVen years standing is
not so easily discarded. In the case of
his wife 1 find no difficulty in saying
the empress, but in his the king still re-
mains more congenial.n
"Well, in the address no difficulty
can occur. You say simply your majes-
ty? Or is it customary to add imperial
majesty2'
mot with myself. 1 say and write
simply your majesty but 1 am the
only one; all the other ministers write
your royal and imperial majesty
have heard that the word king
is used with special Ostentation, as
sort Of protest, by those at court, who
cannot be reconeiled to the new era;
that it is a sign of the Frende?n
"0h, no! there is nothing of it. The
only one of whom this is reported is
Prince Charles. We have no Frende."
A servant here entered and presented
a letter, with the remark, "From his
excellency, the Russian ambassador" j"
The visitor wanted to take his leave, but
the chancellor prevented it with a
friendly wave of the hand. "Don't dis
turb yourself. Permit me only to open
this letter. 1t probably refers to the re-
cognition of General McMahon. have
q lively correspondence over the ques-
ton with st. Petersburg"
After be had read the letter half aloud:
- fe A. a a