Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1878-08-29

faith IN the new order q nsa. and 4
is to be noticed that The y EeprOba-
ton Of Hoedel's and Nobil aisempss
did not Il all lessen the rEas sies which
the Social Democrats s. red at the
polls. Our European ad cs describe
Germany Is befng IN y u agitation
and fermenf. and that ! nlag6nIsm
between goveTnmcuf ard ople i in
tensifying. There Il ry general
resentment against The pr edrepres-
sise Legislation o. the y 81 social
ism. which n1sFIT ai thinkers
agFee sh0Uld Be tseaied ia0t as . crime
but as a disease.
II Is to be noted also that Bismarck is
very generally accused Of having FIRST
planted the germs. Of this disease and
of encouraging its spread. He did this
as the leader Of the Junker party in its
fights with the Liberals, and upon the
same principle that Disraeli cut under
Lord John Russell's last reform bill with
q more liberal suffrage bill Of his own.
Bismarck, in his struggle with the Lib
erals in 1862 and 1864, called in the aid
Of Ferdinand Lasalle, the founder Of the
Social Democrats, q man Of genius and
a profound thinker. His works in
science, politics, criticism and phiIoso-
ply were the admiration of the best
judges. Envy and ambition made him
become a social agitator. The best
ranks Of society refused to admit him
he determined to stir up the lower ranks.
He founded the General German Work
ingman's Association" a sort of Prus-
sian international. and drew over the
majority of the Liberals TO the ranks OF
radicalism.
This was what the Liberal leaders
protested against, but il was what Bis
marck desired. :" "'Don't touch, said
Sehulze-Delitzsch, that dark boundary
line in our nature which separates the
beastly instincts from its human feel
ings; keep off your frivolous hands, and
do not unshackle the beast which will
devour you T." But Bismarck, while
snceringly proclaiming that he kept a
position Of strict neutrality between the
Liberals and the Socialists, secretly en-
couraged The latter 10 break up the meet
ings Of the former. He also used the
Reptile fund.- in the same direction
and undoubtedly had many Of the So
cialist leaders in his pay.
"In creating the North German Con-
federation Bismarck at once introduced
luniversal, secret and direct suffrage FOR
the elections TO the Red While
formerly the poorer classes were prac-
tically nearly excluded from participa-
ton IN politics, the new law conferred
on each male citizen sof twenty five
years an almost unrestricted vote. The
Social leaders at once perceived the
high importance Of this measure, and
with their usual energy made use Of il
as a most efectual means for securing
their influence. Thus FAR the Socialists
bad been an organized rabble; but from
the moment of the introduction Of uni
versal suffrage they became a political
party. This. new law is less restrictive
than that of any other country.
"While you, for instance. require one
years residence in the State before a
citizen can poll his vote, the German
voter by his sole actual residence in a
certain district is entitled 10 a vote. In
a large city he may even remove from
one ward to another, and can vote there
provided he has effected this change an
hour before the official voting lists are
made up. Thus it often happens that a
few days prior to an election crowds of
workingmen move from one quarter,
where their party Is sure of success, TO
another quartes where their numbers
decide the election in their favor. The
challenging OF voters is unknown to the
German law. The age OF the deputy is
fixed at twenty-five years, and where
ever he may reside, il he be a citizen,
he can be elected by any constituency
in any part Of Germany"
Bismarck soon began to dread the
spectre he had raised. but it would not
go down at his bidding. LasalIe died
and was succeeded by Bebel, and Lieb-
knecht, disciple OF the communistic
school of Karl Marx. The socialists
were nolonger nationals, Germans: they
became insernatiOnals. followers of the
propaganda Of The Revolution. The
new party has sr@ead rapidly, and it can
hardly be put down by legislation. II
gains votes every year, and IL gets
stronger IN the Reichstag every year.
It is the most indefatigabIe Of parties in
its activities. The members are con-
stantly az work.
"They make il their object 10 prepare
beforehand and to send all their men to
the polls, while the average Of the 9TH
er electors seldom amounts to more than
fly per cent. In the six districts of
the city OF Berlin alone in 1876 they
held 307 meetings for electioneering
purposes, IA for drilling the managers,
and distributed 1871, 154 pamphlets.
At the same time the party employs a
standing and weil-pgid staff for the pur-
pose OF exciting the masses and win
ming new members. According TO q
statement made Al the Gosha yearly
meeting ol 1876. it had ffty-four fully
paid agents and eight permanent agita-
tors, each Of whom received 13j marks
(about $50 monthly, besides 2 to 8
marks travelling expenses.
"Fourteen other agitalors were paid
an additional contribution Of % 10 IS
marks per meInth; $50 marks are month
" paid TO each Of The two secretaries,
los 10 the cashier and IS TO each OF the
two assessors: 20 Llebknechg and Has
enclevers as editors Of the T0rscarfs,
$3.50 marks yearly, and, besides,