Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1881-02-08
4 Possible CSnElagratsoa I'm Germany.

1! can sclrcoiy Do doubted That, ia Germany,
shers are all The eiemeats OF a coLlagration
ready 10 bsad. THIS hiss OF lac bsea so appsr.
ent tia! We msy f,irly lake i! into account in
estimating Prince BIsm:rck's policy. But the
growth of Ihs party Of the so,i,l democrats in
Germany is in itself remarkable fact in modem
politics. For there alone have the theorists be-
gun TO organize themselves with diGnite OBJ.
jet, and there alone are they sufficiently edu.
Gated, and what is moro 10 the purpose, sufi.
ciently trained in military sG,irs, to be really
formidable. This mil!a,iz ,.io2 of the mob.
however viewed Is strange pieco of business in
itself. On the one hand, strong repressye mes
sures ha7e been passed which keep turberlent
Berlin 10 per manent state of siege. which rem.
der it impossible for workmen to form spy
union, 10 pn5iish any paper, 10 hold any meet.
ing 10 canvass for political purposes at the
same time, the factory laws which had been CIR.
rled 10 restrain the uodue employment of chill.
dfer, and 10 prevent the abuse Of their power
by capitalists, have tesn gradually set sside.
! ne pressure of the times has rendered the
position still more grave than it would otherwise
have been. And yet, with men, ,hns exasper-
ated the cenal OF sll freedom and the under
hand suspicion of laws passed with difficulty for
their beEeH', the military CONSUMPTION is still ia
full force. The mslcontents are passed stesdily
through the army exposed to the hsied P1u;.
sian discipline at the hands of that hard. handed
| and hard.hesded Junker Glass whom thsy a:e
learLlog to LOOK upon IS more bitter enemies
than any foreign foe. and return to their
| homes--2uch OF them IS do not seek refuge
across tbs Atlsntic-to remember that q MIL
lion more trained soldiers hold the same
oplnlons that they do, and await only fay-
ortblo opportunity to show their real siren 9th
Attic polls they have been asserting themselves
and their cue: esses are no longer confnsd to the
capital or The few manufacturing centres. Hart
mann, the shoemskefs election at Hamburg
WheI ne polled twice as many volts ss his compe.
ttors, was more remarkable even than the m ere
| numbers showed, for his opponents we're direc..
| ~ anisgonistic to the Socialist laws and were
both Liberals. In the debates, Liebknecht,
Bebsl, Hartmann, and tho other Socialist dep.
| utles are now listened to with attention, as 1op-
resening force which has 10 be reckoned with
henceforlh IS strong political il H hence. They
| are the representatives not merely of their own
Cities but Of that revolt OF industriaism az sinst
| militerism which can in the end hayo bus one
| result Not even the Prussian bureaucracy,
with lib marvellous organic hion. can in the long
| run make head against the growing discomfort
which is now ii 1ding voice in so many quarters
All ths repressiVe measures in the world will
not prevent men fcom voting under tho ballot
| IN sccorcauce with what they really think
| ITO desire to exclude from the pcl!s oil who had
taken advantage OF the free State education Gid
| not Prevent The Social Democrats from casting
| GN,oJO votes q. the las. general election, nor
will prevent them from largely increasing that
number at the next Perst cution has bat in.
| Il imcd tho enthusiasm Of the whole party,
| They are now striving, not merely for the
| strange programme which their leaders. put
| forward, tu! on behalf of that common freedom,
that right to ordinary liberty which can no long
| er tatov be denied either to Catholics or Soc,s
lists.-Ninttsenth Century,.