Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1881-11-11
The Powers OF the Central Gov.
ernmcnt in Germany.

EnglhEd, the Diet is chosen By unirer
sal suffrage. The deputies are not re
4uircd, either ty law or y usage. to b
residents Of their districts, or even O
the states to which iheir districts belong
Ii regard to the composition of par
ties, the Diet resembles The Treucl
Chamber rather than the English o
American Houses; that il to say, in
stead of two lcaiing parties there ar
q multitude OF petty factions" oT;cI
separated ore from another by the ,oos
minute differences of opinion. Sine
the process of division aud subdivision
constantly goes on, no description vii
permantly accord with facts; but few
leading sfc!s preserve a fair degree @
regular identity. There are on thu
right the German" or Extreme Con
serva;ives, aud the Free or Mc,:er
ate Conservatives in the center, til,
Ultramontanes; on the lett, the Nation
al Liberals, the pTogiessists, and thu
Social Democrats. The most numer
Gus at present are the Ultramontanes
which are, Of course, united rather by
ecclesiastical than by political sym
pa1hy. Next come tie extreme Con
servatives and the National Liberal!
with about equal numbers. TIE Pro
gressists and Social Democrats atone
by veLemenoe, not to say violence, o.
opinion and policy for their numerical
defects. There is, accordingly, no set
tied majority, as in England or Ameri
Cd; but the government rallies support.
ers now from one, now from the other
side of the House, according to the
nature of lis measures. Until 1878 ii
was most often supported by the union
of the National Liberals and the Moder,
ate Conservatives; but for the last three
years the Liberals have been discarded
and the two divisions Of the Right,
aided sometimes hy the Center, have
furnished majority fer reactionary
legislation.
One remarkable difference between
German and American federalism must
be mentioned. The powers CT the
former, in other words, Of the central
government, arc in sonle respect broad
er, in others narrower, than with us,
both in regard to the numter CT inter
csts intrusted to it, aud in regard to the
manner of discharging tine trust. Thus
the Imperial Government can make
laws upon the subject OF !he press and
OF public meetings, while tie American
Constitution contains only certain
negative declarations of principal, such
as the freedom of the press, etc, leav-
ing to the Stat tie care of vindicatirs
and regulating the exercise Of the right.
The German Empire has adopted u
comprehensive penal code, while felo-
MES and misdemaanors in general are
here punished under the common law,
and by other than federal tribunals.
But iii this country the power of direct
taxation has been exercised by the gen
eral government, which could not be
tue case in Germsny; aud our regular
army, unlike the German, is wholly
independent Of the State authorities.
THUS the German Constitution grants
some attributes to the central govern
ment which ours denies to it, and denies
some which ours grants. But The diff
ference to which We intended more
particularly to refer concerns the man
ner in which tho federal laws are en-.
forced. In the United States they are,
of course. enforced by federal officials,
executive and Judicial. THIS marshals,
the collector Of customs, the postmas.-
ers. the prosecuting attorneys, the
courts which are charged with the duty
Of carrying out the laws of Congress or
the orders of the President, are servants
of the federal government, and emanate
directly from it. Not 50 in Germany
The empire enacts laws, and, as we
have seen, on subjects which arc for
hidden to tho American Congress; but
the execution Of those laws ia left to
the state authorities. The imperial
penal code defines crimes and provides
penalties. but the application of the
code belongs 10 the police and the
tribunals of the states. The empire
fixes the rate of customs duties, Blu.
those duties are collected by the states
each on It's own frontiers. There is an
imperial postal system and an imperial
Postmaster General, but the details cf
administration within each state are
left to the state itself. In the cuatoms
and postal services the empire provides
only central organ for supervision
and inspection. In civil and criminal
jurisprudence there is an imperial High
or Supreme Court, but all the lesser
tribunals are local, not federal; finally,
each states contingent of the army is
under its direction, except in respect to
the general officers, and to the COM
mand in time OF war. In all this the
American reader will SEQ O state of
things moro nearly resembling our old
Confederation than the present Union.
PROF. Herbert futile, in Harper
Magazine.
Attention has been recently directed
TO como peculiar cafes of spontaneous
ignition of hydrogen i'll uir, the phe-
nomenon having been noticed, it seems.
in factories where quantities Of zinc
were being dissolved in hydrochloric
acid for the preparation of zinc chlo-
ride. Violent explosions took place
whan no fiama vaa roar and IL wa.