The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-07-06
BISMARCK'S POLICY.
The Violent enforcement of the Exceptional
Laws and the Effects of 1t.


marcks SEVENTEEN birthday / reported the
scandal to which the of the testimonial fund
subscribed for the purchase of Schonhausen, the
old Bismarck estate. gave rise Later the mat
ter was somewhat smoothed over by the public
announcement that there was enough money
left over from the testimonial fund, after com
petlng the purchase, to enable the Chancellor
to make fine gift for public ends. But it
transpres that this residue has been applied to
the of the teachers of boys high schools in
the form of pensions for long service, Sickness
widows, orphans, old age, etc.-a form of
rupton fund than which anything more subtitle
could hardly have been invented 1t was try
ing to American nerves to hear the lads, assem-
bled from all the schools of Heidelberg. singing
songs of praise 10 the Emperor on his birthday;
but to know that every high school teacher is
made more or less directly personal beneficiary
OF the Chancellor goes touch beyond the endur-
ance OF the German phlegmatic temperament
and the scorn and wrath is deep and lasting
which this cynical arrangement has aroused in
the hearts OF the worklngmen from whose wages
lnhutnan employers withdraw subscriptions
under the comforting promise that the testimo-
NAL should be used for the lasting good of the
working people
About the time of Bismarcks birthday there
occurred a disgraceful example of the internal
pollcy, IN indirect connection with the testl-
monial subscribed for the Emperor's eighteth
birthday, and this intensified the bitterness.
still further. 1t seems that there has been
founded during several years past, in different
parts or Germany, a system of charitable lnstl-
tutions known as Workingmens Colonies, in
which men out of employment received
fed, clothed and kept at work at nominal
wages until places found for them. The
national testimonial for the Emperor was used
for founding such a colony, known as Wilhelms
dorf, in the neighborhood of Bielefeld, town
known in America chiefly, | fancy. for the
cellence Of its linen, dear to the heart of the
housekeeper. But Bielefeld produces sewing
machines, too, and at the time of Bismarcks
birthday celebration there was a strike going on
In the sewing machine factories. When it be-
came evident that the working men meant to
hold out the minister in charge of the Will
helmsdorf colony, who has absolute control over
the employment of the working men under his
charge. placed the entire colony at the disposal
OF Messrs. Koch & Co, who promptly accepted
the offer and placed the required number of
men in a lodging house in the town under police
protection. The majority of German working
men regard these colonies, at best, as the
better class of English working
regard the work house. as an institu-
ton to be Stunned to the verge Of starvation
and this unexpected use of the inhabitants
for the purpose of breaking up strike naturally
turned the permanent dislike of the Bielefed
operatives into active hatred. They proceeded,
however, to try to persuade the colOnists to
withdraw the persuasonS became rather
vigorous; the police began to make arrests
the accusation Of ''threatening;' then followed
the stages known respectively as ''tumult" and
''uproar upon the pages of the codex.
The next day the newspapers announced, to
the extreme surprise of the general public, that
Bielefed had been placed in a state of seige, and
not minor state OF seige, such as that under
which Berlin, Leipsic and Hamburg Altoona
perpetually stand, but bona fide military
state of seige, in which the military com
mander was put in absolute control of the
town and all civil functions of the civil author-
ties suspended; and this without so much as a
pistol shot or fist-fght as p1etext! According to
the testimony of participation, some three hun
dred persons had assembled to see the coonists
marched from the factory to their lodging house
under police escort at the close of the days
work, and while they were waiting some half
grown boys broke some window panes of the
lodging house by throwing stones. - In view of
their own small numbers the police did not ven
ture to arrest the young offenders, and sent for
military assistance. The crowd increased and
two companies OF soldiers were marched through
the street driving all before them. Any one
who failed to vanish on the instant was arrested
and marched off under guard of three soldiers
Nevertheless the broken windows were the sole
symptom Of disorder on the part of the popuace
The military withdrew at 8 in the evening
whereupon the crowd again collected and some
further window panes were broken The mill
tary then reappeared armed with fixed bayonets
and marching from both ends of the street and
from a cross street, surrounding
the crowd. At word of command the soldiers
charged upon men, women and children, wound
ing many and killing a letter-carrier The next
day division of infantry marched through the
town, and the state of siege Was proclaimed with
the accompaniment of drum and trumpet On
the third day this state of things declared
permanent, and three days later the state Of
siege was formally withdrawn.
To sum up Workingmen strike, and semi
official phllanthropic institution furnishes OPP
eratives to supply the place of the strikers; po-
lice escort of operatives being something in
Bielefeld, a crowd gathers to stare; halls grown
boys break some windows and the military is
called out and lettercarrier killed by the bavo-
net. Thereupon three days Of withdrawal of all
civil rights from all citizens of the town and a
permanent prohibition for several sick benefit
societies to hold further meetings A piece of
the internal policy of the greatest statesman of
the age and fine example of the security OF
civil rights in Germany.
To day comes little notice of workingman
VINO hung himself in Plauan on hearing that ne
had been denounced to the police as having
spoken slightingly of his Majesty, the Emperor
offense which involves Imprisonment and the
subsequent impossibiGty of finding employment
Last year IN Switzerland made the acquaint-
ance of a graduate of a German university, a
doctor of law and man of some learning who
cannot return to Germany because in 1879 in q
journal of which he was joint editor ne pub
lshed an article criticisng the Chancellor
After spending several months in prison for this
grave otfense our editor was commanded to
leave Germany for two years. Under the ex-
ceptional laws he could return to Germany if
punished by Imprisonment, should be permitted
to slumber throughout the full period of his ban
ishment But each time that the period of two
years draws to a close the unfortunate exile re-
ceives official notice that his term of Danish
ment has been renewed, and with his wife and
little daughter he sadly resumes his wanderings
waiting for the death of the present Emperor
and the deposition of the Grand Vizier.
But of all the workings of the exceptional
laws perhaps the most characteristic is the police
management of a little meeting of wOrkingmen
which took place the other day in Berlin. In a
small hall in the extreme north ward of the city
some two or three women had assembled
to hear lecture from the editor of one of the
Berlin dales, wssbm they had invited to address
them. According to the requirement of the ex-
ceptional laws they had reported to the police
their intention of holding such meeting and of
excluding men from the audience. A policeman
was duly detailed to attend the meeting who
quietly waited until the speaker was introduced
when the policeman arose. stated that be had