, 1888-08-10
THE REPTILE FUND"
SECRET SERVICE FUNDS AT PRINCE
BISMARcK,S DISPOSAL.

Controls the German Press-Collection
of Personal InTormation-woes which
Betide an Unfortunate Journal.
The reptile fund-so called because of
Prince Bismarck's own phrase-consists of
the confscated fortune of the king of Han
over, together with an unknown grant from
the war indemnity. Speaking of the at
tacks made upon the government by
the press, the chancellor exclaimed on
a memorable occasion that as his adj
ministration was so exposed to malig-
uant Misrepresentation at the hands of its
adversaries, he did not think it tolerable that
he should be left unarmed against so power
full and so INSCRIPTIONS a foe. 81 must have
means.n he said, with which to aunt those
reptiles to their holes and destroy them
there Hence the SO called reptile fund,
which is simply an indefinite amount of
secret service money at the disposal OF
Prince Bismarck for controlling the press.
With its aid he is said to have organized q
news service for the benefit of the German
government, the like of which exists no
where outside of tho pages Of the French
novels which describe the spy system of
Fouche. AT its head stands Herr Holstein,
the anne damnee of Prince Bismarck, who
has at his command a disciplined host of con
fdential reporters, who enable him to follow
unseen the movements OIL All MS hlNtTsaTlts.
The great chancellor never neglects any foe,
no matter how Insignificant.
At the chancellery of the secret inteli-
gence bureau at Berlin, under Herr Holstein,
are kept the dossiers of every man or woman
whom from time TO time it thinks necessary
to Prince Bismarck to watch with a view to
Interior developments. The minuteness of
the information thus stored up for future
use is very extraordinary, and suggests
many uncomfortable reflections. A friend
OF mine resident in Germany once had an
opportunity of seeing his own dossier. There
in he found set down all particulars of him
self and his family and his relations. A list
was given of all the people whom he was in
the habit of receiving, and "A detailed report
of all the correspondents to whom he was in
habit of writing. To this man, it was written,
he sends letters every week, to the other
every day, to a third he writes sometimes
twice a week, and then ceases to write for a
week or a month.
But the possession Of an indefinite amount
of secret service money for purposes of cor
ruption, and the accumulation from all the
unseen channels of ubiquitous secret police Of
a vast reservoir of for use if TO
quired, are by no means the only instruments
by which Prince Bismarck keeps his press in
good order. "How is it doneG' exclaimed a
witty victim OF the chancellor's surveillance.
alt is very simple. Some fine day all the
editors of Berlin are summoned to the office
Of the oracle. They are told that the govern.
ment is in possession of such and such an
important piece of information which is com
municated to Them, not for publication, but
in confidence, in order that when the oppor.
tune moment arrives they may be well in
formed. A nod is as good as a wink to a
blind horse, and before very long one or other
of the editors discovers in some mysterious
way that the time has arrived when the cat
must be let out of the bag. He lets it out &C
cordingly, and all his brethren follow suit,
and the news, true or false, in launched in
due form"
But what | asked, "if an editor refuses
to take the hint and obstlnately abstains
from circulating the official communiquef'
"Then, " was the reply, sit does not go well
with that exceptional newspaper. Misfort-
unes always attend the journal which is fool
hardly enough to ignore a hint from above"
what kim of misfortunesf' "Gh, all kinds
of misfortune. Dormant lawsuits mysteri-
ously reappear; official advertisement are
withdrawn; privileges of sale or of display,
which depend upon the good will of the ad-
ministration, are suspended. But perhaps
the most efficient allies of the chancellor and
his m%yrmidons are the vendors of quack
medicines for the cure of uncomfortable dis
NAaS's " III AAI AAAAAhI ~ bAAAN . 1@AA
that beT' at is very simple. Ihthe father
land the government charges itself with
watchful solicitude for the morals Of its sub
jects. But as even Homer sometimes mods,
so the most vigilant administrations some
times fail TO discover that the columns of
German newspapers are deflled by the inser-
ton Of advertisements of immoral pills or by
the address of unclean doctors. When, how
ever, any newspaper continuously opposes
itself to the will of the authorities, the Gus
todisu Of public morals puts on his spectacles,
and woe betide the unfortunate journal if In
the obscurest corner of his badly printed
page there should be discovered lurking an
~allusion to the Objectionable pill or the dis
reputable physician. The administration is
down upon him at once, and punishment is
heaped on punishment until the editor con.
sents to dance to the piping of power. Then
the custodian of public morals once more
slumbers and sleeps, and the quack adver-
tises his pills in peace.
Add to.this that press prosecutions for press
~ofrenses are as plentiful as b~lackberries, that
editors are sent TO Jail rs felons for what
would be regarded in England as perfectly
justifiable criticism upon the chancellor, that
half the cities in Germany are under a state
of siege, and you can form some idea of the
facilities which Prince Bismarck possesses
for manipulating the journals of the father
land.-Pall Mall Gazette.