The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-05-06
TIE GEEMAN woKKINGMAN.

MI Errorasn newspapers which are
oomi,,e, 70 hand reflect the terror which pre-
vai1ed in a large portion Of that continent
IT he approach of Mayday. Those which
depict tie course of opinion in Germany
are the most interesting, the labor problem
IN that country having reached more adj
vanced stage than elsewhere. Things in
Germany have got to an absolute reduetlu
al absurdum. The cost Of living in Ger
many Is higher than it was five years ago,
and the wages OF labor are less. Seventy
per cent OF the workmen in Saxony-the
great manufacturing state of Germany-get
only about So 90 4 week, the weayers only
81 90 On This sum it is impossible for a
workman to support bis family. and there
fore his wife and children have to work, the
former earning. if she is lucky, 81 90
week. The consequence OF this is that the
Peoples paTty-whO are called socialists,
though they propose none OF the doctrines
Of French or English socialism-poled at
the last election ]. 400,0 coo votes out OF total
popular vote of 100000, and their leaders
confidently predict vote OF 100000 at the
next election. Five or six years ago the
socialist vote was less than half million.
The question of the hour is what Will
happen when the socialists gain power or
acquire such strength thai their advent TO
power becomes a mere matter of time?
The dread OF men Of property IS that they
will break cut in violence. To this Paul
Singer, who Is one OF the most prominent
socialist leaders, replies that there Is no
danger Of anything of the kind, because
- riots and explosions would be mere invita-
tions to the bourgeoSie to restrict popular
rights, to repTeSs popular action and curb
liberty" Herr Singer-with whom Herr
Liebknecht and Herr Bebel agree-takeS
rather responding view Of the future, on
the ground that the army and tie police are
both in the hands of the Emperor, and that
! he is backed by The bOurgeOisle, to whom
the mere thought OF revolution is terrlfy-
ing. They may perhaps understand Ger
many better than an outsider can. In
France, Italy and Spain, Government which
had forfeited popular confidence seldom re-
tanned power permanently through the force
of bayonets. At some stage Of the conflict
the troops ne arly always went over 10 the
side OF the people. 1t is not easy TO see Why
it SHOULD be different in Germany.
Americans. looking al the conflict in their
practical way, wonder why the people OF
Germany 10 whom the name Of socialists
uLfiily applies do not proclaim some definite
and attanaole purpose instead Of wasting
theiT energies in the advocacy OF schemes
which to many of their friends ana sympa-
thtzers seem simply utopian Herr Singer,
for instance, seems to favor a sort Of whole
sale pateTnalism under which the Govern
ment would supeTSede trusts and syndlcates
and become the only employer Of labor and
the only producer of finished products in
the country. Surely one need not be an
absolutist to shrink from undertaking so
very hazardous an enterprise as that.
Things can hardly be so bad as TO need the
surrender of all individual action by the
German people and the extension Of the
powers OF Government till everybody be-
came ward in chancery
II the crisis which now distresses Ger
many were TO occur ia this country, We
should begin by insisting that the army
should be dIsbanded. OF the $780, Coo, OOO
which the German Empire raises by tax
alton every year, in addition to the sums
raised in the same way by The respective
states, from 0ne-thiTd TO one-half is spent
directly or indirectly on the army and navy.
From 100000 TO S150,O0o,000 is taken
every year out of labor to be wasted on
preparations for fighting. II this sum were
saved, the effect on the price of labor would
be Immediate. The employer. relieved Of a
gTieYOuS DuTGen, coul1 pay hlgher wages,
and. as all taxation fetehes up at last on the
shoulders of the wOTkingman, he would find
the cost of living cOrrespondingly reduced.
This would measurably reduce the ground
work Of the prevailing discomfort 1t may
be a question how far German pride aud
anti-French prejudice would cOmport with
a reduction of the army. But If ever in this
country the wages of the day laborer are
reduced to a figure which compels him to
/ put his wife and children into a factory to
! get bread, Americans would not hesitate
! long about disbanding an army Of million
men in a time of perfect peace.