The morning call., 1893-06-18
THE GERMAN ELECTION.

The election In Germany appears to have
gone as was expected; tie Socialists have
made gains everyw where. and the Conserva-
tives and National Liberals and Richter
party have made losses The chief gains
of the Socialists have been in the
cities, where intelligence is more gen.
eral than in the rural districts. So
cialist candidates appear to have carried
Berlin, Hamburg, Munich. Gotha. Nurem-
berg, Leipsc and Magdeburg. In the
Palatinate, the Clericals hold Treves. AK
la-Chapelle and Munster; but the candl-
dates elected are pledged to oppose the
military bill. The anti-Semite party,
whose PLATFORM demands the ostraclsm OF
the Jews, seem to have lost ground every
where. Some days must elapse before the
final result is known. and there will be
second and third elections in every dis
trct where no candidate has obtained a
majority of the votes; but success is apt to
be successful, and the ant-miitary party
is likely TO gain at the supplementary
elections.
1t is interesting to note the contrasts
which the election offers when compared
with our elections. At Berlin. so per cent
of the registered voters cast their bal
lots, which is about the percentage
here. Half million voters we're dis
franchised on the ground that they
were soldiers in uniform. This does not
COMFORT with our idea that a soldier does
not cease to be a citizen when he enters
the ranks. AT Berlin there was one poll
ing place 10 every 900 voters. and yet there
was no disorder or confusion. We con-
slider 800 as many as one poll can handle.
Election day is not a holiday, as with us.
Workmen knocked off work at 4, and the
polls closed at 6. The clerks of the post
Office, railroads, telegraphS, street-rail-
roads and public offices, who are all in the
pay of Government, were released early in
the day so that they could vote. and so
were the employees of private corporations.
a commissary. appointed by the City
Council, presided over each poll, with the
assistance of four citizens; all smoked
cheap cigars and drank beer out of mugs.
1t was observed that when Chancellor Won
Caprvi entered the polling-place to vote,
the jury put down their beer mugs.
1t is assumed in Germany that the cleo
ton is sure to result in the choice of
Reichstag which will not pass the En-
peror Williams military BILL If that is
awkward alternative At Branden burg
he said that he would carry his bill in spite
of the Reichstag. That meant revolution,
ana as Herr Bebel said, if the Government
set the fashion of revolution from above
the people might reply with revolution
from below. The Minister of Finance
now says that if the new Reichstag
trod in the footsteps of its predecessor
the Emperor would dissolve it. That he
has right to do under the constitution
of 1871. He may dissolve Reichstags as
often as he pleases. But is that not fol-
lowing the example of Charles the First,
and might it not lead to a German White
hall? And then, how is the Government
TO be carried on without appropriations?
Bismarck'S paper, the NelcS of Hamburg,
says anxiously. Nothing in the constitu-
tion prevents the Reichstag from refusing
to vote the budget" True, few years ago
King Christian of Denmark dispensed with
vote of supplies from his Parliament
and collected the taxes by the exercise of
an unconstitutional prerogative. But Dem
mark is small country, and the Danes
did not think it worth while to try con-
clusons with a King one of whose daugh-
ters was married to the Emperor of Russia
and another to the Prince of Wales. Il
would probably be different in Germany if
William played any such pranks.
One danger of the moment arises from
his isolation. He piques himself upon
being an old-fasbiOned German, and
PTusSian at that. He has nothing to learn
either from foreigners or from the leaders
OF modern German thought. He never
haG an Intimate friend except the unfor-
tunate Archduke Rudolf, who blew his
brains out for Marie Vetsera. He has no
enc at his side now to remind him of the
tate OF Louis XVI or James II. He lost the
only counselor who was statesman, and
there is no one in his intimacy to remind
him that Germany is no longer a parade
ground which he can sweep with his
krupp cannon and his terrible uhlans
The most significant of the lessons of
Thursday may be learned from the calm
ness OF the German people. There was no
disturbance anywhere-not even street
brawl occurred while the people were de-
claring that they would not tolerate a
policy to the enforcement of which the
Emperor had pledged his sacred honor.
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