The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-05-26

@34Ey 81 AsH %3
CORRIDOR IN THE REICHSTAG.
BY the constitution of the German en-
pire adopted in 1871 no bill can become
law until it has passed both houses of the
imperial parliament and received the as
sent Of the emperor. The parliament is
made up Of the bundesrath, representing
the states, and the reichstag, representing
the people Of the German empire. The
bundesrath has IS members chosen by the
governments Of the states. The reichstag
has 1877 members chosen by the people. At
the last general election in the empire
which occurred ia 1890, there were 10, 145,-
1881 $50 voted. The number of her sons
eligible to vote now probably exceeds H.
100000, and 1t is likely that the number of
any German election. Prussia, which has
about 81. 900, 900 of Germany's 81 900, GOO in
habitants, has 9S6 members of the reichs-
tag. No other state has quite so members.
and most OF the states have less than Is.
Bavaria, which is next in Importance to
Prussia and probably as strongly opposed
as any other state to the proposed increase
of the army, has % votes in the reichstag.
Emperor William asks the proposed in
crease of the army because the armies Of
France and Russia are larger than his.
France puts more conscripts into her army
every year than Germany adds to hers and
could muster in case of war under the pres
emit arrangement $40, DOOM men than Ger
many could put into the field. Germany
now spends about $780, ooo, 900 per year on
imperial affairs, and of this more than
$10o, O0o, 600 is spent upon the army, while a
little over $40, 00o, 600 per year is spent upon
the navy. Were the increased grants made,
the cost of army and navy would exceed
$1S4, o0o, 900 per year.
The active list of the German army on
the present peace footing includes little
over 2o,500 officers and somewhat more
than 400, 900 men of the rank and file. Ev-
cry ablebodied German above the age of II
is liable to military service. The term is
seven years-three in active service and four
in the reserve army. At present no man
who has not completed his twentieth year
is taken into the active service save as a
volunteer, and conscripts serve until the be-
ginning of their twenty-eighth year. A few
highly proficient soldiers are transferred to
the reserves after two years. active service,
but they are liable to be drawn upon again
for active service. About 400, 900 young
men come of age in Germany every year.
OF these fully 100000 are physically and
mentally qualified for service in the army.
About 1870, 600 per year are drawn by lot for
active service. The men not SO drawn are
drafted into what is called the ersatztrup-
pen-a sort of reserve force In this force
the men serve 70 years. They are subject
to three periods of drill-one of 10 weeks,
one of weeks and one of weeks-but as
the army appropriations are sufficient to
make it possible to drill all these men
some are exempt. At the end of their serv-
ice in the ersatztruppen the trained men
pass into the first class of the landstrum,
the unframed into the second class. The
landstrum never passes the frontier and
fights only when the fatherland is invaded.
After three years of active service the
conscript serves four years in the reserves
and then five years in the first class of the
landwehr and up to his thirty ninth year
in the second class. The landwehr is called
to active service only in case of war and is
assigned to garrison duty. Every able
bodied male between II and SO who is not
in the regular active army, the reserves or
the landwehr must belong to the land
sturm.
ALI these forces taken together make the
probable war strength Of the German army
about 100000 But this, according to the
emperor's view, is not enough He wishes,
If possible, to increase the annual number
OF conscripts by 81, 900 men and to make his
army on a war footing about 100000 men,,
not including officers. The emperor was
willing to accept a somewhat smaller in
crease, to promise that experiments should
be made with a view to reducing the term
of active service to two years and to abolish
the unpopular ersatztruppen. He would
have carried his point by the aid of radical
votes had he been willing to make the two
years active service a permanent arrange
ment. He refused this, however, and the
Clerical Center, the Radicals and several
smaller parties in the reichstag Joined to
defeat the bill. The Center is the strongest
party in the reichstag, and it cannot be won
over to the emperor save by concessions
from the government to the Catholics
Since the dissolution of the reichstag
there has been split in the Radical party,
and this may help to weaken that party in
the new reichstag The party to gain by
this will, however, not be the emperor's
friends, the Conservatives, or even his re-
cent allies, the National Liberals, but his
enemies, Cne socialists Everybody expects
them to have decided majority in the
new reichstag.
In spite of universal suffrage and the bal
lot the government may be able to coerce
Germany into electing reichstag favorable
to the army bill. The mass of Germans
have great confidence in the utterances of
the government upon the subject of war,
and if they can be persuaded that Germany
is in danger of conquest if she shall not in
crease her army they will certainly choose
a reichstag pledged to do the emperor's bid
ding. If they do not, the world may look
to see another long struggle ending in the
defeat of the government, a new dissolution
Of the reichstag and a terrific constitutional
strain upon the. empire. Meanwhile there
lies behind all the dark possibility that the
IL definitely defeated may violate
the constitution and attempt to increase
his army without permission of the reichs-
VN