The Portland daily press., 1893-07-18
American Politicians Would Not Like
the German Method.
SOME BERLIN GOSSIP OVER THE
KAISER'S VICTORY.

Comment on the ResuIt-Russian and
French Journals Urge Increased Arma-
ment in Those Countries.
BERLIN, July 17.-This city is discuss
ing the result Of the vote on the army
bill, but there seems little enthusiasm
over it.
The customs of Germany, with regard
to an electoral campaign, differ widely
from those of America and other coun-
tries. The government in theory is in
dependent of parties, and it's members do
not personally enter the arena. No min
mister would think of addressing body
OF electors. For example, DR.. MIGUEL
| recently chose to take few of his polit-
ical friends at Frankfort into his conf
dece and allow his remarks to be pub
lished. This action was quite unusual.
Thus the Chancellor, whose power of
! speech and wide experience could not
fail to carry weight with the constituent
cies, is debarred from all opportunity of
directly reaching the masses who have
to pronounce upon, the policy. The in
| fiuence of the Government can only make
| itself felt through the sem-official press,
| by the wholesale circulation of PAM
| phlets on the situation-a favorite mode
of propaganda with all parties-and by
| the collective action of Bureaucacy.
every member of which is supposed to
exert himself in..the good cause. Today.
however, the Prussian Government.
which controls the most powerful por-
ton of the Bureaucratic machine, does
| not seem to entertain quite the same
views of the good cause as the Imperial
Government. Whilst on the other hand.
in England, the crown scrupulously re-
trains from any manifestation of it's
spmpathies, the Emperor here does not
hesitate to express his views on the
main question of the day with character
istic vigor.
Newspaper opinion is that when the
Reichstag reassembles in October the
Chancellor will need all his energies to,
keep in check the centrifugal elements of
the government majority. The small
majority which gave the government the
victory is not regarded as nee
essarily significant of government sue
| cesses when other than military ques-
tions arise. The newspaper editors of
the Richter group even comfort them
selves with the belief that the meagre-
ness of the majority indicates the imme-
diate approach of the end of militarism.
The Chancellor, who had been obliged
to lean for support ON anti-Semitic
crutches. they say, must soon fall to the
ground. The Boersen Courier, Radical
Unionist, and at its convenience mildly
friendly toward the Chancellor, saws
that he will not long be able to govern
with the discordant groups now in his
camp.
The Germania, bitterly clerical, ac-
cuses the Is Catholic Poles of perfdy in
going with the government, and re-
proaches them with having violated all
their convictions to vote against their
church and political interests. The Ger
mania prophesies that the Clerical party
soon will recover it's old unity and be
again the ruling power in the Reichstag.
The military journals compare the old
bill and the new bill, generally to the ad-
vantage of the latter. In some profess
sional eyes, however, the points of diff
ference seem SO inconsiderable as not to
justify the pother over them, certainly
not to the extent of dissolving the Reich
stag and upsetting the country with the
excitement and expense attendant upon
general election.
Such representative Russian newspa-
pers as the Grashdanin, Novoe Vremya
and Novosti profess to find in the adop-
ton of the army bill provocation for the
immediate increase of the French and
Russian armies.