The morning call., 1893-06-15
THE CERTAIN ELECTION.

! OF memO OerS to be elected is 397. ana 1t Is
said that there are 1900 candidates in the
field, or nearly four candidates to each
seat The consequence will be that the
| popular vote will be so split up that 1t will
not reflect popular sentiment, notwlth-
| standing the expedient of second and third
! elections where no candidate has received
majority of the ballots cast. Among the
parties which are running candidates may
be enumerated the Old Conservatives. the
! Free Conservatives, the National Liberals,
| the Catholic Center, the Progressists. the
Democrats, the Poles, the Alsace-Lorrain-
ers, the Social Democrats and the Anti
| Semites.
| The last election took place on February
20. 1890. On that occasion the two con-
servative parties lost twenty-six seats
which they had held in the Reichstag of
| 1887. and the National Liberals fifty seats,
while the Liberal Radicals gained thirty
two seats and the Social Democrats gained
| twenty-four. The other seats lost by the
parties which supported the Government
were gained by the Ultramontanes, the
Poles and the Independents. The ten
dency of political opinion between 1887 and
! 1890 had been to sharpen the line between
the Government party and the opposition,
and to drive the third parties into union
with one or the other. When the Reich
stag met the Chancellor could count on
about 134 votes, and the opposition on
about 1l2 votes, while the Catholic or
| Centrlst party had 107. There were
thus forty-four loose votes which
tloated between the three-not enough
to give any one of them a working
majority. The balance of power was held
by the Centrists. whom Bismarck was able
on EN- mergencies to seduce by conces ssiOns
to the church Unfortunately for the i'm
perial Government, Bismarck went out of
Office in March, 1890, aud DR.. Windhorst
died just year afterward; since then it
has been difficult TO rally the Center party
to the support of the Government meas
ures. Some of the staDchest supporters of
the Kulturkamp nave showed signs of
willingness to act with the Radicals.
The question to be decided to-day is
whether the reaction against militarism
which manifested itself in 1890 is going to
continue or to subside. To carry on the
Government on constitutional principles.
the Ministry should have at least 210
members pledged to supp ort its measures,
and to accomplish this it must gain
surprising gain. If it cannot do this, the
action of the Reichstag will depend upon
the fusions which may be effected among
the scattering parties. Americans can
realize the situation if they suppose that
the $50 members of Congress embraced 125
Democrats, 100 Republicans, so Prohibi-
tonists and 76 Populists. To handle such
body would be no Daby task, and it
m ha inr,lf tn fha
of measures of affirmative legislation, or
even to get the appro priation bills passed.
The trouble with the Germans is that
they are even less trained than their neigh
bors, the French, in the practical business
of self-government When the constitu-
tion of 1871 was adopted there was no sub
stratum of popular institutions TO plant it
on. 1t was house without a foundation.
In this country the people had been used
! to manage their own affairs from the old
colonial times. Autonomy was bred in the
American bone. blood and fiber. But
hardly any of the twenty-nine German
States had had any experience in the con-
duct of their own affairs. In few States
constitutions had been extorted by the peo-
pie from their rulers. But they were gen.
orally make-b believes. which conceded the
SemOlauce Oh liberty Wnlie WlL0n0lQlDg lis
substance. In majority of the German
States there had never been even sham
charter of liberty. In all the real power
rested in the hands of the kings, grand
dukes, dukes. margraves and landgraVes.
These officials made war and peace at
their own sweet will. without consulting
the people, and though the latter claimed
the right to protest and to threaten when
the taxes were not TO their liking, there
was no orderly popular control Of the pub
lie purse anywhere in Germany. When
the King Of Bavaria invited his fellow
potentates in 1870 to a meeting which
offered to revive the German Empire for
the benefit of the King of Prussia, no pop
ular convention was held and the German
people were never asked what they thought
about it,
Among such people a real parliament
tary regime cannot be put in force without
good deal of friction. And one of the
signs of the friction is the scattering of the
popular strength among a number of rival
parties instead of concentrating it in one
party, with definite purposes and united
! lotO