New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-07-05
THE GERMAN ELECTIONS.
WITH VIEW OF THE METHODS AND TEN.
DENOTES OF POLITICAL LIFE IN
GERMANY.
London, juno 20.

You think OF such performance as that! ohouid
Won think it serious politics? Yet, substituting
Congress for President, that is pretty nearly whao
hos inst occurred in Germany The Reichstas
consists of 397 members, elected by universal suf-
fr,oe The returns at hand to-day include 5Ss
oun Of 3o7 constituencies, of which PIP are tie
cisive In the remainder candidate has an
.hsoute majority and second elections have there
coro 20 no held The 212 are classified as follows:
A Conservatives 10 Imperalists. l6 National
| 7 liberals 3 Liberal rnonists, Antl-Semltes, IL
Poles 6 Centre for and 73 against the Army Dill,
o. Social Democrats, 4 South German Deniocrats,
Alsacc-L orrainers Agrarians' Dahe'
c,o,rh and Prince Car0lath, Liberal, who be-
longs to no party, but il in favor OF 'e 'nS "i'i'
Tho Radicals. under Herr Richter, have not vet
rotrrnod ono of their candidates. These figures
are subject to notification
IT. as is probable Herr Richter himself Is elected
ON u second ballot, with probably some oi ms
followers also, the Fourteen Parties become rlt-
teen That is the spectacle which Germany pre-
sents to-day and that is IA far as the "efma7
Democracy has travelled on the road toward rhi
Iiamentary Government For Parliamentary cow
eminent implies Party Government, ana Party
Government means the distribution OF politIcai
rorccs into two opposing groups. The very name
TIirl Party as used in America, is used In tone
NJ contcmpt With what emotions, then, ar" VIZ
10 contemplate the Fourteenth or fii'@h'n Ineri
is a touch Of irony in the composition OF '"e ioo'1
,non.h marty. Prince Caroath Liberal, who
beIopos 70 no party but il in favor OF tiie ARMY
bill 4 Prince, a Liberal, no party man, DIV
an Army bill man-what is he but ne" "raha
Duke Of Gerolsten? l..
The curse Of German politics Is IN 'u'h' III
dividualisn. II may be called by many haiNs'
Pride of opinion il one, intellectual arrosdno' u
al oil
q third The individual German is often hiehly
educated man. 1t is "A dangerous fhinS 10 say
Inf thera is n form of education which, IN SONS
st,ccs of public life units the student Tor poiiti-
cal duties. or 10 speak more accurately, ieh"cr'
him less likely 10 discharge these duties III
rational WAY Has not tho world long sih'e
an reed that the Professor in Politics l. aP' u IVY
ont of his plac,? He takes the Professor We"
when the political view il what i wanted. All"
in Germany the Professor l. more frequent '"""
anywhere. and he l., above all, frequent III p'n'
ties. He Muparts . touch of pc,iantry u puoh'
life and in the Reichstag he rones near 70 D.
ing positive nuisance. ;,
II ,nvbody care, for anatomical processes In
nolitics he may think it worth wlhc 10 anayDS
All these complex party formations. II one lived
i'm t;crmany, one would have to ah1iyzr ul'iH'
nor is the task difficult one But many OF them
e>plain themselves and. whether they do or no''
tendencies are to the observer more interesting
than details or than the disseciing -tab" MORO
struggles than one are going on IN GERMANY
There are the forces of disntegration and thS
forces Of consolidation. and no well wisher 70
Germany can doubt on which side his sympdthies
belong There are social conflicts ana religious
conflicts. and there is the too general EFFORT IN
the lesser States TO resist the asccndency OF
Prussia.
The difficulty with German politics and pollfi'
Clans is that the German people are not conteht
10 deal with fundamental issue at tiine'
They multiply issues The Catholic party, actins
under orders from Rome, puts the religious ques'
ton foremost at all times, and in more than
third of the constituencies there is Catholic
majority. They would, suppose, or their leaders
would see the Empire 90 10 piece, sooner thah
submit 10 Protestant control Tn. Centre l. en'
camped in the Reichstag like a hostile or waVer'
ing division in the midst of an army. You never
can tell at what moment it may turn against us
commander. II the Catholics were supposed TO ps
agreed about anything. it was III their ennhty u
Socialism. When policy had t. be settled with
reference 10 the second ballots, the tltramontane
committees said "Whatever you do, never VO's
for a Socialist" Their organ, the "Germanla
announced it. The next thing sou hear Is thae
fighting alliance, have been concluded in several
districts between the lltramontahes ana Sociai'
lists.
The Conservatives behave no better III thev
have an interest it is TO keep down Socialism out
they have ordered their people TO abstain from
voting i'm certain districts where their abstention
means the election OF Il Socialist on the second
ballot. and notably in Berlin, where Socialism Is
most dangerous of all Professor Nirchow Is en-
pccted to lose his seat. and an obscure Socialist
is to replace him, because. with the party which
nsurps the name Conservative party, or perhaps
personal, animosities are stronger than Conserve
tivism 1t cannot be denied that Professor Viz.
chow j. a Professor. but lie is an eminent Proc
fessor who has been for generation IA Liberal
leader If his politics not the politics of ths
Conservatives who mean to ostracize him, what
are those of his Socialist opponent? 1t comes u
this that if the Germans have few or none of
the advantages and virtues Of party government.
properly so-callcd, they have their full share Of
its vices and its pernicious influences They havs
adopted and practsed what is worst in it what
is best. they have yet TO understand
If any cause has contributed more than an
other 10 the extinction of the Radical party under
Herr Richter, it is his and their coauetry with TIE
faction which aims not merely at the dissolution
of the Empire but the overthrow of Society
itself But the Conservatives will not learn this
lesson. Tho Poles, the anti-ScIntes. til, South
German Democrats the Agrariars, each has
policy aim which is, in the first place, pure
~ selfish and in the second place politically i'm
possible They nevertheless cling each TO ha
own selfish and impracticablc purpose. They can
not or will not sacrifice it 70 patriotic impulse.
or TO a sensible and conceivable cooperation with
other parties in some policy on which depends
the welfare of the country, and which itself de-
ponds on cooperation. They cannot unite. They
cannot subordinate minor differ/c.es. They will
not take large views. How are parties to be COM
lJsed in such circumstances and with such tenn
per prevailing among so many sections Of the
people? And what is Parliamentary government