The morning call., 1893-01-08
THE GERMAN CRISIS.

Within a week or so the fight between
Emperor William and the Liberals on the
army bill will be fought to a finish. The
Chancellor gives taeit notice 10 his official
organ that the Government will listen 10 no
compromise and that il will have its bill
entire or nothing. On the other hand the
organ Of the Liberals declares that its
friends will force the Government to pursue
the only course lef: to ito dissolve the
Reichstag and order new election. Thus
the antagon ism between Bismarek's abso-
lutist system and the aspirations Of free
Germany is approaching a crisis in which
one or the other may break down.
Looking at the situation from this dis
tance and studying it from our standpoint
Americans regard the contention of the
Government as mOnstrous. Germany Is
country of fifty millions Of people. which
implies ten millions Of adult males. OF
these 500,000 are in the regular army.
serving with the colors in a time of
perfect peace; number equal TO ) per cent
Of the entire adult population. Acting
as a reserve TO these is a force Of about
1900. Geo men enrolled in the standing army,
all OF whom have had som0 military train
ing Thus the Emperor can call out for
duty on the day war is declared a force Of
., 100000 men, or one-fourth the entire num-
Der OF adult males 10 Germany. Yet he is
not satisfied. On the plea that Russia has
lately increased its standing army he calls
for three new army corps, In addition to the
two new corps raised in 1890. 1t is this
increase which the Liberals in the Reich
stag resist, and the arguments by which
they are met are not calculated to diminish
their resistance. Under the German mill
tary law every able-bodled man is liable at IS
TO be called upon to serve three years In
the army. But in practice, when the re-
cruits are supposed TO be fully trained,
after two years and a half in the ranks,
they are released subject to call. The
Chancellor now declares that if the army
bill is defeated they viii all have to serve
their full three years.
The opinion in well-informed circles is
that the committee Of twenty-eight. to
which the Reichslag referred the bill. will
report recommendation that it pass, and
opponents Of absolutism hope that that will
be the case. The more rope the absol6tists
have the more likely they are to hang them
selves. The larger the number of men
withdrawn from productive industry the
fercer public Indignation is likely to
prove.
Unless the Germans in Germany ara very
different from their countrymen in this
country they must view the effects of the
Emperor's policy with bitterness, Increas-
ing from day to day Here they are among
the most intelligent OF our people. If It
were proposed to put one-quarter of the
adult male population of the United States
in uniform no class would more loudly pro-
test against such folly than the paturalized
Germans. There they seem to submit to
such absurdities with no stronger protest
than talk. In an article in yesterdays
CALL it was shown bow almost every prod
uct of the United States was swelling in
volume from year TO year. German tables
Of production show that there was no in
crease in the product of the fields, the
mines or the forests of Germany between
1879 and 1891 The simple reason of differ
ence is that here every adult male is busily
engaged in productive industry, while there
5 per cent of the adult males are in abso-
luteIy enforced idleness, while 20 per cent
more have been untitled for steady industry
by a term Of service under the eolors. The
Emperor now wants 70 unfit more thousands
OF them.
N3tAing is more interesting to watch Than