The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1895-12-20
TROUBLE AHEAD IN GERMANY

TROUBLE AHEAD IN OEHMANf
The People Growing Tired of Their Des-
potic Emperor.
Berlin Letter in New York Evening
Post.
The dIsintegration OF political parties
has advanced during the past three |
months at so rapid a rate that II Is
impossible at this hour to tell wnere
cohesion ends and chaos begins. Ihat |
one faction which has In rain and sun
shine withstood the assaults OF all the |
other factions the most vigorously for |
quarter of century, the Center, Is
torn the most by inner dissensions, SO
that IL no longer presents uhteu
front to the enemy. The Polisn wins
Of the great Catholic center has all OF
a sudden became more Polish tnan
Catholic The conservative party, be-
reft of its cleverest and boldest leader
Baron Won Hammerstein. is like ruu-
derless ship swaying to and fro. Inc
national liberals have for several years
past been losing strength at the polls
at each succeeding election, ana the
same is true OF the radicals and ultra
liberals Alone the socialists have been
gaining strength, numerically. at least,
for they, too, are rent by party striIe'
the South being arrayed against the
North.
so the government does not know
where to get a majority for any bill
introduced, does not know where 10
make advances or where 10 repeL
Moreover. 1t lacks a well defined pro-
gramme The Hohenlohe cabinet ike
its chief. is vaoillating. weak, concii-
itory or brusque by turns. 1t lacks sol
idarity and purpose. energy and initi-
alive And then the storm that has
been gathering for months Is sure 10
burst during this session of the reich
stag. The agrarian malcontents-hltn-
erto comprising the main phalanx OF
government supporters, though num-
Der of the Center delegates are also
agrarian, as are the Guelphs, the Poles
and other anti-government members
are firmly determined to eat no more
sugar or bread out of the hand or the
government, and to force things to an
| issue, one way or another. They now
| insist on two things, viz: The restitu-
/ ton of bi-metallism Cor the initiatory
| steps leading to that at least) and on
some trenchant measure or measures
| to bring back higher prices for cereals.
| Their main organ in its last issue says
| that "in case the government fails US
| In this too, IL can only be explained by
| either a lack of good will or of energy,
and In either case the conclusions VIII
be drawn by u.s." In other words, the
agrarians have fully made up their
| minds to bring the Hohenlohe regime
| to an end unless they get what they
want. In any case IL will be hard lines
| for the imperial chancellor. for the
| cabinet is far from being a unit on this
| vital question how far to humor the
agrarian demands. In fact. IL Is spit
in two on the subject. Hence 1t is prob
able that another ministerial crisis VIII
be on ere this session closes or else the
present reichstag will be sent home
and an appeal to the country made.
Meanwhile; reactionary. illiberal
spirit is spreading through the land.
Informers are everywhere. Inc system
| of political espionage is each day bear
ing fruit The thing called les majestic,
though by law but a misdemeanor, Is
treated and punished as a crime. Two
days ago a laborer named Oscar Frost
at Breslau was sentenced to two years
words about the emperor. For the one
. month of October In 81 trials against
| socialist offenders alone, the fines
. | amounted TO 2,94l marks and the i'm
, prisonment to 10 years. The states at
, torneys are ever on the watch for sucf
! cases, and a denunciation, no matter
) how ill-founded. is equivalent to con-
: viction. The judges are straining tn
: law to impose heavy sentences. To rit
, yourself of an enemy no surer and cas-
1 Ter means can be found than to prefe
4 a charge of les majestic against him
\ A l7-year-old girl. for criticising the
y poorly executed Autographs OF the i'm
Y perial couple. not the latter themselves
: was denounced by a woman witt
?. whom she had quarreled and thereupol
v spent months in jail. And IL Is no
Y alone the socialist and anti-governmen
n press that is gagged and harassed. bu
4 even those journals and magazine
n which. in their general tenor, ar
a friendly to the government and ar
a thoroughly monarchic.
h Hand in hand with that terrorism
goes the systematic attempt to curta
? the freedom of teaching in the univer
a stiles which has for generations bee
ir held one OF the main bulwarks of cor
IS stitutional liberty in Prussia, an
IN which has hitherto been respected b
IN every government. reactionary or iii
IA eraL A number of steps taken In az
3 cordance with government orders dul
o ing the last month show that tn
2 browning glory of German universii
of life Is 20 be broken down. DIR Jastro,
a ''privat decent" In Berlin universit
e. is 70 be driven out Of his Office becaui
b. of a sentence in a recent econom
1e work of his displeasing TO a men
ne Der of the Prussian cabinet. The ca
IN OF DIR. Arons furnishes a parallel
20 this, and there are several other sim
re lar cases. Associations OF students. 70
in | meeting for the study and discussit
~ Of social and economical problem
er have been dissolved by university re
d. tors making themselves the tools
al the government reactionism; notab
he was this the case in Berlin. and mo
n recently still In Halle.
e. IL is well known that the emperor