The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-11-03
THE KAISER'S IRON HEEL
THOUGH HONEST AND EARNEST, THE
GERMAN EMPEROR BLUNDERS.
He Lacks Tact, Creates DisaffectiOns
and Encourages Rather than
Quiets SOciaIistic Feeling.
G. W. Stevens, in London Mail.


part of this time his rule. as 1 explained
yesterday has been in practice, if not II
theory, quite despotic He is now thirty
eight years old-that is, in the high prime
of life, though the Germans. by contrast
with his grandfather, often speak of min
as if he were a mere boy. His abilities
are unquestioned; his sincerity and hon
esty of intention, to my mind, beyond sus'
picion. His worst enemy could not accuse
him of not knowing his own mind His
energy well-nigh amounts to a wonder OF
nature. His hand is in every detail of gov
eminent. He can ride in icy rain all day
at the head of his cavalry. transact bust
ness in the afternoon, attend a banquet
and stagger Europe with drink speech
and then go off to sleep in his special train
and do the same thing next day and the
next and the next There are all sorts OF
stories about mysterious maladies, but
whatever may or may not be affecting him
has certainly not curtailed his powers OF
work With all his high qualities, his
quickness, insight, sincerity, self-conti-
dence, resolution, energy, he has in ten
years ccomplished-nothing. Absolutely
nothing.
Absolutely nothing to show for himself
by the side of the Great Elector, of Fred
eric the Great, of Friedrich Wilhelm III.
OF William l. Even his father had taken a
mans share in the making of Germany;
the son has made nothing. And not only
that but throughout his whole empire
ruled, remember, almost literally in ac-
cordance with his personal wishes In ev-
cry smallest observation-disclosures Suilen dis
content and irritation.
l do not mean that every German is DIS
0nrlfa cd hoU I
gauge exactly how discontinued Germans
are But that, from one cause or another,
there does exist vast deal of disSatiSfac-
ton with the present government of the
German empire is quite beyond dispute.
You may divide 1t into two main branches,
each with almost numberleSS SUBDIVISIONS.
There are the discontents outstanding from
the last generation when nationality
formed the basis of insurrections ana wars
the national, particularist sentiment OF
bavaria and Saxony, Of Hanover an9
Hesse and Frankfurt of the Alsatians and
the Poles. And there are the new growing
discontents which spring up out or eco.
nomic ground-the new generations KIND
of dissatisfaction revealing itself IN anti
Semtism, in agrarianjsm. and socialism.
The first kind of disaffection might be
exaggerated; the wonderful thing is that II
subsists at all. But to prove that 1t sub
sists you have only to get BaXa ara e or q
few minutes. Sometimes he will be more
anti-Prussian. sometimes less; but he Will
very seldom profess not to know that ina there there
SANITATION of both states: How far Prus-
SANITATION has gone, say in Bavaria. hard,
the is pore as
suggestion, for example, Of the introduc-
ton of the black trousers of the Prussian
soldier into the Bavarian army, instead OF
of indignation. The volume of the how
| was not very great, but so far as 1T went
It was shrill Its leader was ,n 4T; Stg
among the Bavarian peasants MEMBER OF
the Reichstag. and popularity known as the
saH bs enees en d perhaps he Is
But the fact that the least attempt to as
simulate Bavaria to Prussia in the least
particular sets Dr. Sigl on Screaming nm IN,
the bargain, is far from insignificant.
Discomfort RIFE.
In the semi-independent kingdoms par
ticularism is kept alive by the mere fact
of neutrality-suspicious. in Hanover, Alsace-
Lorraine and the Polish provinces it Is
fostered by the exact opposite. The two
kinds of -Prussianism act and react.
States with their own government point to
Hanover ard Posen, and resolve not to
merge into provinces; provinces point to
Saxony and Wurtemburg, and aspire to
their status of modified self-government
OF these last malcontents, Hanover, OF
which I spoke more in detail, is the weak
est. and therefore the more instructive
The German Right party, the party of pro-
test against 1866, which exists in Hanover
in Hesse-Cassel, in Frankfurt-all violently
subjected to Prussia in that year-is grow
ing weaker, as a party based on protest
against an abstract wrong inevitably must
But Poland and AlSace-Lorraine where
protest can base itself on a distinct diff
ference of race. still send compact parties
of their own to the Reichstag, and show
nYexy n
Particularism, in short, is still. after a
generation of nominal unity, decidedly alive
in Germany. But when you come to ask
how much alive the case is altered. Elk
cept in case of any violent attempt at
Prussianization of the federal units. at vio-
lent dragooning of the dissatisfied prov
inces. there is no immediate serious dan
ger to the Kaiser from particularism. In
case of an aggressive war with a powerful
neighbor the states might give trouble
They might even refuse their cooperation
in an extreme case. But that, 1 fancy is
the beginning and end of any grave dom
ger from particularism; in defensive
war, for example. Bavaria and Saxony may
be expected to cooperate with Prussia as
lovally and as effectively as they did in
1870.
So much for particularism. The Kaiser
has done nothing to heal 1t; but time is on
his side. When we pass to economic dis
content the sky seems blacker. Socialism
in Germany we are accustomed to think
of as dark and menacing cloud. At the
last election to the Reichstag there were
over L, VOTES cast TOT social DemOC-
racy. And remember, say alarmists, that
of these 1,750.000 every man is a trained SOL
der. 1t looks as if the Kaiser were blum
dering towards the edge of an awful preci-
pice. But I doubt it,
Socialism in Germany is unquestionably
strong: it would be wonderful If 1t were
not so. In a country where the state al
ready does so much for the regulation OF
private life it would be wonderful If any
man who felt himself at disadvantage in
| any wav did not ask the state to do still
more. The whole system of German gov
| errment is A nursery garden of socialism
| 1t is so with the Agrarian Conservatives
| depressed agriculture is apt everywhere tc
| bang at government doors for relief but
| in Germany it goes so far as to ask the
| state to shut out foreign corn for half the
| year or to fix the price of bread. But
agra iansm is important only as deprivine
| the Kaiser of his natural supporters amone
extreme Conservatives: socialism is boil
stronger and more minatory. It is the only
| party except the Catholics. with an ener
| getic propaganda and tight organization
| Tt is the only party which knows its owr
uraly it tends TO rally to itself every ele
ment of opposition in the whole country
SOCIALIST STRENGTH.
| man gets tired of the futile protests o.
Hanover or Alsace. of the factious SQUAD
bles of the Individualist Radicals, of tn,
empty jeremlads of the .Agrarians III,
sees the Socialists standing shoulder t.
shoulder knowing what they want anC
| how to go to work TO get it, he votes So
| cialist. Socialism in short. is aggregatin,
| to itself not merely its natural raw ma
| terial-the wage Garner. who wants hi
wages to go farther-but every kind o
dudgeon that votes against the govern
| ment. Even postmen and policemen vot
| Socialist, and in Germany you must re
l member. n policeman