The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-11-18

| and unfavorable to American agricul-
tural imports.
In the new Reichstag. too, Agrarian
sympathies are very strong. and If en-
ergetic wire-pulling and unscrupulous
methods can prevail, Germany will be
driven into a more or less outspoken
tariff war with the United States. Lib
erals of every shade in Germany are
afraid Of this, and they argue early and
late against the tendency in that direc-
ton. How INSCRIPTIONS are the methods
and means which the Agrarians use in
their warfare against every thing Ameri-
can is hard to express. Proof came TO
me recently, for instance, that the pow
erful Butchers Association, whose head
quarters is in Hamburg has for some
time employed a cunning lawyer for the
sole purpose of influencing the German
press against American imports, and
thus Systematically prejudice German
public opinion in the same direction. The
most powerful and efficient weapons the
German government on its own part has
welded, and is going to WELD, against
American agricultural products are. Of
course. those of hygiene and national
sanitation, by means of which almost
=
man landowners can be excluded on one
preteZt or another. 1t is true, the send
ing of an American expert as scientific
attache TO the American embassy in Ber-
lin has helped to neutralize all this sys-
tematic 'Hetze" against American prod
ucts, but one expert against scores of
powerful and influential societies and
hundreds of hostile newspapers cannot &C
complish much
One result of the diet elections has been
a decrease Of the Polish political strength
in that body. With the aid of the gov
eminent and Of the press, a number of the
Polish candidates in the Polish provinces
Of Prussia have been defeated, and the
Polish faction will not be as numerous
nor as influential in the new house as it
was in the old one. This matter Of the
Polish agitation and anti-Polish measures
taken of late by the Prussian govern
ment is one Of great interest, but also
extremely intricate and involved. Much |
SHINING has been done on both sides. In
their ardent desire to preserve and |
strengthen their national entity the Poles, |
enthusiasts and narrow patriots as they |
are, have often gone too far, especially |
of course, under Prussian rulers Of vac |
Hating and apathetic mind. A retired |
colonel in the Prussian army, Won Muel- |
Ter, has lately published a number of |
facts in this connection, gathered by him |
during many years of residence in the |
Polish-speaking parts of the Prussion mo-
narchy. A Polish count in the chateau of |
his vast estate in the Prussian province |
of Posen, has had for many years flying |
Co. - nrxyfl
(meaning death to the Germans). Fanat- |
zeal attempts, often successful, to Polon- |
ize Germans or drive them away are too |
frequent in the disaffected provinces, |
while even the most patriotic Pole cannot /
deny that the Polish provinces of Prus-
STA flourish to a degree never dreamed |
of under Polish political rule. The prob |
lem of winning over these provinces to |
the Prussian side. morally as well as /
politically. is, however, so difficult that |
every statesman who ever tried his hand |
at it during the last hundred years and
more Slas failed more or less sgnally.
Just now Prussia is trying it in a two |
fold way. viz, by strengthening the eGr-
man element among the population there |
(which. in some districts amounts to |
nearly 80 per cent, in some again to only |
10 or 20-by vigorously proceeding against |
Polish fanaticism wherever that leads TO |
a conflict with the laws. and by introduce
ing all sorts of material benefits into the /
country, especially factories. banks, libra |
ries, higher institutions of learning, and |
the like, for which the coming diet is |
expecting TO vote sums aggregating sew
eral hundreds of millions of marks. That |
it Will be voted there is small doubt, and |
that during the next five or ten years the |
two hundred millions already on hand for |
the purpose of buying up the estates of |
bankrupt Polish mobiles and settling them |
with German peasants and small land |
holders Will accomplish something in the |
desired direction is plausible enough. But |
II is. nevertheless. very doubtful whether |
all these means viii suffice for GermaniZ- |
ing the three millions of Poles in Prussia /
sceptre, for the Poles have repeatedly |
proved that neither force nor favor can /
wean them from their dream OF re-es- |
tablished Polish kingdom. W. V. S.
First-class company at Crawford to-
night.