The times., 1898-07-27
GOSSIP FROM BERLIN .

! IHefe IL d growing convection among
the men who determine the political
course of Germany that the alliance with
! Austria-Hungary. is steadily becoming.
50 far as its availability in case of war
Is concerned. OF less and less value. Evil
dence has come-evidence of an incon-
testable character-which indicates that
| the internal strife among the different
nationalities composing the Hamburg
empire has now penetrated the army,
| and 10 so serious an extent as to make the
| Austrian army henceforth almost un-
available against a particular foe such
| as Russia or France for instance. The
| German emperor had some striking
/ proofs of this at the big Austrian army
maneuvers last year. and it is said that
this discovery gave him a terrible shock.
Now a high 9fficei of the German gen
eral staff pqblishes in the high-class
publication. Die Gegenwart. a long article
descriptive Of the utter unreliability or
| the Austrian 3rmy.i and he also gives the
reasons for this. and shows that it would
| be, under the present political conditions
In Austria, simply impossible to mend
matters. The most significant fact cited
and illustrated by him is this. that there
is no longer any uniform language OF
| command understood by the men compos-
| ing the army Up to recently this COM
mon medium Of verbal and written inter-
course in the Austrian army was German.
Nominally II is still, but practically II Is
not. The author cites a number of in
stances that came Under his personal OBJ
| servdtion, where. anzorder issued in Ger
man at the big maneuvers at Tots was
misunderstood. one after the other by
| a Croatian. a Czech. Polish and Hun
garlan regiment-the natural result
| being chaos and inextricable confusion
| He very justly remarks that to carry
| on a campaign with an army which does
| not understand the very orders issued to
| it becomes an impossibilty. This state
of things argues, more than any other,
| that Austria as a political entity. Is al
| ready in process of dissolution.
DR. Charles Wardell Stiles. the new sci
| entific attache of the American embassy
in Germany, has been hard at work since
his arrival here in successfully hunting
down all sorts of rumors or statements
set afioat by the agrarian party OF the
empire and by its press. with intent TO
| injure American Interests. On the other
| side OF the water people have no idea
with what fiendish malice and cunning
| such stories have all along been injected
into the German press by this party of in
| tense Americaphobes. Systematically, by
| the shrewd use Of exaggerated or entirely
invented stories. the German government
| and public have been taught 10 regard all
| pork from America as infested with
uichinae, meat as Injurious TO the health,
| lard as adulterated. bacon as rancid. iiv-
| ers as decayed, fruit as deadly, etc, ad
/ infnitum. The absence hitherto of an at
| tache connected with the American en-
bassy able and willing tc dispcl these
! ideas and disprove the lying stories has
| had much to do with the growing eff
! cheney OF the fables among the unsopnis-
! ticated masses here.
! Dr. Stiles. who was up 10 the date 5f his
! arrival here The Zyo.Ug Il Of t..- Bur-au
! # Animal Industry in Washington. found
! his hands fuH n coming here The
! DeUtsche TaSeszeitung, which Is the main
! organ Of the agrarian party, soon after
! Dr. Stiles arrival published a long and
| detailed statement to the effect that
| Hamburg firm had jus; rejected a ship
| load Of American livers-l.JJ0 tons OF them
| because these Iivers had arrived In i de-
| cayed condition. The paper added some
| reflections Of its own. 1t expressed a fear
LiiaL lADt " 7 klTsss 44ltss t4iS l1luSStl VI III
! Hamburg firm to accept this load OF
filth" the cunning Yankees" would
| certainly find some way of selling this
| disgusting stuff to the German traders
! unscrupul1us enough 10 take il, and that
the temptation TO the German butchers
| to use such deadly American fifth" in
making liver sausage was particularly
| great because they could buy such Amer
| lean uvers al % pfennig % centsl pound,
| sound healthy German hogs or beeves'
| lvers. Dr. Stiles went to Hamburg to
! investigate on the spot. He found that
| this story. with nearly every one of its de-
| tails was a pure fabrication He dis
| covered that only 80 instead of LOO tons
! Of livers were in quest on; that the Ham
burg firm had refused to take these Amer
| lean livers, not because they were bad
| but because they had changed their mind
| about the order; that as this order had
! been. however. too late countermandsd
| the livers beng in. ,midocean at the time,
! on board a steamer the American firm
| very naturally declined taking its goods
! back that there was absolutely no COM
| plant made by the Hamburg firm as to
| the quality Of the livers when the latter
| arrived: on the contrary, an acknowledge
| ment that the goods were in first-c'ass
! condition. and that the Hamburg firm
| sold the goods at a good profit though at
! first unwilling to take them. All his
| ! viii add. the Hamburg firm declared IN
! an affidavit under oath; and DR.. Stiles
! put himself in possession of the document
as a cHncher of the whole matter Need
| less to say. however, that not one Ger
man paper deemed it just and fair to cor
rect or in any way modify the previous
| lying story though they had all reprinted
| it with "iiendish glee" from the paper
that started il originally.
To show in what autocratic fashion Oft
en- German local authorities proceed
against American imports of the agricul-
tural kind. if they compete, perhaps. with
native products. l also quote a case in
point The local authorities OF a medi-
um-sized town in the north of Germany
have recently passed a rule. without any
warrant at all in law, by which those
merchants who receive American fruit in
packages must on the fruit ana the pack
ages having been passed as uninjurous
burn up the packing itself wi hin TWEEN
ty-four hours after arrival. There is as
| say. nothing in law or in the admin
istrative orders issued several months
ago which empowered this local authori-
~ in making such a new rule: but the
latter, nevertheless. is strictly enforced
Bebel, the socialist leader. is defendant
in a case for slander begun by a man who
was for several years a resident of Chi
cago. This mans name is Carl E. Fink
He disappeared rather suddenly in 1898
under charge of forging some bills of
exchange and disposing of them at their
face value to William A. Jung. who keeps
resort in Randolph Street, and to the
then steward of the German Press Club
of Chicago named Heinrichs Here in