The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-11-12

I
responsible alone to God, but his people
| in large numbers agree with him. no
| mention is ever made of the peoples be-
| inc any part of the government of Ger
many It's my government" 'uny ar
N.Y." &c. in every address from the
! throne This state of affairs has ex
| listed since 1866 with the princes in
creasing. their power while the people
! have been losing the little Importance
| gained i'm 1913 The Imprisonment of
more than t..ousand people yearly for
disrespectful language about His MajeS-
! ty-and this in many cases not even so
meant does not raise any excitement
amongst thinking men. All the editors
| of Il humorous paper called Simpicimus
were either imprisoned last year or com
/ PEELED TO flee the country because OF
| some criticism of the Emperor's "trip to
! Palestine. winch criticism would have
| been considered so mild IN any other
country as to nave no point-tllis from
personal observation.
! Only a few weeks since, when the com
servatives of Prqssia-and THE conserya
dives of Prussia have always been the
| most faithful servants of the emperor
| yentured to oppose in the House of Lords
| the governments policy i'll regard to the
| Dortmunder canal, more than thirty
| were by order of His Majesty deprived
of theiT seats and discharged from other
Offices they held-it being 81 good thing
| i'll Germany for Il member of the lords
| to hold other offices of emollmnent. This
| treatment from Emperor W -lliam i'm the
face of the most Servile obedience for
mcrly ON the part of these same con-
servatives! One can hardly forbear
making a comparison of such behavior
to that of Charles OF England toward
| his Parliament, the result of which all
he world knows. But where a monarch
has at his beelS an army of five or six
! million men what else can be expected?
| There are many things to be admired in
the German constitution, but this is not
1t paralyzes the spirit and destroys the
energy Of the individual besides causing
heavy tax to be laid ON industry ANA
personal enterprise that an American,
| even now in our gala day OF conquest and
taxation and pensions would not pay.
In connection with this immense army
| in Germany is a police that keeps guard
over the people in a wonderfully eff
| cient way. The policeman may knock
at any door at any hour day or night and
| the owner must open under heavy penal
| ~ for failure to 10 so; no writ, no saaI
thority whatever except the policenans
| badge has to be produced. Every room,
| every door in Germany is thus subject
to the governments call The police
| is composed of n-comanisSioned officers
of the army and as such they become
the very eyes of MILITARY despotism IGy-
| cry public assembly held in Germany
must be presided over by a policeman or
faf tho s1nliFn nf x3l Ia, astn1
order the meeting dissolved and the mem
beers are not allowed TO reassenl5le nor
talk together in groups in or about the
place OF meeting Out of ten political
| meetings. held an Leipzig last year seven
were dispersed by the police. Resistance
to authority, mo matter how tyrannical
ii has became, is there Il crime and sab
ject to the severest punishment. The
| bare statement of a policeman i'm court
has far more weight than that of the
| man arraigned-in fact it is usually the
only evidence necessary for co1lvicting;
consequently this all Important officer
/ can arrest fine, collect the fine and set
i at liberty any man he sees fit so long as
/ the supposed offender does not refuse to
| pay, which always makes the case worse
for the prisoner. 1t would Require pages
| to recount the many Illustrations Of sim
/ liar nature that have come under the
authors own observation earring the past
/ two years
| The expense of maintaining a whole
| nation in arms is inestimableit equals
| the grand army pension appropriations
lin oar own country! 1t may
/ be and is claimed that this
immense expenditure benefits the
people because the money goes
| finally into their hands. We have seen
how little goes directly into their hands
and that whic.l goes for arms and equip
! ments, or to the great caste of off
| GERS and so on does NOT it seems to me,
do them much good. The one item the
! maintaining of officersis entirely
| against the interests of the people and it
benefits them in the same way that the
| earnings of trusts benefit our people!
| The truth is Germany is paying an enor-
nous tax both direct and inoarect the
average of wealth of the individual is
about half what it is i'm America, while
the tax is nearly double This i'm addi-
tion to the giving Of every SON in every
family two years to the government AZ
soon MS he has reached his 20bh year.
The German people are the most long
suffering in Western Europe and yet
f.ley are complaining and many a vote
is added to the ranks of socialism in the
vain hope of checking the ever increas-
ing power of the Emperor.
Geamany's net income from exports and
from minerals produced in the country
itself lis in comparison to ours almost
nothing; it's oalt go for provisions and for
wares for its factories lis equal to this
income. How then cam an intelligent
government that considers the nations
welfare continue to increase taxation, to
issue bonds that are almost entirely talk
EN- UP by foreigmers2 Every one knows
that this lis a suicidal policy-that rs for
the people, for the ruling family and the
army officers, ton in the long run. Yet
the Emperor and the great host of Off
GERS throughout the nation clanor for
continuance Of it. for increase Of army,
increase Of expenditure So dear to them
has become the authority they enjoy
that nothing else gains any consideration
The present policy Of Germany is, as
above intimated, increase of the army
and double increase Of the navy, |
increase everywhere Of the n0n-prodne !
ing class of the nation. No means will