The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-08-14
SOCIALIST VICTORIES IN GERMA

The Socialist party of Germany owes
| probably, no inconsderable portion OF
its present strength to the ill-considered
| nature of the attacks which have re-
| Gently been made upon 1.-THE emphatic
rejection by the Reichstag of the pen
| al-servltude" bill, measure aimed
avowedly at labor agitators and trades
union leaders, was a great triumph for
them, and the publication of a recent
| judgment of one of the Berlin courts
now gives them further cause for re-
| joicing. The Saxon chief court Of jus
tice had brought an action for libel
| against the writer in the Vorwarts the
| leading organ of the Socialists, the al
| legged libel being contained in the fol-
| lowing criticism:
Notorious are the judgments of the
Saxon chief court of justice, which has
often bluntly declared the members of
| the Labor party not to have the same
legal rights as other citizens" The au-
thor of the article in the Vorwarts
pleaded justification, and on June II the
verdict was given in his favor. This
result of the trial naturally enough at
tracted great attention, and mention
during the debates on the 'penal-servi-
tude" bill DR.. Fischer one of the Sax
on plenipotentiaries on the Federal
council, felt himself called upon to de-
clare that, Until forced to change his
opinion by the publication Of the Berlin
judgment he regarded it as impossible
that the decisions of the Saxon chief
court could have borne even the ap-
pearance of Partially, and he refused to
believe that Pr1ssian court could
have found a verdict to this effect The
Judgment of the Berlin court Is now
published, and contains a more emphat-
fc recognition of the justice of the
Vorwarts criticism than could possibly
have been expected by the Socialists.
The judgment first acquits the Socialist
writer of all Intentional falsificat ton of
the law. The charge made is that the
Saxon judges have in delivering their
judgments unconsciously allowed them
selves to be influenced by their political
opinions. This charge, even If unbound
ed, is not considered by the Berlin court
to be an obvious libel, but the court
proceeds to examine the plea of justifi-
cation brought forward by the vor-
warts, and after a careful analysis of
four decisions of the Saxon court, comes
to the conclusion that, sin the words of
the alleged libel, the chief court Of ius-
tice at Dresden has declared the mem
bers of the labor party not to have the
same legal rights as other citizens"
Perhaps the most important point
about the judgment, however, is that it
1n n Ink
when the law of 1878 against the Social
Democratic agitation was allowed to
lapse, there no longer exist any explicit
legal regulations applicable to Social
lists. as opposed to members of other
political parties, and that at is. there
fore, demanded by public opinion that
even Socialists must now be allowed
the full benefit of the principle of the
of all citizens before the law"
How little such a Judgment will meet
with the approval Of certain sections of
German opinion may be estimated from
the comments of the Berliner Neueste
which roundly declares
that the court completely ignores the
force of the old maxim, st duo faciuni
edm non est idem. The Conservative
organ even goes so far as to declare |
hat the old law against the Socialist
agitation should be re-enacted as speed !
ly as possible if, as the Berlin iudg- !
ment lays down, the lapse of 1890 al |
owed the Socialist party the same free
lom of propaganda as other parties.
The Berliner Neueste Nachrichten |
eems to overlook the fact that in the
present state of public feeling such a
aw would have no more chance of be-
ng accepted by the Reichstag than the
ll-fated "penal-servitude" bill itself
Another victory for the Socialist party
S afforded by the verdict given by the
faculty of the University
f Berlin, acting as court of first in