Mexico weekly ledger., 1902-07-10
JOURNEY THROUGH GERMANY,


sVSOt Wetaatlfttett
BY WALTER WILLIAMS IN COLUMBIA HERALD.
FRETBuRe, GERMANY, May a, 1902.
Germany Is called the fatherland by
many excellent citizens Of the United
States Of America. 1t richly deserves
the name. Babies are everywhere and
the government treats the grown-up
folks as though they were children. No
one can get lost In Germany. He
would stumble over a chubby-cheeked
baby or persistently polite police
man az the first corner 1t is d diffi-
cult matter to do anything IN Germa-
ny without the permission Of a pattern
al government. Coming into a Germ
an town the visitor must register with
the police office bis name, age and
station inllfe or profession. Leaving
town he must do the same. Between
times be is under tricisurveIllance by
the authorities. A German may not
change his boarding-hOuse without
the sanction Of the police and he can
not commit suicide without having a
llegally-issued death certificate in ad-
vance. A duly elected mayor or burgo-
master of German city was refused
the right to hold the Office because he
could not produce certificate show
ing that be had been born.
The Great Father resides at Berlin,
where he is at home, which is not
often. His name is William and he
signs it "Imperator, Rex" Emperor,
King. The government runs every
thing from the railroads to the Reich
stag and the government resides un-
der Hohenzollern hat. 1t took of
its hat to the Missourians as it came
riding from Potsdam to Berlin and the
Misssnrians took of both their hats to
it.
Don't Is an Immense word in Germa-
ny. 1t is spelled V-ER-B-O-I-E-N.
That means forbidden. What is for
hidden in Germany is not permitted.
The Great Father makes his children
mind. Respect for law Is born and
bred In the German. There is an odd be-
lief In this empire that laws are made
TO be obeyed and that policemen are
appointed to enforce the laws. That
seems to an American a most curious
belief and still more curious does 1t
seem that the Germans not only hold
the belief but practice it.
IL doesn't pay to disobey the law In
this land The whole country looks
as though it had been given a bath
early in the morning, dressed In clean
linen and told that 1t would be spank
ed II it got spots on its clothes or mis-
behaved. Germany is great nation
and runs on schedule time even
though the time table is a trlhe slow.
THE sIsTINE MADONNA AND sEIaFRIED
Dresden Is fine town. People with
money and brains live there--the COM |
bination is delightful. The city has a |
cultured atmosphere.
Everybody sings or paints and those
who do not, pay the bills. There are
more Americans in Dresden than in
any other German city.
The chief attraction In Dresden are
the Sistine Madonna and the Wagner
opera In the splendid royal opera
house. The Saxon government raises
vegetables on the railroad right Of |
way to get money to balance the loss
in maintaining high class opera. The
Sistine Madonna lives up to its |
advertisements. 1t is the best known
picture in the world and deserves to |
be. AS for the opera-it was Seigfried
and the house was packed. We only
succeeded in getting in because some
count, duke OF royal chump OF some
degree had bad cold and decided at |
the last minute he could not attend. |
So we sat In his box with five women
duly chaperoned. The opera began at |
six O'Clock In the afternoon. We went
at half after five so as to be certain to |
find our way into the box in time. We
did-and were in that box four
mortal hours. OF course it was
magnificent. We watched when the
other people applauded and hence
could write a fine critism. For people
who like this sort OF music 1t was Just
the sort OF music they liked, To the
unlnterested Missourians 1t sounded
like boiler factory cantata in full
blast at close range. Seigfried is a
fine, portly gentleman. He kills 4
dragon, gets blood ON his hands and
becomes immortal. Nobody can kill
him. We thought Of that the next
day as we heard him practiclng in the
hotel where we stayed. AS for the
stage setting of this great and vocifer-
ous Wagner opera, there is no st.
Louis theatre which can not surpass
It. The manager OF the old Haden or
OF LOhman's could discount 1t.
SeIgfrIed was a failure as a love
maker. 1t is the German women who
do the courting anyhow and not the
men. Seigfried went about 1t in an
entirely amateurish fashion and finally
turned over the whole business to the
heroine with a sigh OF relief
THE EMPEROR AND THE CROWN
FRINGE.
We have seen some worse looking
men than Emperor William. He
dashed down "Unter den Linden, /" the
biz, broad, beautiful Berlin street the
other day, apparently for our benefit
He is said to like Americans very
much. President Roosevelt pleases
him Immensely. There is a report in
the German capital that the Emperor
NAV come 10 the Worlds Fair In st