The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-12-07


made by the young Kaiser william II.
/, fortnight after his Accession TO the throne
| we will make short work OF tho Socialist
movement" he told Prince Bismarck.
| Leave that to me. | shall win them over
| To my side inside year Az matter OF
! fact, fourteen Yeas have since elapsed,
and the Socialist party has grow n TO more
| than double the strength which II then
poss, sscd. Measured by tho number of
| its votes IL represents to-day one-Quart"r
| OF the German people; but, in our authors
| opinion. even that high estimate il proba-
! bly, below the truth. Whoever lives IN
! Germany cannot help minfIinR daily.
| almost hourly. knowingly or uiAnowingly,
| with Socialists The valet who gives you
admission to his masters drawing room
may be a Socialist. In the antc-chambcr
! Of count Won Buo low. the Imperial Chan
| cellor. you are likely to meet one. In every
| Government de pa! tmcnt Socialists are em-
| ploycd by the score. Nay. the haiss
himself, do what he will, has Socialists
| at his court and in his immt Giate erfotr-
| Gce." Only by the omnipro sence Of Its
representatives is the enormous influence
! OF the Socialist party e2plcabl,. lhe
extent 10 which the ramifcations of Social
! ism have been carried in Germany was
brought out clearly, it seems. by the Mayor
| OF kolberg in controversy with Gov
eminent official about tho renting Of
public hall to boay Of the followers ~
! kall Marx. lie who does not want TO sit
, whore Socialists have tat. said the Mayor,
| will nowadays bc somewhat embarras,.d
to find a seat anywhere in Germany; at
least he cannot any longer travel in rail-
u Il. ,,1y Il,
for the most part made by Socialists. Our
clothes have been manufactured by Social
lists. You cannot live i'll new house in
the building II which Socialists la Ne not
! been engaged. In short, to avoid Social
| lists, or to stigmatize them ar a class out
side Of the pale Of resp ctable society ia
absolutely futile. Only by acknowledging
/, them as a public factor, on an equality
with all other public factors. can the social
peace BE- furthered" 1t may well aston
ish a foreigner, however, To find that at
least one in every four men he meetG in
Germany belongs to a political organiza-
ton which has inscribed upon its banners
the oblitcration of the present state Of gov
ernmeLI. the abolition of monarchies and
the suppression Of the immense standing
| army by a much vastcr body Of militia
"a party. in fine. that looks upon the present
state as its mortal enemy.
| How are We To account for the fact that
the Socialist vote which in 1s7S-79 was
| but $4,000, rose in 1895 TO 2,io7,0OO: Mr..
| Won Sutherland explains that the Socialist
strength has leen acquired at the expcl sc
| of the Liberal factions. The hold which
| these factions once Possessed on the masses
| Of the German people is entirely gone.
| Ore by one the election districts controlled
| for generations by the Liberals have sur
rendered to Socialism. The Industrial aid
| mar ufacturing centres in the Rhehish and
| Westphalian provinces. ard nearly all the
large cities with their rapidly grown G
| population Of operatives, have become
strou gly Socialistic. Berlin and its suburbs.
| comprisii a population Of two and half
| Millions has al Enormous Socialist ma
jority, So has Hamburg. Breslau, Dresden,
| Leipzig, Chcmnitz, AloLa. Stcttin, 10 igs-
! berg. Dalzic. Nuremberg aid nearly all
other large urban centres. Under these
| circumstances. the Socialists would be far
| more powerful than they are in the Reich
stag but for the Goverl meIt's refusal
| to reapportion the electoral districts accord
| ing to population. The election districts
Of Germany are still the same as they Were
in 1871, although since that time the urban
| OF as have in many cases doubled, trebled
and even quadrupled in size, while the rural
ores have actually dimii.is hed. II just
redistricting could be brought about Berlin.
with its suburbs. would alone send seven
teen Socialists to the Reichstag, instead
of sever as at present. There would then be.
instead OF siXty-three. about one hundred
and twenty Socialist delegates in the La
tioI al assembly, out Of a total of 387, and the
Conservatives would be reduced to less
than Atty. against their prese,t ninety-one,
while the Catholic party Of the Centre.
instead Of l07, which it now has, would
muster barely sixty. With the more radi-
cal Liberal wing-which now numbers
a pitiful two score. but VI der redis-
tricting would have at least sixty members
and with portion Of the numerous H.
dependents. the Socialists would then be
the dominant legislative factor in imperial
affairs.
Our authors comment on this state of
things ia: 1T is not astonishing that the
Government and the parties now con-
trolling legislat ion should do tn ir utmost
to avert such contingency. In fact. both
the Government and the more extreme
factions in the Reichstag that usually side
| q
curtailng the general franchise in order TO
perpetuate their present power lest, even
under the present ufavorable conditions.
| the Socialists should attain control. n thing
which. if we may judge by the signs Of the
times, there IL abundant reason TO fear.
The by-eloctions that have taken place
during the last two years TO fill vacancies
caused by death or rcsGna' ion have, with
one or two exceptions, all resulted In Social
list victories, even In former strou ghilds of
other parties. The whole trend Of affairs,
In fact seems o point 10 very largo Socialist
Increases at the next general elcctioa in
1908. II is probable that the Soci1list
gains will be larger than at any pre-, ious
election" Our author adds that this de-
sign Of curtailiug the gcucr.l franchise.
18th ar by attaching to the ballot the con-
clifton Of a stipulated minimum Of taxation
or by some other discrimination which would
disfranchisc large numbers Of the lower
| classes, has thus far met with determine
resistance on the part Of tl1 Rcichs z
ina iority, composed Cf the 49, ire Left an,
| "a ri Of no 2iI hi =,