Omaha daily bee., 1903-05-17

N4Q18R many with a spoon. Her ability
&GA% to feed herself is steadily de-
creaslng. Her population increase 500, 600 a
year, and she will eventually be dependent
upon us, as Is John Bull. The first six
months of last year we sold her 1900 tons
of meat, 10000 tons Of rye and 5O0,OcO tons
of wheat.
The farmers are cbjecting to these i'm
ports, and they want a tariff. The truth
is they cannot supply the nation. no matter
what their protection. Their soil Is poor,
and they lack the labor to work their es-
tates. The character of the empire is
changing. A generation ago the majority
OF the people were farmers. Today two
thirds Of them are engaged In professional
pursuits, MANUFACTURES and trade, and there
Is a steady exodus from the farms to the
cities. The farmhands get low wages and
their hours are long. The factory hands
work less and arc paid more.
The army has also cut down the farm en-
ployes. According to law every German
must be a soldier at about the time he
reaches manhood. The chief Headquarters
Of the soldlers are in and about the cities,
and the farmers boys thus get a taste of
city life. They refuse to go back to the
farms at the close or their service, and the
result Is that the agricultural workers
grow fewer and fewer. Today the great
part of the farmhands are women and
much farming Is poorly done.
You have seen mention Of the agrarlans
In the newspapers. They are the chief en-
emies of American food stuffs. They fight
the introduction of cur pork and would like
20 put n big tax on American brandstuffs.
Before l came here / supposed these men
were hard-hsted farmers like our grangers,
and that their party was a party of the
nOOP "A AGAINST the rich NJ the IN rfnar "a on INST
the monopollst. 1t Is not. The agrarians
are the mobiles of Germany. They are the
landholding classes, and their relatives.
many of whom are In office and many in
the army.
The German empire is divided up into
large estates many of which have been In
certain families for ages. There are also
smaller estates, but many men have I'm the
past lived or OF the income of their farms.
The most OF them are extravaganza and
have large families dependent upon them.
Their sons in the civil and military en-
ploy are poorly paid and have to be helped
and the result is II there is not a profit
from the estates the whole family goes
hungry, metaphorically speaking.
Again the soil OF Germany is poor. 1t
cannot compete with our rich lands of the
west. and the land holders are running be-
hind, They have mortgaged their estates
IN some parts OF Gefmany 10 ~ per cent
of their value and they have an interest
debt to meet every quarter. Their only
hope Is In raising the price of foodstuffs.
This means keeping our grains out of the
markets, which so far they have not been
able 10 do.
The agrarians are to some extent backed
by the kaiser. lie is al estate owner him
self. He belongs to their class and he
knows he can rely upon them. His chief
officials In both army and navy are from
the agrarians and he would please them
n he could. At the same time he is broad
minded and far-seeing. He knows more
about the country perhaps than any man
I'm Il. and with all his idiosyncrasies he Is
packed with common sense. He knows
hat Germany must have cheap food II low
wages are 10 prevail in the factories and
the Germans thereby be able to compete
with the rest OF the world In commerce
and trade.
The kaiser recently said he would not
sanction bread usury.' He does much Il
hold. the agrarians back. and at the same
time helps them whenever he can. liz
would like TO see Germany raise its owr
WAMht and rye. for fear a war may hut on