New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-01-17
AT THE GERMAN CAPITAL
The Kaiser's Illness -Conditid rs in
the Army-Great TeGtile Strike.
Berlin, Janu airy 8.

Berlin. Janu airy 8.
There are two topics Just now which are be-
ing discussed by everybody-the Kaiser illness
and the army. About the arst Of these. least
said soonest rnended For there are runlors
galore but Il would seem that nobody, not even
the Kaiser himself, knows exactly the whole
truth about that ''benignant polypus" The
question is How much "benignant? The ofncnl
bulletins give it all couleur de rose. and the
speoialist DR.. Schmidt of Frankfort-on-Main in.
for the present no longer visits his exalted pa
tent His majesty appears once more In PUBIC,
and there are just many who swear that ne
has recovered his health and that MS voice
sounds perfectly normal as there are OF those
who maintain the contrary. A humble scribe
is not supposed to be Delphtc oracle and
anyway my tripod has been lost IN the CHRIST
mas shuttle of the last days.
The other topic the army. is one where I
feel myself on safer ground You have heard
Of course of ex-Lieutenant Bilse's book. Aus
Elmer Kleinen Garrison" CA Little Garrtson''),
which describes IN ultra realistic fashion the
life In one of the small garrison towns near the
French frontier. In the Reichstag the Minister
OF War General Won Enem. said that, "hhe
admitting that the young officers presentation
of the facts, horrible and repulsive as IL Is
was drawn true to the life. 1T did not ne inc
army as a whole In that he probably spoke
such sweeping immortality and laxity OF diso'-
Mine and such ceaseless hard drinking and
gambling as the young officer describes in his
book are not fact, cannot be. the rule through
out the army. II it were, the earth wouio open
and swallow IT. But unfortunately there are
grave signs of decadence in the German army
of to-day. The world IS aware OF that Sucn
huge scandals the Moustre trial at Hanover
and, more recently still. the In which the
lx,a1 To
ing Of the many smaller ones in almost every
large garrison town In the empire that we have
heard of during recent years. preach their own
sermon Add to that the fact that for fifteen
years the army has been subjected to the
Kaiscr's favorite process of retuvenation.
eliminating every tried and trusted leader OF
the troops every officer. high and low, VINO
earned his reputation the battlefelds OF
France and that at the big fall manoeuvres
every foreign expert who has witnessed the
strangely reckless cavalry and infantry charges
which have been performed for the delectation
OF the imperial chief commander has declared
them IN defiance Of present day war conditions
and there is food enough for serious refec-
ton Bilses book is merely a striking sign OF
the times. showing by flash OF lightning
the depths to which that matchless organization.
the German army, has been brought in the
stress OF radical and conditions of life and
Indeed. the condition OF the German army to-
day is a subject which touches to the quick the
heart OF every patriot And very much fear
that things will have TO grow worse before they
will grow better. Certainly, It will take more
than nero words from the Emperor to change
the essentials needing reform
In the Reichstag too. the ever green topic Of
wholesale abuse of soldiers by their superior
officers has been UP for heated discussion The
government had to admit that during last year
no fewer than fifty officers and 57o non-cou-
missioned officers were sentenced by court mar
tial for gross ana systematic abuse of power
exercised toward their subordinatea. Now when
We reject that only small number OF these
orenceo ever become known and that even a
smaller percentage Of them are heard OF beyond
the confines of the respective company or rert
ment the above admission has an ugly sound
This is all the stranger I'm a nation which has
compulsory military service. that IS where prac-
ticaily every able bodied young man has 70
serve. no matter whether his father occupies
lowly or prominent position And vet this
serious defect in the German army. robbinr the
rank and file OF much of that zeal and good
temper which is so necessary to make good SOL
diers out Of therI. has existed for many MANY
years ana no radical steps to root II out have
ever been attempted The measure of punish
rnent meted out to the guilty parties, when
caught and convicted, is curously inadeouate
AT last we have the official figures for the
general national elections held in the sur,roer
lhey present. nevertheless, some statistics
worth pondering. The participation OF the
electors was this year unusually large-not less
than 16.1 per cent OF the total body of electors
or the various parties and factions onlv the
National Liberals. the Radical Liberals Orre,-
sinnige Vereiniguns). the Centrists ultra
montanes). Poles and Socialists made absolute
and relative gains; the Socialists of course the
largest. The exact figures for the Socialists are
2,l01.1O6. which is equivalent to 272 per cent of
the total electorate for the year 1898. and for
this year 3.O10.771, or 317 per cent of the total
This gain Of the Socialists is even larger than II
had been supposed to be shortly after the close
Oh the election The largest losses. relatively
and absolutely. were sustained by the several
wings OF the Conservative party and of their
Agrarian allies. The Anti-Semites and the
Professors" such the Guephs the Danes
the Alsatians. etc. have also lost, but the
Polish fraction has slightly gained, due no
doubt. to the race war going in the Polish
speaking provinces of Prussia Their vote has
risen from 244,12S in 1898 to 34T, 1874 in 1908
A gigantic strike in Crimmitschau causes
much talk and offers at least one novel feature
Some seventy-fve hundred men and women
were locked out in that Saxon town. which is
almost entirely given over to several branches Of
the textile industry. particularly to the manu-
facture OF cloth and of yarn required in weav-
ing throughout the Rhenish and Westphalian
textile districts. and the manufacturers there
are making of it test of strength between their
organization and the labor organization to which
their employees belong. That IN itself of course
is nothing new. but it is decidedly new that both
fIa