Morris tribune., 1905-12-23
REV. FRED HILL WRITES OF
VISIT THERE.
He Sees Some the Great Master
pieces, Hears Great Singers in
Grand Opera and Views a Visit
of the Emperor.
Cologne, Germany.

MY Q0aT MI. MOITlSOus
My last letter was written shortl,
after we reached Dresden. / had in
tended to write again from that cit,
but have scarcely found time TO
that owing to various incidents ant
asfew little journeys to interesting
German places. Today as we ar
stopping in Cologne to break tn
: long journey to Paris, / shall try t
relate few of my experiences TO
the edifcation, or otherwise of you
readers.
Dresden is one of the art anc
music centers of Germany. A city O
two hundred fifty thousand inhabit
ants and full of interesting places
and persons. It is the capital OF the
kingdom of Saxony and so is an i'm
portant social and military and civic
centre. Several thousand soldiers
are quartered here and officers are
quite in evidence at social functions
For an American, unused to large
standing army, this great body OF
idle men isn't particularly attrac-
tive feature of the life here. Ger
MANY has some five hundred thou
sand men in her standing army SO
you can see that every city of lmpor-
tauce is quite over-run with soldiery.
! have my grave doubts as to the
ultimate effectiveness of the system
and certainly the general character
of the men and officers is nothing to
brag of. It is rather disgusting to
go along the streets and have to see
the women at your side stared at by
officers and soldiers at every corner.
I think idle men, whether along the
the railway tracks of Minnesota or
upon the streets OF German or
English city are liable to be offered
more or less of opportunity to make
themselves obnoxious. The present
Kaiser certainly believes in the
efficacy of large army however and
he hasn't asked me to advise with
him concerning it's deminution. |
presume that Germany's peculiar
situation warrants somewhat a pro
vision for sudden military emergen-
cres but I'm sure our anti-imperilistic
brethren in America would find
plenty of suggestions here to bolster
their demands for small standing
armies. But again [ must stop dis
cussipg such large questions in this
ofshand fashion for I'm not a
iingoist. One of the centers OF our
interest in Dresden was the opera.
The music 1T the Saxony capital is
said to be as fine as any in Germany
and we certainly enjoyed it as much
as any we have heard. A word
about the German opera may be OF
interest. All over the empire in the
large cities, there is an opera house
and theatre, partly supported by
subsidies from the King. In these
S'royal'' opera houses and theatres
only the best music and generally
the best plays are given. The gov
eminent believes these have valu- |
able influence in moulding character,
as do the church and the school.
The singers are paid a regular salary, |
rather small as compared to opera
singers at home, but they are here
assured of a living and after they |
retire, which they may do after a
certain number of years, they are
pensioned for an amount double their
original salary. If however, a singer
ever leaves without full consent Of
the management, to accept another
position, he or she may never again
be allowed to sing in any German
opera ROUSE. N10 1AAGO5S 6OAO4 VI l.
the Dresden opera, accepted a posi-
ton with the Metropolitan Opera Co. L
of New York and after that concern
had used him up, they tnrned him
adrift. He came back to Dresden
but was not permitted to sing here.
He is now struggling for a living in
some small town Of the empire.
There are some really wonderful
singers in Dresden, who rank with
ihe stars who sing in New York. We f
nave heard about fourteen of the
operas and I confess to q great in
spiration from most Of them. A
,ery interesting and important (
saEure Of the iDrespen opera is the s
sominal price of admission. Where /
s in New York one must pay fourl I