Los Angeles herald., 1905-10-29
KAISER AIMS At
GERMAN UNITY
ANXIOUS TO ABOLISH THE TOY
MONARCHIES
Twenty Little Rulers Have 115 Palaces
Set Apart for Their Accommoda-
tion, Which Is Heavy Bur-
den on Taxpayers
Special Cable to The Herald.

Special Cable to The Herald.
BERLIN, Oct. 2S.-Kaiser Wilhelm's
latest and most startling ambition Is
said to be that of forming himself into
an imperial unity by gradually wip-
ing out the expensive toy monarchS OF
the other German states who try to COM
pete with him in royal dignity, thus
transforming Germany into one united
country with one centralized admins
trative system. The centralizing ten
dency of the age is evident among the
courts of Germany, as in every sphere
of life, and the kaiser eventually may
absorb all the small and weak states.
If the kaiser has been less active in
this direction than he might have been,
his lack of initiative probably has been
due to considerations of self-preSerVa-
ton. Although the little states of Ger
many have been governed badly for
centuries, there is no doubt that the
existence of so many courts brings the
monarchical idea home to many Ger
mans to whom it might otherwise be
foreign. The little German courts are
bulwarks of political conservatism and
serve to defend monarchical institutions
against the growing forces of social
democracy. If the kaiser were to
sweep them ali away he would create a
precedent which the social democrats
al some future time might utilize to
abolish the Prussian and German mon
archy.
If, however, the smaller states grad
ually can be absorbed by Prussia with
out open blows at monarchical insti-
tutions, there is no doubt the kaiser
will welcome the change. He is fire.
quently impatient of the necessity of
sharing his supreme authority with
the little sovereigns who occupy the
thrones of the smaller states of the
empire. On various occasions the kais-
er has made them feel they are his
vassals and has treated them as sub
ordinates, a procedure which some of
them have resented keenly.
Apart from the kaiser there are twen-
ty independent monarchs in Germany.
Three kings, six grand dukes, four
dukes and seven reigning princes.
Some of these state are so small that
the maintenance of their sovereign
rights is an absurdity in the twen-
tieth century Their existence dates
from the time when central Europe
was dotted with large numbers of small
fuedal states, each ruled by its own
petty monarch.
The cost of maintaining all these
monarchies with their courts and
households is a heavy financial burden
for the German nation The king of
Bavaria receives an income of S1,500000,
the king of SaXony an income of ST.
100000, and the king of Wurtemberg an
income of 100000 per annum. The
grand duke of Baden, the grand duke
of Hesse, the grand duke of Mecklen-
burg -Schwerin, the grand duke of
Saxe-Weimar, and the duke of An
halt each receive incomes varying from
$250000 to 100000 year. The duke of
Sake e-Meiningen, the duke of SaXe-Co-
burg-Gotha, and the duke of SaXe-Al
tenburg receive incomes varying from
$3.50. 900 to 100000, and the remaining
German monarchs receive an average
of $125,000 per annum.
The bare cost of the monarchs alone
thus amounts to something between
$6,O00,00O and S7,000,000 per annum. In
addition to the monarchs it must be
remembered that there are twenty
prime ministers, all drawing salaries
from the public revenues for their SER
vices to the different states. There are
twenty royal households, with several
hundred highly salaried ornamental Of
f1cials and eighteen parliaments, the
members of which receive payment
from the public exchequers.
The twenty monarchs between them
own lis royal palaces which, together
with the three dozen palaces owned by
the kaiser as king of Prussia, makes
a total of $50 palaces dotted all over
Germany. These palaces are surround
ed by parks with a total area of 25,-
900 acres, all of which, of course, is
lying wasted so far as productive pur-
poses are concerned. In the smaller
German states the cost of maintaining
the monarch amounts to about 81 per
head, of family. a heavy burden on a
population which is by no means af-
fluent.