Los Angeles herald., 1906-11-05


"The German Empire" by Bert Es-
tes Howard, Phi. D., is well written
book of 400 pages, which deals with
the various phases of the German en-
pire.
The book gives classified and authen-
tic history Of the founding of the Ger
man empire and the individual states,
the kaiser, the bundesrath, the reichs-
tag, imperial legislation, the imperial
chancellor, citizenship under the Ger
man constitution, the judicial organi-
zation of the empire, Alsace-Lorraine
and it's relation to the empire, the con-
stitution and imperial finance, the
armed forces of the empire and the
imperial constitution.
Each one of the classifications is
plainly handled in concise form and
yet contains vast amount Of authen-
tic history seldom attained with the
array of facts and figures, which are
profusely explained by footnotes.
The author takes the study of the
German empire from a juristic stand
point, beginning with the founding of
the North German bund, and carrying
the fundamental principles involved to
the present imperial constitution stand
ing on the statute books of Germany as
an imperial law.
The German empire is represented as
composed of twenty-five states, twen-
ty-one of which are monarchical in
their organization, while three are re-
publican city states.
With reference to the kaiser, he is
not recognized as the one in whom is
vested the sovereignty but holding
rather a unique position in the Ger
man empire.
Following on to the bundesrath, or
federal council it is classed as an or
gan of legislation, but it may make
s1l,e
tag. and yet it possesses a wide power
of ordinance. The reichstag is radi-
cally different from the bundesrath and
is a necessary organ in imperial legis-
lation.
The imperial legislation is represent
ed as containing four stages whereby
law comes to great utility under the
German constitution-the determine
ton of the context of the law,
the sanction, the engrossment and the
publication.
The imperial chancellor Is an officer
appointed by the kaiser and occupies
dual position, or plays double role,
in the empire. AS a member of the
bundesrath by Prussian appointment,
he serves as an organ through the king
of Prussia, exercising his rights as
member of the bund. AS chancellor,
appointed by the kaiser, he is the chief
official of the empire. the responsible
imperial minister.
The citizenship of the modern state
rests upon the idea of association. 1t
is a cooperative society whose members
are called "staatsangehorige." those
who belong to the state. They are
sharply distinguished from the foreign
ers.
The judicial organization of the en-
pire possesses a uniform civil and
criminal code. commercial code and a
bankruptcy law. administered under
federal laws.
The cession of Alsace-Lorraine in the
peace prelminaries between the Ger
man empire and France in 1871 defin-
itely fixed the international status of
that territory and determined its re-
lation to all other states, including
France.
The working capital of the empire is
divided into two classes, the admins
trative and financial. The array of
property forms, the administration
equipment. and the financial the pro-
ductive capital of the empire.
The principle OF unity i'm the armed
forces of the empire is carried out i'm
three ways: First. by placing the SUI
Dreme command, in war and peace. !