Evening star., 1909-06-28
DEBT upon POSTER|TY
Count PosadoWsky Warns
Germans Against Luxury.
BRITISH VISITORS PRAISE
Labor Leader Says Germans Under.
stand National Cooperation.
BRAIN OF THE PEOPLE" IN USE
The German State in All It's Forms
Organized and Conscious
in Action.

in Action.
Special Cablegram to The Star.
| berlin, June 2s-While numerous
meetings of protest are being organized
by most of the various interests which
the new parliamentary majority has so
cheerfully proposed to raid. it is i'm
probable that there can be any very
definite development of the situation un-
| til the government has decided to which
of the new taxes shall be given official
sanction and such economic justification
as can be devised. Some of the conserva-
| tive proposals are obviously intended only
as material for eventual bargaining The
tax on dealings in stocks and shares not
| improbably belongs to this category, but.
| bourse, banking and other business in
| terests took the precaution df holding an
impressive meeting at which the proposal
was unanimously condemned.
Count PoSadoWsky, the former imperial
minister of the interior, delivered a re-
| markable speech upon German affairs at
bronn the other day. Speaking as "a con-
vinced social politician Count Posa-
| dowsky, who said that NJ. Loubet had
once tod him that Germany's social legis
! ldtlOH WOUlO feNOlQtlOnlZe COnultlOnS all
over the world, pointed out that while
| imperial revenue and expenditure for the
current financial year balanced with q to-
| tai of $Il6,25OOOO the total estimates for
| the imperial system of insurance amount
ed only to $13, go, 900. Those who sup
| posed that enough had been done in the
| social sphere totally misread the situa-
| tion, which was forcing fresh tasks upon
the government.
| Wrong Kind Of Luxury.
| After apt quotations from Lord Rose
| berry, Mr.. Hartman, Tacitus and Benja-
| min Franklin on luxury and economy.
Count Posadowsky said that the wrong
| sort of luxury-which meant a mans
| spending more than he earned-had
spread very widely in the so-called So
| ciety Of Germany, in which abundant ma
| terial enjoyment had to compensate for
inward barrenness; During the last 1ew
enormous load of debt upon posterity
and even If the present finance reform
was carried through practically nothing
would have leen done for the amortiza-
| ton of debt. The needs Of defense at
sea and on land would never come to
standstill, and there was no prospect of
a real balance being struck between reve-
| nue. and expenditure With obvious refer
| ence to the government speeches in the
reichstag and to the admission that the
assessment Of annual imperial needs at
$12J, ,OOO,OOO is based upon the assump-
ton that $5O.OOO.OOO a year Will be
saved Count Posadowsky said that
when the government preached economy
that only meant that it wanted new
taxes.
A leading article in the Vorwarts draws
| attention to the remarkable rise In the
| price OF breadstuffs since the passing of
| the tariff law of 1903. For purposes of
comparison the years 1901 and 1902 are
also taken. Beginning with rye. which is
| the staple of the bread consumed by the
/ bulk of the people. 1t is found that the
price of this cereal in 1901 was $3.50 per
| ton in Berlin. In 1903, indeed, 1t was as
low as S3O.5O. The influence of the new
tariff Is well seen in 1905, when the price
rose to $41.5O In 1907 it had jumped to
brought down the price of rye to $42. 15,
but this year the quotations for the July
crop are $4923. and the tendency is still
| upward.
s3475 in 1903. rose to s4.5O in 1905, to
S44.75 in the following year, and to $50
in 1907. A few days ago $6s.75 was quot
ed on the Berlin exchange for May
wheat. or over 20 per cent higher than in
1908. 1t is quite true that people are
| still able to buy their "brodchen' and
"schrippen' at the old price. but COM
parison Of the size of these rolls now
| and then shows the distance which has
been travelled by the German tariff re-
/ formers.
"The Brain Of the People"
| ]. Ramsay Macdonald. the British labor
leader, who is now on a visit to Germany
with a delegation of his countrymen,
writes thus of what he has seen:
"Burgomeisters ruling over cities in
general. burgomeisters controlling sec
tions of city activities-hospitals. schools,
| social reform: presidents of self-help So
cieties, officials of municipal bureaus
| have been telling us about what they are
doing and what they are hoping to do.
| and have also been showing US some of
the fruits of their labors. AS result
of the fruits am beginning to see the
German point Of view and the mental
axioms used In solving German problems.
and l gather them all into the expression
| the brain OF people
/ 1.-THE German state in all its forms is
| organized and is conscious when it acts.
| 1t does not apologize for treading upon
somebody's toes. 1t tells him rather that
| his toes had no business to be where they
are. Perhaps when 1t puts sword on
the thigh of its policemen and a blue
military ccat with yellow buttons on their
| back as an evidence that 1t knows its
power and its rights it goes little too
| far. But it gives value for it's vanity.
Germany is at work with social COM
| mittees. paid burgomeisters, public funds.
| The whole is helping each and the each
is not pauperiZed, because it is natural
| 1Of MIN 10 tnlnk or hlmSef as part of
| the whole. They say that in consequence
Of this he is nothing but a bit of ma
/ chine and obeys orders. II is all nom
sense. The German knows that 1t is waste
| of effort to spend individual initiative on
| what can best be done by mechanical
means, to leave to private enterprise what
| can be best and most smoothly done by
| national organization. And SO German
| social legislation and administration keep
pace with German industrial development,
and the Garden city of Dusseldorf grows
| at the same time as German commerce
pours into every market. and German
care for the unemployed, for the sick. for
| the children keeps pace with German in
dustry. Germany understands national CO.
| operation.
| German Labor Exchanges.
Striking evidence OF the effectiveness of
! labor exchanges in coping with employ
ment is supplied by statistics just pub
lished. indicating the work accomplished
in Germany by the institutions which Mr..
| Winston Churchill proposed to establish
in England.
January 1. 1908. there were $50 pub
lie labor exchanges In Germany, of which
24S were in Prussia, IS in Bavaria. II In
Saxony. 15 In Wurttenberg, II in Baden,
10 in Hesse and Is in Alsace-Lorraine. In
the statistical year 19O7-S work was found
for no less than 932. .956 persons. or these,
81 742 were placed in jobs connected with
agricultural pursuits. Men to the num-
4 u xRxpS