The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1909-04-04

- U~sS 80 e
EfssetiveIy Organised Fer Peliti-
cal PurSssss TAan Anywhere
Else--wnat wss Done In
Agrssiaa Week.
s ny r. w. VILE.
Berlin, April 3--Florid-faced giants.
with jauhty Tyrolean hats and bushy
whIskers redolent OF the soil. trans
formed Berlin recently into o bucolic
metropolis. They are the masters OF
Germany sturdy emissaries Of the EN-.
pire's Handwriting and agricultural In
terests. who assemble in annual con-
ciave to review their mighty cohorts
and proclaim afresh tho paramountcy
Of Agrarianism In shaping the destiny
OF Germany.
That 10 the aim and end of "Agrarian
Week" Originally Instituted as . par
| Lament Tor the discussion Of purely
farming questions the Week" has be-
come q political event of the first mag
nitude. It's main purpose Is 20 ham,
uer home the iron fact that. although
IAgrarians represent only ISIS per cent
OF the country's population. the reins
% MtfNAttBtEht viz k&EAhAy hhcAE
grasp. IL 10 not an inspiring spec.
tacls. this yearly feat of sloating over
Minority Rule. 1t calls forth violent
outbursts from the downtrodden
majority, and fervid demands for free
dom from Agrarian tyranny. but no
samson has arisen capable OF breaking
the power OF the agricultural auto
cracy. BY an fronical coincidence this
years Week" was held at the very
hour when the German government
was bending the knee afreBh to
Agrarian might. once again this par
ty OF the minority has imposed Its
sovereign Will upon the nation by COM
peiling the government to abolish death
duties In the Great Finance Reform
/ Bill and to substitute n form Of taxa
tion OF Agrarian hue. It II the latest
link In long chain of iugiorfous
yiumphs wrung from an impotent
majority. Isl
/ Axricuiture's political label IL Con-
servatfve: but the Con servatives long
ago yielded control of the party to
Agrarfan influences.
The organization Is Agrarianized In all
but name.
The backbone Of this matches
| politicaf JuGgernaut 10 the Buhd der
Landwirte Farmers Alliance.) II
marshAls q membership OF sos, 200.
which acts with military subservience
in obedience to its leaders will. The
Bund IL neminally league In which
princes. baron. counts. and peasants
mingle on terms of democratic CO.
operation. What 1t actually consti-
tptes Ia an instrument for advancing
the interests Of q handful of weather.
land barons, who represent not only
an insiGnificant per centage Of the
Bund itself. but wholly infintesimal
proportions Of the nation. Fifteen
years ago the Bund confined itself to
Isfrictiy AGRICULTURAL interests. The an
nuai meetings Of its various subsidiary
Organization during the Berlin
Week were devoted to topics no more
thrilling than fertilising, fencing, eat
e-raising. Irrigation. and implements.
Its role In politics In the days when
Bismarck governed with huge Ma
gether minor. Not until the early
ninetiss ,lid Agrarians determine to
mobilize for essentially political OBJ
| jects the immense power dormAnt In
their carried ranks. The so-calied
caprivi era gave them their opportnnl-
ty.
The second Chancellor had effected
q series of long-term commercial
treaties with Germany's Continental
neighbors deliberately favoring the
Eatherland's then budding industries
at the expense Of agriculture. Caprivi
bartered low rates on Russian wheat.
Austrian rye. Danish meat and dairy
output, Hungarian barley. ETC.. in ex-
change for preferential Juties on Ger
man manufactures. His treaties were
the logical expression OF the Father
lands conversion from an agricultural
into an Industrial state. They proved
the signal for war to the knife between
IAgrarianism and all other forms OF
capital The Bund. which had spent Its
energies in the past on pigs. poultry,
ana pasturage. wheeled itself into a
fighting political phalanx. Their Or
ganization, under the battlecry OF
"Agricuiture In Danger!" rallied the
farming community like wildfire.
Their strength and Influence Increased
by leaps and bounds. Industry and
allies In German national development.
Farmers sent only avowed representa-
tives OF their own class to the Prus-
sian diet and the Reichstag.
same ola Cry.
From these councils the hue and
cry OF Oppressed Agriculture issued
systematically and necessarily. Agita-
ton was conducted with fierceness
and auLacity. Profiting by the losses
In the speculative craze which ter
minated with the Bering crash. the
Agrarlans dealt their first vital blow
at the capitalist class by forcing tho
passage Of q stringent Bourse law. the
provisions OF which still hamper and
harass the German financial world.
Then came the frenxied crusade
against the Prussian Governments
comprehensive canaiization scheme,
which Agrarian opposition blocked for
months and eventually allowed to be
realized only In eraaciated form. Their
browning revenge was still to come.
The Caprivi treaties expired by limita-
tion in the opening years OF the new
century. TO annfhilate them and sub
stitute paets of genuinely Agtarian
flavor became the consuming ambition
OF the ianj-barons OF East and West
Prussia, Pomerania, Mecllenburg,
Eilssia ana Brandenburg. Prince Bue.
low was 20 be made to a tone for tn
tFeachery OF Count Caprivi. And atone
ne did. An aRrarian tariff law wac
enacted by the ReichstaE In 1905, and
on fits basis new treaties were con-
cluded. which betrayed manufacturers
reientiessly IN order that grain. cattle
and dairy products might benefit. The
position won by German industry
throughout the Continent under Cap