Los Angeles herald., 1910-01-10
DEMOCRACY IS
KAISER'S DREAD
NEW IMPERIAL CHANCELLOR
FACES PROBLEM
AS a Taciturn Hermit He Has Issued
No Suggestion of Policy, and
Nations Query Remains
Unanswered

and municipal elections in towns and
cite. are yielding Il staggering crop
of red" victories. To the diet of Sax
ony, which two months ago contained
one Social Democrat, twenty-five have
been returned. The Lancashire of
Germany has given the signal for what
the nation fears is destined to be an
electoral revolution in the guise of
Socialist avalanche. How TO avert
it has suddenly become the paramount
issue of German politics.
1t is into this dilemma that the new
imperial chancellor, DR.. Theobald Won
Bethmann- HollWeg, must wade on the
very threshold of his premiership. Five
months have passed since he inherit
ed the toga of Buelow. The country
however, has had no glimmer of the
new steersman's course. Moltke the
Silent was Ioduacity itself compared
to the taciturn hermit who now in
habits the chancellor's palace. Not a
suggestion of policy has escaped him
The nations cry for light ana leader
ship has been answered by muteneSS
deep and profound. Journalists who
had the ear of Bismarck and BueloW
have raped in vain at Bethmann
HellWeg's door, The wells of news
paper inspiration have suddenly
dried up, and Bethmann-H HollWeg has
All is mystery. Behind this inpene
trable veil Germans detect indecsion,
embarrassment and perpleXity that
BODIES ill for the strong chancellor
ship" with which the rising Social
Democratic tide can be turned back.
Issue Is a Problem
How Dr. Won Bethmann-H -Hollweg
will meet this issue and how he will
govern with a reichstag hopelessly
asunder with rancorous party dissen
sions is the feature Of the new ses-
sion in which interest will be concen-
trated. The patriotic" Conservatives
Liberal Redical Bloc, amid whose shat
tered fragments BueloWs heir as
sumed office, is gone beyond repair.
Since it crumbled Conservatives and
Liberals have ceased to be mere op-
ponents and have become inplacable
enemies. When the chancellor uncoils
his elongated form. pulls down his
multi-colored waistcoat, and adjusts
his tortoise -shell-rimmed pfnce-neZ
and surveys the house he will seek in
vain for a majority he can call his
own. To the right his philosophic
gaze will encounter the Conservative
Agrarian oligarchy which overthrew
his predecessor; in the center, the
Catholics, an anti-government phalanX
a hundred strong; to the left, the min
ority of faithful National Liberals and
Radicals; to the extreme left, the
enemy of always, the Social Dem
ocrats.
"Conciliation'' is believed to be the.I
watchword which Bethmann- Hollweg
will hoist upon his banner when he
sallies forth to engage this hostile
constellation. For two years Buelow
governed against the Roman Catholic
center and the Social Democracy. The
salvation of Bethmann- Hollweg, heir |
to the folly of this system, undoubt- |
edly lies in abandoning the exclusion
of thu Catholic party from construc-
tive legislation and in inducing Conser- |
vatives and Liberals to bury their diff
ferences long enough to march with
the government against the common
Socialist danger. These tactics, which
the Germans eXpressiVely call egg |
dancing muddling through from bill
to bill as best one can, seem the chan
cellor's only hope of passing govern
ment legislation.
Prussian Suffrage Reform
Although not essentially an imperial
issut. the demand for Prussian Suf
frage reform has an immediate and
immense influence on imperial poll
tics and a direct bearing on the reich
stag situation of the moment. Two
years ago in his speech from the
throne, the kaiser, as king of Prus-
sia, categorically promised reorgani-
zation of the Prussian medieval cleo
toral system. Under pressure of the
Conservative autocracy, which rules
Prussia, the ministry has not kept the
royal pledge by introducing a reform
bill In presence of the absolute GER
tainty that suffrage reform will mean
a strong Socialist party in the Prus-
sian house of commons, Conservatives
find it easy to restrain the govern
ment'3 hand. Already they have open
ly threatened Bethmann- -HollWeg with
fresh difficulties in the reichstog if
he dare to yield to the Liberal and
Socialist clamor for Prussian electoral
reform. On the other hand, the Lib
eral-Radical parties may revolt if the
chancellor refuses to abolish the in
iquities and inequalities of Prussian
suffrage. 1t is a tangle desperate
enough to try the soul of a Bismarck.
The routine program of the session
pales into comparative insignitcance
alongside the chancellor's dilemma.
There are important legislative items
the covering by loan of the sup
Elementary" budget deficit of $l3O,OOO,
900, the codification of the imperial in
SurallC6 SySlelllS, tic hCpl 8 SebliiNe'Iioh
of the criminal code, workman's Wild
ows and orphans insurance, and re-
newal of the inheritance taxes bill
but the spectacle of the chancellors
gegg dance" will outshine them all.
The Kiel dockyard graft scandal
will provide troublesome hours for the
government and for Admiral Won Tir-
pitz, secretary of state for the navy,
who must bear the brunt of parlia-
mentary attack. AS consequence
the 1910 naval estimates of $l1O, 1861 600
are not likely to be passed without
debate. as were their historic pre-
decessors of 1909. The country is fun
ing with Indignation over incompetent
stewardship in the fleet, and the
reichstag will demand sharp break
with the system of intrusting the eX-
penditure of tens of millions of marks
to naval officers who consider busl-
ness management below their dignity
Discomfort Is Rife
Prosperous as Germany undoubted-
ly is. discomfort is universally rife. The
cost of living has been materially in
creased by the obnoxious taxes of the
"Finance Reform" bill. There is not
a housewife in the fatherland VINO
does not feel their pinch, The busl-
ness world is angry and aroused over
agrarian domination of government.
1t is an atmosphere in which Social
Democracy thrives. The present
reichstag has only a year and a halt
to live. In 1911, unless events force
it sooner, a dissolution will be neces-
sary according to the constitution. 80