The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-12-26
CHANCELLOR DAYS
 ARE NUMBERED
Indications Point to Prime
 Ministers Defeat
PRINCE IS POPULAR
Prince Oscar Superseding Crown Prince as Emperor Williams FayOrite Son-He Is Not
 Fond of Ladies

Berlin, December 25. = tspecial)-If the
 man on the street, is not gravely mis-
 taken Chancellor Von Bethmann-Holl- |
 weg's days as prime minister are num-
 bered. He probably will remain in office
 until after the new reichstag has been chosen and will make way for a more popular man. According to the best>opin- ion that man will be Admiral Von Tripitz,
 now minister of marine. 1 Unless public opinion is very greatly
 mistaken the Kaiser will need the strong est man he can secure to represent the government in the next reichstag, and it 1 is believed Von Tripitz can come nearer filling the place than any other available
 man. He is popular with all parties in the reichstag, and his tactfulness has more | than once been commented upon. Should
 this change in the ministry take place it
 is probable that it would mean stronger
 naval policy on the part of Germany.
 There, is no doubt that the Morocco tn-
 cident has given the socialists and pro-
 gressives much ammunition for the cam-
 paign and they are using it to the best advantage. In addition to arraignment of
 Bethmann-Hollweg in foreign relations, where they say, he has alienated every body and can show nothing in return for it, the radicals and a few national lib- eral candidates denounce him as a reac- tionary in finance. They also attack him for failure to pro- vide electoral reforms promised three years ago in the speech from the throne, Al.
 the agrarians on steps to check rise of food prices. Radicalsm accuses him of "the time of ignoring the modern tendency from agri-
 culture to industrialism," the progressive
 party representing modern industrial Ger many. Dr. Rebel, socialist leader, predicts great increases in the socialist vote and repre- sentation. He believes his party in the
 new reichstag may number 100. It num- bered 54 in the reichstag just dissolved. | And close observers are inclined to agree | with Bebel's estimate.
 Prince oscar, the German Emperor's s |
 fifth son, is said by court society to be | rapidly superseding the crown prince as his fathers favorite, the crown prince 5 l popularity, especially with ladies, having i excited the growing disapproval of the | Emperor Prince Oscar and his brother
 Eitel are neither of them fond of ladies' society. It is even whispered that Duch-
 ess Charlotte of Oldenburg became Eiters
 wife by doing the proposing herself,
 knowing that they had been selected for each other by the imperial matrimonial | powers that be- Prince Oscar is very | good after dinner story teller, and often | delights the Emperor with humorous in- cidents in his personal experience. A few | days ago, according to the 'Taegliche
 Rundachau," he told an anecdote of the
 recent army maneuvers which was in- tended to illustrate his reputation for avoiding feminine society. He was riding with Prince Albert of SaXe-W Weimar, a cousin, through some of the desolate forest country near Mildenitz, and lost his way. He was supposed to be attached to cavalry patrol, but managed to get separated from it. Night came on | with heavy rain. At last, late in the night the two princes saw light in peasants | farm house. They rode up and asked if | they could have bed Nc" answered the peasant, ''you can't"
 Well, then, let us sleep on straw in | the barn." said Oscar.
 "No,' replied the peasant, T will not" | and we ride on."
 You will get nothing here" | At this moment pretty girl of about IS came out and remarked: | Why, father. it will do no harm to let
 them sleep in the stable. Anyway, here | is some hot coffee I have just made. They 1 can drink that"
 You little fool" yelled the enraged peasant, "get to bed. Maneuvers is no | nla WO1lI1 l ing your heart to a soldier"
 ! Prince Oscar laughed, and the two
 princes rode on, finally getting a bed at
 cottage some miles off. Next day he
 sent an orderly to tell the peasant who
 it was that he had sent away from his
 door the night before.
 | "Prince, was it?" grunted the peasant. | (Which prince?'
 oscar" said the orderly.
 1 'Lord!' ejacuated the anxious parent. | "Only big Oscarl Well,' glancing at the
 pretty girl, The wouldn't have hurt. He
 might have stayed if he had had the | sense to say he was Oscar"
 l By the means of electricity it is now pro-
 posed to hake the carpet the Persian
 rug or the tigers pelt as warm in winter
 as the latter was while worn by the tiger. | In Germany the experiment is now benig | tried of wiring the floor covering so as | to heat the carpet or rug and to do away i with cold floors. A patent has been taken l out for running wires through the carpet
 in parallel lines in such a way that an | ordinary lighting current can run through
 the wires The conductor becomes warm
 and heats the carpet. The heat in large | carpets can be controlled as desired, and
 the carpet will remain warn for two or | three hours after the current is turned off. | A small foot rug can be heated and taken for comfort during a carriage ride.
 The wiring of carpets for this purpose is new, but patents have been issued be-
 fore for passing wires or wire gauge | through compartments in table covers
 carpets, and other coverings for lighting purposes.
 This years drought has had the effec.
 of stimulating the output of one of Ger 1 many's most famous dishes-sauerkraut.