The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-15
CONSERVATIVES
 OPEN CAMPAIGN
Declare Intention of Suppress
 ing Socialism
IN THE GERMAN EMPIRE
cerman Papers Indorse Sentences Im- posed on Captain French and Lieutenant Brandon, the
 English Spies

conservatives are openly declarin g their intention to resort to oppressive measures to suppress socialism. One said recently it was not proposed to wait for socialistic violence. but rather 1t was intended to open the attack on socialism.
 Herr von Heydebrand told the chan cellor kindly that he would not dictate to him what form those measures should take, but 1t is clear that what Is wanted is something like the socialist laws of the sos. which enabled the government to suppress the socialist propaganda whenever 1t ventured to show itself.
 It is expected that the socialists will at least double their numbers in the next reichstag. In the present house they have 50. If they come back from next campaign with 100 to 120 repre- sentatives, and if their radical allies, whose present strength is also 50, do proportionately well, the government majority which has total membership of S97, will have dwindled to periously near vanishing point.
 The millions of Germans who vote for socialist candidates do so because they are discontented with the present con- dition of things and the most effective way of expressing their discontent is to vote red"
 There Is talk of an imp house of lords as check to the reichstag; also talk of disregarding the reichstag al together. And there Is growing de- mand that 1t shall be made clear to the socialists that they will mot be all lowed to upset an order of things under which the nation has grown to great ness and the prices of agricultural produce has reached such satisfactory figures, majority or no majority.
 The reichstag debate on the Emper- or's driveling divine right" speech showed which way the wind Is blow ing and equally plainly which way 1t Is not blowing, It is not blowing against the throne. The Emperor came out of the debate unscratched. The social ists made most of the opportunity, but failed to carry the non-socialist left with them. The liberals of all shades do not relish the Koenigsberg speech. They would far rather the sovereign would leave such things unsaid; but they have no quarrel with him at this juncture
 Alliance is made for everything he says or does. It Is not regarded too seriously even oy conservatives.
 The sentences imposed upon Captain Trench and Lieutenant Brandon, the English spies. is indorsed here.
 The newspapers trust the revelations made in the course of the trial will in so far tend to a betterment of the cit Tn that thew will convince the British public that the idea of an invasion of Germany by England is purely chimerical. Satisfaction Is felt in the circumstance that, while only lieutenant, Helm. a harmless fell into English hands, the German authorities have caught red handed two English spies, specially trained and adapted for the vile work.
 The Lokal Anzeiger, which enjoys intimate government connections, says:
 Nowhere will the verdict be found unjust. The world has heard the story of the shrewdly executed espionage The attorney generals con viction that the captured English of- ficers were bent upon exploring our North Sea coast for the purpose of a hostile landing-moreover. landing before the official commencement Of war or, In other words, a -blooded raid in the midst of profound peace rests upon compelling facts and not on idle fantasies. We hope foreign na- tions will not lightly overlook this in structive trial and will preserve us from the accusations that Germany harbors secret plans menacing the worlds peace. Trench and Bran don will not lack successors, but our and naval authorities will not have failed to derive the proper warn ing. The political results of the Borkum affair, 1t Is to be hoped. will outlive the damage which our defensive works in the North Sea have temporar- fly suffered.
 The imperial government has ap. parently watched the effect of the es- tablishment and the useful work done by England's Board of Trade and con- sequently a bill has been brought for ward in the reichstag establishing labor chambers for certain industries. These labor chambers are to act in very much the same way as the English concilia- tion and arbitration boards. There will be the same number of employers and employed on each board and in each industry. Considering the effect of the late strike of railwaymen in France, the government endeavored to exclude railwaymen in the scope of the bill. Tn this, however, the government was defeated.
 A. Kaiserlantern has been sentenced to Imprisonment for life for complicity in the bomb outrage at Friedberg.
 violent explosion took place in the town hall. wrecking the building and immedia tely afterwards two men rushed into the Imperial bank and en- deayored, to rob the manager, who was shot in the struggle. One man got away unperceived, and the other made off on a bicycle. He shot a schoolboy and two peasants who ran after him. and cyoled on, hotly pursued by the
 police. until near Bad Nauheim, when
 finding escape shut off committed
 suicide. Werner. his accomplice. was
 arrested in Hamberg. He was tried at
 Giessen, Hesse Darmstadt
 The Emperor recently remarked ir conversations: T am convinced tha, before long the French will be gravely
 disappointed in their engines of aerial
 made up my mind as to their worth
 and if I am adopting them for the Ger
 man army, 1t is merely to satisfy pub. lie opinion, and not because l believe in their efficiency in practical war. fare"
 Elbipg is in mourning as a result o.
 terrible accident which occurred re. gently at that place. Some hundred.
 of persons, mostly young people, were
 skating when the ice broke, almos, without warning, and scores were precipitated into deep water. panic
 ensued, and despite desperate attempts
 at rescue 1s lives were lost, five of thu victims being girls and the others youths and boys.