The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-10-29
LESSON TAUGHT BY TURKO-|TAL|AN WAR Germany Knows She Must
 Have Big Navy LIFE OF A COUNTESS Helene Yon Donneges We'll Known in America : Committed Suicide
 From Grief-Imperial Ma
 jesties Having Vacation
LIFE OF A COUNTESS
By MALCOLM CLARKE

Berlin October 2S.-tSpecial)-While
 the war between Italy and Turkey has i likely rather of the character of opera
 bouffe, it nevertheless Is likely to have strong influence on Germanys na- val policy.
 Perhaps nowhere are the relative strength and merits of the armies of
 Italy and Turkey so thoroughly well
 known as in Berlin, and the best in | formed military men here have no hes 1 tation in expressing the opinion, pri-
 vately that had it been possible to bring 1 the belligerents together on land, that
 there would have been a different story
 to tell.
 | The war has drawn home to the mind
 of the Kaiser, and to a greater extent l to the minds of the German people, the
 truth of the proposition that for na-
 tion to be world power in these days a
 fleet powerful enough to hold the seas l is indispensable.
 As result the naval programme will 1 be radically extended until within the
 next seven or eight years Germany wilt
 have fleet which will be able to hold
 it's own against any sea force which may 1 be brought against her.
 l Another phase of the war in Tripoi
 which will be watched by German army
 experts with the keenest interest will
 be the use of aeroplanes under active
 service conditions.
 This is the first time an opportunity has arisen to give these new engines an
 actual war test, and it is believed that
 their use in locating the hostile desert
 tribes in the Tripolitan land will teach
 many most useful lessons.
 The success of the socialist candidate l in the recent election at Durselldorf has | come as a distinct shock to officialdom | here. The center party has held this seat since the reichstag was instituted l and that 1t should have been captured by the socialists by a strong majority
 indicates q growth of socialism which l is far from assuming.
 The suicide of Countess Helene von | Donneges at Munich Is of rather more | than usual interest to America, as she l lived for some years In that country with
 her last husband, Baron Serge Shevitsch
 an exiled Russian nobleman, who was editor of a socialist daily paper in New l York and who was known among the
 more radical labor leaders throughout
 the United States.
 The baroness was herself famous act | ress and authoress.
 l The story of the love affair of Ferdi- hand Lassalle, the famous socialist, and Countess von Donniges forms the theme of Meredth's novel, "The Tragic Come
 dians.' The countess published two vol umes of memoirs, one of them, which
 was widely read, being entitled My Re- | lations with Ferdinand Lassal1e." She l was 65. Grief at the death of her hus-
 band and straitened means are supposed 1 to have been the motives for her act. 1 The last of the many romantic incidents connected with Ferdinand Lassalle-most brilliant of Jewish writers-is closed with l the death of the countess. Lassalle wealthy youth, who had first come into 1 prominence by his remarkable champlon- 1 ship of the Countess Hatzfeld, whose | cause he fought before 36 different tri- bunals, studying law expressly for that purpose, was the brilliant founder of Ger man social democracy and in him Bis mark found one of the most formidable opponents. Lassalle's meeting with Frau- | Iein von Doenniges at fashionable Ber- | lin salon led to his death. The first meet | ing was in 1863, and he at once felt pas
 sion for her which was ardently recip- rocated In the summer of 1864 he met
 her again on the Rigi, when they re- solved to marry. She was a young lady of 20 decidedly unconventional and origi- nal in character, but the daughter of Bavarian diplomatist who would have nothing to do with Lassalls.
 The lady was imprisoned in her own room. and soon apparently under the influence of very questionable pressure. renounced Lasalle in favor of another admirer, Count von Racowitza, Wal lachian Lassalle sent a challenge both to the lady's father and her betrothed, which was accepted by the latter At the caronge. suburb of Geneva, the meeting took place on August 2S, lSba, when Lassalle was mortaly wounded. His funeral was that of a martyr. and by many of his adherents he has been regarded with feelings almost of rells ious devotion. He was only 25,
 Marriage with Racowitza followed. and after his death she united to the Hungarian actor, Siogwart Friedman, under whose auspices she went upon the German stage and from whom she separated, the marriage being legally void and in the United States where she pursued both literary and a stage career. to the Russian writer. Baron von Schevitsch. Her third husband died recently at Munich, and a few days la ter, overcome, it is said by grief and by financial difficulties, she committed suicide by taking choral hydrate.
 Their Imperial Majesties have been having a very enjoyable time at the
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