The Mathews journal. (Mathews C.H. [Court House]) 1903-1937, 1912-02-15

no Ionger>$ke- strongeSt party and no
longer hold the casting vote among the
parties; they have alone ninety-three
members. the same number Ihey had
in 1S77-1S7S. In the last Reichstag
they had 139 members. which COM
bined with the 1O4 Conservatives,
formed the solid black and blue"
bloc that was impregnable and car
ried every measure of a conservative
nature that was presented
There are grave possibilities in the
eventuality that enough Of the Ma
tional Liberals can be won over to
the Socialists and Radicals on the
questions on which the National Lib
erals are pledged TO vote conservatives.
1t is conceded that some few OF them
at least will abandon the party plat
form when any reactionary measure
is put forward, and IL is not higl
improbable that enough of them will
do so to nullify the Kaisef;s efforts to
rush through his bills for military
and naval appropriations.
In this event. there would be a ma
tonal crisis. IL the voice OF the Kaiser
can be believed. Socialists declare it
is nothing but bravado on the part OF
the Emperor and OF Chancellor Won
Bothmann-Hollweg, but he has taken
occasion from time to time within the
last few days to repeat the warning
that, il his military bills should be
turned aside, he would dissolve the
Reichstag and make another appeal
to the voters at a second election in
the hope of getting a more conserv-
ative parliament
These tactics were resorted to by
Bismarck in 1887, when Parliament
declined to pass his military bills, and
the result of his appeal to the coun-
try was the smashing OF the hostile
majority and the election of a HOUSE
which ate out of the iron chancel-
lor's hand. But. whether Won Beth
mann HOllweg would prove to be an
iron chancellor" in such a cam
paign, is a matter for doubt. should
he fail, he would be deposed. and the
Kaiser would have to search for some
one else with whom to entrust the
reins of the government.
While these developments are by
no means imprebabilities at the same
time neither are they certainties. The
certainty that does eSist is that the
domestic measures will be defeated,
including the KaiSer'e excessive taxa
ton program and his prohibitive high
tariffs, which, between them, have
impoverished all classes of the coun-
try's population excepting the great
est kings of German industry and
finance. The parties of the Left will
stand in a solid phalanX in remedy
ing these conditions, and the opposi-
ton will be powerleSs to check them.
On another measure and ono OF
AAAAlfOAtr * not 10 the Dl sent,
at least to the future OF Germany, the
Left Will be a unit-that is, over the
reapportionment of the districts that
elect members to the Reichstag. As
the country is now SubdiVided the
Socialist districts are almost twice rs
large as those where the COnserVa-
tiNeS are strong. We're the -diStricts
apportioned so that the same popu-
latiOn would he in each. the Socialists
and ether radical parties would pos
SeSs such an overwhelming majority
over the Conservatives as TO make the
latter almost non-entity i'm the
ReichstaG.
But here the Kaiscr's veto must
he oVerriddcu. if the new apportiou-
nent is 20 be ordered. And il that
should tranSpire. the passive dislike
of some Of the kaiser'S methods
would cry'stallize. il is predicted. into
personal hatred OF him which might
nurture disloyalty 20 him and might
hold eren the possibility OF armed out
breaks In some quarters
In a last analysis IL can be said that
the ReichstaE. which convened to-
dag. Is confronted by more momen-
tous possibilities than any other since
the days OF the Franco-PrusSian War.