Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-05-16
YEAR IN GERMANY
Centenary of Empire-Quarter Cen
fury of an Emperor.

| ''iIiIstilSf tilt SDllDS lDlNuSH
the summer ard well into the autumn,
promises this yea- to be land of
celebrations In the last fortnight of
May, all Germany will be celebrating
the hHndredth anniversary of Wag-
iner's birth. In the opera house of ev-
cry city, considerable and inconsider-
able, there will be gala pcrforman-
,ces' and whole cycles" of Wagner's
!operas from 'Rienzi'' through Got
terdammerung, stopping only at the
still! protected "Parsifal" There will
| be memorial concerts, besides; COM
'memorative dinners aud fetes, with
, plentiful speech making: the unveil-
ing OF new statutes and memorials of
Wagner; and between whites for those
that have any faculty of attention
left, abundant and super-abundant ar
ticles to read in newspapers and mag
iazines
| Before this celebration has ended.
Ienother Of Il different sort will have
begun. it is p years since the emper-
or succeeded 10 the throne, and all
GermanN-Bavaria, Saxony, Hesse and
the other federated states, as well as
national The celebrat ton will not be
Imorely commcmoration Of an ami
lVersary in the imperial calendar. Ra-
lther, 1t will celebrate the proud posi-
ton and the rich achievements of the
united Germany that has waXed so
irapjdly and firmly in the last % years
Its widespread well-being, its care
for its people high and low; the
isrowth of its commerce and manufac-
turing; its wealth and the uses to
(which Ii puts it; its ambitions and
achievements in the arts; its strength
in its aries by land and its fleets by
sea; It's place and prestige in Europe;
its whole material and moral strength.
THE pride of Germany in itself. the
ienergy Of Germany with itself. its
iunItH of resource and spirit will speak
to the rest OF the world in the celebra =
ltiGn and more particularly to that
Irestless and somewhat threatening
part Of it that lies between the Vos-
ges and the Atlantic. On the specta-
lcular side, the fetes promise to follow
1.-THE usual course, but with Teutonic
Amplitude and endurance. There will
be reviews and parades without num-
| Der, especially in Berlin and in the
Heavily garrisoned towns, court cere-
monies of many kinds; gala perfor-
finances in royal theatres; loyal ban
Iquets and all the rest of the parapher-
lnalia of such anniversaries. The I'm
Iperial Court is not the most ornat
land picturesque in the world, in spit,
| of the emperors efforts to make i
Spectacular; but the Germans outside
it have skill, resource and imagina
ton in the devising of fetes, and :
HEARTY and energetic ENJOYMENT o
them. The army is working force
but il can also make a brave militar.
show. Those that thrill to militar,
,spectacles may have their fill of it il
Berlin in June
A larger national anniversary al
lmost blends with this anniversary o
1.-THE emperor's accession. and each in
tensifes the olher. A hundred years
lego. next October, the three days bat
tie was fought around Leipzig tina
lcompelled the retreat of the first Ma
lpoleon from Germany; that virtual,
Tended French domination beyond thu
Rhine. 1t was blow that sped thu
downfall of the emperor already be
gun in the retreat from Russia, and
) yas large and clear token of the pos
fsibilitY of Il united Germany and o
!, the strength and the spirit of tn
whole German race. The German ar
lmics that defeated Napoleon at Leip
Zig were armies of the people risen en-
Imosse to regain nationality and gov
lcrnment of their own. All sorts ant
conditions of men from every corner
of the country from the Baltic to tht
i Alps and from the Rhine to the Wis
tula fought in them. Those who coulC
mot fight poured their resources int,
1.-The national treasury. With singh
lmind, a single spirit, a single devotion
lall Germany with Prussia at its heat
fought for its freedom and fought TO
, the first time Ms united people. I
fought and conquered and. as som
IsaN, the German Empire was reall,
born on the plains of Leipzig, though
la conquered Versailles sixty years af
ter officially Graded it.
| II is this great national anniversar,
tbat Germany will be celebrating cum
ulatively through the summer and TIL
Iautumn until the climax comes on tn
IaCtuaI centenary of the critical day q
The battle Of Leipzig, Oct. 49, Afread
IGorman newspapers abound in arti
Ielcs recalling the glorious days" ant
/ the glorious spirit of 1913. Alread
commemorative exhibitions of memo
rahlia have been opened Alread
| other exhibitions have linked them
selves to the centenary as best the
might Few speeches are made nov
| in Germany without a timely allusiol
to 1913. Every city and state is max
ing ready for it's autumn fetes ant
most of all Leipzig. On the anniver
sary of the battle. on the very groun,
| upon which ii was fought, Il great ma
tionai monument is to be unveiled b,
the emperor himself. All German
has subscribed these many years tn
funds fer it. All Germany will sent
its representatives, official and unof
fetal TO the dedication. For ten day
Leipzig will be the capital of Ger
many and give itself over to its fetes
All Summer it will bid Europe ant
America to its exhibition of the art:
land industries of the tWentieth-Ce cen
ltury Germany and to much other en-
Itertainment, instruction and ceremony
| The other cities of the empire and es-
ipecialiy those of northern and central
Germany, Berlin en- tete. will not fal
far behind Leipzig in the celebration
of the centenary. In many veal
1 ~ L. -,,ah mn IN-n