The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-02-09

IS dishonoring punishment carrying
with it the loss of pension rights, and
the bundesrat thinks that this would in
volve, an unreasonable hardship for an
officer. who. out of ideal motives, risks
his life in defense of his honor The
reichstag further demanded that an Off
Ger who refused to fight a duel should
in no case be dismissed from the army
on that ground. but the bundesrat replies
that .'the appointment and dismissal OF
an officer requires according TO the con-
stitution. the decision of the crown
The appointment cf Ambassador Won
ia gov OF Rome % succeed Kiderlen-
Wachter as minister of foreign af-
fairs has called attention to the COM
paratively brief service In office of i'm
perial ministers under William II, Won
Jagow being the ninety-fifth minister
appointed by the present Emperor In
his reign of less han % years. IL has
also brought to tie front the ind1s-
putable fact that Germany is not over
rich in ministerial material The list of
names considered as comprehending all
the possible appointments was strik
ingly short. and at that it included
some men who have not thus far given
any evidence of possessing the qualities
demanded of a minister of foreign af-
fairs.
The German press, with the excep-
tion OF the conservative element. is
inclined. as il has been for long time
to blame the scarcity of diplomatic and
ministerial timber To the fact that few
but noblemen are given opportunity to
enter these posts. and that the result
is that the non-noblemen have no
chance either TO learn statecraft or to
demonstrate that they possess it. 1t is
pointed out that Of Germanys 40 am
| l,o l. let IN. inn,
countries. only six ave commoners and
that these six are assigned TO the re-
latively unimportant posts of Abys-
sinia, Brazil, Cuba. Haiti Roumania
and Uruguay. Moreover of the 40 Sec
retaries of embassies or legations, all
but two are noblemen. The directing
spirits of tho foreign office, the six
councillors. are all noblemen but one,
and the lower officials of the office are
in great majority of cases noblemen.
The soil of a great portion of Germany
is little but sand and it has been titled
fer Centuries, but on this poor land Ger
man farmers are today raising in some
crops more than twice as many bushels
per acre as the American farmer, and in
all crops from 60 to so per cent more.
Statistics just issued show an average
acre yield of wheat OF 315 bushels for
Germany, against 12 o-6 for the United
States. The German farmer takes 70
bushels of rye from the acre where the
American gets but 16; 80 bushels of barley
against 211a; 81 bushels of oats against 25,
and 15S bushels of potatoes against So.
In the last % years the average acre yield
of wheat has been increased 81 per cent,
rye 73 3 per cent, barley 5l.9 per cent,
oats S0.7 per cent, potatoes GA per cent
and hay 52.S per cent
An interesting corollary to these figures
are the statistics showing the use of ar
tlheial fertilizers In Germany. In 1911,
2653 pounds of potash salts were used on
TIE square kilometer of Germany TILED
land compared with 3l1 in America. Ger
many's consumption OF sodium nitrate in
| c1 eased 1868 per cent in the 80 years from
| 1886 to 1910, while tho worlds production
| increased but SSS per cent
| 1t is interesting to note that despite
the very large estates of Prussia, four
ffths of the entire soil of Germany is
cultivated by peasant farmers, with hold
| ings up to 240 acres. Small holdings also
are increasing, owing to the breaking up
Of large estates.