The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-01-27
KAISER, ON 55IH BIRTHDAY, FEELS THE 2 PINCH OF POYERTY

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 I While the German people will take a day off from their labors to sing
 .tIIoch der KaIser''-or attend sociaI- i, I,istic meeting ito day. Emperor Will | liam is not likely to be very happy on this, the hfty fifth anniversary of his birth. Tn the first place, the pes ky socialists are verys busy and con stantly gaining in numbehs, and Elm, peror Williams hates socialism as the devil hates holy water. In the sec-. ond place, the Kaiser has recently and not for the first time, experience. ed how sharper than snakes incisor it is to rear a thankIess chee-ild. Third ly. and far from being least of his troubles, Nilheln is feeling the high cost of living. During the past year of his reign the Emperorss expendi-: lures have mounted up at an alarm ing rate, and have surpassed those of. any previous year of his reign. The, nnarriag Of his only daughter, the entertainment of King George and the
 Car and their large suites, and the.
 festivities incident to the jubilee df. his reign, put a erinlp of at. least a
 million dollars fh Wilhelm s pocket money. Indeed, Christmas found theF Kaiser so pinched that he could afford only $1o,0oo for presents for his va
 rious relatives.
 Most people could manage to strug
 gIe along on taes Kaiser,s income.
 however, for his civil list amounts to
 $4, 800, 900 8 year, and the empire act
 Of grace gives him $7oo.00o more.
 W hiIe his investments in various com
 nercia1 enterprises at horla ana abroad add considerably to the sum.
 It Is estimated that his income is in the neighborhoodg of six millions
 year. and yet he is complaining bit
 terly of the poverty that is jogging
 his footsteps, and threatens to sell
 another of his three-score palaces in
 order to relieve the strain. In the
 meantime, it Is estimated that no less than hundred thousand workmen in Berlin are out of emp ley1n ent and are deprived Of everything but the barest necessities of existence. The Emperor has often declared his ina biIity to understand why so. many Ger- mans should want to substitute so cialistic republic for the benign rule of ssno und Gott.s. The Kaiserss i'm come of six millions q years and tn E spectacle of hundreds of fhousa rsI,s dwelling in direst poverty. might be connected as cause and effect by some fanatical and anarchistic observers. s;s While the Kaiser,s birthday is a Ter gal holiday thr rough out the empire, very few now spend the day in sing ing the praises Of the Emperor. or in praying for him in the churches. So- eiaIistic meetings are a feature of the holiday. Earlier in his reign the Elm peror was highly Indignant at such Of lese majeste and ordered the speakers sent to jail 1 Nowadays the prisons and 5ails of the whole empire are not large enough to hold a small part of those who ob- serve the Kaiser's birthday by adv,- eating his overthro os7ss and the Kaiser has given it up as hopeless jsE. The Kaiser now seeks to conciliate the disciples of Marx. but there is lit- tie doubt that when the Crown Prince 1 ascends the throne the storm will break. The Grown Prince has op=ssey advocated the suppression Of the so-
 Il cialists by force.
 Samuel esompars who was recently reelected president of the A1nericap I Federation Of Labor for thirty third 1 term, was born in England sixty four l years ago to-day The federation of l which he has sq long been the virtlo 1 leader is composed Of 1I3 internatiolis al and national unions of the United States and Canada, and represents I about 27, 900 local unions with to- tai paid membership of two million | men and women. The gensral of tats great labor army was the son of a ci- | garmaker, and after coming to Amer tea, at the of thirte en- took up his fathers trade. He became a l union member at fifteen. He was one | of the founders of the American Fed eration Of Labor. and has been its | president since 1882.