The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-08-30


 democracy is put down to the ineffective ness of the modern politician to the ab- sence of really able men in the domo- cratic ranks. Democratisation involves parliamentary government, under which talented and qualified Parliament mem bers may rise to be heads of state depart ments This movements long ago tri- umphed in England, France and Italy; but in the other great European states it makes no progress. Good judges attribute this to the fact that parliaments no longer possess men with the political genius and strength of personality which are need ed to Tighten out of office the aver age thick-skinned bureaucrat. The move- mSnt toward democratisation has even had Netback. Bismarck, though nominally foe 70 parliamentarism, persistently sougis for good men outside the bureau crat ranks whom he could make into min isters. He laughed at the typical depart mental "privy councillor'' and declared that the best minister is man with out special training, who has a sharp mind and is in daily contact with life." After Bismarck's day 1t was still possible for an amateur politician to become minister. The last such minister was Herr V. Podbielski, who on the strength of a few Reichstag speeches, was made secretary for posts. That was in 1S97 Since then no parliamentarian has be- come minister. either in Germany or in Prussia. The present Reichstag has not single member who has any chance of becoming minister. The Reichstag puts this down to the jealous monopolism of the permanent bureaucracy; but the real reason is that the Reichstag is without men of personality and weight. It is full n n x,.As rxYtx s.rx Nft4 t-s- The real politicians are engaged in so- eial or municipal work; or they are in the state service, commanding regiments, or doing something else positive and creative which the unlucky Reichstag member never manages to do.
 Austria faces much the same situation Formerly Austrian amateur politicians and Reichsrat members had good chance of becoming minister's This induced into politics men of high talents and will The Austrian burgher became a political power After the war with Prussia and the abandonment of the ''systeme de Met ternich," Austria was full of lawyer politicians, doctor-politicians, and profess sor-politicians, who enforced their per- sonalities upon high politics. After the war with Prussia Kaiser Franz Josef was obliged to rely altogether on this class. An instance is the "burgher cabinet' of 1869 This cabinet was formed under the nominal leadership of Prince Karlos Au- ersperg, but it was entirely run by citi- zen ministers, all lawyers-Giskra, Herbst, Brestel. Hasner and Plener. With the aid of the German liberal party these citizens entirely reconstructed Austria; they reformed the finances; reorganized the army and civil administrations passed the great national educational act: ex- tended trial by jury: and effected dozens of minor reforms The successful poli- ucian was then entirely on top and the bureaucrat, tried and found wanting, was miserably underneath Since then 70 years have passed, and the citizen politician has entirely fallen into the background while the bureaucrat is in front The empire is today, as it was. before 1s66 governed by permanent officials. Att tempts have been made in late years to restore parliamentary government, the aim being to bring about national com promise by gfvin geach race a share in cabinets. Baron Gautsch made such an attempt in 1906: and Baron Beck made an attempt four years later Both failed The Reichsrat contained no men with the essentially political talents which are necessary for such schemes. It still earns the rebuke of the late prime minister. Count Eduard Taaffe: "In my later days the Reichsrat has shown a complete lack of able men with administrative talents. These men no doubt still exist among us but they have foresworn politics in fa- for of some more promising career"
 The reaction from politics goes farther than merely keeping at a distance men with political minds The general de- cline of parliamentary prestige frightens away also talented men of other sorts. who were formerly attracted to politics as recreation. These men were the salt and savor of the old-fashioned Par It. 1.cA science, literature, or art; and they gave politics dignity and intellectual color. Men like Mommsen. virchow, Gneist. Bes- eler and Treitschke sat in Germany's Reichstag, which cannot today produce a single member of intellectual distinc- tion. Things are as bad in Austria and elsewhere. The Spanish Cortes was de- scribed by the Diario, an influential pro- vincial journal as "a sty of dull medi- men: squireens and vaseline-headed fops." Senor Romero Robledo, then president, prosecuted the responsible editor for "col- lectively insulting the Cortes;' and he got the culprit into Jail for year. Dur ing the trial the vice president of the lower chamber of the Cortes admitted that the political and intellectual level had badly fallen, and added, but not as much as have Parliaments elsewhere''
 What will happen when the level of all Parliaments and politicians has fallen still lower? Jean F. Solignes. a Belgian pamphleteer, says that Europe will bs no worse off. Indeed, he thinks that she will be better of. He laughs at the fears of Prince Buelow. Professor Lamprecht and other advocates of poli- ticisation. "The soundest feature of our new civilization is.'' he says, ''the super cession of mere politics by creative mu- nicipal and social work Politics are waste. If good men refuse to enter pol itics and if. therefore. the political stand- ard falls, that Is no loss to civilization. It does not mean that there are less good men about; but only that the good men have found worthier fields of action. They are turning away from abuse. rhet-