Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1914-04-03

| . ~ mOudTCu, ueSlI6'
ed to use his en-
ormous power toward suppression o
the party which he 80 vigorously de
n0unces.
Electorate 80 Per Cent. Socialist.
He has allied with him In this de
termined opposition the clerical ant
conservative classes, combinations O.
capital and possessors Of privilege
the agricultural interests, the lesi
radical hberals of the middle class
and yet-nearly one voter in every
three in Germany is a Social Demo
crat. the largest single party is the
Social Democratic party and its mem
bership. organized on military and
well-disciplined lines, is, with occa
slonal and temporary lapses, steadily
increasing. The figures which politi
cal statistics furnish showing its
progress are sufficiently impressive as
to its growing strength and import.
ance. In thirty years it has increased
the number of its voters from 300, 900
to more than 100000. from 6 to 30
per cent. of the total number Of votes
polled. with ITO representatives, de-
spite an absurdly inequitable suf-
frage system. in a reichstag or par
Lament of 397 members.
Far more impressive even than
these figures are the conversations
Of the Man in the Street, the pro-
gram which to him Is gospel, the or
ganization which he has built up and
maintained. and Vorwaerts (Forward)
the trenchant daily newspaper which
he reads. These will count, whether
We approve or disapprove. in tomor-
rows Germany. and tomorrows Ger
many IL to loom large in tomorrow's
world.
What Social Democrats Demand.
The party platform or program
may be summed up in few words. The
editor Of Vorwaerts declared it thus:
Adult suffrage, one vote for each
man and each woman; government
responsible to parliament; local self
government; referendum; voluntary
militia; freedom of speech and of the
press; equality of woman and man
before the law; no state church; COM
pulsory attendance, with free tuition
at state schools; free legal proceed
ings. medical attendance and burial,
provided by the state: progressive in
come tax and succession duty"
In advocating this program the
Social Democratic party has other and
less clearly defined purposes. 1t is
committed, through its leaders, to an
attack upon the church which has led
Its more radical members and official
utterances to approve atheism. THE
party is confessedly and entirely
atheistic," said Berlin Conservative
journalist. On the contrary, the man
in the street, while attacking the |
church as a kind Of class privilege
Is frequently careful to distinguish be- |
tween church and religion, between
ecclesiasticism and the Deity. In |
deed. an entire section of the party
Or ally Of 1t, the Christian Social
Union. as Its name suggests, is at vari-
ance with the doctrines of atheism.
FOR Peace and His Throne.
The abolition of monarchy is, of
sourse. held as an end to which the
Social Democrats look forward. It is
not strange that the emperor views
he party with such scornful and
7ehement disapproval. The assertion
9 often heard in German cafes that
he emperor. war lord as he is, and
seeker after military renown, has
'een constrained to become an advo-
ate Of peace many times, and just
low In the latest-but not the last
Balkan struggle, for the predominant
eason that . war might and probably
would mean the downfall of the
monarchy. Peace and . throne have
zen preferred above war and VIII
lam Hohenzollern, private citizen.
he kaiser keeps his own counsel and
he assertion may be wholly unjusti-
led, but there have been twenty-five
ears without war and the emperor ut
'erlin still reigns and rules.
The purpose of q program is some
ines more indicative of a party's de- |
ire than the program itself. This
uge workingmen's party has e.
ressed its purpose In much writing. :
u making many books on the Social
'emocratic party in Germany there IL 1
o end. MUCK translated quotation |
1erefrom 10 q weariness to the flesh.
! single quotation from an Official
andbook Of the party, with an early I
Of purpose, furnished ]
the Office of Vorwaerts. the official I
ryan. will suffice:
The aim Of Social Democracy IL I
ot to divide all property. but to COM !
me 1t and use 1t for the development 7
I'D Improvement of mankind, in order 1
} give to all q life worthy of man. [
FORK shall become q duty for all I
EN- able to work. The word Of the b
lble. He that does not work neither L
,all he eat shall become q true '
ord. Z
Declares for Love Marriages. 1
Marriage. IN contradiction to religi- d
10 teachings, 10 In innumerable v
Ises . financial transaction pure Z
ID simple. Woman has value in the
'es Of man only, when she has c
rtune and the more money she has L
. higher rises her value. Therefore q
Arriase has become . business. and 1