Der Deutsche correspondent. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1841-1918, 1915-01-21

How then can a country effectively
govern itself If it cannot find out it.
self what its own will is?
But Germany can ascertain almost
instantly the will of the people If
the Reichstag and the Bundesrath
disagree on a policy, if the Reichstag
votes lack of confidence in the policy
of the Imperial Chancellor, he must
resign or prevail upon the Bundles
rath to dissolve the Reichstag, which
is accomplished by the Kaiser acting
with the sanction of the Bundesrath.
Thus the Bundesrath, through its in
strumcnts the Kaiser and Imperial
Chancellor has the choice of agreeing
with the Reichstag o.. of dissolving it.
If the Bundesrath believes that il
expresses the will Of the people, it
dissolves the Reichstag. A new cleo
ton must then be held within sixty
days and the Reichstag reconvened
within ninety days The question
upO which it is dissolved becomes the
political issue upon which theReichs-
tag members stand for reelection.
The German Way OF Obeying the
People.
The viii Of the people is thus as
certained within a very short space
Of time and the Bundesrath, if de-
feated by the return Of Reichstag
members opposed to its policy,
changes it's policies and the members
who advocated the defeated policy
resign individually or lose their
prestige. The new Reichstag and the
Bundesrath are then in accord and
represent the will Of the people on
tho question at issue condition
which can never be achieved unuer
the American system.
1t viii be noted that the power to
dissolve is not the Kaiser's power
but the Bundesrath's power. The
Bundesrath must dissolve the lower
house or agree with it, otherwise
there is q deadlock, o condition
which involves such censure of public
opinion as to be uncomfortable.
Once the viii Of the people is as
certained, the Bundesrath proves a
marvellous instrument for carrying it
into execution. AS stated, there is
no delay due to questions Of consti-
tutiOnality, deranging commerce and
industry in the intolerablc manner TO
which American commerce and in
dUstry are subjected By the infinitely
tedious processes Of the American
courts and the closely technical atti-
tude of the Supreme Court upon all
questions which are not brought be-
fore il in tho proper form Once a
law is passed it is of the same
quality as the constitution. No laws
are passed for the purpose Of putt
ing it up to the Supreme Court" No
laws are passed, the execution of
which involves political blackmail,
that is the putting Of the president
in hole" in carrying them out. No
ambiguous laws are passed to side
step" official responsibility, because
as the Bundesrath must shoulder the
responsibility OF executing the laws
it passes, it cannot escape odium for
laws which do not have public ap-
proval There can be no ambiguity
in the laws, for the Bundesrath
which passed the law must certainly
know what it means when it comes
to be executed.
Further, there are no delays in
passing laws such as are caused by
ceadlocks between the American
president and a congress OF different
political complexion, for the Kaiser
cannot block legislation and cannot
veto it,
In short, in Germany it works.
Here is does not.
(To be continued.)