The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-04-01
Centenary of Prince Bismarck, Creator of
 the German Empire

Most noteworthy of all this year sa centenarfes is that of the birth of Otto Edward Leopold, Prince von Bismarck -Schonhausen, the creator of the modern German empire and the inspirer of that school of welt politik'' which madeXs Germany a, world power, and has now plunged it into the welter of a. world war. The Iron Chancellor ranks with Napoleon among the most powerful. and com manding figures of modern times, and the Teuton and the Corsican re- sembled each other in their bound less ambition, their utter ruthless ness, their independence and origi- na1ity and their supreme contempt for men of lesser stature. Both claimed to be friends fof peace, while laboring to build up war machines which would enable them to crush all opposition and grind weaker nations beneath their iron heels In per sonality and expression of their boundless ambition the Corsican and the German differed widely. Napo- leon was small, Bismarck huge Of the Iron Chancellor was frank to the verge of brutality; and, for all his contempt for human life when his personal aggrandizement was at stake Napoleon was much less cruel than Bismarck, to whom all appeals for mercy and compassion always fell on
 Authorities disagree as to the date of Bismarek's birth, but he date Bismarck'ss birth usually ac- makes today the centenary of the greatest of Teuton statesmen. All Fools Day seemed an appropriate date in Bismarck's youth, for at the universities he excelled only as a hard-drinking, SWashbuckler duelist,
 
 deficient. Bismarck himself said, later in life: '.It was great while. before my poor mother could be per suaded that, in matching me. she had not nothered a goose.'' After his college days were over he became a "junker'' or country squire. and eat ing and drinking were his main occu- pations. He possessed an enormous appetite. and the amount of food he consumed at sitting, washed down by tremendous quantities of beer and champagne, seems incredible.
 Hfe marriage marked the turning point of his career. He gave up his boisterols ways, and devoted himself to politics. As the head of the Prus- sian cabinet he defied the wishes of Parliament and people and prepared a strong army which he used to crush Denmark and then Austria. His successes turned the tide, and from being the most hated, he became. the most popular man in Germany With the people behind him he waged a successful war on France, and then used his power to create, the German empire and consolidate Teuton public sentiment He remained the power behind the throne until Wilhelm H., the present emperor, succeeded to the crown. The two soon quarreIed and in 1890 Bismarck resigned and rer1rr ed to-privates life, dying in 1898
 All his life Bismarck was the foe of democracy ssrhe world cannot be ruled from below,' declared the arch foe of GeE1nan social democracy. He was the real founder of that Pan Germanisrn and nnilitarism of which we have heard so much of late. '@The life of nations is crowned with sue cess only so far as they have Teuton blood in their veins and so long as they preserve the characteristics of that race.'' he boasted. We Ger mans fear God, and we fear nothing else in the whole world,'' he declared Democracy and equality he assert ed, fare the daughters of envy and covetousness.'' Most famous of all his epigrams. perhaps, was this: Mot by speeches and resolutions of ma jorities are great questions decided but by iron and blood.'' That phrase made a tremendous impression upon Germans, and gave new inspiration 50 the mi1itarists. Yet it is not to be forgotten that Bismarck, with all his power, failed in his attempts to crush and stamp out the democracy of Germany, which flourished in spite of all his oppressive measures.