The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-08-15
Each Warning Nation Is Now Practically Living Under an Absolute
 Dictatorship
ENGLAND'S CASE IS
 THE MOST STRIKING
 EXAMPLE OF EUROPE
Many Now Openly Predict Early Day When Lloyd-George Will Become Absolute Dictator
 of Great Britain
By ID. L. HEITKAMP

London, August 5.-(Special Correspon- dence.)-Is representative government a failure? Is the principle for which our American forefathers fought and bled and laid down their precious lives false one ? So the people of Europe would seem to believe if we are to judge by the course of the gigantic struggle now being fought on the continent.
 year of the greatest war in the history of the world has now passed Billions of dollars have been wasted, hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of lives have been sacrificed; the future of practically half of the world has been in the melt ing pot and the political, commercial and moral complexion of the whole world literally will depend upon the outcome of the tragedy now being enacted In Europe. These are matters, one is justified in be- heving, in which the common people, the man and woman in the street, are virtual ly interested-big enough, important enough. terrible enough, one would say, to sweep into the scrap heap what little remains of dictation, despotism and au- tocracy.
 Yet what has been the actual results after one year of Armagedon?
 War was declared, is being fought, will probably be won and lost. If the people do not awake very soon, without the con- sent of the common people. This Is not the same thing as saying that it Is being fought against their wishes, although from many signs one might feel justified in say ing even that. But the supreme struggle is being waged without any attempt be- ing made to obtain the common peoples consent On the contrary the whole ten dency since the early days of last Au- gust has been toward absolutism and against the ideals of government pro- claimed by Abraham Lincoln, govern ment of the people. by the people. for the people," and against principles supposed ly established for eternity by the French revolution and the American war of in- dependence.
 This amazing development is not true of only one country or one set of bellger- ents, but is universal enough among the warning nations to make it certain that the phenomenon is a representative one. One would expect to witness some such development of the times in Germany, where centrallzation in government is a fetish and where the whole history of the country has proved its efficacy, or in Russia, the last great bulwark of ab- so.utism But astonishing as it may seem. 1t is equally and Increasingly true of England and France
 
 people, as a whole, have been absolutely ignored. In some of the countries it has been possible to accomplish this deliber- ate object more openly and ruthlessly than in others But it Is equally true of all. Absolute power has been concentrated into the hands of few people. Parlaments, supposedly the voices of the patient people have been ignored bulled or suppressed Elections, which might have disturbed the reigning oligarchy or have even voiced a popular dissatisfaction with the wholesale slaughter and an irresistible demand fol peace upon some reasonable basis, have been postponed against all recognized con- stitutional usages. Free speech is as dead as Queen Anne, the liberty of the press so hardly won by past generations, has disappeared over night. Magma Charta has been put into cold storage and some ever question whether it will ever again com, out.
 In none of the warning countries is this astonishing and disquieting metamorphosis