New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-09-12
Mere Anar chy." as Far as the
Working ClassesAre Concerned,
Is Our Indivi6uaIist State, Writes
Frederic G. Howe. and Points
Out That i'm Social and industrial
Ways Germany Is the Most Demo-
cratic Country i'm the World.

Prussia and still rule just as they did in an
earlier age, and another Germany which thinks
in terms of all the people
We in America think that the State has met
all its obligations when it protects the in
divdual from violence. looks after his health,
educates his children and performs the other
traditional functions OF government. We in
herited this ndivdualistic idea Of the State
from England and have carried it to even
greater extremes than did the mother country.
We permitted the mines, resources and
public domain to be grabbed by the first or the
strongest: we turned over the railways to
private hnanciers TO exploit to charge all the
traffic will bear we placed the control Of bank
ing credit and insurance in private hands and
permitted the manufacturer and the capitalist
10 do pretty much as he would, to work his
men long hours and to exploit the lives OF
women and children in the mills and factories.
Our idea of til: State is everyone for him
self and the devil take the hindmost, We out
did England in this philosophy of indvidualism
which we call democracy" but which as far
as the great majority of the working classes
is concerned, is not democracy. 1t enriched the
few and left the weak and defenceless to take
care of themselves.
We have political democracy and industrial
feudasm Germany has political feudalism and
kind of industrial democracy. Aside from
militarism, Germany thinks in terms OF more
people and in more ways than any other nation
in the world. and she does it with a conscious
conviction that the welfare of the people in
sures the welfare of the State that in the long
run even its industries are more important than
property and that under modern industrial con-
ditions the weakest have right to look to the
State fer protection in industry, just as they
have from foreign or domestic foes.
And the wonderful progress Of Germany in
the last quarter century is due to the mo-
narchical socialism which has been developed
Germany owns the railways, an immense
system of canals she owns hundreds Of thou
sands OF acres OF agricultural land great tor
ests: a majority Of the stock in the Imperial
Bank is owned by the State; while 90 per cent
of the deposits OF all the people are IN mu-
nicipal savings banks or the postal savings
funds. Here in the very beginning Germany
controls the credit of the nation, and much OF
the industrial efficiency OF Germany is due to
the fact that credit in that country is not only
free-it is cheap.
Here. too. are funds by means OF which Ger
many has bought one industry after another
She used the deposits Of the people tor that
PURPOSE. II the truth were known, it is possible
that Germany is financing the present war at
n ,ch lower cost than other European coun-
tries because she controls the credit assets OF
The nation through the public savings institu-
tons.
These are few Of the ways in which Ger
manv built up her industrial development by
making the whole mass work as unit Edu-