South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1915-09-17
END Of JUNKERS
RULE PREDICTED
Socialists in Germany Think
Kaiser Will Enter Into Com
pact to This End.

and the socialists enter into a COM
pact TO break down the rule of the
Junkers in Prussia and pave the way
for a new constitution which viii
make the people of Prussia self-gOv-
erning?
The Socialists believe that this will
happen. In the F'rankfurter Zeitung,
a we'll known Socialist, WOlfgang
Heine, explains why he has full con
hdence in the kaiser, who in his re-
cent manifest stated that if Germany
were TO progress along the new lines
destined for her after the end of the
war all domestic discord must cease
and old adversaries must forget their
enmities and work in harmony to full
fill their duties as true and loyal Ger
man citizens.
At present the constitution of
Prussia is among the most antiquated
in Europe, the ariStOcratic and veal
thy classes being in almost absolute
control, while the majority of voters
are very inadeQuately represented in
diet.
To remedy this evil a thorough re-
form Of the Prussian election laws is
absolutely necessary and for years
such reform has been promised the
people by the government, but the
conservative and reactionary parties
have always found means TO obstruct
the way.
Everybody knows how readily the
German Socialists sacrificed their own
demands in the hour when the kaiser
called for harmony during Germany
gigantic struggle for existence. 1t
was generally thought that the only
fitting reward the government could
bestow upon them was the political
equality for which they had fought
for years.
The call Of the kaiser in his mani
fest on the anniversary of the begin
ming of the war started very lively
discussion as 70 the proper time of
carrying out the much needed cleo
ton reforms. and it very soon became
evident that the Junkers and their
followers had no intention of giving
up the almost autocratic powers they
possess under the present election
laws
"The principal foundation of the
claim of the Weather classes for po-
litical privileges" Heine writes, has
always been that they contribute a
greater share of the taxes, but what
does this mean now when ii is impOs-
sible TO imagine that anyone would
dare speak of money in comparison
with the enormous sacrifices in lives.
blood and health which the working
classes have made.
the working classes are not entitled
to demand any reward because they
have done their plain duty at a time
of national peril. This is very true and
no democratic leader would think Of
demanding equality and justice for
the working classes as a reward of
their having remained loyal TO their
country. This would be absolutely
degrading even If under normal cir
no fo &c
nothing unusual but it must be re-
membered that we Socialists have
time and again emphasized that
neither fear nor hope Of future ia
vOrs Influenced our resolution.
I'VE do not attempt to conceal, on
the other hand, that it was not only
duty and honor but also the thought
of the interests of the working
classes which prompted us to help in
defending Germany's soil against the
enemies.
we do demand, however. that
what has been an injustice be now
abolished and we expect that the state
as we'll as the other political parties
will realize how poorly their former
treatment Of the Socialists has served
Germany's best interests.
when we now demand political
reforms and demand them quickly be-
-
and before a feeling Of bitterness is
aroused among the people because of
new disappOintments, we are guided
solley by the wish TO give the father
land new strength, and to keep alive
unity and harmony among the Ger
man people
What the governments of the en-
pire and the various states and the
ruling classes asked to grant-pO-
litical equality and freedoms as
nothing compared with what the state
must ask from those who have hither-
to been suppressed and who have
been deprived of all their rights that
they forget the injucstice they have
suffered in the past, that they love
their country and devote their entire
energy towards the maintenance OF
the empire. We do not need to in
form one another of the value of
what each of us has done when each
OF us be inspired by the will conf
IDENTITY To enter new paths and help
TO create new free and strong Ger
many and when each Of us put aside
selfish interests 10 reach this goal
There is no doubt that those words
arouse a strong echo throughout the
German people, but il is equally Ger
tain that they have fallen upon deaf
ears. as far as the reactiOnary parties
are concerned"
EVANSVILLE. Ind.-W. II. McCur-
dy, president or the Hercules Buggy
-