The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-06-05
Danish National Holiday

Denmark will celebrate it's national holiday today, the fifth of June com mem orating the adoption of the con- stitutfon by King F'rederik VII and the Diet in 1849. By this charter it was decreed that the executive power is in the king alone, the legislative in the king and parliament jointly. The person of the king was declared l to be inviolab1e, but he was to rule through responsible ministry. The | Diet was to consist of an upper house, called the Lansdthing, and a lower house, known as the VoIkething. The | upper chamber of the Rigsdag was appointed partly by the sovereign and
 partly by restricted ballot, while the | members of the lower chamber were l elected by general suffrage.
 Denmark-as it is spelled by the Danes-has made rapid progress to- 1 ward complete democracy since the adoption of the constitution of 1849,
 and the monarcR's powers have been
 gradually restricted until now King Christian x. is only a figurehead. A year ago the Danish parliament ce1e-
 brated the nations great patriotic fes- tival by unanimously passing a new constitution which conferred full suf-
 frage upon the fair sex In that re- spect Denmark is now more demo-
 cratic than any other important nation | of Europe, with the exec eption of her
 neighbor, Norway.
 King Christian K, who. has sat upon
 the Danish throne a little more than
 four years, probably has less real pow l CT than any other living monarch. ] The Danish Parliament now rules the | country without bothering to consult the monarch, and makes and unmakes i at will the ministries which are sup
 posed to represent the King. The so- 1 cia1ists and democratic radicals con- | troI the assembly, and men who were l arI IoI in he acyf few years yielded far greater power than the monarch. By order Of the 1 Diet the cabinet members have been i deprived of their uniforms, and they
 are no longer addressed as Your Ex- | ce11ency,'' the form now being. simply
 '.Mr. Minister. The aristocracy has had to tgo away back and sit down. 9 and the highest offices in the govern 1 ment are open to the humb1est com
 moners if they have the ability to fill l them.
 l The first great blow to royal pre- l tensions in Denmark was struck in 1901, when Christian TX, father-in- l law of the Czar of Russia and the | King of England, occupied the throne.
 Although personally very popular, his Iattempt in that year to become the real executive of Denmark was promptly answered by his subjects, who elected 132 liberals, socialists and radicals to the parliament, leaving 1 only eight rOyaliStS to support the
 monarch. In parades and demonstra- l tions following this victory of the peo-
 pie at the polls, the King was openly
 warned that any further attempt to | play the historic role would result in the complete overthrow of the mon 1 archy. Realizing that his subjects meant business, and having been giv- en striking illustration of their pow
 CT and spirit, the King subsided, and his successors have since done noth- ing without humb1ing saying, "By your leave.A
 | The Danes, royaHsts socialists and 1 liberals alike, are almost unanin Ous1y | synpath with the cause of the Al lies. They have never forgotten Prus- 1 sia and Austria for the loss of Schles- 1 wig and Holstein, which were torn from Denmark in 1864 and incorpor-
 ated with the German dominions Hatreds of the Prussians is almost a religion with the Danes, and if the l Central Powers are thGr oughly defeat l ed there will be great rejoicing in Copenhagen. Many Danes favor par | ticipation in the war in order that l Denmark may be in a position to de-
 mand the return of her lost prov inceS.