The Washington times., 1917-10-05

proprietors. Lands may be held there
by tenure which was abolished in
England hundreds of years ago. In
England property may be only tied
up under nxed conditions during the
lives OF certain chosen persons In
being in at the death OF the testator.
In the State of New. York property
may be only tied up during the lives
OF two persons in being at the death
Of the person making the will and
for twenty-one years (the minority OF
an infant) thereafter. But In the
Central Empires property still may
be tied up for an indefinite period
under the feudal system. so that
great estates. no matter how e1trava-
CANT the life tenant may be, are not
sold and do not come into the market
for division among the people.
Much Is heard in Germany and out
OF Germany OF the Prussian squire,
or junker.
All the titles of the nobility are
not confined to the Oldest son. Tire
pocketbook OF counts published by
the same arm which publishes the
Almanac de Gotha contains the counts
of Austria, Germany and Hungary
Jumped together, showing in this way
the intimate personal relation be-
tween the noble families OF these
three countries. All the sons OF q
count are counts, and so on ad in
finltum. Thus in Hungary there are
probably seventy counts Szecheny
and about the same number of ZIchy,
etc. Some of the German noble
families are not far behind. In fact,
II may be said that almost any per
son, In what is known as society"
in the Central Empires, has a title
OF some sort.
The prefix "von" shows that the
person is a noble, and is often coupled
with names of people who have no
title. By custom in Germany,
'von," when he goes abroad, is al
lowed to call himself baron. But in
Germany he could not do so.
These noble families in the Central
Empires, by the system OF Majorats
which l have described, hold large
landed estates. and naturally exert a
great influence upon their laborers.
As rule, the system OF tenant farm
Ing does not exist: that Is. estates
are not leased to small farmers-as
" as the custom in Ireland and is still
In England-but estates are worked
as great agricultural enterprises un-
der superintendents appointed by the
proprietor. This system, impossible
in America OF even in England. is
possible In the Central Empires,
where the villages are full of peas
ants, who not so many generations
ago were serfs. attached to the land,
and who lived in wholesome fear OF
the landed proprietors.
This Is the first method by which
InA l.
ton. There is also the restricted
franchise to a few rich proprietors.
AS a rule, the eldest son enters the
army as an officer and may continue
there: but II he has not displayed
any special aptitude for the military
profession he retired and manages his
estate. These estates are calculated
by their proprietors 10 give at least
1 per cent interest income on the
value OF the land. Many younger
sons, after a short term OF service
in the army, usually as officers and
not as "ein Jahriger," leave the army
and enter diplomacy or some other
branch of the government service.
The Offices OF Judge, district attorney,
and so on, not being elective, this
career-as well as that leading to
the position of landrat and over
president OF a province-is open to
those who, because they belong to old
Prussian landed families, find favor
in the eyes of the government.
Spartan virtues of Junkers.
There Is no leisure class among the
Junkers. They are all workers, pa
triotic, honest, and devoted to the
Emperor and the Fatherland. II 1t
is possible that government by one
class is to be suffered. then the Prus- !
sian Junkers have proved themselves
more At for rule than any other class
in all history.
Their virtues are Spartan. their
minds narrow, but incorruptible, and
their bravey and patiotism undOubted. |
In peace times a skilled mechanic |
in Germany receives less than 50 a
day, for which he was compelled to
work at least ten hours. Agricul-
tural laborers in the Central Empires
are poorly paid. The women do much |
of the work done here by men. For |
instance. once when staying at a no
bleman's estate in Hungary l noticed |
that the gardeners were all women,
and on inquiring how much they re
ceived was told they were paid |
about 20 cents a day. The women in |
the farming districts OF Germany are
worked harder than cattle. In sum |
mertime they are out in the fields at 5 |
and O In the morning, and do not re- |
turn until or later at night. For |
this work they are sometimes paid |
as high as 4S cents a day in harvest |
time. Nevertheless these small wages |
tempt many Russians to Germany |
during the harvest season.
At the outbreak OF the war there |
were, perhaps. $4,000 Russians employ
ed in Germany, men, women, and
girls. These the Germans retained in
a sort of slavery to work the fields.