Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1917-04-20

! States. So she resisted the influences
of '4S in large measure, after a half
century in which the intellectual and
| spiritual forces of Prussian patriotism,
splendidly manifest in men like jain
and Fichte and Schleiermacher, had
nation to resist tyranny that had been
wreaked under the specious watch
words of liberty and equality.
The year 1861 came. and Prince Will
liam. already regent. became William I.
In October of the next year Otto Won
Bismarck became prime minister OF
Prussia. Again absolutism worked.
Again Prussian history moved exactly
counter to the general experience of
mankind. William l was at his wits
end when Bismarck took the helm. The
national legislature a refused the
money necessary to support the en-
larged army which his military sense
1old hin to be necessary. His abdi-
cation was drawn up and signed as he
talked with Bismarck in the park at
Babelsberg on that fateful October day.
bismarck declared that the main q,les-
ton was which should govern-the
crown or a majority of the house OF
representatives. Then he undertook
the task of ministerial government
ana without a program He carried
MS on for four years. "The press a
gagged, u%nfriendly government Off
Gals deprived of their places, political
discussions forbidden at public meet
lngs. and even freedom of speech in
the house itself interfered with by the
police. This is not an arraiSnment.
1 quote from a popular history of Ger
many Dedicated by Gracious PERMITS
sion to His Royal Highness Prince
Henry OF Prussia on the Occasion of
His Visit to America
Aosolutism won. "A HohenZollern had
come to the throne representing the
ity, simplicity of life, paternal interest
IN the welfare of the people. William
was as devoted to his army as was
frederick William L. Beside him stood
a diplomat who was as able, as willy.
n as little troubled by %scruples as
frederick the Great himself. Prussia's
traditional eccnomic-m military political
vigor. A frugal people and an
efficient government backed an ir-
resistible army under an absolute
king. And Prussia was still a
alf century ahead of the rest of the
world in her understanding of the eco
monte N foundations of military powers
Then followed the trilogy If Bis
marck's wars-the Danish, the Aus
trian, the French. Each was short,
sharp, and profitable. Let this never be
forgotten. The Danish war was mat
ter OF a few months, and it gave Prussia
Schleswig-H olstein. INC made possible
the kiel canal and the naval policy of
the present hour. The Austrian war
was a matter of days-June 16 to July
22-and it ave Prussia Austria's un-
willing consent to her leadership of
north Germany, and 1.-THE annexation of
from ,000, 900 to 1000, 900 north German
Inhabitants besides some 20, OOO, 900
fhn YnrO VI I>,-~ - 10,
Prussia Alsace-Lorraine, 1000, 00O, 900,
and h o~verlordship of a new German
empire. Each n of these wars, direct
ed by the king n the minister who
had SO ruthlessly overriddens popular
government and the popular will, made
Prussia larger, richer, stronger. What
a contrast with France. Remember the
Commune. Boulanger, the declining
birth rate. the Panama scandal. These
ne Prusians saw as the fruits OF de-
mocracy. Once more they beheld the
H~ohenzollern type Of absolutism justi-
fled in its children. h scientific and
inventive triumphs Of a new day but
threw into sharper relief. against the
background formed by nations that
muddled along, like England. nations
that almost stopped growing, like
France, and nations that wasted their
national substance. like the United
States. the essential wisdom of the
Eighteenth century kings of Prussia
and their policy of irresistible military
power through an army led by an alb
solute king and backed by "a frugal
people and an economical administra-
ton. Once more absolutism was pay
ing dividends in wealth, power, and
prestige, while democracy in a neigh
Dor country fell far behind. In other
nations the popular thought was lead
ing. and the rulers were following the
people. In Germany the rulers led and
he people followed. French, American,
and English rulers were living up to the
people; the German people were living
up to their rulers.
We come to the policy of frightful-
ness. From one standpoint, it is mere
survival. One hundred and twenty years
Napoleon promised his soldiers the
loot Of rich cities and populous prov
inces, and beautified Paris by the spoils
OF half Europe. One hundred and ten
years ago England destroyed Dem
marks fleet for the sole crime of Dam
to speak OF the opium war and the
Congo atrocities of more recent days.
But we must look deeper than this,
The policy of frightfulness is part and
parcel Of absolutism, and every time
you preserve absolutism you preserve,
of necessity. the ethics OF absolutisHn.
By a series of rare historical accidents.
absolutism. which has cursed England
and France and Russia with economic
weakness and national misery, in Prus-
STA has yielded economic strength and
national prosperity. And when abso-
was confirmed in Prussia the
ethics Of absolutism was confirmed also.
in theory government by
one man. is In practice government by
a limited. powerful, and highly trained
class. Destroy the immediate hold of
that class on influence and power, and
you government Is gone. Now the Ger
man idea OF government is that of the
Prussian state. with It's benevolent au-
t6cracy And it's docile people. In the