Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1917-11-20
FRIENDS OF GERMAN DE-
MOCRACY
A Society Started to Further the Cause
of German Democracy Karl
Mathie Interested in Movement.

Friends of German Democracy" to all
loyal residents of the United States
of German birth or descent. 1t has
for its object the lending of moral
and material support to the liberal
forces and leaders, who are striving g
to acquire for the German people a
larger measure of self-government.
The society has it's headquarters in
Milwaukee and it is officered as fol-
lows:
President-Otto c. Butz.
Vice Pres.-Otto Schulz
Sec. and Treas.-Karl Mathie.
The call as sent out by Mr.. Mathie
is in part as follows:
"Frederick William III of Prussia,
by his proclamation, published May
%, 1915, promised his people, who,
without his previous sanction had TAX
en- up arms to free Germany from the
despotic dominance of Napoleon. that
he would grant them cooperation in
the government of their country. By
paragraph 1 of his proclamation he
said
1. There shall be organized a rep
resentation of the people,
By paragraph it was provided that
a commission should be appointed
without loss of time, which was to
sit in Berlin.
By paragraph he directed that
the organization of the provincial rep
resentatiVes also with the organization
of the representative of the country,
and, lastly, with the preparation of
constitution in accordance with the
principles hereby announced
This promise was reiterated by the
Prussian Minister, Won Hardenberg, at
the Vienna Congress.
These promises were broken and in
stead of liberty the German people
were given the results of the Vienna
Congress and of the Holy Alliance
The period known as that OF the re-
action ensued, during which the mon
archs of continental Europe endeav-
ored to nullify all the achievements
of the French Revolution, and the
Prussian kings pursued every citi-
zen who dared to remind them of these
promises, as demagogue and traitor.
This reactionary period, illumined
only for short time by the unsuccess-
full revolution of 1S4S, eliminated in
the violent imposition of the autocrat-
ic Prussian Constitution of 1870, upon
Prussia.
Under this Constitution and the Con-
stitution of the German Empire, dated
April 16, 1871, the Prussian dynasty
today is the autocratic ruler of Ger
many. The army swears fealty to the
emperor and not to the people The
emperor is the commander-in-c chief,
with absolute powers. He represents
the empire internationally, and under
Article Is is the head of the whole
Imperial Administration, appointing
and removing the Imperial officials;
and under Article 6S can when pub
lie security is threatened declare any
portion of it in a state of war;
No ahan in M
ton is possible against the will of
fourteen of the members of the Fed
eral Council (Bundesrath), and as
eighteen members of the council are
appointed by the emperor, none can
be made without the assent of the
emperor.
These dual constitutions are so
framed as to supplement each other in
comforting, either directly or indirect
| ly, autocratic power on the hereditary
ruler of Prussia
The Reichstag is, in effect, debat-
ing society rejecting public opinion
for the benefit of the dynasty and its
leading men, and is not a coordinate
branch of the government.
The spirit of democracy in Germany
never has been dead, but its assertion
since 1S4S has uniformly resulted in
the punishment of the courageous de.
tenders of its ideals, under the various
enactments of criminal law relating
to 'lese majestic
Our government is the antithesis o.
the German government Ours is {
government of the people for the peo
| pie. by the people, the most import
ant feature being that it is by the
| people and not by an emperor whC
believes he has a divine mission tt
perform in governing his people. Will
| us, our civic blessings do not come from
| above. but from the mass af the peo
| pie, who, while equally fallible as ar,
autocrats, always attempt to legislat,
for the benefit of the greatest numbel
and are resolutely opposed to thos,
II special privileges which, in Germany
have produced system of caste, max
ing the advancement of the capabl
individual citizen difficult and Otter
impossible.
What form of the characterization o
Germany shall take, is the busines
OF the German people and not ours
What we can do, however, is to fur
nish moral and material aid to thos
German liberal leaders who are help
ing the German people to work on
their own salvation, and this we ough
TO do. BY doing this, we also ar
working in the direction of an earl
peace, which, according to our presi
dent, can only be made when the vii
and promise of the German people
freely expressed. is back of an agree