Yerington times. [volume] (Yerington, Nev.) 1907-1932, 1918-05-04
WHO RULES GERMANY?
Charles w. Spencer,
Professor of Political Science,
University of Nevada.

or the country WHICH is at present Our
chief foe as an autocracy, does It
mean any more than that we wish to
call it by bad nameo We call our
own a democratic government be-
cause those who exercise its powers
have been freely chosen by the people
and these elected officers conduct the
policy If the country in accordanc
with the will of this whole people. az
nearly as they can ascertain it. 1, The
English government is quite as dem,
ocratic as our own. For, though
many of the external forms and fict-
ions of royal government are preserv
ed, it is as certain there as with us
that the powers of the government
will be exercised as the public opinion
may direct. Is this true of the Ger
man Empire Who controls the Ger.
man government?
To answer the Kaiser is true
in part, but to leave the matter
there is to utter half-truth nearly
as misleading as full-fledged false
hood. The man., Wilhelm, head of
the house of Hohenzollern, is enabled
to exercise controlling influence, hut
it is because he represents Prussia
and the Army, and because he uses
power in the governmental trustee,
as it were for these prime moving
forces.
The German Empire is a federal
,I,a,-
states, but Prussia, in territory and
population, is very nearly twice the
size OF all the rest put together. 10
build a structure of government to
accommodate members so unequally
yol<ed together was an exceedingly
''practical' task Bismark, the arch
itect, realized in 1866 and 1871 that
the smaller states and the people OF
all the states as a whole would have
to be given some share in the govern
ment of the projected Empire. But
he was equally determined that con-
troll should remain with Prussia and
with an army determined by Prussian
ideals. How we'll did he succeed
Of the two legislative chambers in
the Imperial Government, the Reichs-
tag. the one which represents the
people, is in every respect inferior IN
power to the other. the Bundesrath
1t neither has the decisive word IN
legislation, nor does it control the ad-
ministration OF policies. This is, OF
course, directly contrary to the prac-
tice in contemporary democratic coun
tries.
But who controls the Bundesrath
this predominant partner in the leg
islature? In this body are represent
ed the governments of the twenty-five
states Composing the Empire. OF the
ffty-eight full votes the Constitution
assigns to Prussia seventeen, to Bav-
aria six, and SO on, seventeen states
having one vote each. But look be-
meath the surface. The Imperial
Chancellor is not only the presiding
officer, but also is appointed by and
responsible only to the Emperor, who
is, according to the Constitution. al
ways the King of Prussia. To block
any amendment of the Constitution
only fourteen votes are required and
Prussia has seventeen. By the Con-
st;tution, to Prussia belong the chair
nanships of all but one of the Bund-
esrath's committees. In case OF a
tie vote, the matter is decided as
Prussia has voted. On any proposal
to change existing arrangements in
regard to the army or navy, or the
taxes to support them, Prussa's vote
decides. Thus, only ordinarily skill
! full manipulation is necessary in order
to give the substantial control in i'm
perial policy to the government of
| Prussia. =
For it is the Emperor who COM
mands the armed forces, naval and
military, declares war, and manages
the foreign policy. These are the af-
fairs which to the mind of Bismarck
were of supreme moment. And they
are so still to the mind and heart of
| the King of Prussia, who, it cannot
be too often repeated, is ex officio
German Kaiser. The military con-
tingents of all but three of the other
states have been by treaty made for
all practical purposes part of the Prus-
sian Army. What that means in
time of war has been tragically dem
| onstrated in Belgium, the Balkans,
and Armenia. What IT meant in time
of peace in Germany was eloquently
displayed in Alsace in 1913, when the
rage of all civilian Germany, includ-
ing civilian Prussia itself, beat in
vain against the Prussian govern
ment's defense of the stupidity brutal
insolence of the Prussian officer
caste.
In all soberness, then, the govern
! ment of the German Empire may
fairly be described as one shrewdly
designed to give t. one member of a
federal organization the balance OF
power in important matters, and to