New-York tribune., 1918-05-12
Rhenish
Prussia
AE--r--
W&tphalia

This increase in poor rural re-
lief in the rural districts has been
out Of all proportion to the popu-
lation. Yet the multiplication of
paupers went on with the develop
ment of the German state, the in
crease of German wealth, the de-
velopment of German industry, and
after the enactment and application
of the so-called social reform laws.
Does this indicate, as has been as
serted, that there was a fairer dis
tribution Of wealth in Germany than
elsewhere in the world?
Deprived of self-respect, branded as
an outcast, the pauper is doomed to
end his days in the foul obscurity of
hidden byways and the abominable
barrack tenements. And what did
he generally get? An average Of
S1.50 a month. An allowance of
$3 to 81 was considered magnani-
nous and was most unusual. Be-
cause Of these individual benefits"
as they are euphemistically called,
the majority of paupers have been
kept out of the almshouses, and su-
perficial investigators swallowed the
declaration of German officials that
their almshouses were almost empty.
In The United States paupers are
generally sent to almshouses. In
this country the proportion of aims
house paupers per 100000 of popu-
lation had decpeased from 1866, in
1900, to 91.5, in 1910. And here is
significant fact: Of 84,1s0 pau
pers admitted to almshouses in
1910, 6,281 were negroes and
1888 foreign-born whites, of
which 5,531 were German born.
Germany's Policy
The Exploit Sham
Well paid for their labor, COM
fortably housed, provided with beer
gardens and free amusements, the
German workers were supposed to
be cared for in sickness and old age
by the German system Of pensions.
That is what Americans were told
That is what caused certain Ameri-
cans to hazard the amazing declara-
ton that it might not be so bad
after all if the benevolent Prussian
government came over here and
took things in hand. Before the
war, among all nations, Germany
was the arch-hypocrite. Since the
war she has established herself as
the arch-criminal.
Ignoring all that has been accom-
plished in bettered working condi-
tons, in wage compensation, in the
relation of employers and employees
by the American Federation Of La
Dor and the railway brotherhoods,
a host of malcontents, Socialist Egi-
tators, pro-German pacifsts, I. W.
W.-ites and statistical experts for
years sought to create discoutent
and dissatisfaction and to exploit
their isms by foisting the German
hoax upon the people Of this conn
try. And some of them still advo-
cate compromise, patched-up peace
with that .perfdious, hypocritical
and criminal power. In America, it
is true, we have been more prone
to seek out and exaggerate defects
than to recognize social progress
and industrial betterment. But in
Germany it has been the policy Co
gloss over actual conditions and
exploit the sham. And 1t Is all that
is ugly, cruel and barbarous behind
this sham that the Prusslan au-
tocracy, for it's own benefit, would
infiict upon the world through war
unparalleled In callous crime in the
annals of mankind. To maintain
our precious birthright Of freedom,
all that civilization has gained for
us, we cannot consider peace until
that power is broken and that saw,
age system of hursan enslavemeni
utterly destroyed.