Evening star., 1933-06-04

stance, with territory OF less than l.
500 square miles, has about 12O spin
ters'' in her body. The Brunswlckian
village of Pabstorf alone has IT Prus-
sian enclaves. In these parts OF Ger
many the frontiers run in mad zig
gag and in all possible directions, some
times cutting across houses and sepa-
rating one room from another, admins
tratively speaking The inhabitant of
one room may have had to vote at the
Prussian election and the inhabitant of
the next room may be a voter In Bruns-
wick.
One can visualize this situation by
imagining the City of New York being
broken up into hundreds of strips of
territories. which would belong by SOW
erign right to the States Of Washing
ton, California Oklahoma and others.
These strips would be under the au-
thority Of the Legislatures, Governors,
judges and police of those States. The
situation would be further compli-
cated-as it is in Germany-by the ex-
istence of secondary enclaves In the
primary enclaves, as If the New York
territory belonging to California there
were a smaller enclave that owed al
legiance to Kansas. To make the par
allel more complete, New York would
have to own sovereign possessions in
the territories of other States
This curious situation in Germany is
the product CT centuries of warfare and
alliance, marriages, business skill and
cupidity. Consider, for instance, the
! history Of a hundred years of what Is
known today as the Federated States
of Thuringia. 1t Is one of the most
exciting puzzles on the map of Ger
many. In the eleventh century, history
| tells us, Louis the Bearded obtained
several counties of Thuringia through
marriage, gift and purchase His son,
Louis the Springer, wisely extended the
paternal domains by marrying Hedwig
the S1uinter, who brought large part
OF Hesse with her as dowry. Albert
the degenerate, landgrave of Thuringia,
about 100 years later sold his country
to the German King for $4,000 marks
of silver
Several times in one generation
states would change hands. A SOW
erelgn prince would take a liking to a
piece OF land and would buy it, which
meant that it fell under the authority
OF his tax collectors, judges and execu-
TONERS sometimes the prince would
acquire a piece Of land for the sake of
comely peasant wench who would
become his serf and the object of his
sovereign pleasure under the ius prima
noctis.
Monarchs With Sons Better OF.
When a rulers daughter married, she
received a dowery in land. II he
had many daughters he might have had
to buy, borrow or steal land in order TO
give it away with his daughters, in ac-
cordance with princely etiquette. The
monarchs who had sons were consider
ably better off, because the male issue
brough new territories into the dynasty.
The house of Hapsburg was proverbially
fortunate with its marriages. fact
which gave rise to the motto: Other
countries may carry on wars, but thou,
fortunate Austria, marry
At the beginning of the nineteenth
century there were thousands OF petty
princes in Germany, with hundreds OF
sovereign countries. So large was their
number that during the Napoleonlc
wars about hundred and fifty German
states were merged in the larger ones:
The princes who were then deprived OF
their possessions are listed even today
in the Almanac de Gotha as members OF
mediatized families, who are "eben-
buertig" (of equal birth with members
of the ruling families. So small had
some of their countries been that ac-
cording to a ditty:
Should a barrel of petroleum burst,
The whole Dutchy is sinking.
When, after the fall of Napoleon, the
Vienna Congress met in 1915, historians
inform us, its gayety was somewhat
dampened by the presence OF hosts OF
dispoSsessed princes imploring the
plenipotentiaries to return to them their
thrones.
The next hundred years witnessed
Germany's efforts to bring order out OF
the chaos of small-statism. The DIM
culties were great because their roots
were in tradition. The greatest dlfn-
Guilty proved to be the natural antago-
nism of the North and South. The line
of the River Main is Germany's Mason
and Dixon line. The countries south
of the river prided themselves on their
aristocratic and literary traditions, and
looked down upon the Northerners as
barbarians. They pointed to the large
number of creative artists, authors and
composers who came from the South,
and contrasted their talents with Prus-
sia's meager intellectual accomplish
mentS.
Background Causes Conflict.
Another cause of conflict was the
South's reputed affection for liberalism
and democracy, which was in contrast
with the attachments of the North to
conservatism and autocracy, embodied
in the PruSSian Junkers. In more recent
years the antagonism was based on the
ground that the North was becoming
more and more Germany'S industrial
and trading center, grasping all lucra-
tive occupations. Much has been MADE
of the South's rich history, which has
given charm and significance to every
town; whereas, the North is described
as lacking the background that only
centuries Of culture can give.
During certain periods the antago-
nism between the North and South be-
came so strong that as soon as Prussia
would start something, few Southern
states would start something else
When Prussia formed the three kings
alliance, some of the Southern states
started a counter movement In the
form of the four kings alliance. When
Prussia went to war to crush the House
of Hapsburg, the South moved against
Prussia and sided with the Austrlans.
! The outcome of this war made 1T evl-
! dent that while Prussia may be an
unpleasant country, she was going 10
take the lead in the German Reich.
| Even though Bavaria and Prussia
were members of the same German
+ Reich after the historic scene In the
Hall of Mirrors of the Versailles Castle,
| they did not grow fonder OF each other.
AS late as the beginning of the present
century it was forbidden to fly the i'm
perial flag in Bavaria on the Emperor's
birthday and even today many Bavar-
! ianS think that "Saupreuss
sian pig-is the official designation OF
| the Prussian.
When the World War spelled defeat
| for the Reich, the trainers of the
Weimar constitution thought that the
time had come to turn over a new leaf.
They were striving for unified Reich,
which would have been much cheaper
and more sensible. State Secretary
Hugo PreuSs, mason in chief Of the
constitution, told Germany that after
the disappearance Of the kings, princes,
grand dukes and dukes there was no
reason whatever for retaining the OBJ