My Four Years in Germany

y it is that the German government is able so ea

n of the vicious circle system of voting, the elective franchise remains in the hands of the few; and that the government of the country through the Landr?te, Regierungspr?sidenten and Oberpr?sidenten is a central sy

ach the children only the principles desired by the rulers of the German people. There are no Saturday holidays in the German schools and their summer holidays are for only three to five weeks. You never see gangs of small boys in Germany. Their games and their walks are superintended by their

ered first that he was president of the electrical company, but being a German he simply disclosed his caste without going into details. It is a curious thing on the registers of guests in a German summer resort to see Mrs. Manufactory-Proprietor Schultze registered with Mrs. Landrat Schwartz and Mrs. Second Lieutenant von Bing. Of course, there is no doubt as to the relative social positions of Mrs. Manufactory-Proprieto

y attractive young men, one a doctor, earning ten thousand dollars a year; one a manufacturer, earning the same amount; and one an army office

an noble class, and when Zimmermann, of a substantial family in East Prussia, but not of noble birth,

s man is made a commerce Rat; a lawyer, a justice Rat; a doctor, a sanitary Rat; an architect or builder, a building Rat; a keeper of the archives, an archive Rat; and so on. They are created in this way: first, a man becomes a plain Rat, then, later on, he become

shown at any time any spirit of opposition to the government, as disclosed by the police registers, which are kept written up to date about every German citizen, then he has no chance of obtaining any of these distinctions which make up so much of the social life of Germany. It is a means by which the government keeps a far tighter hold on the intellectual part of its population than if they were threatened with torture and the stake. The Social Democrats, who, of course, have declared themselves against the existing system of government and in favour of a republic, can receive no distinctions from the government because they dared to lift their voices and their pens in criticism of the existing order

about sixty miles long and a few small branch roads. This army of officials are retainers of the government, and not only, of course, themselves refrain from criticising the system, but also use their influence upon the members of their own family and all with whom they come in contact. They are subject to trial in special secret courts

the newspaper proprietor, whose sons perhaps enter the army, whose daughters may be married to naval officers or officials, and who seeks for his sons promotion as judge, state's a

ressed at will; a fearful punishment for a newspaper, which, by being suppressed for, say, five days or

all news coming from Germany to other countries has been furnished by either the Over-Seas Or Trans-Ocean service, both

s called the Burgfrieden or "peace of the city," and, at the beginning of this war, all political p

o send out news service to be furnished free to the smaller newspapers, and that he was engaged in instructing the various Landr?te and other officials of the Interior Department how eff

d many others, and in each of the twenty-five States there are also orders, distinctions and decorations. These orders in turn are divided into numerous classes. For instance, a man can have the Red Eagle order of the first, second, third or fourth class, and these may be complicated with a laurel crown, with an

plomat who has received a Black Eagle for adding a colony to the German Empire, and the faithful cook may be seated near an officer who has obtained "Pour le Mérite" for sinking an enemy warship. All this in one sense is democratic, but

y of the inhabitants of the country into its meshes. Practically, the industrial workers of the gr

ree quarters of an hour by motor from the Embassy door, and there I had

ple, in being at the death of the testator. In the State of New York, property may only be tied up during the lives of two persons, in being at the death of the person making the will, and for twenty-one years (the minority of an infant) thereafter. But

ON THE WAY TO HIS

ESERVE. IT SHOWS THE EARLY INNOCULATION

nnexed by which children cannot inherit if their father has married a woman not of a stated number of quarterings of nobility. There is a Prince holding great estates in Hungary. He is a bachelor and if he

l parcels of land; and it would be an unusual thing in Germany, especially in Prussia, to find a peasant owning more than twenty or thirty acres of land, most of the land being

hind. In fact it may be said that almost any person, in what is known as "society" in the Central Empires, has a title of some sort. The prefix "von" shows that the person is a noble and is often coupled with names of people who have no title. By custom in Germany, a "von" when he goes abroad is allowed to call himself Baron. But in Germany he could not do so. These noble families in the Central Empires, by the system of Majorat which I have described, hold large landed estates, and naturally exert a great influence upon their labou

ulation. There is also the restricted franchise or "circle voting"

n the value of the land. Many younger sons after a short term of service in the army, usually as officers and not as Einj?hriger leave the army and enter diplomacy or some other branch of the government service. The offices of judge, district attorney, etc., not being elective, this

than any class in all history. Their virtues are Spartan, their minds narrow but incorruptible, and their bravery and patriotism undoubted. One can but admire them and their stern virtues. This class, largely because of its poverty and its constant occupation, do

so much admired and made ostensibly for their protection, such as insurance against unemployment, sickness, injury, old age, etc., are in

rly paid. The women do much of the work done here by men. For instance, once when staying at a nobleman's estate in Hungary, I noticed that the gardeners were all women, and, on inquiring how much they received, I was told they were paid about twenty cents a day. The women in the farming districts of Germany are worked harder than the cattle. In summer time they are out in the fields at five or six in the morning and do not return until eight or later at night. For this work they are sometimes paid as high as forty-eight cents a day in harvest time. Neve

on to the Prussian Church and the Prussian system, and in readiness for war. Both Prussian Junkers and the German manufacturers look with favour

as filled with pictures of the German workingmen sitting with their families at tables, drinking beer and listening to classical music. After I had s

. For when the German workingmen see how much better off the Americans are, they will return to Germany and demand shorter hours and higher

dences of poverty to be seen; but over fifty-five per cent

or-house or penitentiary. Such a thing as a German railway conductor rising to be president of the road is an impossibility i

in the government. No Socialist would have any chance whatever if he set out to enter the government service with the ambition of becoming a district attorney or judge. Jews have not much chance in the govern

that of the Socialists, and the Socialists, because they have, in effect, demanded abolition of the monarchy and the e

in direct taxes such as the tax upon matches, and because every Protestant in Prussia was compelle

ployments or their estates; and, as a rule, too poor to travel. The poor, of course, do not travel, and the Kaufmann, although he learns much in his travels in other countries to make him dissatisfied with

find there a class of political lawyers who, in republics, al