GERMANY AND SOCIALISM.
[Illustration: THE REICHSTAG]
At Berlin I found, as I had at London and Paris, a considerable
number of Americans and, as in the other cities, they have organized
a society, the object of which is to bring the American residents
together for friendly intercourse. At London the group is known as
the American Society; at Paris and Berlin the society is known as
the American Chamber of Commerce. Through the receptions given by
these societies I was able to meet not only the leading American
residents, but many foreigners who came as invited guests. Our
American residents are evidently conducting themselves well, because
I found that they are well liked by the people among whom they are
temporarily sojourning. I am indebted to Ambassador Tower and to
the American Chamber of Commerce for courtesies extended me at
Berlin.
My visit to Germany occurred at Christmas time and while it was
for that reason impossible to see the kaiser (much to my regret),
I learned something of the German method of observing the great
Christian holiday. The German is essentially a domestic man and
at Christmas time especially gives himself up to the society of
the family, relatives and friends. Christmas coming on Friday,
the festivities covered three days, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
The toys--in which Germany abounds--were of endless variety, and
the Christmas trees, bending beneath their load, were centers of
interest to the young folks. There were dolls and dogs, horses
and woolly sheep, cows that give milk, and soldiers--an abundance
of soldiers. I saw one cavalry man with a saber in his hand. When
he was wound up, the horse would rush forward and the rider would
strike with his saber, as if he were keeping watch on the Rhine
and in the very act of resisting an attack from the enemy. A
little strange that the birthday of the Prince of Peace should be
celebrated by the presentation of toys illustrating mimic warfare!
But, as in America we are increasing our army and enlarging our
navy, we are not in a very good position to take the military mote
out of the eye of our friends in the fatherland.
[Illustration: LEIPSIC UNIVERSITY.]
Berlin is a splendid city with beautiful streets, parks and public
buildings. It is more modern in appearance than either London
or Paris, and there is a solidity and substantialness about the
population that explain the character of the emigration from
Germany to America. No one can look upon a gathering of average
Germans without recognizing that he is in the presence of a strong,
intelligent and masterful people. Bismarck has left his impress
upon Germany as Napoleon did upon France. An heroic statue of the
man of "blood and iron" stands between the reichstag and the column
of Victory, which was erected at the close of the Franco-Prussian
war. The reichstag is a massive but graceful structure, built some
twenty years ago. In one of the corridors I noticed a silk flag
which was presented in the seventies by the German women of America.
The reichstag proper is a popular body, much like the English
parliament, and, as in England, the members do not necessarily
reside in the districts they represent. The upper house or
bundesrath, is somewhat like our senate in one respect, namely, that
it represents the various states that comprise the German empire,
but it differs from our senate, first, in that the subdivisions are
represented somewhat in proportion to population, and, second, in
that the members of the bundesrath are really ambassadors of the
several state governments whose credentials can be withdrawn at any
time. As all legislation must be concurred in by the bundesrath, as
well as by the reichstag, it will be seen that the German government
is not nearly so responsive to the will of the people as the
governments of England, Denmark and the Netherlands.
In the reichstag they have resorted to a device for saving time in
roll call. Each member is supplied with a quantity of tickets, some
pink and some white. Each ticket bears on both sides the name of the
member. On the white tickets the word "Ja" (yes) appears under the
name, on the pink ones "Nein" (no). These ballots are gathered up in
vases containing two receptacles, one white and the other pink. The
vases are carried through the hall and the votes deposited according
to color. As they are deposited in the different receptacles and are
distinguished by color, the ballot is quickly taken and counted--in
about one-fourth the time, I think, formerly required for roll call.
This is a method which our congress might find it convenient to
adopt.
It was my good fortune, while in Berlin, to meet Dr. Otto Arendt,
the leading bimetallist of Germany. He became a student of the money
question while in college, being converted to the double standard
by the writings of Cernucshi, the great French economist. Dr.
Arendt is a member of the reichstag, from one of the agricultural
constituencies. He has represented his government in international
conferences and has urged his government to join in an agreement
to restore bimetallism, but, like other advocates of the double
standard, has found the English financiers an immovable obstruction
in the way.
[Illustration: THE RHINE]
I have for two reasons reserved for this article some comments
on the growth of socialism in Europe. First, because Germany was
to be the last of the larger countries visited, and, second,
because socialism seems to be growing more rapidly in Germany than
anywhere else. I find that nearly all the European nations have
carried collective ownership farther than we have in the United
States. In a former article, reference has already been made to
the growth of municipal ownership in England and Scotland, and I
may add that where the private ownership of public utilities is
still permitted the regulation of the corporations holding these
franchises is generally more strict than in the United States.
Let two illustrations suffice: Where parliament charters gas and
water companies in cities, it has for some years been the practice
to limit the dividends that can be earned--any surplus earnings
over and above the dividends allowed must be used in reducing the
price paid by the consumer. I fear that our money magnates would be
at a loss to find words to express their indignation if any such
restriction were suggested in America, and yet is it not a just and
reasonable restriction?
In the case of railroads, I noticed that there are in England but
few grade (or, as they call them, "level") crossings. I am informed
that railroad accidents and injuries are not so frequent in England
as in the United States.
In Switzerland the government has recently acquired the principal
railroad systems. In Holland, Belgium and Denmark also the railroads
are largely government roads. In Russia the government owns and
operates the roads and I found there a new form of collectivism,
namely, the employment of a community physician, who treats the
people without charge. These physicians are employed by societies
called Zemstro, which have control of the roads and the care of the
sick.
In Germany, however, socialism as an economic theory is being urged
by a strong and growing party. In the last general election the
socialists polled a little more than three million votes out of a
total of about nine and a half millions. Measured by the popular
vote it is now the strongest party in Germany. The fact that with
thirty-one per cent of the vote it only has eighty-one members of
the reichstag out of a total of 397 is due, in part, to the fact
that the socialist vote is massed in the cities and, in part, to the
fact that the population has increased more rapidly in the cities,
and, as there has been no recent redistricting, the socialist city
districts are larger than the districts returning members of other
parties.
George von Vollmar, a member of the reichstag, in a recent issue of
the National Review thus states the general purpose of the social
democratic party in Germany:
"It is well known that social democracy in all countries, as its
name indicates, aims in the first place at social and economic
reform. It starts from the point of view that economic development,
the substitution of machinery for hand implements, and the
supplanting of small factories by gigantic industrial combinations,
deprive the worker in an ever increasing degree of the essential
means of production, thereby converting him into a possessionless
proletarian, and that the means of production are becoming the
exclusive possession of a comparatively small number of capitalists,
who constantly monopolize all the advantages which the gigantic
increase in the productive capacity of human effort has brought
about. Thus, according to the social democrats, capital is master
of all the springs of life, and lays a yoke on the working classes
in particular, and the whole population in general, which ever
becomes more and more unbearable. The masses, as their insight into
the general trend of affairs develops, become daily more and more
conscious of the contrast between the exploiter and the exploited,
and in all countries with an industrial development society is
divided into two hostile camps, which wage war on each other with
ever increasing bitterness.
[Illustration: KAISER WILHELM.]
"To this class-war is due the origin and continuous development
of social democracy, the chief task of which is to unite these
factions in an harmonious whole which they will direct to its true
goal. Industrial combination on a large scale can be converted from
a source of misery and oppression into a source of the greatest
prosperity and of harmonious perfection, when the means of
production cease to be the exclusive appanage of capital and are
transferred to the hands of society at large. The social revolution
here indicated implies the liberation not only of the proletariat,
but of mankind as a whole, which suffers from the decomposing
influence of existing class antagonism whereby all social progress
is crippled."
One of the most influential of the German socialists, in answer to a
series of questions submitted by me, said in substance:
First, the general aim of socialists in Germany is the same as
the aim of other socialists throughout the world--namely, the
establishment of a collective commonwealth based on democratic
equality.
Second, the socialists of Germany have organized a liberal party
of unrivaled strength; they have educated the working classes to a
very high standard of political intelligence and to a strong sense
of their independence and of their social mission, as the living and
progressive force in every social respect; they have promoted the
organization of trade unions; and have by their incessant agitation
compelled the other parties and the government to take up social and
labor legislation.
Third, German socialists at present are contending for a legal
eight-hour day and for the creation of a labor department in the
government, with labor officers and labor chambers throughout the
country. In addition to these special reforms, socialists are urging
various constitutional and democratic reforms in the states and
municipalities--in the latter housing reforms, direct employment of
labor, etc.
Fourth, there may be some difference of opinion among socialists
in regard to the competitive system, but, being scientific
evolutionists, they all agree that competition was at one time a
great step in advance and acted for generations as a social lever
of industrial progress, but they believe that it has many evil
consequences and that it is now being outgrown by capitalistic
concerns, whose power to oppress has become a real danger to the
community. They contend that there is not much competition left with
these monopolies and that as, on the other hand, education and the
sense of civic responsibility are visibly growing, and will grow
more rapidly when socialism gets hold of the public mind, socialists
think that the time is approaching when all monopolies must and can
safely be taken over by the state or municipality as the case may
be. This would not destroy all competition at once--in industries
not centralized some competition might continue to exist. In this
respect, also, all socialists are evolutionists, however they may
differ as to ways and means and political methods.
Fifth, as to the line between what are called natural monopolies
and ordinary industries, the question is partly answered by the
preceding paragraph. There is a general consensus of opinion that
natural monopolies should, in any case, be owned by the community.
[Illustration: BRETON PEASANTS.]
I find that even in Germany there are degrees among socialists--some
like Babel and Singer emphasizing the ultimate ends of socialism,
while others led by Bernstein are what might be called progressionists
or opportunists--that is, they are willing to take the best they
can get to-day and from that vantage ground press on to something
better. It is certain that the socialists of Germany are securing
reforms, but so far they are reforms which have either already been
secured in other countries or are advocated elsewhere by other
parties as well as by the socialist party.
The whole question of socialism hangs upon the question: Is
competition an evil or a good? If it is an evil, then monopolies are
right and we have only to decide whether the monopolies should be
owned by the state or by private individuals. If, on the other hand,
competition is good, then it should be restored where it can be
restored. In the case of natural monopolies, where it is impossible
for competition to exist, the government would administer the
monopolies, not on the ground that competition is undesirable, but
on the ground that in such cases it is impossible.
Those who believe that the right is sure of ultimate triumph will
watch the struggle in Germany and profit by the lessons taught. I
am inclined to believe that political considerations are so mingled
with economic theories that it is difficult as yet to know just what
proportion of the three million socialist voters believe in "the
government ownership and operation of all the means of production
and distribution." The old age pension act was given as a sop to
the socialists, but it strengthened rather than weakened their
contentions and their party. It remains to be seen whether the new
concessions which they seem likely to secure will still further
augment their strength. The Germans are a studious and a thoughtful
people and just now they are absorbed in the consideration of the
aims and methods of the socialist movement (mingled with a greater
or less amount of governmental reform), and the world awaits their
verdict with deep interest.