A GERMAN CRISIS.
THE DOWNFALL OF BETHMANN-HOLLWEG--THE CROWN PRINCE IN THE LIME
LIGHT--HOLLWEG'S UNIQUE CAREER--DR. GEORG MICHAELIS APPOINTED
CHANCELLOR--THE KAISER AND HOW HE GETS HIS IMMENSE POWER.
The active participation of the United States in the war, as distinctly
marked by the sending of troops to France, aside from giving needed
inspiration to the Allied forces, may be said to have had a decided
effect in Germany. While the German subjects are loyal, there has
developed in the country, as in every other country, a large element of
Socialists and progressives.
Something of a climax was reached in the affairs of the Hohenzollern
dynasty just when the United States troops were preparing to take their
places on the battle line in France and when the first of the
conscripted forces of the country were being summoned to the colors.
With a suddenness that startled the entire world, Dr. von
Bethmann-Hollweg, the German Imperial Chancellor, resigned on July 14,
thus ending his career as the spokesman of the Kaiser, which he had
maintained for a surprisingly long period. At the same time Dr. Alfred
Zimmermann, Foreign Minister, who was responsible for the correspondence
which revealed the fact that Germany was trying to induce Mexico and
Japan to form an alliance against the United States, also quit his post.
The resignation of the Chancellor came quite unexpectedly, for von
Hollweg, in the prolonged party discussion and heated debates of the
main committee of the Reichstag which had been in progress, seemed to
have triumphed over his opponents.
His opponents had been clamoring for his head, but he made concessions,
and by the declaration that Germany was fighting defensively for her
territorial possessions evolved a formula which for a time seemed
satisfactory to both those who clamored for peace by agreement and those
who demanded repudiation of the formula, "no annexation and no
indemnities." In this position Dr. von Hollweg was backed by the
Emperor.
The advent of the Crown Prince upon the scene--summoned by his imperial
father to share the deliberations affecting the future of the
dynasty--seems to have changed entirely the position with regard to the
Imperial Chancellor. The Crown Prince at once took a leading part in the
discussions with the party leaders, and his ancient hostility toward Dr.
von Bethmann-Hollweg, coupled with his notorious dislike for political
reform, undoubtedly precipitated the Chancellor's resignation.
APPOINTMENT OF DR. GEORG MICHAELIS.
The resignation of Dr. von Hollweg was followed by the appointment of
Dr. Georg Michaelis, Prussian Under Secretary of Finance and Food
Commissioner.
The fall of Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg removed the last of the
statesmen who were in charge of the great Powers of Europe at the
beginning of the war, and brought to an end a career which in successful
playing of both ends against the middle was almost without parallel in
recent history.
Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg, an aristocrat and personal friend of
the Emperor, stood out strongly against democratic agitation before the
war, and at times was sharply outspoken in his defiance of socialism and
his rejection of any move toward making the Chancellor and his
subordinates, the other Ministers, responsible to the Reichstag. Yet in
the early stages of the war he became known as a moderate, and it has
been generally accepted that his influence was usually employed against
the breaking of relations with America and ruthless submarine warfare.
PRESERVES A JUDICIOUS BALANCE.
When the opposition of the parties favoring the most desperate measures
became too strong for him, he conceded a little ground, taking up a
middle position in which he balanced himself for a long time against
both the Conservative Junkers and the National Liberal trust magnates on
the one side and the radical Socialists on the other. Neither side could
claim him; neither could interpret his ambiguous utterances as support
of its policies, and between the antagonisms of the two he maintained
his position until at last he was overthrown by the attack of Erzberger,
leader of the more liberal wing of the Catholic party, the traditional
holders of the middle ground.
Bethmann-Hollweg's agility was demonstrated by the fact that he survived
Asquith and Grey, Viviani, Sazonoff, Berchtold, Salandra, Jagow, and all
the rest of the statesmen who were in power in Europe in August, 1914.
In personality the Chancellor was studious, scholarly and pleasant,
lacking the brilliance of his predecessor, Von Buelow, but generally
regarded as one who was if anything too mild rather than too severe.
Dr. Georg Michaelis, the successor to Hollweg, was the first commoner to
be appointed to that high office, without even a "von" before his name.
The son of a Prussian official, he was born on September 8, 1857, in
Haynan, Silesia. He received a university education, making the law his
profession. In 1879 he became a court referee in Berlin, and in 1884 was
attached to the District Attorney's office in that city. Several years
later he went as professor of law and political economy to the
University of Tokio.
Returning to Germany in 1889, he was chosen District Attorney for
Berlin. His services won much praise and he was afterward sent by the
government as an official in the provisional government at Trevas,
Germany. In 1897 he was transferred to Westphalia, where he was Chief
Councilor for the government there.
In 1900 he was made Provisional President of Liebnitz and in 1902 First
Privy Councilor in Breslau. His work there won him an appointment as
Under Secretary of State in the Department of Finance, which post he
held in connection with his work as Food Commissioner.
Doctor Michaelis was selected for the post of Prussian Food Commissioner
in February, 1917, after all efforts of Adolph von Batocki's
organization--the food regulation board--had failed to lay hands on
large supplies of grain, potatoes and other produce which the Prussian
landlords were holding for the fattening of cattle and swine instead of
making them available for general consumption.
GOVERNMENT ORDERS DISREGARDED.
The orders of Herr Batocki and the Central Government for the surrender
of these supplies were disregarded or evaded at least, if not, as
charged in Germany, with the actual assistance and support of the
reactionary Prussian Minister of Agriculture, Baron von Schorlemer.
Doctor Michaelis was eventually selected as Food Controller as the
result of an agreement between von Bethmann-Hollweg and the military
authorities as a fearless, determined official, who would execute his
mission without fear or favor and produce results if such were possible.
The selection was justified.
The conditions in Germany which marked the ascendancy of the Crown
Prince in the deliberations of the Imperial Government and brought about
the upheaval in the Ministry are the logical result of the system under
which the country is ruled.
There is, in the mind of the public generally, a theory that Germany
with its Bundesrath and Reichstag has a government akin to that of
England and even the United States, but the impression is an erroneous
one. It is true that Germany has a dual system of government and
independent state sovereignties. There is, however, nothing democratic
about the system.
To begin with, the Kaiser is a constitutional monarch in his capacity as
German Emperor, but as King of Prussia he is a self-appointed and
arrogant ruler--all that he advertises himself to be in the way of a
God-chosen ruler.
STATUS OF GERMAN SOVEREIGNTY.
To understand the difference in relationship between the King of Prussia
and the German Emperor it is necessary to realize that the German
constitution describes the Emperor thus: "The presidency of the Union
belongs to the King of Prussia, who bears the title of German Emperor."
On the other hand the King of Prussia, who happens to be the Kaiser, has
his right to rule by birth. When the first king was crowned, about 1701,
he placed the crown upon his own head, and that right has descended to
King William. But as German Emperor the duties of the Kaiser are as
clearly defined as those of the ruler of a modern democracy.
The difference between the Kingdom and the Empire is that the German
Empire is a creation of sovereign states, ruled over by German Grand
Dukes, Princes, and whatnot, who trace their lineage back to the days
when might was right, and who won their power to rule by defeating their
fellow men. At one time there were several hundred of these ruling
princes. When Napoleon got through in Germany there were about
twenty-two left. The German Empire today consists of these twenty-two
states, and three free cities, comprising in all a group of twenty-five
communities. It is a bond or association. It consists, in fact, of the
twenty-five communities, of which it is composed, and represented by
twenty-five kings, dukes, princes, etc., and not by the 65,000,000
population of the communities themselves. The sovereignty rests with
the princes of the several states, who have bestowed a fixed power upon
the Kaiser. As Emperor his office dates back to 1871.
The legislative machinery which has been devised for the use of these
German sovereigns consists of the Bundesrath and the Reichstag.
Sometimes the Bundesrath is likened to our Senate, or to the hereditary
English House of Lords, while the Reichstag is compared to the House of
Representatives or the House of Commons. But comparisons are odious.
THE BUNDESRATH.
The Bundesrath is an assembly in which the German kings, grand dukes,
dukes, princes, etc., come together (by proxy) to direct the affairs of
the Empire. Each of these sovereigns sends a specified number of
delegates, in accordance with the provisions of the constitution. Thus
the Kaiser, as the King of Prussia, sends seventeen delegates, while the
King of Bavaria sends six. The total number of delegates is fifty-eight,
so right in the beginning the Kaiser has a pretty good representation.
The delegations in the Bundesrath vote en masse--that is the "unit rule"
prevails. The seventeen delegates from Prussia must vote as instructed
by the Kaiser, and if there chanced to be but one member present he
still would cast seventeen votes for the delegation. The members of the
Bundesrath are referred to quite frequently as ambassadors. There is no
need for discussion in the body since the delegations vote, in any
event, as a unit.
The power of the German Bundesrath is, however, astonishing. Usually the
lower house is supposed to be the one in which originates legislation,
such as finance, affecting the people. But in Germany it is the
Bundesrath which has the power to tax, and the lower chamber, the
Reichstag, merely has the vetoing power.
This makes the taxing power in Germany primarily the privilege of the
crown.
The financial program is prepared by the Chancellor, who is the direct
representative of the Kaiser, and responsible only to him. In other
governments members of the ministry are appointed by the legislative
bodies, but the Chancellor is personally named by the Kaiser, and is not
even a member of the Reichstag. He has the right, however, to address
this body, as the privilege of a member of the Bundesrath of which, as
the personal representative of the Kaiser, he is the presiding officer.
Since the Bundesrath, as already shown, practically controls the German
Empire, and the King of Prussia, with his seventeen votes in the
Bundesrath holds sway in that body, it is easy to see how the Kaiser is
the dominating figure in the German Empire.
THE KAISER'S DUAL PREROGATIVE.
A unique provision of the German constitution is that fourteen votes in
the Bundesrath can defeat any proposed amendment, and since the Kaiser
controls seventeen votes, as King of Prussia, besides several others, he
has a voting strength which can block any attempt to change the regime.
Also, as King of Prussia, he can instruct his Chancellor to prepare laws
to be introduced in the Bundesrath.
It is the power which the Kaiser possesses, as the King of Prussia,
which gives him his control as the German Emperor. Prussia is the
largest of the German states, and when the Kaiser, as King of Prussia,
says that he is master in Prussia, he speaks the truth.
There is a ministry in Prussia, and the head of this body is usually the
same person who occupies the position of Imperial Chancellor, and the
Kaiser appoints this Minister as well as his associates, whom he can
remove without reference to the Ministry as a body. There are two
chambers in Prussian Ministry commonly known as the House of Peers, and
the House of Representatives.
Just to give the King of Prussia a little more control, he has the right
to appoint all the members of the House of Peers, and also to designate
the number. The House of Representatives, on the face of it, is a
popular body, because the members are supposed to be elected by
universal suffrage. The taxpayers vote for representation in this
chamber, but they do not vote directly nor on equal terms.
Members of the House of Representatives are chosen by an electoral
college, and several hundred of these colleges are selected at each
election. Though taxpayers vote for the electors, all the votes do not
have the same relative value. The taxpayers whose combined taxes
represent one-third of the whole amount of taxes in an electoral
district choose one-third of the members from that district to the
House. Those who pay the next one-third of the taxes choose another
third of the electors, and the remaining body of voters choose the last
third.