Frank Arthur Vanderlip

“ It is distinctly unfashionable, in the view of the best society, to hold opinions antagonistic to the Government, and the weight of that fact is tremendous in the shaping of men’s opinions. The young man of good family who finds that with the adoption of radical political ideas he meets with distinct coolness in the homes of his friends, that his name is dropped from dinner lists, and his social acquaintances regard him with disfavor, needs a great deal of courage to pursue that line of thought. ”

“ As a climax in the effort to obtain universal suffrage, there was an attempt made to bring about a universal strike in every industry, with the hope that there would be such complete paralysis of the nation’s industrial life that the Government would be compelled to yield. ”

“ There is a wave of socialism flowing over the whole Continent, reaching heights of much importance in Germany, ea. and France, and giving a distinct trend to political life in Austria and Italy.
It is of great importance to us because of the vital effect which the success of the socialist parties would have on European institutions and upon the social and industrial conditions there. Of even wider importance, however, is this great political and social movement, because it foreshadows a tendency which we are likely to see gain great force in our own country. ”

“ With such objects and aims, there is no wonder that the movement grows. But all that is not socialism; it is only liberalism at its best. Unfortunately, the Socialist parties are not made up altogether of moderate and fair liberals. While it is true that some of their demands will, when secured, mean that Europe has taken steps toward distinctly better government, those moderate and sensible measures form only part of their programmes. ”

“ Nothing could be more to the taste of those men who directed the socialist movement. The Socialists believe that the political task which they have to accomplish is the development of a living constitution and the impression of modern ideas of freedom on Government and Reichstag.
They have grown to be a party with over three million votes, but they feel they have as yet accomplished small part of their work. They have seen the empire become a great political and commercial power, but there has been little progress toward individual freedom and equality. ”

“ The good is pretty certain to be accomplished, for in the end it will appeal to the fair-minded of all parties; the evil may be great or small in proportion to the fairness of the Socialists’ opponents. All European government is certain to make ultimate progress toward an equality of rights for all citizens. If the conservatives, the agrarians, and the clericals raise in the way of that progress obstacles which will not give way, they may call into play some of the high explosives that are to be found in the programmes of the revolutionary branches of the Socialist parties. ”

“ The tremendous increase in the vote of the Social Democrats in Germany, while it has failed to give to that party anything like a proportionate representation in the Reichstag, has nevertheless had marked influence on legislative action. On the part of all the other parties there appears to be a wholesome fear of the increasing power of the Socialists and they are ready to adopt, not only any unfair means that they may devise to compass the Socialists’ defeat, but they are quite ready to make concessions and attempt to placate the dissatisfied workman. ”

“ The Reichstag is not truly representative, and if it were it would still be without authority. The Emperor, the army, the aristocrats, the bureaucracy, and the police govern Germany. The vote of a citizen has less direct influence than in any other country with a constitutional government.
The power of the police is especially obnoxious to the German Socialists. It is true that the police do interfere in about every relation of life, and while from one point of view the result is the most orderly government in the world, there is ample ground for irritation at the nature of the espionage. ”

“ Austria-Hungary and the Balkan countries we recognize as the home of racial antagonisms. Such a great percentage of the political life there is absorbed in these controversies that commercial and social interests have but scant recognition. But we are not so apt to remember that in Germany one of the fundamental problems of government, and one of the most perplexing and important, has to do with the discontent of the fragments of the nationalities which are still unreconciled to the Imperial Government. ”

“ Those who see danger in aggregated wealth, the opponents of trusts and combinations, the populists, would all find such a party congenial. The advocates of Federal control of railways think the Government should get deeper into finance and organize postal savings-banks, would find planks which met their views. One of the main tenets of faith would of course be the belief in universal old-age pensions and in insurance to compensate for loss of health or employment, with taxes for creating such funds laid on the of the wealthy. ”

“ This great man ought not to be judged alone by his utterances in public speeches. He has an oratorical passion that sometimes goes far beyond his generally cool judgment and moderate views. Herr Bebel even in the opinion of the court is, I believe, first a lover of Germany, and second an implacable enemy of privilege and humbug. He has a vast talent for organization and for the selection and phrasing of issues. The millions of the poor behind him believe, and doubtless, justly, that his courage and discriminating devotion to them is without bounds. ”

“ It seems to me not improbable that we shall, in the next few years, hear much of socialism in our own political life. I do not think it will be surprising if we eventually find political forces here drawn up on a new alignment, with a party standing on a platform which might be made up from principles taken from the programmes of socialist parties of Europe, and opposed to those who will stand for conservatism and the permanance of present institutions and conditions. ”

“ Like socialists everywhere, there is much in their demands that is utterly impractical. The Government has accepted a few of their most workable theories. If the platform of the revolutionary Socialists was carried out there would be a complete upsetting of the Government, for they favor the suppression of the Senate and the President of the republic. The programme of the less extreme, and more truly representative, group of Socialists calls for laws restricting the hours of labor and affecting conditions of employment. ”

“ The right of organization by minor Government employees is severely frowned upon, and the harshest means are used to prevent it. If the political footsteps of the Government employee stray into the path of Social Democracy, they are quick to encounter serious obstacles. Count von Bülow has enunciated the principle that no Government employee can be a Socialist and every under official adopts that view.
The Government looks with scant favor on any sort of labor organization and steadfastly refuses to enact a law to permit labor unions to affiliate with each other in joint associations. ”

“ In the cities the strength of the socialists became so great that the railroad administration, which is in the hands of the Government, thought to help the industrial employers and increase the supply of workmen by organizing a series of working men’s trains. Greatly reduced fares were put in force on these trains, and they transported to the cities and to the industrial centers great numbers of working men who lived in the country and who had not yet taken up socialist ideas. The Government’s expectation of making headway against the working men’s combinations has not been realized. ”

“ There is a class of politicians in Germany, members of the two conservative parties and the National Labor party, who are called in the political jargon of the day the “Scharfmacher.” They are men who want sharp, repressive measures against labor agitators, strikers, and particularly against Socialists. They are the stalwarts, the men of firm hand and implicit belief in relentless governmental authority. ”

“ Comparisons of the problems which beset the European governments with the difficulties that are met with in our own institutions cannot help but make us better satisfied with American citizenship.
We find there implacable racial differences, varied degrees of political development which it is vainly sought to unite into harmonious empires, relics of feudal authority, hereditary distinctions, and class prerogative quite out of line with a modern conception of representative government. There are diametrically opposed interests of agriculture and industry which can never be reconciled. ”

“ The Poles have lately been growing more radical, and instead of working in political harmony with the Clerical party, as they once did, they have drawn political lines strictly in accordance with their racial aims, and have even put candidates in the field against their old allies, the Clericals, and that with occasional success. Even the Polish Socialists, unlike the Socialists elsewhere in Germany, show a strong disposition to pursue paths of their own, rather than act with the Social-Democratic organization. ”

“ The German Government is pleased to busy itself in passing many laws for the benefit of the working population, but it never fails to assume the position of having conferred favors rather than having granted rights that intrinsically belonged to the class which the legislation concerns. In such legislation the Government always assumes the position of the giver of benefits to inferior beings. ”

“ Not alone is the German character the sort which would encourage the growth of socialism, but German political conditions, which were inherent in the varied political development of those countries which were forged together into the German Empire, have been such as must inevitably have united into a party of opposition men who had ideals of true liberty. ”

“ Other phases of their demands represent the spirit of unrest, of dissatisfaction with existing conditions, of class envy, of faith in those fallacies which lead men to believe that they can substitute legislation for thrift and industry, that a comfortable old age is a right to be demanded wholly from the state and without any contribution of economy and present sacrifice from the individual. ”

“ The question of dear food or cheap food makes an issue that is easily comprehended. The natural political enemies of the Socialists, the Junkers, want nothing in politics more than high protective duties on agricultural prod-uce, for that is all there is between the agrarians and ruinous competition with the fields of America. The industrial population, of course, wants cheap food, and so the issue is clearly drawn. ”

“ Few nations have had a more trying task than Germany has had in disentangling the confused political rights as found in the governmental institutions of the various states, in reducing to proper proportions the dual powers of state diets and Imperial Reichstag. Popular representation at first had little meaning. Part of the work which the Socialists set out to do was to develop it. Tangible form was to be given to those constitutional provisions defining the rights of the people, and a party with something more than Junker agrarianism or clerical conservatism in its programme was needed. ”

“ It was believed that the interest which every workman would be given in the Government through a prospective pension would furnish the motive for securing the support of the working classes for the Government side. The ill success of the scheme from that stand-point is apparent. Nevertheless, the direst foes of socialism, after the great victory of the Social Democrats in the last election, called for further labor reform legislation as an antidote against the spirit of socialism. ”

“ The Socialist movement is thus seen to be a live political force in Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, and Austria, while in England, although it holds no position in national politics, it has accomplished more in the direction of municipal activities than has been done elsewhere. The general tendency is toward moderation. The revolutionary Socialists are everywhere in the minority in their party, and the tendency is further to reduce their influence. ”

“ With the Socialists, naturally, because it was labor legislation which they particularly demanded, and with the other parties because they thought by championing the cause of labor they could overcome the disaffection of working men from their ranks. In the recent budget debates, an astonishing amount of time was given to petty questions regarding the wages of workmen in certain Government shops, their hours of work, and the regulations controlling their employment.
There is every reason to believe that legislation favoring the working classes will continue to be enacted by the Reichstag. ”

“ During the last seven or eight years the coöperative movement and the movement for the formation of workmen’s syndicates have grown rapidly in Germany, and have made great headway among the Socialists themselves. It is the same active working class that composes the Socialist party, the Syndicates, and the Workmen’s Coöperative Societies, and these organizations will be of the greatest help to the Socialists in their future conflicts.
Although the Social Democrats form the party of the working men, they do not select working men as their representatives in the Reichstag. ”

“ As the Socialists and Socialist Radicals have 140 members in the Chamber of Deputies, compared with 240 Republicans, it can be readily seen what important pillars of the Government support they form. The Socialist group, composed, as it is, almost exclusively of the working class, naturally has ambitions that are by no means confined to the programme of Republican Defence. They want legislation which in their opinion will have an important bearing on the whole social order. ”

“ In Belgium socialism is one of the strongest of the present political forces. It is natural to find in that country a fertile field in which to spread socialistic doctrines, for it is a country with a at industrial population and a comparatively small number who devote themselves to agriculture. The greatest energy is shown there in the sytematic inculcation of socialistic ideas. Not only is there thorough organization in the cities, but the proselyting is pushed out into the agricultural districts. ”