348 



GERMANY. 



Semites ; their principles are set forth in their 

 name. Although only a small party in the former 

 Reichstag, they succeeded in electing 17 mem- 

 bers to the Reichstag in the elections that were 

 held in 1893. 



The Agrarian Movement. Ever since the 

 retirement of Prince Bismarck, in 1890, the farm- 

 ing element of the empire has had cause to com- 

 plain. Prince Bismarck's policy was that of pro- 

 tecting home produce, and of high duties on all 

 cereals, so as to enable the German farmer to com- 

 pete with the importers of foreign grain. The 

 German soil, although fertile, requires careful 

 preparation, and good results can only be ac- 

 quired by hard work and at great expense, while 

 the vast grain fields of Hungary, Russia, and 

 India, not to speak of those of the United States, 

 are comparatively virgin soil, yielding large crops 

 with little outlay. As long as the protective 

 tariff was kept up prices were fair; but since the 

 so-called new regime negotiated the commercial 

 treaties in the beginning of 1892, especially those 

 with Austria-Hungary, by which the tariff on 

 cereals was reduced in exchange for industrial 

 advantages, large quantities of grain were put 

 on the market at prices which threw the German 

 farmer out of competition. In the fall of 1892 

 negotiations for a commercial treaty with Rus- 

 sia were opened, and the prospects of further con- 

 cessions at the expense of the agrarian interests 

 aroused the German rural economists to action. 

 Farmers' alliances and leagues were formed in 

 every part of the empire, and on Feb. 18, 1893, 

 some 8,000 delegates from all parts of Germany 

 gathered in Berlin to found a German Agrarian 

 League. 



The' new league professes itself ready to re- 

 ceive co-operation from all parties except Radi- 

 cals and Social Democrats. Its object is to pro- 

 tect and strengthen the German agrarian inter- 

 ests. Its programme is as follows: 1. Sufficient 

 tariff protection for the produce of agriculture 

 and its side branches. 2. No reduction of exist- 

 ing tariff duties ; no commercial treaties with 

 Russia or other countries by which agrarian 

 duties may be reduced, and a corresponding 

 regulation of the relations with the United 

 States. 3. Indulgence with the agricultural 

 trades respecting taxation. 4. Exclusion of ani- 

 mal imports from countries suspected to be in- 

 fected with plagues. 5. Adoption of bimetallism 

 as an effective protection against the retrogres- 

 sive prices of agricultural produce. 6. Lawfully 

 regulated representation of agrarian interests by 

 the formation of chambers of agriculture. 7. 

 Revision of the laws dealing with domicile, the 

 right of emigrating .without paying duty, and 

 breach of contract on the part of workingmen. 

 8. Revision of the laws dealing with the protec- 

 tion of workingmen, abolition of the stamp duty, 

 and cheaper administration. 9. Closer control 

 of the grain exchange by the Government, to pre- 

 vent the arbitrary fixing of prices. 10. Improve- 

 ment of private and public rights as well as of 

 the mortgage system of the real-estate and home- 

 stead laws. 11. Disincumbrance of the branches 

 of rural local administration. By a resolution 

 adopted in the same meeting, it was determined 

 that in future parliamentary elections no candi- 

 date should receive the support of the league who 

 did not pledge himself to its programme, and 



promise to subordinate all other considerations 

 to the defense of agrarian interests. 



After the elections for the new Reichstag, on 

 June 15, it was found that of the 392 members 

 constituting the body, 130 belonged to or had 

 joined the German Agrarian League. Of these, 

 60 belonged to the German Conservative party, 

 25 to the Reichspartei, 19 to the National Liber- 

 als, and 26 to the Anti-Semites and the Wilden 

 or Independents. 



Session of the Reichstag. The regular ses- 

 sion of the new Reichstag was opened on Nov. 

 16, 1893. In his speech from the throne Em- 

 peror Wilhelm thanked the members of the 

 Reichstag for passing the Army bill, and for 

 their patriotism in providing for the develop- 

 ment of military institutions, which, for the 

 security of the empire, had become necessary. 

 He then announced the introduction of measures 

 which are to regulate the financial relations be- 

 tween the empire and the single states, and to 

 provide for the additional expenditures occa- 

 sioned by the increase of the military forces. 

 The Emperor concluded by expressing the hope 

 that, with God's aid, the blessings of peace 

 would be in the future preserved to Germany. 

 The bill dealing with the regulation of the finan- 

 cial relations between the empire and the single 

 states was submitted to the Reichstag shortly 

 after the opening of the session. Hitherto the 

 states supplied the deficiency in the imperial 

 treasury by matricular contributions, while the 

 Federal Government turned over to the states 

 the surplus of the customs over and above the 

 amount of 130,000,000 marks. Under the new 

 bill the credit to the single states in the annual 

 accounting is fixed at 40,000.000 marks. Any 

 surplus over and above that sum shall be devoted 

 to the formation of a fund to provide for de- 

 ficiencies which may occur in other years, and 

 for creating a sinking fund for the public debt 

 of the empire. In ease the new sources of 

 revenue should prove inadequate to cover the 

 ordinary expenditures of the Government, the 

 imperial treasury is empowered to levy addi- 

 tional percentages on the excise duties. 



The bills dealing with the opening up of new 

 sources of revenue to the Government provide 

 for taxes on tobacco and wine, bourse taxes, and 

 taxes on lotteries, and on receipts, check stamps, 

 and bills of lading. It is estimated that the tobac- 

 co tax will yield 45.000,000 marks, wine, 17.000,- 

 000 marks; bourse taxes, 11, 000,000 marks; lotter- 

 ies, 5,400.000 marks ; receipts, 7.000.000 marks ; 

 check stamps, 800,000 marks ; and bills of lad- 

 ing, 9,000,000 marks. 



On Dec. 1 Count Hompesch, a member of the 

 Clerical party, moved the revocation of the de- 

 cree ordering the expulsion of Jesuits from Ger- 

 many, which was issued in 1872. The motion 

 was opposed by the members of the National 

 Liberal party, the Free Conservatives, the bulk 

 of the Conservatives, and a section of the Radi- 

 cals. The Centrum, the Poles, Alsatians, Social- 

 ists, most of the Radicals, and two Conservatives 

 supported the motion, which, being put to a 

 vote, was carried by 173 to 138. 



Commercial Treaties. During the summer 

 of 1892 the Russian Government approached the 

 German Government for closer commercial rela- 

 tions. Delegates of both empires met at Berlin 



