In foreign policies Germany has been, ever since the formation, first, of the Zweibund -(Austria-Hungary and Germany) and, next, of the Dreibund (with Italy added), dominated by the parlous situation thus created. For Ger many it has been a veritable Procrustean bed. Europe was, for many years before the actual eruption of 1914, practically divided into two hostile camps, with France, England and Russia on the one side and the Dreibund on the other, thus paralyzing all efforts of the nations to live in hearty concord, a thoroughly unhealthy state of things, one breeding all around and hatred and rendering impossible harmony.
Of course, there have been man" seeing eyes in Germany herself which discerned clearly the abnormal features in the above, features threatening perpetually the peace of the world. Bismarck, himself the creator of the Zweibund, and subsequently of the Dreibund, was by no means blind to the inherent dangers lurking in such a federation. In his literary legacy, hi two volumes (with a- separate appendix) of reminiscences and political reflections, published under the title of Gedanken and he dwells at length on the genesis of these two compacts. He discusses dispassionately their •value as measures of safety and defense, and reaches the conclusion in so many plain words that neither the Zweibund nor the Dreibund were in themselves blessings, but rather tem porary remedies to meet temporary exigencies. As to their weak points he had no illusions. Italy he would have liked to eliminate as a partner altogether. But above all, in his dis cussion of the whole problem he emphatically insists that the alliance between Germany, Aus tria-Hungary and Italy ought not to be looked upon as one calculated to possess permanence, giving his reasons for this opinion in unvar nished terms. It is a singular fact, neverthe less, that during this period here under dis cussion, beginning with the erection of a new Germanic empire and ending with the frightful war, although a period amazing so far as Ger many's material progress goes, there have been but a handful of German writers doing dittin guished service in elucidating public opinion as to her vital political life. Heinrich von Treitschke, who for a number of years helped to form polit ical opinion in Germany, may be called. the intellectual father of the Pan-German cast of thought and of the whole movement so de nominated. Hans Delbriick, another university professor; Nietzsche with his pitiless "super. man" philosophy; Franz Mehring, the Socialist expounder of scientific Socialism; Friedrich Naumann, the originator of the "Mittel Europa' idea, and Maximilian Harden, a vigorous cham pion of a freer political life, are nearly the whole of that little band who accompanied the iron march of those 43 years with their ap proval or disapproval.
The popular organ of government in the Ger man Empire is the Reichstag (Diet). Accord ing to the constitution it is supposed to be a co-ordinate factor with the Bundesrat (Federal Council) in Imperial legislation. However,
since the latter body sanctions all laws, and since by practice almost all the important legis lation starts in the Bundesrat, and since above all the chancellor and the heads of the executive departments are not responsible to the Reich stag but to the Kaiser, the function of the Reichstag is in fact not more than to control the government as carried on by the sovereigns of the different states under the very prominent leadership of the king of Prussia. From this situation it can easily be seen that party politics do not play the same important part as in countries where the head of the government is in general the leader of the party in power, as in England or. in the United States.
Franchise and The f ran chise for the Reichstag is granted to all male citizens of the age of 25. Disfranchised are persons under guardianship, those in a state of bankruptcy, and those who have received alms fro-n public funds during the year pre ceding the election. Persons active in naval or military service are suspended during their period of active service. The qualifications for candidates are the same as for voters, except that the former must have been citizens of any of the federal states for at least one year. Thus we see that practically every male citizen has one vote in deciding the composition of the popular legislative branch of government in Germany.
However the arrangement of constituencies Is such that a large number of the people have proportionally two or more votes. According to the Election Law a population of 100,000 was to elect one representative. Each state was given at least one representative regardless of population. This law contains also the pro vision that a rearrangement of the constitu encies was to be made according to the increase or decrease of the population. Yet this redis tribution has never taken place in spite of the enormous shifting from the rural districts to the cities as a consequence of the industrial and commercial development of Germany. To-day the deputies of the largest constituencies rep resent several hundredhousand, while those of the smallest voting districts represent only from 15,000 to 30000 people. In case of a strictly arithmetical redistribution the Social Democrats would have more than twice the number of the Conservative groups, having behind them 4,250,000 voters against the 1,933.000 of the Conservatives, while to-day the Socialists have 110 seats and the Conservatives 74. But the German government looks at the represen tation in the Reichstag as that of interest rather than that of numbers. It was afraid that other wise the agricultural interests would be drowned. The European War has fully justi fied the attitude of the government. Without the good condition of its agriculture, which to a very great extent was made possible through the special care and protection of the govern ment, Germany would in spite of military vic tory have been forced to surrender uncondi tionally to her enemies.