The Personnel of the The personnel of the Reichstag compares in general favorably with that of other popular legislative bodies. Men from all walks of life are rep resented among the 397 members of the Reich stag; 88 members are engaged in agricul ture, 5 in industry, 17 in commerce, 2 in trade, 3 are unskilled laborers, 13 live on their own income, and the remainder, 250, are in profes sional life. Of these latter, 58 are journalists and writers, 20 are Catholic priests, I is a Prot estant minister, 22 are professors and teachers, 8 are physicians and apothecaries, 39 are lawyers, 24 are judges, 21 are state officers, 7 are communal officers, and 50 are professional employees. Of the deputies, 206 had an aca demic graduate training, 80 of the members were officers of the reserve. Most of the depu ties had some political training in city or local government before their election to the Reich stag. More than half of the members of the present Reichstag were re-elected or had been members during a previous legislative period.
Parties and Party The numer ous parties of the Reichstag may be grouped into four great parties: Conservatives, Clericals, Liberals, and Social-Democrats. From the tion of their seats, as viewed from the speaker's platform, they are often referred to as the Right, the Centre, the Left, and the Extreme Left respectively. The basic philosophical principle of the conservative parties is author ity from above. Throne and altar, i.e., mon archy by the grace of God and the established Church, are, according to their conception, the two strong pillars of the state. They are strongly opposed to the introduction of the democratic form of government. The public schools should be supervised by the state. Part of the Conservatives, sometimes the majority, have believed in special legislation against the Jews, in whom they feared the absolute repre sentatives of commerce and industry, of the metropolitan press and of the exchange, the powerful enemies of the interests which the Conservatives promote. In regard to social reform the Conservatives have enthusiastically supported the state socialism in augurated by Bismarck, the most important re sults of which were the splendid compulsory insurance laws of the '80s. They regard social reform as a voluntary but necessary gift of a state the government of which is based on the Christian principle of love and care for the poor and unprotected people.
The Conservatives are at present split into the High-Conservatives (or Conservatives proper), the Free-Conservatives (or Imperial Party), the Economic Union, and the Christian Socialists. While the High-Conservatives have
frequently disagreed with progressive policies of the government, the Free-Conservatives are the government party par excellence. They separated from the High-Conservatives in the '70s in order to support Bismarck. The Economic Union emphasizes the protection of the middle class, and the Christian-Socialists emphasize social reform through the govern ment in the Christian spirit. At one time there existed the Anti-Semites and the Farmers' Union or Agrarians as distinct conservative parties, and their spirit is still more or less in existence among the Conservatives. The Agra rians have extended their influence over the Clericals and partly over the National-Liberals.
Fundamentally the Clericals are conservative. Their main principle is the upholding of the interest of the Catholic minority in Germany. In this policy rests their strength. For this reason they count almost all the Catholics among their followers, rich and poor, employers and employees, industrial working men, and above all, the peasants. Naturally in order to hold this heterogeneous mass of voters together they must combine conservative and democratic principles. This they haVe successfully done and have so far always been able to keep their hold on the Catholic population of Germany. In regard to school policy and social reform they generally agree with the Conservatives. The organization and leadership of the party is splendid and has a great deal to do with its steady success.
The philosophical principle underlying liber alism is individual liberty. The Liberals are, so to speak, the Protestants in the field of politics. The danger of liberalism is weakness in discipline and organization, obstinacy in plac ing a certain dogma above all other beliefs with the result that the party is easily split into many small inefficient groups. This has been the fate of the Liberals in Germany until recently. Several times they have been divided into Pro gressives, Free-Thinking-Union, South-German People's Party, Democratic Union, etc. At present, they form two units: the National-Lib erals and the Liberals proper or Radicals.
The National-Liberals are in many respects more conservative than liberal. They are a middle party of compromises. They are the strongest believers in nationalism and imperial ism, and, as a whole, represent the spirit of modern Germany better than any other party.