The Waikato Times With which is incorporated The Waikato Argus. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1918. HOW GERMANY IS GOVERNED

Waikato Times, Volume 89, Issue 13886, 11 October 1918, Page 4

The Waikato Times With which is incorporated The Waikato Argus. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1918. HOW GERMANY IS GOVERNED

For the present the only problem with which the Allies need concern themselves is the prosecution of the war until the military situation leaves Germany with no alternative to surrender. When the enemy surrenders, and admits that the German sword is broken, we may with some confidence believe that the menace of Prussian militarism is at an end. But the security of Europe cannot.be regarded as beyond doubt until the ruin of militarism is established not only in German hearts, but also fn Germany's political institutions. The future demands not only a beaten Germany, but a reformed Germany, and that is why, although the military aspect is the only one of supreme present importance, the demand for some measure of Parliamentary government independent of the German Headquarters Staff and the agitation in Prussia for electoral reform have a real interest for the whole world. It was reported recently that the Chancellor, replying to a deputation of trade union representatives which represented that the people's anger over the Prussian suffrage question had reached boiling point, promised that if the Bill providing for equal suffrage is not carried the Landtag the Prussian legislature) will lie. dissolved. The political institutions of Germany are conspicuously undemocratic. The Empire is governed by the Kaiser, the Bundesrat or Federal Council, and (lie Reichstag. The Reichstag is elected on a perfectly good democratic franchise, but it can do notliiiiir without the approval of the Bund.'srat. which is not elected at all, hut appointed by the ruling princes of Germany, dominated by the King of Prussia, who is the Kaiser. To say, therefore, that the Kaiser ;md the noble hoo-cs of Prussia are the German Government is not merely to put in a heightened way the general character of the political institutions of Germany : it is to stale the exact facts of the case. The present agitation is not directed ;it the Imperial constitution, except indirectly, and in so far as the democratising of Prussia v/iil democratise Hie Empire. Prussia is really Germany, for it elects 2.'Hi of the ;i97 deputies in the Heichstag. In its own House the Executive Government is the King (the Kaiser) and the Ministers he appoints, who are responsible to him only. There are two Chambers, the Herrenhaus or House of Lords, and the Abgeordneten-

bans or r:li.unlM'r* of lEquities. The Herrcnhaus, which is determined to have nothing to do with the proposed suffrage reforms, is composed id' the princes of the Hoy a I family, representatives of the mediatised princely houses, the heads of the, territorial nobility, a number of life-peers, eight noblemen elected by the landowners, magnates named by the King, and a few burgomasters. Such a body as this needs no further description: its character is manifest. The Lower House of 4i.'i members is elected by volers over the age of 25 years on the three-class system. The taxpayers are divided into three classes. Those win* pay Hie highest taxes lo the extent of onethird the. total taxes paid, constitute the iirst class and possess one-third of the electoral power. The second class consists of those who pay the next highest taxes up to an amount equal lo another third of the tola] taxation. The third class consists of all the other taxpayers combined. The first two classes make up less than 15 per cent, of the voters, and they have twice the electoral power of the remaining ST) per cent. In some districts the actual inequality is greater. In the Ksscn district, for example, there are individual voters who have as much voting power each as ">O,OOO voters of the third class. In order to appease the growing hatred of thin magnificently anti-democratic system the Kaiser issued a rescript at Eastertide last year commanding the Chancellor lo prepare a measure of reform to be introduced after the war. At the end of last year three reform Bills were introduced into the Prussian Lower House. The first Bill proposed to confer the franchise on all Prussian subjects over 25 years of age, with stiff residential qualifications. The second Bill increased, while purporting to modify, the Upper House's control of finance; and the third Bill outlined an alteration of the Upper House, providing representation for commerce and industry, local governing bodies, agriculture, labour, and so on, but maintaining the balance of power in the Kaiser's hands. This very limited measure of reform was introduced by the Chancellor as a tremendous innovation, and while progressive Prussians grumbled 'it it, the reactionary elements were beside themselves with rage. They declared that "by one stroke of the pen. all that has stood the test is to be abandoned without suitable ballast having been found to give the Prussian ship of State the necessary steadiness among the rocks and whirlpools (if Radicalism. 1 " There is liltle doubt that the ruling caste in Prussia has no honest intentions in this matter, but we think that it will be unable to resist the coming of reform. Certainly \'e cannot feel perfectly safe with an unreformed Germany after the war is over, and this not only because power would remain in the hands of the unrepentant and incurable reactionaries, but also because the German nation, if it cannot assert itself, must be regarded as a permanent danger in a world striving for government of the people for the pVople and by the people.