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The Commoner
VOL. 14, NO. 12
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germanvk great strides
Some of the salient facts of Germany's re
markable growth in recent years are contained
In a statement by Gilbert H. Grosvenor, director
of the National Geographic society, Washington.
Mr. Grosvenor also gives an insight into the
manner in which Germany handles some of the
problems which aro common to this country.
Tho 'statement follows:
"Only Belgium, Holland, Japan and the United
Kingdom lmv0 denser populations than Germany.
That country crowds G7, 000, 000 people into a
territory so small that you could add New Eng
land to it and still have an area smaller than the
stato ot Texas.
"Possessing only one-fifteenth of the area of
Europe, Gormany produces one-seventh of Eu
rope's wheat, one-fifth of its oats, one-fourth of
its rye, and one-third of its potatoes.
"Out of a total of 5,750,000 farms nearly one
half aro smaller than two and one-half acres,
and less than 700,000 aro larger than twenty
five acres. Of our own 5,737,000 farms, more
than three-fifths contain upward of fifty acres.
"The Germans use more commercial fertilizer
than any other three nations on earth, and yet,
with all tho coaxing of intensive farming, Ger
many is not able, in ordinary times, to produce
enough foodstuffs to feed the people. It import
ed farm produce worth $250,000,000 more than
it exported during a recent year, and groceries
and confections worth $120,000,000 more than
oxports. The balance of raw materials was $100,
000,000 against tho empire.
"No other nation has made such a wonderful
bid for foreign trade as Germany. While the
trade of the United States increased 275 per cent
in twenty-five years and Great Britain's increas
ed 10 per cent, Germnny's increased 300 per cent.
Germany's merchant marine in twenty-five years
rose from a negligible quantity to 4,850 ships,
with a not tonnage of 3,153,000 tons and with
78,000 sailors.
"Germany takes a different view of railroad
rebates than the United States. A small ship
per is always required to pay higher rates than
a big shipper, and goods passing through Ger
many get lower rates than goods shipped from
one German point to another. Railroad rates
on exports are much lower than domestic rates.
When tho Nuremburg toy makers want to assist
tho Hamburg Kriss Kringle the freight rate is
$9.33 per ton; when they want to assist tho New
York Santa Claus It is only $5. S3 per ton.
"The theory of tho German government is that
every able-bodied man is entitled to work and
tho government must find something for him to
do if he can not find it himself. Wherever there
is a disagreement between laborer and employ
er it must be settled in a court created for that
purpose. Neither party is permitted by low to
offer or to accept a compromise.
"The people of German cities live amid sur
roundings of the law that are different from our
own. In Berlin, it is forbidden in apartment
bouses to water flowers except between the hours
of 4 a.m. and 5 a.m.; no one can play a piano
before 7 a. m. or after 9 p. m.; no bedding may
bo aired from the front window; bathing at night
is forbidden; one may not employ a servant
"without complying with police regulations, or
change his residence without police sanction.
The German justifies these things on the ground
that while they may sometimes interfere with
his convenience, by and large they protect him
froni annoyances much greater than those that
they entail. He says they give him a freedom
from annoyances without his household that aro
t infinitely more bothersome than the restraints
they impose within his household."
AGE OF OUR GOVERNMENT
While tho United States is listed among tho
. newer nations of the earth, there are perhaps
few people who realize that we have one of the
most venerable governments of the world. Call
ing attention to the fact that, though the Hohen
zollerns have had 200 years of rule in Prussia,
the German imperial government is only 44 years
old., a writer in the Philadelphia Public Ledger
says;
,""ft may astonish you to note how very few
countries have an older fovernment than the
United Stafes. Our land may be new, but the
government is one of the most venerable on
earth.
"China's republic is a baby but a few years
old. Japan's present regime dates back only 45
years. Italy's kingdom is about the same age,
and Portugal's republic has been in existence less
than a decade.
"Turkey's constitutional government which
came with a new sultan, and Persia's government
are also political infants.
"The French republic is no older than the Ger
man empire, and the revolution that split Nor
way and Sweden happened since Cuba became
free.
"Of the twenty independent nations to the
south of us in America, every one is younger
than the United States. The Australian common
wealth and the South Africa union are mere
children.
"England, Russia, Austria and Spain have
ancientt regimes, but the American republic ce
mented' here in Philadelphia, has witnessed the
rise or the fall of nearly all the other important
governments on earth."
CITIES TO OWN RIG UTILITIES
During the month conventions for the purpose
of considering important problems of municipal
government were held in Philadelphia and Bal
timore. Tho Philadelphia conference was hela
under the call of mayors of New York, Phila
delphia, Cleveland, Dayton and Chicago, and
the object was to exchange ideas on the relations
existing between American municipalities and
the public service utilities. Mr. Fred S. Hunt,
who attended these meetings as a delegate from
the Milwaukee City club, gave an interview in
the Milwaukee Journal in which he gives some
idea of the rapid advance being made toward
municipal ownership of public utilities. Mr.
Hunt said:
"The practically unanimous opinion of the as
sembled representatives was that the ultimate
solution of the public utilities problem will be
found in municipal ownership. Vigorous speech
es favoring municipal ownership were made by
Mayor Harrison, Chicago, and Mayor Baker,
Cleveland. The latter city has lately got a 3
cent car fare, with universal transfer privileges.
Further than this, the city has established a
Municipal lighting and power plant from which
small consumers are supplied lighting current at
a charge of 3 cents per kilowatt hour. In Chicago,
Mayor Harrison announced, they have recently
obtained from the local transportation com
panies contracts under which the city will re
ceive 55 per cent of the net profits of opera
tion.' "In view of the heavy cost involved, and also -because
public opinion has not yet been educated
to that view, it was recognized that municipal
ownership is not as yet possible in many cities
and that some form of regulation of rates and
service is necessary. Where the same utility
operates not only in a city, but extensively in
the adjacent country and nearby cities and vil
lages, state regulation was considered the more
feasible. But where the utility operates largely
within the borders of one city, local reg
ulation rather than state regulation was
advocated. Mayor Mitchell, New York, ex
pressed especially strong views favorable to local
regulation. So, too, did. Stiles P. Jones, secre
tary of the Minneapolis Voters' league, in an
illuminative paper upon What Certain Cities
Have Accomplished Without State Regulation
Mr. Jones' conclusion was that those cities which
hav(e really accomplished anything In way of
. lessened rates and Improved service have done
so by dealing directly with the utility corpora
tions operating within their borders. Citing
a number of cases, ho made rather unfavorable
comparison between the results obtained in Wis
consin under state regulation and the results
obtained in those cities cited. remms
"The Philadelphia meeting created a commit
tee which will formulate plans for a permanent
bureau, the duty of which shall be to search out
put into form and make available to all such'
facts and data which will be helpful to commun
ities which may be called upon to wrestle with
the problem of municipal ownership or local reg
ulation. "It was the general opinion that the public
service corporations are taking concerted action
to bolster up the reputed valuation of their
plants in order that they may get a basis upon
which to found a demand for increasing of rates
or for maintaining present high rates. To this
end they are employing the ablest engineers and
accountants obtainable. If the cities are to be
placed in equally advantageous position, they,
too; must be armed with reliable data for pres
entation in their controversies with the corpora
tions before the state or local bodies Avhich are
charged with the task of regulation."
VITAL HISTORY SHOULD RE TAUGHT
The study of current history,' as an aid to the
development of an intelligent citizenship, is rec
ognized by educators as essential, although
there exists differences of opinion about its in
troduction into the school curriculum. Discus
sing this subject the Philadelphia Public Ledger
says:
"Current events should be studied in the
schools in order to make past history more real
to the pupils, and in order also to promote
among them such a civic intelligence as good
citizenship requires. Current events are his
tory, and history is nothing except as it consid
ers civics and economics. In those phases and
aspects of the war which belong to American
economic history, the schools have a great edu
cational opportunity which should not be neg
lected.. To enlighten the young people in the
questions that have to do with American inde
pendence and independence in commerce and in
dustry is to' teach them the economic resources
and possibilities of their country; and to show
them how these questions are affected by the
European war is not to violate neutrality, but
merely to give due recognition to the flow of
events in the history of their own country."
GOVERNMENT OWNERSHIP OF RAILROADS
Ownership of the railroads by the national
government was strongly hinted by Charles A.
Prouty in a recent address before a gathering of
the state and national railway commissioners.
Mr. Prouty told the association that the work
of valuation would cost $50 per mile of road, or
$15,000,000. On the question of government
ownership Judge Prouty said:
"Probably the most important practical ques
tion before this country today is its treatment
of our railroads, and I have felt that this valu
ation which we are to make must have a pro
found influence upon its discussion. There is,
first, the primary question: Is the government
to take over these agencies of transportation or
shall they be left to the operation of private
capital?
"Assuming that we are to leave the discharge
of this function to private enterprise, there
-arises the even more difficult question as to what
the treatment of this private capital shall be.
What rates shall be accorded in order that the
present investment may be fairly dealt with r.nd
that such further investment will be induced as
will render possible the proper development of
these facilities? In the past this question has
not been acute, for rates have been sufficient to
maintain railroad- credit, but ' it is ' evident the
time is at hand when there is grave doubt as to
whether these 'rates -must -not be -generally in
creased." :
WISCONSIN'S FREE EMPLOYMENT SYSTEM
Wisconsin's system of free employment bu
reaus, operated by tho state industrial commis
sion, is commended as the most effective means
of preventing -.unemployment yet -devised, in an
article by ;Ida MwTarbell,-writing in-the-current
number of the American Magazine on "Keeping
Men. at Work." Miss Tarbell says:
A model for every state is what has been
done in Wisconsin. The Milwaukee branch of
the state employment bureaus has made two
reports. The one for the year ending,.October 1,
0 .