Bismarck at the same time kept a vigilant eye upon the “Vereinbarungs” Society in Berlin, and the Parliament at Frankfurt, but he never joined the meetings in the Church of St. Paul, nor the Academy of Music, nor those in the Concert Room of the Royal Theatre in Berlin. We do not know whether it would then have been possible for him to have succeeded in getting elected for Berlin or Frankfurt; at any rate, he never thought of doing so, for he was firmly convinced that nothing stable would be created in either place.
We will here give a highly characteristic example of the manner in which Bismarck so powerfully and openly attacked the malicious and silly aspersions upon the Junkers, then the order of the day, showing with what acuteness and ability he could encounter the hollow declamations of unconscientious sophists. At the end of August he published the following address, in the form then greatly in vogue, of a communiqué:—
“The Deputy for the Belgard Circle, Herr Jänsch, asserted in the debate of the 16th instant that the Pomeranian laborers only obtained from 2½ to 4 silber groschen per day, and in addition to this had to give 190 days’ labor for nothing. If so, the 52 Sundays being subtracted, the earnings of a laborer in the other 123 days, calculated at an average of 3½ sgr., would represent 13 thlr. 9 sgr. 9 pf.[39] That no man can live upon that every one must see—even Herr Jänsch, if he takes the trouble to think further about it. I should therefore have characterized the statement of this gentleman as a deliberate lie in his official capacity as a national representative, had not the demand for a uniform wage of 6 sgr. proved that Herr Jänsch has either not been able, or not had leisure, to make himself acquainted with the condition of the most numerous class of the electors he represents. For with a wage of 6 sgr. the Pomeranian laborer would be worse off than he is now. The laborers on the estate of Kniephof, Circle Stargard, for the last eight years, during my residence at that place, were living under the following conditions, which are the same, with very slight differences, common to the whole district—indeed, I could prove that in other places, such as Zimmerhausen and Trieglaff, they are even better off. The daily wage certainly is, in summer, 4 sgr. per man, 3 sgr. per woman, and in winter 1 sgr. less in each case; and they have to give 156 man’s days’ work and 26 woman’s days’ work in the year without pay. But each working family received from the proprietor the following advantages free:—
“1. House, consisting of parlor, bedroom, kitchen, cellar, and loft, stabling for their cattle of every kind, and the necessary barn accommodation, which is all maintained by the proprietor.
“2. Three morgen (acres) plough-land, one for winter corn, one for summer, one for potatoes, for which the laborer finds the seed, but the estate furnishes the appointments, inclusive of manure; add to this one-half morgen (acre) of garden ground, near the house, and one-half morgen (acre) for flax; the whole profit of this superficies belongs to the laborer.
“3. Pasture for two cows, six sheep, and two geese with their broods; hay for one cow during the winter.
“4. Firing, consisting of turf, and the right of gathering wood through three morgen of forest.
“5. Corn from the proprietor’s land, five scheffel (sacks) rye, one of barley.
“6. On an average each laborer gets fifteen scheffel (sacks) corn of each kind for threshing.
“7. Medical attendance and medicines free.