An American sojourning among the German people must be impressed with the painstaking organization of the empire. Every detail of life is carefully ordered to avoid waste and to secure efficiency, even at the cost of individual initiative. This military empire, of infinite discipline, is now undergoing a political metamorphosis. The force that is bringing about the change is being generated at the bottom of the social strata, not at the top. This signifies that a change is sure to come.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] See Meyer, Emancipations-Kampf des Vierten Standes, Chap. V; also J. Schmoele, Die Sozial-Demokratische Gewerkschaften in Deutschland, seit dem Erlasse des Sozialistischen Gesetzes, Jena, 1896, et seq.
[2] The following table compiled from Statistisches Jahrbuch shows their growth in recent years:
| Year | Members | |
| 1902 | 733,206 | |
| 1903 | 887,698 | |
| 1904 | 1,052,108 | |
| 1905 | 1,344,803 | |
| 1906 | 1,689,709 | |
| 1907 | 1,865,506 | |
| 1908 | 1,831,731 | |
| 1909 | 1,892,568 |
In 1909 their income was 50,529,114 marks, their expenditure 46,264,031 marks. See Appendix, p. 295, for membership of all the unions.
[3] When I visited the Berlin Gewerkschaftshaus, a model three-room dwelling—living room, kitchen, and bedroom—had been furnished and decorated in simple, durable, and artistic fashion. This exhibit was thronged with workingmen, their wives and daughters.
Some years ago it was discovered that the youth of the working people were reading cheap and unworthy literature. The Central Committee of the Unions now issues cheap editions of the choicest literature for children and young people.
These two incidents show the vigilance of the unions, in looking after all the wants of their people.