Berlin is a splendid city with beautiful streets, parks and public buildings. It is more modern in appearance than either London or Paris, and there is a solidity and substantialness about the population that explain the character of the emigration from Germany to America. No one can look upon a gathering of average Germans without recognizing that he is in the presence of a strong, intelligent and masterful people. Bismarck has left his impress upon Germany as Napoleon did upon France. An heroic statue of the man of "blood and iron" stands between the reichstag and the column of Victory, which was erected at the close of the Franco-Prussian war. The reichstag is a massive but graceful structure, built some twenty years ago. In one of the corridors I noticed a silk flag which was presented in the seventies by the German women of America. The reichstag proper is a popular body, much like the English parliament, and, as in England, the members do not necessarily reside in the districts they represent. The upper house or bundesrath, is somewhat like our senate in one respect, namely, that it represents the various states that comprise the German empire, but it differs from our senate, first, in that the subdivisions are represented somewhat in proportion to population, and, second, in that the members of the bundesrath are really ambassadors of the several state governments whose credentials can be withdrawn at any time. As all legislation must be concurred in by the bundesrath, as well as by the reichstag, it will be seen that the German government is not nearly so responsive to the will of the people as the governments of England, Denmark and the Netherlands.
In the reichstag they have resorted to a device for saving time in roll call. Each member is supplied with a quantity of tickets, some pink and some white. Each ticket bears on both sides the name of the member. On the white tickets the word "Ja" (yes) appears under the name, on the pink ones "Nein" (no). These ballots are gathered up in vases containing two receptacles, one white and the other pink. The vases are carried through the hall and the votes deposited according to color. As they are deposited in the different receptacles and are distinguished by color, the ballot is quickly taken and counted—in about one-fourth the time, I think, formerly required for roll call. This is a method which our congress might find it convenient to adopt.
It was my good fortune, while in Berlin, to meet Dr. Otto Arendt, the leading bimetallist of Germany. He became a student of the money question while in college, being converted to the double standard by the writings of Cernucshi, the great French economist. Dr. Arendt is a member of the reichstag, from one of the agricultural constituencies. He has represented his government in international conferences and has urged his government to join in an agreement to restore bimetallism, but, like other advocates of the double standard, has found the English financiers an immovable obstruction in the way.
THE RHINE
I have for two reasons reserved for this article some comments on the growth of socialism in Europe. First, because Germany was to be the last of the larger countries visited, and, second, because socialism seems to be growing more rapidly in Germany than anywhere else. I find that nearly all the European nations have carried collective ownership farther than we have in the United States. In a former article, reference has already been made to the growth of municipal ownership in England and Scotland, and I may add that where the private ownership of public utilities is still permitted the regulation of the corporations holding these franchises is generally more strict than in the United States. Let two illustrations suffice: Where parliament charters gas and water companies in cities, it has for some years been the practice to limit the dividends that can be earned—any surplus earnings over and above the dividends allowed must be used in reducing the price paid by the consumer. I fear that our money magnates would be at a loss to find words to express their indignation if any such restriction were suggested in America, and yet is it not a just and reasonable restriction?
In the case of railroads, I noticed that there are in England but few grade (or, as they call them, "level") crossings. I am informed that railroad accidents and injuries are not so frequent in England as in the United States.