BISMARCK AND THE SOCIALISTS.
FOR ten years, Prince Bismarck has been busily at work settling and strengthening the German Empire, of which he, more than any other man, was the creator and founder. The difficulties of such a task are not easily estimated. Not only did Bismarck have to guard the young empire from foreign foes, but he found within Germany itself elements dangerous to its existence. To protect it from France on one side, and Russia on the other, was a comparatively easy thing to do. Bismarck had only to rear fortifications, to increase the number of the army, to cause the army to be drilled and kept ready for active service, and to act shrewdly in his diplomatic relations with other powers. In these he has succeeded. But within the empire itself lurked two dangers that might, if neglected, sometime prove fatal to it. With his iron nature and stubborn will, he determined that they should cease to exist. The first which he attacked was the Roman Catholic Church in Germany, a power not to be despised. For the bishops and priests claimed that the allegiance of the German Catholics to the church was higher than that to the State; and Bismarck knew that the church was hostile to the new empire. The other danger to the empire was the formidable growth of Socialism in Germany. This party aims at revolution. It would overturn all thrones, abolish all royal power, and would have the State governed on a system of what it calls perfect equality. About a year ago, Bismarck publicly stated that he believed that there were sixty thousand Socialists in Berlin alone; and that the Socialists comprised one-twenty-fifth of adult Germans. The Socialists have at least been able to elect quite a number of deputies to the Reichstag, or Parliament; and their influence in that body has been too formidable to be despised. At first, Bismarck tried to repress Socialism by severe laws, and such laws were duly passed. By them, newspapers could be suppressed, Socialist speakers or writers could be imprisoned, a man suspected of Socialism could be banished, and all secret organizations could be dissolved without warning. This remedy has not proved effective; and now Bismarck proposes to deal with the Socialists, not by forcible suppression, but by "taking the wind out of their sails;" that is, he proposes that the empire shall do certain things which the Socialists themselves have advocated. So far as possible, he designs to provide work, to be paid for by the State, for those Germans who are out of employment. He intends to revive the old trade associations, and give them the power to control the trades to which they pertain; and to establish an insurance system, "by which the workmen shall be obliged to pay a small sum from week to week, to be reserved by the Government for their support and that of their families in case of need." This is the main outline of his scheme. If it succeeds, it will take away much of the strength of Socialism, by putting an end to the discontent of those who are out of work, and therefore ready for conspiracy. But it is a very hazardous plan, and will require the most adroit statesmanship to put it into practice. It is at least wiser to satisfy well-grounded complaint, than, by repressing it violently, to make it only the more desperate and dangerous. — Youth's Companion.