Germany and Socialists.—August Bebel, the doughty old Socialist leader in German politics, came within twenty votes of election as president of the Reichstag. Doctor Peter Spahn, the leader of the Roman Catholic Center, was elected president, but refused because he could not work with a Socialist as vice-president. The 110 Socialists in the Reichstag mean something. The Catholic or Center party lost because of its alliance with others; but Bernstein, the Socialist, concedes that it is a power to be reckoned with. It is said that the Socialist leaders did not discuss so much their present gains as their "final triumph." Furthermore, controlling as they do four and one half million votes, rather than expect support from them in an unprovoked war, the government would as likely expect a revolution.