Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 3, 1877

No. 111.
Mr. Davis to Mr. Fish.

Legation of the United States,
Berlin , February 10, 1877. (Received February 26.)

No. 584.]

Sir: In a former dispatch, I reported to the Department that the general election for the Reichstag on the 10th January resulted in no choice in seventy districts, an absolute majority of all the votes cast being necessary to a choice.

The law requires that in the second elections in such districts voters shall vote only for one or the other of the two candidates who received the highest number of votes at the first election, and that all ballots for other persons shall be treated as null. The suffrage in the second election as in the first is universal, and direct, and by secret ballot. Every German citizen can vote who has reached the age of twenty-five years, who resides in the commune at the time of election, who is not under guardianship, or under decree of bankruptcy, or is not receiving alms from public funds, or has not been convicted of an infamous crime.

These restricted elections have now taken place, and I am able to complete with approximate accuracy the partial returns which have already been sent to the Department. Parties are minutely subdivided in the Reichstag, and many new members have been elected whose politics are not definitely known. For these reasons the party estimates of results must inevitably vary considerably from each other. I think the following table will prove to be not far from correct:

National Liberals, 130; Lowe Berger group, 14; Liberal, 1; aggregate Liberals who are regarded as Imperialists		145
Conservatives. 37: Free Conservatives, 36: all regarded as Imperialists		73
Christian Socialists		1
Aggregate Imperial strength		219
Alsace Autonomists		7
Catholic Centrum, 97; Alsace clericals, 3; aggregate Catholic vote, regarded as hostile to the empire	100
States-Rights Separatists (Hanoverian. 3; Alsace. 5; Danish, 1; Polish, 14)	23
Democrats (Fortschritt, 32; Socialists, 14; Yolks party, 1; Democrats, 1)	48
Aggregate anti-Imperial strength		171
Total number of members		397

The numbers assigned to each party in this table, for the reasons already given, are subject to modification hereafter, and the general division into Imperialists and non-Imperialists is quite arbitrary. It is, impossible to make a division on that point which will give a clew to the probable action of members in practical legislation. It is not to be assumed, for instance, that Prince Bismarck can depend upon the votes of the Old Conservatives or of the National Liberals in any and every contingency, nor is it to be assumed that all the members of the Fortschritt party are to be classed as opposed to the empire, although their present attitude is one of hostility. In estimating the future it is necessary to consider the tendency of men’s political principles as well as their present political relations.

German law, like English and French, permits a person to present himself for several constituencies at the same general election. Hence we have five persons, each of whom has been elected to two seats. These gentlemen must determine which seat they will sit for and which they will leave to be filled by some one else. They are all party leaders—Lasker (National Liberal), Hänel and Hertz (Fortschritt), and Bebel and Hasenclever (Socialists).

Comparing the new returns with the constitution of the old house, it is found that there are one hundred and forty-two new members. Political life in Germany seems to be as uncertain as it is in America. In the changes the National Liberals lose nineteen seats; while the Conservatives gain twenty-one seats. In the anti-Imperial ranks the Catholics apparently gain six seats, but as the whole Alsace vote could be counted for them in the last Reichstag, they really lose six seats when the Alsace vote is taken into consideration. Without that they gain three seats, the States-Rights parties lose seven seats, and the Fortschritt party seventeen. The Socialists and Democrats united gain seven seats.

A more interesting comparison may be instituted with the recent elections for the, Prussian Landtag. In the course of years men’s political convictions change as new issues are presented, or as they think they get new light on old ones 5 but it is not often that radical changes are worked out in the course of a few days. When, therefore, we find different results obtained in the same constituencies in two general elections held within a few weeks of each other, but on a different suffrage basis, it is fair to presume that the change is attributable to the difference in the suffrage qualifications.

The mode of electing the Prussian Landtag (or house of deputies) is complicated, and evidently framed with a view to give a controlling influence to property. Every male Prussian, native or naturalized, who has reached the age of twenty-four years, who has not been convicted of an infamous crime, who is not receiving alms from public means, and who has resided for six months in the district in which he resides on the day of election, is entitled to vote. The votes are not cast directly for members of the Landtag, but for an intermediate body of electors, by whom the members of the new Landtag are chosen, as well as all members to fill vacancies in that J)ody which may occur before the next general election. One such elector is to be chosen for every 250 inhabitants, and the number of members of the electoral college (if I may use the term) for each district will necessarily be the quotient obtained by dividing the whole number of the inhabitants in the district by 250. The voters are divided into three classes according to the amount of the direct taxes which they pay to the state. For the purpose of classification the sum-total of the taxes paid in the district is divided by three. The highest tax payers, whose aggregate taxes amount to one-third of the sum, constitute the first class. Those next in amount who pay the next third, constitute the second class. The remainder of the voters form the third class. Each class votes separately, and elects one-third of the electors for the district. If on a division of the whole number of electors to which the district is entitled, by three, one remains over, the extra elector is to be chosen by the second class; if two remain over, one is to be chosen by the first class and one by the third. The votes are given viva voce, and a majority of all is necessary to a choice.

Under this complicated system a general election for a new Landtag was held about two months before the general election for the Imperial Reichstag. Prussia contains in round numbers twenty-six millions of the forty-three millions who inhabit the empire. The division of parties in the Prussian Parliament and in the Imperial Parliament is identical. Indeed, to a considerable extent, the members are also identical. The Landtag consists of 432 members. The Prussian members of the Reichstag amount to 235. Given, therefore, a certain political division of the 432 members of the Landtag, it requires a simple mathematical calculation to determine how the 235 Prussian members of the Reichstag should be distributed in order to produce a parallel result. On this basis I have thus tabulated the recent elections:

Party.	Number in Landtag.	Proportionate number for the Reichstag.	Actual number in the Reichstag.	Gain.	Loss.
National Liberals	174	94	68		26
Centrum	92	50	60	10
Fortschrit	68	37	16		21
Conservatives	37	20	26	6
Poles	14	8	14	6
Löwe Berger	11	6	7	1
Social Democrats			9	9
Separatists			4	4
	432	235	235	47	47

These figures seem to demonstrate that, the professors and learned classes and bourgeoisie of Germany, who regard themselves as the chosen custodians of liberal ideas and the special guardians of constitutional liberty, suffer loss by the practical operation of universal suffrage; that the Roman Catholic party gains by it rather than loses; and that the conservatives and landed proprietors—in other words, the old aristocracy—are the greatest gainers.

The Social Democrat also comes to the front under this influence. Not that the party is much strengthened in the Reichstag (it has 14 members against 9 in the late body), but that the number of its voters at the polls has largely increased. In the general election the Socialists won ten seats, and stood either first or second on the list in eighteen districts in which no election had taken place. Great exertions were made on both sides to carry these districts in the second election. The unexampled Socialist vote of the 10th of January was increased—in some districts largely increased—at the new trial. Their opponents combined against them and succeeded in preventing them from carrying more than four additional seats. In two districts, in each of which many thousand votes were polled, they nearly grasped success. One they lost by 78 votes, the other by 240. In the other districts they were decidedly beaten; in some very badly. In the combined districts which they contested on the second trial, they threw an aggregate vote of 180,987, and were in a minority of 26,074. I did not preserve the figures of the general elections on the 10th of January, and therefore have no means of knowing what was their aggregate vote in the empire at that time. I have heard it stated as about double the vote of 1874. That vote was about 350,000, whence we may assume that their present vote is from 600,000 to 800,000.

The party levies its recruits in all parts of the empire. It has members in the Reichstag from commercial Altona, from the political centers Berlin and Dresden, from the great intellectual center of Leipzig, from Rostock on the shores of the Baltic, from the mountainous seats of Saxon industry, from the Rhine country, and from Würtemberg. It contested with vigor and hope of success the great city of Hamburg, several manufacturing towns in the plains of Westphalia, the farming estates of Schleswig-Holstein, and the manufacturing districts of Bavaria. It has found adherents among the agricultural laborers of Pomerania, who live and die on the same estate, sometimes without ever visiting a town, and it has obtained a footing in East Prussia and Silesia, and in the little duchies in the center of Germany. In regions thus widely separated from each other and having little in common in their modes of living or views of life, it has shown the same signs of organization and of unexpected political activity and strength; and its growth has excited throughout Germany a profound sensation—fear would be too strong a word to apply to a brave people—which may perhaps lead to proceedings in the Reichstag when that body meets.

The German political socialism of to-day may be traced to the teachings of Ferdinand Lasalle, a brilliant, erratic, fiery spirit, who disregarded the conventional rules of society and the ordinary codes of morals, and, after a life of excitement, fell in a duel in Switzerland, just as events were about to open the door for advancement. His scheme was rather communistic than political, and met with little success in his life-time. At his death the societies numbered only 4,610 members in all Germany. His ideas were then taken up by others, but would probably have been abandoned as visionary had not the war of 1866 brought about a union of North Germany with a Diet elected by universal suffrage. This changed what had been a visionary scheme for communism into a practical combination for political purposes. Lasalle’s machinery was easily converted into an irresponsible despotism by the able men who took charge of it. The contributions of the workmen, who became active members of the societies, furnished them the means to pursue their ends. Lasalle had thrown membership open to all who chose to subscribe and pay the extremely moderate assessment. His successors received as members only those who were willing to work for the cause. Thus the body of supporting voters at the polls soon vastly outnumbered the active members, who, in American parlance, “ran the machine.”

From 1866 to 1875 there were great jealousies between the leaders and divisions in the ranks. One school still remained communist pure and simple; another joined the Internationals; but when the proceedings at Paris shocked the moral sense of the world internationalism was put in the background, It was not a pleasant thing at that time to be a Socialist leader. Liebknecht was imprisoned; Bebel and Schweiz also, and, I think, Hasenclever was also condemned; but I am not sure. The government was on the watch for overt acts in violation of law, and was swift to punish them.

The great Socialist vote of 1874, quite as unexpected by that party as by the public, induced the quarreling factions to treat for union. It was difficult to reconcile the opposing principles of communism and internationalism. Perhaps it would have been more difficult to reconcile the opposing interests of the leaders, had the prize been less. In 1875 the union was completed. The Socialists practically surrendered to the Internationalists, retaining just enough of their peculiar doctrine to be able to say that they had not yielded everything. It is this united party Which fought the great fight in the recent elections.

The objects which they profess to desire to secure are principally these:

1. Universal suffrage for all males over twenty years of age (days of election to be Sundays or holidays).

2. Direct legislation by the people. War and peace to be made by direct popular vote.

3. Universal obligation to military duty in the militia. No standing army.

4. General legislation. Special legislation not permitted. No suppression of the press.

5. Legal remedies free of expense. Legal proceedings to be conducted by the people.

6. Education to be by the state, general, obligatory, and free. Religion to be a matter for private instruction.

7. All indirect taxes to be abolished. Money to be raised by a direct progressive income-tax.

8. The legal day of labor for men to be defined. The work of women to be prescribed and limited, and that of children to be prohibited.

9. Sanitary laws for the protection of life and health of laborers, and regulation of their dwellings and places of labor to be enforced by persons selected by them.

10. Suitable provisions respecting prison labor.

11. Self-administration of all laborers’ aid societies.

12. State aid and credit for industrial societies under democratic direction.

In a speech made in the Reichstag in February, 1875, Count Eulenburg, the minister for the interior, stated the latter point much stronger. He said that the Socialists demand the transfer of the means of labor to the ownership of the state, and the application and distribution of the results of labor to be regulated by societies for the common good.

That a political society like the Prussian looks with anxiety upon an organized party of three-quarters of a million, devoted to such a programme, is not surprising. People ask “Where do the Socialists come from”? One-third of the active soldiers return each year to their homes, and become voters for the first time. Do they imbibe socialist ideas in the army This is a question which I cannot answer. My impression is that the increase is rather traceable to the general prostration of business existing throughout the world and intensified here by the uncertainty of the immediate future (whether peace or war), and by the strain of the army on the productive forces of the country.

Some journals comment upon the local result in South Germany as evidence of a leaning in those states toward “particularismus,” which may mean states rights or secession as occasion requires. Without much actual knowledge of details, I am of the opinion that such a conclusion is incorrect. Perhaps the antagonism between Prussian forms and the more genial ways of South Germany is more marked than it was, but Prussian ideas are no less dominant throughout the empire than they have been. The struggle with the Roman Church continues, and I suppose will continue unl the election of a new Pope affords an occasion for an armed peace. Socialism thrives and may continue to thrive until more prosperous times give the laborer something besides politics to think of. These, however, are passing events in the onward march of Germany toward unity.

* * * * * * *

One conclusion can be certainly drawn with safety from the recent elections—that the conservative supporters of the empire, the landed proprietors, are more powerful than they were in the last Reichstag.

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I have, &c.,

J. C. BANCROFT DAVIS.