Belgium, Denmark, Austria and Hun THE CONSTITUTION AND GOVERNMENT OF gary; but there will still remain the PRUSSIA menace of the Extremists, possibly reinforced by returned Siberian exiles, KAISER WILHELM, as King of Prus sia, has given an undertaking to remany of whom are philosophical anarch form the Prussian Constitution at the ists. end of the war. Under the present fun damental laws, the whole of the execuTHE KAISER AND THE GERMAN EMPIRE tive and much of the legislative authority is vested in the King, who appoints all the German Empire, dated April 16, Ministers by royal decree. The King's 1871, the supreme direction of the mili power in the executive department is, tary and political affairs of the empire therefore, absolute. He also possesses is vested in the King of Prussia, who, the power of veto over all legislation. as German Emperor, represents the The Herrenhaus, the upper house of empire internationally," and can declare the Legislature, is closely identified with war if defensive, and make peace, as well the King, since Princes of the royal famas enter into treaties with other nations, ily and of two other branches of the and appoint and receive Ambassadors. Hohenzollerns are members, as are the But when war is not merely defensive the heads of sixteen princely families and Kaiser must have the consent of the of the nobility formed by the King, with Bundesrat, or Federal Council. In this a number of life peers chosen by the Federal Council of sixty-one members King, who may further nominate an unthe Kingdom of Prussia has seventeen limited number of members for life, or members; the Kingdoms of Bavaria, for shorter periods. The King thus has Saxony, and Württemberg have together it in his power to insure a majority for fourteen, six Grand Duchies have eleven, any measure he may wish passed in the five Duchies have six, seven Principalities Herrenhaus. The lower house has 443 have seven, three free towns-Lübeck, members, elected indirectly, as follows: Bremen, Hamburg--have The indirect electors are divided into Alsace-Lorraine has three. three classes: The first consists of all In the Reichstag, of 397 Deputies, electors who pay the highest taxes, to Prussia has 236. In sharp contrast with the amount of one-third of the whole; the Prussian system, the Deputies are the second, of those who pay the next elected by universal manhood suffrage, highest amount, down to the limits of the with the result that, in the present Reichs second one-third; the third, of all who tag, there are 107 Socialists, ninety pay the lowest taxes. The indirect elecone Centrists, ninety Liberals and Radi tors choose electors, who choose the repcals, forty-four Conservatives, twenty resentatives. seven members of the German Party, Under this system, which secures coneighteen Poles, and twenty Independents. trol to a wealthy minority, there were In the army Prussia greatly outweighs elected, in 1913, 202 Conservatives, 216 all the rest of the empire, providing six Centrists, Liberals and Progressives, 10 teen of the twenty-five army corps, as Socialists, and 15 others. against three for Bavaria, two for Saxony, one for Württemberg, two for A WORLD SHORTAGE OF WHEAT Alsace-Lorraine, while there is also one PRESIDENT WILSON, in his proclacorps of Prussian Guards. Under the mation of April 16, drew attention to Constitution of 1871, the whole of the the fact that the United States will in land forces of the empire form a united the coming year be called upon not only army, under the orders of the Emperor, to feed its own people and army, but whom all troops are bound by the Con also to make very large contributions to stitution to obey conditionally. The the feeding of England, France, and Emperor is, therefore, responsible for Italy; Russia, as a great wheat growing every order given to any part of the coun y, being probably able to feed itGerman Army. self. It is estimated that, in part owing one each, same * vast surplus normally reaches the rest of THE schedule of the new War Pension to the destruction by frost of large areas biles at night. On one farm a motor of Winter wheat, the United States will tractor working continuously for five this year produce less wheat than in days and four nights plowed a tract of average years by at least 26,000,000 forty-two acres, about equal to one-sixbushels, though a part of this may be teenth of a square mile. To cover the made up by Spring sowing over the with a horse plow would, it frost-killed areas. The whole of Canada's is estimated, have taken fifty-six days, coming supply of wheat has already been more than ten times as long; while the bought by the British Government, Can motor tractor plow, working only eight ada having produced in 1915 336,258,000 hours a day, would have taken twelve bushels of wheat, one-fifth of which came days to complete the work. On the dark est nights two acetylene lamps are used; into the United States. Certain causes have contributed to on moonlight nights no artificial light is needed. The plow cuts four furrows at bring about this world-wide wheat short once, like the American “gang plow," age, such as the large amount of wheat and the men work in five-hour shifts, and other foods destroyed by German with an interval of an hour between two submarines, the lack of tonnage to bring shifts for oiling and adjusting the wheat to England from Australia, the tractor. unwillingness of the Argentine Republic to sell wheat to England, the closing of BRITISH WAR PENSIONS the Black Sea route, by which Russia's THE Grants of the British Government are the world, the destruction of immense as follows, the rate being the maximum quantities of wheat during the devasta weekly allowance: tion of Rumania. France faces a deficit Disabled soldier, including children's of 127,000,000 bushels of wheat in the allowance .$18.75 coming year, in part due to the lack of Widow with children.. 9.3742 3.75 field labor, while the aggregate deficit Parent or guardian.. 1.25 of the Entente Allies for the coming year It is estimated that the annual charge has been placed at from 190,000,000 to 216,000,000 bushels. on the pension account in 1918-19 will be $125,000,000. The following are the Two ways of meeting this deficit have allowances for the children of a totally been suggested, besides wider cultiva disabled man: tion—the saving of the large percentage First child $1.25 of wheat lost in turning it into white Second child 1.124 flour, and the cessation of brewing and Third child .80 For each child after the third... .6242 distilling, thus turning millions of bushels into bread instead of liquor. These payments are to be continued beyond the age of 16 in the case of ap prentices receiving not more than Night PLOWING IN ENGLAND nominal wages, or of children being edumeasures have cated at secondary schools, and may be been adopted in England to meet the granted or continued between the ages threatened shortage of food resulting of 16 and 21 in the case of a child infrom the submarine warfare on com capable through mental or physical inmerce. Two of the most picturesque of firmity of earning a living, provided the these new methods are the universal ap infirmity existed before the child atplication of Sunday labor and the hasten tained the age of 16. Provision is also ing of work on the farms by supplement made for an alternative compensation to ing day labor by night shifts. Powerful make up the deficit subject to a maximotor tractors have taken the place of mum of $12.50 a week, plus half of any the older steam plows, already largely earnings prior to the war between $12.50 used in England; and these new motor and $25 a week. tractor plows are provided with acetylene In the case of slight injuries a gratuity headlights such as are used on automo averaging from $500 to $1,000 is granted EXTRAORDINARY in place of a pension. Widows are to be executed was a priest, Father David given half what would have been award Pope; the former sub-prefect of Kroned to their deceased husbands had they stadt, M. Constantine Bojta; M. Yovan been disabled in the highest degree. In Koman, a professor; M. Romulus Kristelthe case of a private soldier this means gan, headmaster of the school at Kron$3.87 a week. Allowances to widows are: stadt; M. Pompilius Dan, a private tutor; For the first child... .$1.25 Dr. Zacharius Mountean, advocate; M. For the second child. 1.1212 Victor Pope, chemist; Father Koman For the third child. .90 Baka, a priest, and Dr. Nicholas Hamzea, For each child after the third.. .6242 Among The widow of a private with 8 children other victims condemned to death and will get $9.80 a week. “Unmarried wives" executed were practically all the prinwith dependent children are to get $2.50 cipal Rumanian Intellectuals of Klausena week and children's allowances. If the burg. unmarried wife has no dependent children she is to get $2.50 a week for the VAST QUANTITIES OF SUPPLIES afterward. It is provided that a parent H. W. FORSTER, official Secretary shall receive up to the amount of pre-war dependents of one or more sons within a ing the war estimates made some inter esting statements to Parliament regardtotal of $3.75 a week. ing the prodigious operations in equipGERMAN RULE IN RUMANIA ping an army. As an illustration, he said, at the beginning of the war it was A DISPATCH from Jassy, the tempo difficult to obtain horseshoes, which were rary capital of Rumania, reveals the procured from Canada and the United first news of Rumanian affairs that has States, hence village blacksmiths were been permitted to leak out since the oc organized to make hand-made shoes. This cupation of that country by the Germans. output, at first, was 50,000 pairs a The dispatch is dated March 28, 1917, month; it is now 1,500,000. To illustrate and says that in all parts of Rumania the scale upon which supplies were rewomen, old and young, have been ar quired, he states that the War Office had rested on the pretext of being related to to provide: members of the Government. Elderly Gas helmets 25,000,000 magistrates and doctors are also among Sand bags for the Allies. .250,000,000 those who have been seized and im Khaki cloth, yards.... .105,000,000 prisoned. The majority are being sent Flannel, yards .115,000,000 to Bulgaria and Turkey. Among those The khaki cloth and flannel together arrested is the mother of the Prime Min measured 111,000 miles, enough to go ister. The situation in the country dis four and a half times around the earth tricts, where the population is kept in a at the Equator. Another interesting state of terror by robberies, fires, and in statement was that the typhoid fever cessant requisitions, systematically car cases were fifteen times higher among ried out, is worse than that in the towns. those who had not been inoculated than A dispatch from Zurich dated March among the inoculated, and the death ratio 26 says that approximately 1,100 Ru seventy times higher among those not manians of Transylvania have been inoculated. sentenced by Austro-Hungarian courtsmartial to terms of penal servitude vary FIGHTING A BILLION ENEMIES ing from thirty years to three years. The , entire property of more than 600 Rumanians of Transylvania has been con enter the war on the side of the Allies, fiscated by the Hungarian Government. the Central Powers, with a population of Practically all these victims of Hun 157,878,000, are at war with fourteen garian persecution were Rumanians of nations totaling a population of 1,003,position and education. 681,000. This vast number is divided as Among those condemned to death and follows: O every indication of an intention to ENTENTE-AMERICAN ALLIES the War Office, and the Ministry of Area Munitions. The aim will be to include Country. (Sq. Miles.) Population. United States 3,627,557 101,740,000 examples of the following: Philippines 115,026 8,643,000 1. Material used by the British forces Great Britain 121,316 46,407,000 -guns, rifles, bayonets, trench British possessions..12,660,460 388,036,000 France 207,129 39,700,000 weapons, tanks, submarines, &c. French colonies 3,998.713 49,725,000 2. Trophies captured from the enemy. Russia 8,361,708 174,100,000 3. Souvenirs found on the battlefield. Finland 144,249 3,197,000 4. New inventions employed in munition Italy 110,688 35,598,000 works at home. Italian colonies 458,162 1,450,000 Japan, including For 5. Literature of the war-books, trench mosa and Chosen... 245,641 72,818,000 magazines, &c. Belgium 11,373 7,658,000 6. Maps of the war. Belgian Congo 913,127 20,000,000 7. Music of the war-trench tunes, Portugal 35,499 5,958,000 Portuguese colonies. 808, 107 9,280,000 marching songs, &c. Rumania 53,934 7,508,000 8. Art of the war, including trench Serbia 33,107 4,622,000 drawings. Montenegro 5,475 435,000 9. Placards issued by the Government Cuba 45.881 2,469,000 Panama 32,330 337,000 for recruiting, economy, &c. Brazil 3,292,000 24,000,000 10. Medals and decorations. 11. Autograph letters by distinguished Total .34,282,082 1,003,681,000 actors in the war. CENTRAL POWERS 12. Civilian souvenirs, such as “flag-day” Germany 209,793 68,059,000 German colonies 1,026,022 relics. 12,287,000 Austria-Hungary 261,023 51,505,000 Turkey 682,239 21,274,000 THE THE effect of the entry of the United Bulgaria 44,056 4,753,000 States on the side of the Allies is Total shown by the following changes in for2.223,133 157,878,000 eign exchanges as quoted on April 12: HE $5,000,000,000 bond issue author-· Sterling, 4.76%, against 4.73 9-16 low in 1916, and 4.50 low in 1915; Francs, ized by Congress in April amounts to 5.7034, against 6.0842 low in 1916, 6.02 about one-tenth of the national income of low in 1915. Italian lire rose 24 points the United States last year, as is shown by the following statistics of the fi in the week ending April 12, 1917. Rubles rose 20 points. nancial strength of the country: Annual national income.. . $50,000,000,000 Total bank resources.. 35,000,000,000 THE FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION OF THE Individual deposits 24,000,000,000 UNITED STATES Cash held by the banks... 2,500,000,000 HE number of citizens of foreign Available additional cial credits on basis of present is 14,500,000, while 20,500,000 native cash holdings 6,000,000,000 Americans have either a foreign-born THE * Total gold stock in the country. 3,000,000,00 Tirthumb the United States in 1917 commer father or a foreign-born mother, and A BRITISH WAR MUSEUM 14,000,000 had both parents born abroad. Of the total 100,000,000 population of the authority of Parliament to establish United States 54,000,000 are of native a national war museum. The idea is to white ancestry. Since the foundation of reconstruct for future generations the the Government the total immigration story of the British share in the war. to the United States from Great Britain The chief categories of exhibits will be has been 4,000,000; from Germany, relics and records. There will be sepa 6,000,000; from Ireland, 4,000,000; from rate departments to illustrate the work of Scandinavia, 2,000,000. Up to 1890, bethe sailors, soldiers, and munition work fore the heavy influx began from Rus The nucleus of these collections is sia and Italy, the total immigration to already in the hands of the Admiralty, the United States was 15,689,000, of A COMMITTEE has been formed by ers. which one-third was German. After 1890, of the 17,000,000 immigrants only 1,023,000 were Germans. The following tables compiled by the Geographic Magazine convey an idea of the distribution of the larger groups of foreign-born citizens: CANADIANS Massachusetts 300,000 Michigan 190,000 New York 125,000 Maine 75,000 New Hampshire 55,000 Illinois 50.000 California 50,000 Total in United States.. .1,164,000 ITALIANS New York 470,000 Pennsylvania 190,000 New Jersey 115,000 Massachusetts 90,000 Illinois 75,000 California 60,000 Connecticut 55,000 Ohio 40,000 Total in United States.. .1,335,000 AUSTRO-HUNGARIANS Pennsylvania 375,000 New York 360,000 Illinois 200,000 Ohio 160,000 New Jersey 100,000 Wisconsin 40,000 Minnesota 38,000 Michigan 38,00) Connecticut 37,000 Total in United States. .1,680,000 ENGLISH, SCOTCH, WELSH New York 195,000 Pennsylvania 170,000 Massachusetts 125,000 Illinois 90,000 New Jersey 65,000 California 60,000 Ohio 60,000 Michigan 55.000 Total in United States.. . 1,145,000 GERMANS New York 430.000 Illinois 325,000 Wisconsin 235,000 Pennsylvania 210,000 Ohio 190,000 Michigan 125,000 New Jersey 115,000 Minnesota 95,000 Iowa 85,000 Missouri 80,000 California 75.000 Indiana 70.000 Nebraska 70,000 Texas 60,000 Maryland 50.000 Kansas 45,000 Total in United States.. 2,610,000 RUSSIANS AND FINNS New York 560,000 Pennsylvania 260,000 Illinois 150,000 Massachusetts 130,000 New Jersey 95,000 Michigan 70,000 Connecticut 55,000 Ohio 55,000 Minnesota 40,000 Wisconsin 35,000 North Dakota 35,000 Total in United States.. .1,669,000 IRISH New York 370,000 Massachusetts 225.000 Pennsylvania 160,000 Illinois 90.000 New Jersey 85,000 Connecticut 55,000 California 50.000 Ohio 40,000 Rhode Island 35,000 Missouri 30,000 Total in United States. .1,330,000 SCANDINAVIANS Minnesota 240,000 Illinois 165,000 Wisconsin 95,000 New York 90,000 Washington 70,000 Iowa 70,000 North Dakota 70,000 California 50.000 Massachusetts 50,000. Michigan 37,000 Nebraska 37,000 South Dakota 35,000 Total in United States...... .1,209,000 In the omitted States the number of foreign-born citizens in the foregoing classifications is fairly proportional, ranging from 30,000 in the more populous States to 4,000 or 5,000 in the Southern and smaller States. The foreign-born seem to prefer urban life, as 23,000,000 out of 35,000,000 live in cities. Only one-fifth of the population of New York and Chicago is of native white ancestry. Less than a third of the populations of Boston, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Buffalo, San Francisco, Milwaukee, Newark, Minneapolis, Jersey City, Providence, St. Paul, Worcester, Scranton, Paterson, Fall River, Lowell, Cambridge, and Bridgeport are of native ancestry. Though the foreign-born constitute one-seventh of the nation, nearly onefourth of the arm-bearing strength of the country is represented in this class. |