CHAPTER XVIII.

[66]Videchapter xi.

"Immediate introduction of the following measures: (a) Liberation of all political prisoners; (b) dissolution of all parliamentary gatherings; (c) dissolution of all counter-revolutionary troop detachments, disarming of thebourgeoisieand the internment of all officers; (d) arming of the proletariat and the immediate organization of revolutionary corps; (e) abolition of all courts and the erection of revolutionary tribunals, together with the trial by these tribunals of all persons involved in bringing on the war, of counter-revolutionaries and traitors; (f) elimination of all state administrative officials and boards (mayors, provincial councillors, etc.), and the substitution of delegates chosen by the people; (g) adoption of a law providing for the taking over by the state without indemnification of all larger undertakings (mines, etc.), together with the larger landed estates, and the immediate taking over of the administration of these estates by workmen's councils; (h) adoption of a law annulling war-loans exceeding twenty thousand marks; (i) suppression of the wholebourgeoispress, including particularly the Majority Socialist press."

Some of the members of the former right wing of the Independent Socialists left the party and went over to the Majority Socialists following the party congress of the first week in March. They included the venerable Eduard Bernstein, who declared that the Independents had demonstrated that they "lacked utterly any constructive program." The dictates of party discipline, however, together with the desperation of suffering, were too much for the great mass of those who had at first rejected Bolshevist methods, and theGerman Bolsheviki received material reinforcements at a time when they would have been powerless without them.

The Spartacans had lost their armed battle against the government, but they had won a more important bloodless conflict.

All revolutions have their second phase, and this phase ordinarily presents features similar in kind and varying only in degree. After the actual overthrow of the old government a short period of excited optimism gives place to a realization of the fact that the administration of a state is not so simple as it has appeared to the opposition parties, and that the existing order of things—the result of centuries of natural development—cannot be altered over night. Under the sobering influence of this realization ultra-radicalism loses ground, the revolutionary government accepts the aid of some of the men who have been connected with the deposed government, and the administration of affairs proceeds along an orderly middle course.

But other revolutions, as has been stated, have had a different inception, and none have depended for their successful execution and subsequent development on a people so sorely tried, so weakened physically and morally, and—last but not least—so extensively infected with the virus of internationalism. In so far as revolutions were not the work of a group of selfish aspirants for power, they were brought about by patriotic men whose first and last thought was the welfare of their own country, and who concerned themselves not at all about the universal brotherhood of man or the oppressed peoples of other lands or races. The German revolutionists, however, scoffed at patriotism as an outworn dogma. The majority of their adherents came from the poorest and most ignorant stratum of the people, the class most responsiveto the agitation of leaders who promised that division of property contemplated by Communist Socialism.

The Independent Socialists had "made the revolution." They claimed the right to determine its development. Thebourgeoisie, itself incapable of restoring the old order and, for the most part, not desiring to do so, supported the parent Socialist Party as the lesser of two evils. The Independents found themselves without the power to determine what course "their revolution" should take. All revolutionary history showed that this course would not be that desired by the Independent leaders and promised by them to their radical followers. The occurrences of the first month following the revolution again demonstrated what might be called the natural law of revolutionary development. The Majority Socialists in the government refused to let themselves be hurried into disastrous socializing experiments. They refused to ban intelligence and ability merely because the possessors happened not to beGenossen. They even believed (horribile dictu!) that private property-rights should not be abolished out of hand. They were so recreant to the principles of true internationalism that they resented foreign aggressions against Germans and German soil, and they actually proposed to resist such aggressions by force.

With heretics like these there could be no communion. They could not even be permitted to hold communion among themselves if it could be prevented, and the result was, as we have seen, the efforts of the Independents and Spartacans to wreck the tabernacle.

To recount the developments of the period from the crushing of the March uprising to the signing of the Peace of Versailles would be but to repeat, with different settings, the story of the first four months of Republican Germany. This period, too, was filled with Independent Socialist and Spartacan intrigues and armed opposition to the government, culminating in the brief but bloody reign of the Communists in Munich in April. Strikes continued to paralyze industry. No food supplies of any importance were received. The National Assembly at Weimar continued to demonstrate the philosophic tendencies, academic learning andpolitical immaturity of the German people. Distinct left wings came into being in both the Majority Socialist and Democratic parties. Particularism, the historic curse of the country, again raised its head.

Red internationalism in Germany received a marked impetus from the events in Hungary at the end of March, when Count Michael Karolyi handed the reins of government over to the Bolshevist leader Bela Kun. An effort has been made to represent this as a bit of theatricals staged by Karolyi with the support and encouragement of Berlin. Such an explanation is symptomatic of the blindness of those who will not see the significance of this development. To assert that the German Government, itself engaged in a life-and-death struggle with Bolshevism at home and threatened with an irruption of the Bolshevist forces of Russia, would deliberately create a new source of infection in a contiguous land requires either much mental hardihood or a deep ignorance of existing conditions. The author is able to state from first-hand knowledge that the German Government was completely surprised by the news from Budapest, and that it had no part, direct or indirect, in bringing about Karolyi's resignation or the accession to power of the Hungarian Bolsheviki.

The developments in Hungary were made inevitable by the unwisdom with which this "liberated unit of the Austro-Hungarian Empire" was treated. When the November armistice was concluded, there was a "gentlemen's agreement" or understanding that the demarcation line established by the armistice should be policed by French, English or American troops. It was not observed. Jugo-Slavs, Serbians and Roumanians were permitted not only to guard this line, but to advance well beyond it. The enemy occupation of the country extended to nearly all portions of Hungary upon which the central part, including Budapest, depended for coal, metals, wood, meats and even salt. The Czechs took possession of Pressburg, rechristened it Wilson City, and advanced along the Danube to within twenty miles of Budapest. Distress became acute.

Then, on March 19th, the French Colonel Vix sent a noteto Karolyi establishing a new demarcation line far inside the one established in November and at places even inside the lines held by Allied troops. Karolyi's position was already insecure. He had been welcomed when he assumed office as the restorer of nationalism and peace. The support accorded him had been largely due to his record as an opponent of Austria and a friend of the Entente. He had been under surveillance almost throughout the war because of his known pro-Ally sentiments, and only his prominence saved him from arrest. Now, when his supposed influence with the Allies was discovered to be non-existent, his only remaining support was shattered and he went. Hungary, infected with Bolshevism by Russian propagandists and returned prisoners of war, went over to the camp of Lenine.

Another factor contributed greatly to the growth of the radical Independent Socialist and Bolshevist movement in Germany. This was the obvious dilemma of the Allies in the case of Russia, their undeniable helplessness and lack of counsel in the face of applied Bolshevism. Thousands of Germans came to believe that Bolshevism was a haven of refuge. Nor was this sentiment by any means confined to the proletariat. A Berlin millionaire said to the writer in March:

"If it comes to a question of choosing between Bolshevism and Allied slavery, I shall become a Bolshevik without hesitation. I would rather see Germany in the possession of Bolshevist Germans than of anybourgeoisgovernment wearing chains imposed by our enemies. The Allies dare not intervene in Russia, and I don't believe they would be any less helpless before a Bolshevist Germany."

Scores of well-to-do Germans expressed themselves in the same strain to the author, and thousands from the lower classes, free from the restraint which the possession of worldly goods imposes, put into execution the threat of their wealthier countrymen.

With the conclusion of the peace of Versailles we leave Germany. The second phase of the revolution is not yet ended. Bolshevism, crushed in one place, raises its head in another. Industry is prostrate. Currency is so depreciatedthat importation is seriously hampered. The event is on the knees of the gods.

But while the historian can thus arbitrarily dismiss Germany and the conditions created by the great war, the world cannot. From a material economic viewpoint alone, the colossal destruction of wealth and means of transportation, and the slaughter of millions of the able-bodied men of all nations involved are factors which will make themselves felt for many years. These obstacles to development and progress will, however, eventually be overcome. They are the least of the problems facing the world today as the result of the war and—this must be said now and it will eventually be realized generally—as a result of the Peace of Versailles. The men responsible for this peace declare that it is the best that could be made. Until the proceedings of the peace conference shall have been made public, together with all material submitted to it, including eventual prewar bargains and treaty commitments, this declaration cannot be controverted. One must assume at least that the makers of the peace believed it to be the best possible.

Thebona fidesof the peace delegates, however, while it protects them from adverse criticism, is a personal matter and irrelevant in any consideration of the treaty and its probable results. Nor is the question whether any better treaty was possible, of any relevancy. What alone vitally concerns the world is not the sentiments of a few men, but what may be expected from their work. As to this, many thoughtful observers in all countries have already come to realize what will eventually be realized by millions.

The Treaty of Versailles has Balkanized Europe; it has to a large degree reëstablished the multiplicity of territorial sovereignties that handicapped progress and caused continuous strife more than a century ago; it has revived smouldering race-antagonisms which were in a fair way to be extinguished; it has created a dozen newirredentas, new breeding-places of war; it has liberated thousands from foreign domination but placed tens of thousands under the yoke of other foreign domination, and has tried to insure the permanency not only of their subjection, but of that of othersubject races which have for centuries been struggling for independence. Preaching general disarmament, it has strengthened the armed might of one power by disarming its neighbors, and has given to it the military and political domination of Europe. To another power it has given control of the high seas. It has refused to let the laboring masses of the world—the men who fought and suffered—be represented at the conference by delegates of their own choosing.

Such a treaty could not bring real peace to the world even if the conditions were less critical and complex. As they are, it will hasten and aggravate what the world will soon discover to be the most serious, vital and revolutionary consequence of the war. What this will be has already been dimly foreshadowed by the almost unanimous condemnation of the treaty by the Socialists of France, Italy, England and nearly all neutral countries.

Virtually all Americans and even most Europeans have little conception of the extent to which the war and its two great revolutions have awakened the class-consciousness of the proletariat of all lands. Everywhere the laboring masses have been the chief sufferers. Everywhere composing an overwhelming majority of the people, they have nowhere been able to decide their own destinies or have an effective voice in government except through revolution. Everywhere they have been the pawns sacrificed on the bloody chessboard of war to protect kings and queens, bishops and castles. They are beginning to ask why this must be and why they were not permitted to have a voice in the conference at Versailles, and this question will become an embarrassing one for all who try to find the answer in the textbooks of governments as governments today exist.

Deplore it though one may, Internationalism is on the march. Nor is it confined even today to people who work with their hands. Its advocates are to be found—have been found by hundreds in America itself—in the ranks of the thinkers of every country. The press in America has for months been pointing out the prevalence of internationalist sentiments among school-teachers and university professors,and it has been gravely puzzled by this state of affairs. It considers it a paradox that Internationalism exists among presumably well educated persons.

One might as well call it a paradox for a victim of smallpox to have an eruption. It is no paradox. It is a symptom. And, incorrectly diagnosed and ignorantly treated, it is a dangerous disease.

The physician diagnoses a disease at the outset, if he can, and aborts it if possible. If it be contagious, he employs precautions against its spread. No part of these precautions consists in ordering other people at the point of a rifle not to catch the disease.

The greatest task of the governments of the world today is to diagnose correctly and treat intelligently. The proletarians have learned their strength. A new era is dawning.

That era will be marked by an internationalism whose character and extent will depend upon the wisdom with which the masters of the world administer the affairs of their peoples. And the question which every man should ask himself today is:

Shall this Internationalism be Red or White?

The provisional constitution adopted at Weimar in February, 1919, was naturally only a makeshift. It contained but ten paragraphs, furnishing the barest outline for the organization of the new state. Its basis was a draft of a proposed constitution made by Dr. Hugo Preuss, a leading authority on constitutional law, who had been appointed Minister of the Interior. This draft was published on January 20th. More than a hundred representatives of the various German states met in the Department of the Interior at Berlin on January 25th to consider it. This conference appointed a commission from its number, which was in session for the next five days in Berlin and then adjourned to Weimar, where it finished the draft of the provisional constitution.

Even the short period intervening between the first publication of the Preuss draft and its submission to the National Assembly had sufficed to bring about one important and significant development. Preuss himself was an advocate of the so-calledEinheitsstaat, a single state on the French plan, divided into departments merely for administrative purposes. Many of his friends of the German Democratic Party and all Socialists also wanted to do away with the separate states, both for doctrinal and selfish partisan reasons. Preuss realized from the beginning the impossibility of attaining his ideal completely, but he endeavored to pave the way by a dismemberment of Prussia, the largest and dominant German state, and by doing away completely with several of the smaller states, such as Anhalt, Oldenburg, etc. His constitutional draft of January proposed the creation of sixteen "territories of the state" (Gebiete des Reichs): Prussia (consistingof East Prussia, West Prussia, and Bromberg), Silesia, Brandenburg, Berlin, Lower Saxony, the three Hansa cities (Hamburg, Bremen, Lübeck), Upper Saxony, Thuringia, Westphalia, Hesse, the Rhineland, Bavaria, Baden, Wurtemberg, German-Austria, and Vienna.

It became quickly apparent that Preuss and his followers had underestimated the strength of the particularistic, localized patriotism and respect for tradition cherished by a great part of the Germans. Not only were the South Germans aroused to opposition by the implied threat of a possible eventual onslaught on their own state boundaries, but the great majority of the Prussians as well protested mightily against the proposed dismemberment of Prussia. The unitarians saw themselves compelled to yield even in the temporary constitution by inserting a provision that "the territory of the free states can be altered only with their consent." The plan to reduce the states to mere governmental departments was thus already defeated.

With the erection by the National Assembly of theStaatenausschuss, or Committee of the States,[67]the draft of the constitution was laid before that body for further consideration. On February 21st the committee submitted the result of its deliberations to the National Assembly, which referred it in turn to a special committee of twenty-eight members, whose chairman was Conrad Haussmann, a member of the German Democratic Party.

[67]Videp. 245.

The National Assembly began the second reading of the constitution on July 2d and finished it on July 22d. The third reading began on July 29th. This brought a number of important changes, one of which is of deep significance as indicating the extent to which the members of the National Assembly had already succeeded in freeing themselves from the hysterical mode of thinking induced by the immediate revolutionary period. All drafts of the constitution up to that date had provided that no member of a former reigning house in Germany should be eligible to the Presidency. This provision was stricken out on third reading.

The constitution was finally adopted on July 31, 1919, by a vote of 262 ayes to 75 nayes. The negative votes were cast by the German National People's Party, the German People's Party, the Bavarian Peasants' League, and one member of the Bavarian People's Party (Dr. Heim). The constitution was signed by President Ebert and the ministry at Schwarzburg on August 11th, and went into effect three days later. On this date the imperial constitution of April 16, 1871, several paragraphs of which were still in effect under the provisional constitution of February, 1919, ceased to exist.

The Weimar constitution consists of two "main divisions." The first, dealing with the construction of the state, is divided into seven sections, which are subdivided into 108 articles. The second main division, dealing with "fundamental rights and fundamental duties of the Germans," has five sections, with 57 articles.

A comparison of the preambles of the old and new constitutions indicates the different point of view from which they were approached. The constitution of 1871 began:

"His Majesty the King of Prussia, in the name of the North German Federation, His Majesty the King of Bavaria, His Majesty the King of Wurtemberg, His Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Baden, and His Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Hesse and on the Rhine, for those parts of the Grand Duchy of Hesse situated south of the Main, form an everlasting federation for the protection of the territory of the federation and of the right prevailing within its borders, as well as for the furtherance of the welfare of the German people."

The new constitution's preamble reads:

"The German people, united in its races[68]and inspired by the desire to renew and establish more firmly its state in freedom and justice, to serve the ends of peace at home and abroad and to further social progress, has given itself this constitution."

[68]Das Deutsche Volk, einig in seinen Stämmen.There is no adequate English translation ofStämme(plural ofStamm), except the word "tribes," which, of course, is in place only when speaking of uncivilized peoples.

Article 1 reads:

"The German state[69]is a republic. The power of the state comes from the people."

[69]Das Deutsche Reich ist eine Republik.Revolutionary though they were, the constitution-makers could not bring themselves to discard the old nameReich, although it really means empire. Hence "state" is an inadequate translation, but it is also impossible to say that "the German Empire is a republic." The only solution appears to be the adoption of the German wordReich—a solution generally accepted in Europe.

The revolutionary nature of the change is further emphasized in article 3, which substitutes black-red-gold for the black-white-red of the old imperial flag.[70]

[70]Black-white-red were retained as the colors of the merchant-flag, but with the addition of the colors of the Reich in the upper inner corner.

Outwardly the most striking and apparent change of structure of the government is, of course, the fact that a president takes the place of the Kaiser, and that the various federated states are also required to have a republican form of government, with legislatures chosen by the direct, secret ballot of all male and female Germans, after the proportional election system. In fact, however, these are by no means the most important changes. "Republic" is, after all, more or less a shibboleth; the actual form and representative character of governments depend less on whether their head is a president or a hereditary monarch than on the extent to which they make it possible for the people themselves to make their will prevail quickly and effectively.

The changes wrought by the other seventeen articles of the first section are fundamental and sweeping. Their general nature is indicated at the outset, in article 2, which declares that "the territory of the Reich consists of the territories of the German lands." The choice of the name "lands" instead of states, as formerly, shows the smaller importance and lesser degree of self-government assigned to them. All the oldReservatrechteor special rights reserved by several states under the monarchy[71]are done away with. The federal government assumes the exclusive right of legislation concerning foreign relations, post, telegraphs,and telephones, coinage, immigration and emigration, and customs duties.

[71]Videp. 21.

It reserves to itself further the right to enact uniform civil and criminal codes and procedure, and to legislate regarding the press, associations, the public health, workmen and their protection, expropriation, socialization, trade, commerce, weights and measures, the issue of paper currency, banks and bourses, mining, insurance, shipping, railways, canals and other internal waterways, theaters and cinematographs. "In so far as there is necessity for uniform regulations," the Reich may legislate concerning the public welfare and for the protection of the public order and security.

The Reich reserves further the right to establish basic principles of legislation affecting religious associations, schools, manufacture, real estate, burial and cremation. It can also prescribe the limits and nature of the laws of the lands (states) affecting taxation, in so far as this may be necessary to prevent a reduction of the national income or a prejudicing of the Reich in its commercial relations, double taxation, the imposition of excessive fees which burden traffic, import taxes against the products of other states when such taxes constitute an unfair discrimination, and export premiums.

The constitution takes from the states the power to collect customs and excises. The federal government is empowered to exercise a direct control in the various lands over all matters falling under its competence. Not only are all the things enumerated above, and many more, reserved to the Reich, but there is no provision conferring expressly any powers whatever on the lands. Nor is there any provision reserving to the states powers not expressly reserved to the Reich or expressly prohibited to the states. Article 12, the only provision along this line, states merely that "so long and in so far as the Reich makes no use of its law-giving powers, the lands retain the right of legislating. This does not apply to legislation reserved exclusively to the Reich."

Article 13 provides that "the law of the Reich takes precedence over the law of the lands." In case of a disagreement between state and federal government as to whether a statelaw is in conflict with a federal law, an issue can be framed and placed before a federal supreme court. Preuss and some of his supporters wanted a provision expressly conferring upon the Supreme Court at Leipsic such power to rule on the constitutionality of legislation as has been assumed by the United States Supreme Court, but their views did not prevail.

The President of the Reich is elected by the direct vote of all Germans, male and female, who have attained the age of twenty. The term of office is seven years, and there is no limit to the number of terms for which the same President may be elected. Every German who has reached the age of thirty-five is eligible for the Presidency. There is no requirement that he be a natural born citizen, nor even as to the length of time that he must have been a citizen. A limitation of eligibility to natural born citizens, as in the United States constitution, was considered, but was rejected, mainly because it was expected at the time the constitution was adopted that Austria would become a German land, and such a provision would have barred all living Austrians from the Presidency. There was also opposition on general principles from the internationalists of the Left, the most extreme of whom would as soon see a Russian or a Frenchman in the President's chair as a German.

Articles 45 and 46, defining the powers of the President, take over almost bodily articles 11 and 18 of the imperial constitution, which defined the powers of the Kaiser. Like the Kaiser, the President "represents the Reich internationally"; receives and accredits diplomatic representatives; concludes treaties with foreign powers; appoints civil servants and officers of the army and navy, and is commander-in-chief of the country's military and naval forces. In only one important respect are the President's apparent powers less than the Kaiser's were: war can be declared and peace concluded only by act of the Reichstag and Reichsrat. Under the monarchy, a declaration of war required only the assent of the Federal Council and even this was not required if the country had been actually invaded by an enemy. The President has no power of veto over legislation, but he can orderthat any law be submitted to the people by referendum before it can go into effect. He can dissolve the Reichstag at any time, as could the Kaiser, but only once for the same reason—a limitation to which the Kaiser was not subject. He has the general power to pardon criminals. He can, if public safety and order be threatened, temporarily suspend most of the provisions of the constitution regarding freedom of speech and of the press, the right of assembly, the secrecy of postal and wire communications, freedom of organization, security against search and seizure in one's own dwelling, etc.

All these provisions appear to confer very extensive powers upon the President. His appointments of diplomatic representatives do not require the assent of a legislative body. He appoints his own Chancellor and, upon the latter's recommendation, the ministers of the various departments, also without requiring the assent of the legislative body. By referring a legislative enactment to a referendum vote he exercises what is in effect a suspensive veto.

Two articles of the constitution, however, render all these powers more or less illusory. Article 50 provides:

"All orders and decrees of the President, including those affecting the country's armed forces, require for their validity to be countersigned by the Chancellor or the competent minister. The official who countersigns accepts thereby the responsibility for the order or decree in question."

A similar provision in the American constitution would be of no importance, for the members of the cabinet are not responsible to either the people or the Congress for their acts. Once appointed, there is no way of getting rid of them against the will of the President, no matter how inefficient or even harmful they may be to the best interests of the country. The German constitution confers much more effective power upon the people and the people's representatives. Its article 54 provides:

"The Chancellor and the ministers of the Reich require the confidence of the Reichstag for the conduct of their offices. Any one of them must resign if the Reichstag, by express decision, withdraws its confidence from him."

It is readily apparent that the President's powers aregreatly limited by these two articles. As against a hostile Reichstag he is all but powerless. The Chancellor or other member of the government required to countersign orders or decrees knows in advance that such countersigning means his own official suicide if the matter be one in which a majority of the Reichstag is at odds with the President. It is apparent from a study of the proceedings of the National Assembly and its constitutional committee that it was intended to give the President independent powers in respect of two important matters—the dissolution of the Reichstag and the suspensive veto by appeal to the people—but article 50 says unqualifiedly that "all" orders and decrees must be countersigned.

The legislative functions of the Reich are vested in the Reichstag and the Reichsrat, or Council of the Reich, which succeeds the Federal Council of the monarchy. The members of the Reichstag are elected by direct vote of the people for a term of four years, after the proportional election system. The Reichstag must convene for the first time not later than thirty days after the election, which must be held on a Sunday or a public holiday, and the election for the succeeding Reichstag must be held within sixty days from the date of the expiration or dissolution of the preceding one. It convenes regularly on the first Wednesday of every November. The President of the Reichstag must call an extraordinary session at the demand of the President of the Reich or when a third of the members of the Reichstag itself demand it.

All the constitution's provisions regarding the Reichstag indicate the determination of the framers of the instrument to make it a thoroughly representative, independent body of great dignity. The deputies are clothed with more far-reaching immunities than is the case in most countries, and in addition to that there is a specific provision extending to them the right to refuse to reveal, even in court proceedings, any matters communicated to them in their capacity as members of the Reichstag.

There is a provision for a standing committee on foreign affairs, which may hold sessions at any time and holds officeafter the expiration of the members' terms or after dissolution of the Reichstag until the succeeding Reichstag convenes. It is expressly provided that the sessions of this committee shall not be public unless two-thirds of the members vote at any particular time to hold a public session. This provision, adopted by a body, the majority of whose members were outspoken opponents of secret diplomacy, is not without interest. It would seem to be a tacit admission that preliminary negotiations between nations cannot always be carried on advantageously in public.

The Federal Council was, under the monarchy, the chief bulwark of the princes, whose representatives, not the people's, its members were.[72]In the new Reichsrat, the successor of the Federal Council, the various lands are represented "by members of their governments."[73]These are the cabinet ministers of the respective states. The Weimar constitution provides that such ministers shall be directly responsible to the diets of their respective lands, in like manner as the members of the federal government are responsible to the Reichstag. Hence, although chosen indirectly, being named, as under the imperial constitution, by their respective state governments, they are nevertheless subject to constant, effective control by the people's representatives, who can remove them at any time by a simple vote of lack of confidence.

[72]Videp. 22.

[73]Weimar constitution, art. 63.

Each state is entitled to send at least one representative to the Reichsrat. The larger states are entitled to one representative for each 700,000 inhabitants, and a remainder of at least 350,000 entitles them to one additional member. It is provided, however, that Prussia may not have more than two-fifths of the entire number of representatives.[74]TheReichsrat consists of sixty-six members, apportioned as follows:

Prussia, 26; Bavaria, 10; Saxony, 7; Wurtemberg, 4; Baden, 3; Thuringia, 2; Hesse, 2; Hamburg, 2; Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 1; Oldenburg, 1; Brunswick, 1; Anhalt, 1; Bremen, 1; Lippe, 1; Lübeck, 1; Mecklenburg-Strelitz, 1; Waldeck, 1; Schaumburg-Lippe, 1.

[74]Original drafts of the constitution, as well as the provisional constitution adopted in February, provided that no state should have more than one-third of the total number. Prussia, with four-sevenths of the total population of Germany, successfully opposed this attempt to reduce her representation so disproportionately. She was, however, compelled to accept a provision that half her representatives should be appointed by the state government and the other half by the provincial governments. In the other lands the state government appoints all the representatives.

The fifth section of the constitution containing articles 68 to 77 inclusive, is devoted to the legislative functions of the Reich. Article 68 reads:

"Bills are proposed by the government of the Reich[75]or by the members of the Reichstag.

[75]"The government of the Reich" or "the Reich government" means the Chancellor and all the ministers of his cabinet.

"The laws of the Reich are enacted by the Reichstag."

While the Reichsrat cannot directly propose legislative measures, however, it can compel the government to submit to the Reichstag measures drafted by it. If the government be in disagreement with the Reichsrat, it must accompany its submission with a statement of its attitude toward the measure in question. The Reichsrat, while it cannot take any positive part in enacting legislation, has the right to vote disapproval of any measure enacted by the Reichstag, and such disapproval acts as a suspensive veto. In such case, the measure goes back to the Reichstag. If the Reichstag reenacts it by a two-thirds majority, the President of the Reich must duly proclaim the law within three months or else order a popular referendum. If a smaller majority than two-thirds again votes in favor of the measure, the President may order a referendum within three months thereafter. If he fail to do this, the measure is lost.[76]

[76]This seems to be the sole instance in which the President possesses any real, independent power. In such a case it would be possible for him to ally himself with the Reichsrat against both Reichstag and government, for he cannot be compelled to order a referendum.

The express approval by the Reichsrat of proposed legislation is not required for its enactment. It must express its disapproval within two weeks after an act has been passed finally by the Reichstag; if it fail to do so, the act becomes law.

One is again impressed by the importance assigned to the Reichstag, the direct creation of the people. The national government is responsible to it, as is also the President through the provision that all his decrees must be countersigned by a member of the government. A two-thirds majority of the Reichstag can overrule the Reichsrat, and the same number can impeach the President or any member of the government, or even submit directly to the people the question as to whether the President shall be recalled. Its decision to hold such a referendum automatically inhibits the President from exercising any of the functions of his office.

It is the people themselves, however, to whom the supreme power is given, or, perhaps better expressed, who have reserved the supreme power for themselves by extensive provisions for referendum and initiative. In addition to the provisions for referendum already referred to, the President can decree, within one month after its passage, that any law enacted by the Reichstag shall be referred to the people.

The law-giving powers delegated to the Reichstag can also be exercised directly by the people. One-twentieth of the registered voters can require that a referendum be held on any Reichstag enactment against whose formal proclamation as law at least one-third of the Reichstag members shall have protested. One-tenth of the registered voters can present the draft of a legislative measure and demand that it be referred to a general election. The Reichstag can prevent the holding of such a referendum only by adopting the proposed measure unchanged. Enactments of the Reichstag can be declared invalid by referendum only by the vote of a majority of a majority of all registered voters. Only the President can order that a referendum be held on the national budgets, customs and taxation, and salaries of officials and civil servants. No initiative is possible as to these things.

The people's initiative was one of the various concessions to the Socialists of which more will be said later. It was not contemplated by the framers of the original drafts of the constitution and was introduced at a late period in the deliberations.

The provisions regulating the amendment of the constitution are more definite than those of the United States constitution, and they also make it possible for the voters to make their will known by the democratic method of the direct ballot.[77]Amendments originating with the Reichstag or government may be adopted by the same procedure as is prescribed for ordinary legislative measures, except that two-thirds of two-thirds of all members, i.e., four-ninths of the whole house, must vote for them.[78]A tenth of the registered voters of the country may present a draft of a proposed amendment, as is provided for ordinary bills, and this amendment must be referred to a vote of the people unless the Reichstag adopt it unchanged. For the adoption of an amendment by referendum the affirmative vote of a majority of the registered voters is required.[79]

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