tion of functions relating to the affairs of the state as a whole (Staatsgeschäfte) from those relating only to matters of a local nature. In the circle, as will appear, the two sets of functions are discharged by the same body of officials; in the district, the functions performed are wholly of a national, rather than a local, character. But in the province there are not merely two sets of functions but two separate groups of officials. For the administration of affairs of national interest, such as police, education, and religion, the authorities within the province are (1) the Oberpräsident, or chief president, appointed by the central government to represent it in matters which concern the entire province or reach beyond the jurisdiction of a single Regierungsbezirk administration, and (2) the Provinzialrath, a provincial council consisting of, besides the Oberpräsident or his representative as presiding officer, one professional member appointed for an indefinite tenure by the Minister of the Interior at Berlin and five ordinary citizen members elected, usually for a term of six years, by the provincial Ausschuss, or committee. The Oberpräsident is the immediate agent of the ministry, as is the prefect in France; none the less, by virtue of the fact that most of his acts are valid only after having received the assent of a body whose members are largely chosen within the province, his authority is not quite absolute.

By the side of this official group stands another, quite independent of it, for the control of affairs of purely local concern. Its organs comprise: (1) the Provinzialausschuss, or provincial committee, consisting of from seven to fourteen members elected for six years by the provincial Landtag, not necessarily, but almost invariably, from its own membership; (2) a Landeshauptmann or Landesdirektor, a salaried executive official elected by the Landtag for six or twelve years and confirmed by the crown; and (3) the Provinziallandtag, or provincial assembly. The Landeshauptmann is the executive, the Provinzialausschuss the consultative, organ of local self-administration; the ProvinzialLandtag is the provincial legislature. Members of the Landtag are elected for six years (one-half retiring every three years) by the diets of the circles, and they are, as a rule, local administrative officials of the circles, large landowners, and other wellto-do persons. Meetings are called at least every two years. The Landtag's functions include the supervision of charities, highways, and industry; the voting of local taxes and the apportionment of them among the circles; the enactment of local laws; the custody of provincial property; the election of the Landes

hauptmann and the members of the provincial committee; and the giving of advice on provincial matters at the request of the central government.

Local Government: Minor Areas. Each province is divided into Regierungsbezirke, or districts, of which there were in 1918 thirty-six. Unlike the province, the district exists for purposes of general administration only. It therefore has no organs of selfgovernment. Its Regierung, or "administration," consists of a body of professional, salaried officials, appointed by the central government and having at its head the Regierungspräsident, who is, on the whole, the most important official in the Prussian local service. The subjects that fall within the jurisdiction of the Regierung, including taxation, education, religion, forests, etc., are very comprehensive, and the work of administration is carried on chiefly through "colleges," or boards. For the management of police and the supervision of local bodies there exists a Bezirksausschuss, or district committee, composed of the Regierungspräsident, two other persons appointed by the central government, and four members elected by the Provinzialausschuss for six years. A very important function of this body since 1883 is that of sitting, under the presidency of one of its members appointed for his judicial qualifications, as the administrative court of the district.

In the Kreis, or circle, as in the province, there are two sharply distinguished sets of governmental functions, the general and the local; but for the administration of both there is a single hierarchy of officials. The number of circles was in 1918 about 490, with populations varying from 20,000 to 80,000. Each includes all towns lying within it which have a population of less than 25,000. A town of over 25,000 is likely to be created, by ministerial order, a circle within itself, in which case the functions of government are exercised by the municipal authorities. The essential organs of government within the Landkreise, or country circles, are three: the Landrath, the Kreisausschuss, and the Kreistag. The Landrath is appointed for life by the central government, frequently on nomination by the Kreistag, or diet. He superintends all administrative affairs, general and local, within the circle; fulfills the functions of chief of police; presides over the Kreisausschuss and Kreistag; and, in general, occupies within the circle the place occupied within the province by the Oberpräsident. Associated with him, and organized under his presidency, is the Kreisausschuss, or circle committee, composed of six unofficial members elected by the Kreistag for six

years. In addition to its consultative functions, the Kreisausschuss sits as an administrative court of lowest grade.

The Kreistag is the legislative body of the circle. Its members, numbering at least twenty-five, are elected for a term of six years by three Verbände, or colleges, the first being made up of the cities, the second of the large rural taxpayers, the third of a complicated group of rural interests in which the smaller taxpayers and delegates of the communal assemblies preponderate. The Kreistag is a body of substantial importance. It chooses, directly or indirectly, all the elective officials of the circle, of the district, and of the province; it creates local officers and regulates their functions. It enacts legislation of a local nature; and it votes the taxes required for both its own and the provincial administration.

The smallest of Prussian governmental units is the Gemeinde, or commune.1 Of communes there are two distinct types, the rural (Landgemeinde) and the urban (Stadtgemeinde). The governments of the rural communes (some 36,000 in number up to 1918) are so varied that any general description of them is impossible. They rest largely upon local custom, although reduced at some points to a reasonable uniformity under. regulating statutes such as were enacted for the communes of eight of the twelve provinces in the Landgemeinde-Ordnung of 1891.2 There is invariably an elective Schulze, or chief magistrate. He is assisted ordinarily by from two to six aldermen (Schöffen) or councilors. And there is generally a governing body (Gemeindevertretung), composed of elected representatives, when there are as many as forty qualified electors, otherwise the people acting in the capacity of a primary assembly (Gemeindeversammlung), - for the decision of matters relating to local schools, churches, highways, and similar interests. It is to be observed, however, that most of the rural communes are so small that they have neither the financial resources nor the administrative ability to maintain a government of much virility. Such action as is taken within them is almost invariably taken with the approval of, and under the guidance of, the authorities of the circle, principally the Landrath.

In their governmental arrangements the urban communes are more uniform than the rural ones. The usual authorities

1 The Amtsbezirk is essentially a judicial district. In the eastern provinces it is utilized also for purposes of police administration.

2 For an annotated edition of this important instrument see F. Keil, Die Landgemeinde-Ordnung (Leipzig, 1890).

are: (1) a Stadtrath, an executive body consisting of a burgomaster and a number of assistants, elected for six, nine, or twelve years, or even for life, and (2) a Stadtverordnete, or municipal council, chosen for from three to six years, as a rule by an electorate identical with that which returns the members of the lower branch of the Prussian Landtag.1

1 On Prussian local government see Lowell, Governments and Parties, I, 308-333; Goodnow, Comparative Administrative Law, I, 295–338; and Ashley, Local and Central Government, 125-186, 263-287. Fuller accounts are H. G. James, Principles of Prussian Administration (New York, 1913); Schulze, Das preussische Staatsrecht, I, 436-538; K. Stengel, Organisation der preussischen Verwaltung, 2 vols. (Berlin, 1884); C. Bornhak, Preussisches Staatsrecht, 3 vols. (Freiburg, 188890), and Hue de Grais, Handbuch der Verfassung und Verwaltung in Preussen, etc. (17th ed., Berlin, 1906). Texts of local government acts are printed in G. Anschutz, Organisationsgesetze der innern Verwaltung in Preussen (Berlin, 1897). The best description in English of Prussian municipal government is Munro, Government of European Cities, 109-208. A good brief sketch is Ashley, Local and Central Government, 153–164. The best account in German is H. Kapplemann, “Die Verfassung und Verwaltungsorganisation der preussischen Städte,” in Schriften des Vereins für Sozialpolitik (Leipzig, 1905-08), vols. cxvii-cxix. Mention may be made of A. Shaw, Municipal Government in Continental Europe (New York, 1895), Chaps. v-vi; E. J. James, Municipal Administration in Germany (Chicago, 1901); and Leclerc, "La Vie municipale en Prusse," in Ann. de l'École Libre des Sci. Polit., Oct., 1888. For an extended bibliography see Munro, op. cit., 389–395.

CHAPTER XXXVII

POLITICAL FORCES AND PARTY ALIGNMENTS TO 1914

The Survival of Absolutism. For a generation before the Great War Germany was a paradox among nations. Her population had risen since 1870 from forty millions to sixtyseven millions; her advance in industry and trade, and her growth in wealth, had been phenomenal; she had outdistanced most, if not all, of the world in the application of science to manufacturing and agriculture; she had been the pioneer in most forms of social legislation; her scholarship was, in many fields, unsurpassed; her achievements in music, art, and literature commanded the world's admiration. But alongside these evidences of enlightenment and progress stood one of the most antiquated and illiberal governmental systems on earth. Not that the forms of liberalism were altogether lacking. "Whoever," says a former American ambassador to Germany, "will take in hand the constitution of the German Empire and read it merely as a document will be surprised, if not already familiar with its contents, at the façade of liberalism that presents itself. . . . Ninety-nine one-hundredths of the Imperial constitution could be transcribed into the constitution of the most democratic federal state without serious criticism." Nor yet was there any lack of orderliness and efficiency in public administration. Not even the Roman government in its best days, nor the British government of later times, executed law, controlled finance, managed the armed forces, and held the allegiance of its subjects with greater success. Enough has been said in preceding chapters, however, to make it plain that while the German people may have had orderly, efficient, and even "scientific" government, this government was not of their own making, and was not under their control. Autocracy was the price they paid for their economic and social advantages; and, as will be pointed out presently, when the war came on in 1914 there were accumulating evidences that they had begun to regard the price as too great.

1 D. J. Hill, Impressions of the Kaiser (New York, 1918), 6.