Show BERLIN LETTER it is a feature of great interest to note nofe the anxiety with which the outside world looks towards this portion of the globe and to read the highly colored articles political and neou political that fill the columns of foreign newspapers germany plays an important role in the world Is drama at present but it is amusing to note how much more the world at large is agitated over affairs here than this people arf are themselves in reading over the reports of the different papers concerning the 1st ast of may I 1 find them as varying as the different imaginations of the several reporters could paint them and that most of them thein were w ere greatly exaggerated goes without saying I 1 passed that day in this city but for the life of me I 1 could find nothing of a startling nature the day passed off without demonstration those who work went into the surrounding resorts and spent the day quietly yand and pleasurably of course they forfeited the their r positions thereby but no rioting nor anything of a alike like nature was indulged in as the outside world evidently looked for neither were those sensible people who preferred to work rather than lose their places molested in the least the right was given to the workman to make a holiday of the first of the month if he saw fit but also was the prerogative given to his employer tu discharge him if he chose and the fhe employer was up held in this by the strong arm of bf the law the genial countenance of the ex bismarck has not been seen in this city since the day he took his departure nor according to his own word will we ever see him in berlin again it was with the profoundest adest regret that his friends grasped him by the hand probably for the last time it was a pathetic scene and will remain fresh indefinitely in the minds of thomb who witnessed it let us hope that for the benefit he has rendered to his country gratitude commensurate willever will ever be accorded him for no one denies the vast this illustrious man has done those who saw the demonstration that took place when he bid berlin adieu were forced to say 11 druly he is beloved respected and boli lio nored ored by the people now on the other hand band see what the herd has to say recently i in a talking over the condition of affairs here at the time of Bis marcks resignation a gentleman said to me 1 I thank god that bismarck has gone why so I 1 asked in astonishment ment because said he he is no friend to the working man he takes tro fro u i the poor an anti d gives to the rich and has taxed everything to such an enormous degree that the ordinary necessities of life are almost beyond the reach of the laborer no indeed Bia Blis marca has been no friend nor benefactor of the poor and certainly they form the majority Jorl jo rity ty and we express no regret that he is gone these remarks surprised me much for I 1 had always understood him to be too much respected to give place t to the above however I 1 find this sentiment widespread without doubt it will be read with some degree of astonishment by many people that the common necessities of life here are dearer than in america for example meat costs 20 to 25 cents per lb ib and the best cuts 30 acts while flour costs 5 to aj 5 acts per lb ib and potatoes 50 acts a bushel coffee averages from 35 to 40 acts and sugar 10 to 12 acts think of it in this land of extremely low wages exorbitant taxes and high rent then you can form forin a faint idea of how these millions of poverty stricken people live this is all laid at the door of bismarck and if he be to blame who is it that wonders why the people are discontented with his administration this was not the condition of the people iu in days past and with those times fresh in remembrance mem brance they clamor furiously against the extortionate in hamburg not long since the people enjoyed a free government with no taxation but through bismarck s instrumentality that city was brought under the yoke of or the government and heavy taxes placed upon her wares few indeed are the friends of the ex minister in that city the pertinent question at once arises in ill the minds of many why this apparently unnecessary taxation and where does this vast revenue go the answer may be embodied in three words to the army the fact is indisputable that germany has the finest army in the known world to day equipped with all the latest and best beat modern inventions vent ions that science has devised trained in all the tactics of war elevated to a plane of perfection a wonderment to the world it is not denied the great bismarck the praise due him and it is much in bringing the soldiery to such a high standard of excellence to say nothing of the vital interests of his country that he has guarded with a jealous eye and her important movements conducted with a master hand but with all his greatness his ability and his foresight he has failed utterly to 1 bring aring contentment tent ment and peace to the hearts of the people their groans are heard throughout the length and breadth of the land and the strongest heart is now moved to compassion when contemplating the abject misery and want of the great masses poverty and crime go stalking hand einband in hand throughout the broad expanse of the empire and shocking beyond expression are the crimes they perpetrate pe but why criticise criticism critic ise this venerable states statesman nian and endeavor to bring to light his weak sides la Is it not better to praise him for the vast good he has done and let the mistakes as some please to term them pass by it is a trait of the human character to slander and calumniate as soon as a public man is out of office but scarcely a syllable Is heard as long as that officer holds the power in his hands bands bismarck is oue one of the greatest lights of the nineteenth century and a man who has certainly loved his country with a passion that characterizes that of a chalu for its parent his whole life has been devoted to his count rys cause but never to his own aggrandizement whose record is a brighter one as a soldier a diplomat or a statesman his virtues are as numerous as his characteristics all stamped with genuineness and true worth upon the face of them following is an extract from DOS dail deutsche blatt revealing several pleasing features of his bis magnanimity the matin brings a six column article of henri des houx who has been a two days guest of prince bismarck according to the art article auie bismarck said that in 1867 atthe at the declaration of war against france they endeavored to urge chiminto him into action at once because at that time the french armament was in a very bad condition he opposed this measure as later after the war also the appropriation of metz as indemnity and also was he against the taking of strassburg bismarck said that he contrary to the reports had never spoken with emperor napoleon in biarritz Biar ritz over important political questions he said further that they would with pleasure have given emperor napoleon his hia freedom after his cap at sedan but the French frenchman mah 1 preferred detention bismarck Bis marcks Is assurance that germany will never attack france made upon his guest a very quieting meting battered latt impression and how it nattered ered houx that bismarck commended organizing ability and I 1 praised carlots Carn journey to corsica the island of bonaparte as a 1 great political move 1 the paris camila dreyfus now publishes as a pamphlet entitled rhe fhe necessary war that he denotes as an answer ol 01 of a frenchman to bismark he says paris is only twelve and 1 i berlin thirty days march from the frontier he declares it an 1 economical peces necessity sity to break the i eleventh article of the peace treaty ot of frankfort and shows that frante france 1 has since 1871 paid out 15 billion 1 francs for her army and can pursue i this course no longer consequent ly war must be declared france continues he is sure of three things first of Rus russians dussias sias aid see sec ond that she is stronger than germany and third that europe in case france wins will forgive her ber for the ap having begun war he closes his 47 p ige argument with the following we declare the warl war the opportune hour has comel come two years ago would have been too soon in two years it will be too late this pamphlet only speaks the mind of the fanatic it has no political significance report has it here that it received a very cool disapproving reception in france no Fre frenchman is willing to take the responsibility rt of a rupture of 1 1 the treaty of peace nor is it a certainty that russia would give her hand to france for she has her own vital interests to guard from foes lurking on every side DOS blatt says that emperor alexander is the judge of peace and war in europe the tract of dreyfus will have no bad effect and his only object was to create alarm the trance france th thinks inks it not necessary to have a war neither does it follow that france must make the first move only one paper in france coincides with dreyfus and that is the Jono Uon arde carde Bou langers organ A great majority of people are loud in their denunciation of bismarck for keeping such a vigilant watch over the army and its interests and evincing so little interest for the welfare of the people but right on the top of his resignation comes the news from governmental headquarters that thearty the army is to be increased to five hundred and forty thousand men mein with officers approaching pro aching twenty thousand now this simply means the addition of something over seventy five thousand men and as a matter mevit ablean enormous additional expense saddled on the already averbu overburden d people does this look like the load woula be made lighter or the burden easier to bear the actions of the present minister art ar watched eagerly and much interest is evinced on the part of Bis marcks friends to see how much better the Reicho kanzier von ca will discharge his important duties than his illustrious predecessor has done some fears are expressed for von capri vis ability to unweave the tangled web of politics as it now exists a and nd uis it Is whispered around that as h contemplates his prodigious task his heart almost fails him lest he should not dot succeed JR JB BERLIN may 15 1890 |