NEW REICHSTAG.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1386, 12 March 1912, Page 6

NEW REICHSTAG.

ARMAMENTS QUESTION. MAT LEAD TO ANOTHER ELECTION. The Berlin correspondent of the. "Westminster Gazette,".writing on January 21, says:— A Reichstag with stablo party groupings is no longer possible; and thcro is a growing conviction that tho Reichstag will not last long, because tho Centre, Poles, and Socialists have the Government- at their mercy; and tho impracticable conditions of IDOU have been restored. Tho belief that tho Reichstag will be short-lived is bound up with tho new Armamentßills. The two newspapers which wero first given details of tho Army and Navy proposals both proclaimed Hint if the Bills are rejected or materially altered the Government will immediately dissolve; and ask the country for a Reichstag with a specific mandate to support the experts responsible for national defence. There is no doubt that the Bills will pass, even if two elections, or more, have first to be held. Their abandonment would mean, the abdication of State authority, and would be the completest form of surrender to Parliamentarism, since it would transform the two Defence Ministers into mere executors of the Legislature's will. The Social-Democratic victory will in no wise prevent the Bills going through. On the contrary, the hopo oi cutting down the Socialist-ranks by means of another and patriotic election will make the Government the less inclined for concessions. The position is very similar to that which preceded the Septennato Elections of 1887, when Bismarck at a stroke got through his Army Bill and cut in two the Radical and Socialist parties. New Army Proposals. The several accounts so far published of the new Army proposals do not altogether ngree; but in the main the proposals seem to aim at satisfying the criticism passed a year ago when tho Army Quinquennate Bill (1910-1915) was under discussion. They provido apparently for two new army corps, for the formation of third battalions for regiments at present with only two (these regiments number thirty-two), for providing every infantry regiment With a machine-gun company, for strengthening the cavalry, supplying the artillery with more horses, and increasing the number of light and heavy howitzers. With tho. exception of the two new Army Corps, all these measures were loudly demanded a year ago by retired Generals and other experts; and no concealment of the fact was made that tho demand was then ignored by tho War Office for rensons of economy. Tho two new Army Corps, it is stated, are to bo stationed «t I'reihurg in Baden, and at Allenstein in East Prussia. They arc.-.ttf.be, , c.onstrueted"'QUt*, ofr'the; tkh-d divisions of tho Ist and lith Arriiy Corps, which arc etationcd respectively in East Prussia - and in Baden, tipper Alsace, and Hohenzollern; and also out of the extra (third) .brigades possessed at present by many divisions. Tho special arms of the two new corps will have to be newly created. The peace strength of tho Army, which was raised by 10,875 under 19101915 Quinquennate Law, will not be materially increased by this reform; but the cadres, special arms, train, etc., will henceforth exist for war purposes; and, including the Guards, the Army will have twenty-five corps instead of tho present twenty-three. The Quinquennate Law already provided every infantry brigade with a machinegun company; and tho present proposed increase of a company for every regiment was then loudly demanded. Different accounts aro published as to the intended increaso of tho cavalry. Apparently one reform is the supply of somo Bavarian .regiments with a fifth squadron. General von der Boeck complains that the present supply of cavalry horses is inadequate. Further demands pressed on the Government by unofficial experts are for the better horsing of the field artillery, which was strengthened by eighteen batteries in 1911; a further increase of tho foot artillery; and also an increase of the train. In both of these the Quinquennate Law made increases, which at tho time wero pronounced inadequate. The Superfluous Recruits. In addition to this detailed criticism of tho Army, tho demand continues to grow for some means of utilising tho annual 220,000 iuperlluous recruits. Professor Delbrueck writes in the "Proussische Jahrbuecher," requiring that the peace strength be increased by 30,000 or 40,000 men, and that the Army be restored to a strength equal to 1 per cent, of the population. A bigger army, says Dr. Delbrueck. is raoio useful as defence, even against England, than n. bigger fleet, because it will "frighten off the allies who might join England." General von der Boeek demands that tho present "Ersnetzreserve," to which are at present relegated physically fit but superfluous lncu, no longer 'bereft untrained; but get training for a shorter time than tho Regular Army. Another authority, General von W'rochen, writes that the army is endangered owing to tho insufficiency of officers. Ho calls for one more officer and two or three more nou-eommissioned officers in every comnany. squadron, and battery. A"go3d deal of further criticism is directed against the custom of weakening the strength of old formations in order to provido personnel for new. This last took place under Uie icforms of the Quinquennato Law; and it is threatened again to-day. The critics declare that Germany will soon bo in tho position of Austria, nhere the peace strength of companies falls to ninety. Tho "forward" school of military critics demand that the new third battalions be manned entirely by increasing the annual contingent. This is evidently not the Government's intention, as the frefh Army expenditure is put nt only X 2,500,000.