The Daily News. AN EMPEROR IN DISTRESS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 167, 14 January 1914, Page 4

The Daily News. AN EMPEROR IN DISTRESS.

It used to be said that there was 110 prospect of attention being paid to the safety of the travelling public until a ■ railway director had been killed in an accident, anil to-day it is a couunon saving tiliat 'the best Jiope for improvement in: local lmftlLly roads M When councillors are seen (literally) "moving ini the matter." So we may hope there is a near prospect of something being done to mitigate the excessive increase in the eoist of living when we fiml Emperors - complaining that their salaries are insullieient for tlitir proper maintenance. | English bank clerks, the. cable informs lis, Slave tihis year been granted ''increases' of tsakriy, on account of the increased cost of living; and we are also informed that the Emperor of Germany, ii nlding it difficult to make both ends meet, ia contemplating tlie sale of one or more of his many residences. The Kaiser might well do so, for it is stated that he has no fewer than forty-five castles, palace, 'hunting lodges, opera lionises and theatres. It is estimated that 1500 person's are employed at the Uoval theatres and opera houses, and due dill'erence between tlie box ollice receipts «iul the heavy expenses arc met by tlie Kaiser himself. The income from the Kaiser's private holdings were said to have largely decreased last year on account of the industrial depression. How serious this depression is may be gauged by the fact that, ill November last there were about 80,000 unemployed in Berlin alone. Several meetings ; called, by the Socialist I'arty to consider the distress were attended by over 111,000 persons, and .resolutions were, passed calling upon the Reichslag to appoint a committee to solve the prob-" lem, and asking the (iovcrnmciit to proceed with public worM in order to keep j workmen and 'their families from starvi {tit ion. It was reported'at these niceCi iugs that many' law-abiding working men and women were being- driven to crime and were sinking to a level from which they might never rise. It is not to be supposed that the Kaiser liinuclf has been reduced to such desperate straits; but it is :.-tiid that ho, hn.s aged very much during 1913 and shows signs of care as well as feebleness. lie is, however, about the best-paid ruler in the world. His allowance was three years ago (in response to 'his personal appeal) raised to £OOO,OOO a j'ror, and the addition of a further sum of £140,000 a year, which is given to him as an I act o£ grace, makes his annual income ; | £1,100,000. As he is now again complaining of beinlg in financial straps, it can be imagined bow lavish his expenditure is. It is calculated thai lie spent a quarter of a million last year in connection with the marriage of his dauglij tcr. The fact that the people of Cler-

ninny, from laborer to Emperor, sire feeling the pinch of 'hard times may do something to awaken them to the truth about martini preparations. The enormous expenditure on the army ami navy is so much wealth thrown into the lire; ami the increased burden of taxation Urns necessitated leads inevitably to efforts of all kinds of people to recoup themsevos. Ho wages sire forced up, 'and in sympathy rents and prices of all commodities go up also—but always a little higher than wages. It is devoutly to be hoped that this process will he cheeked before (he people, in sheer desperation, are goaded into a. war m aggression as the only apparent means of restoring the 'balance. The true courat is to call a halt in the enormous expenditure on warships ami armament; hut the leaders of Ceruuui opinion declare that this must not be, so the insane process has to go on, even though it should bankrupt the nation. Truly, ''whom the god's wish to destroy tlicv first drive mad."