tutions and our ideals of personal freedom. Their
admiration for England was not always convenient to the German
Government, and was certainly a thorn in the side of the Kaiser.

In 1898 the party published a "Handbook for Social Democratic Voters,"
which contains lengthy explanations of their entire policy. Therein they
justify their opposition to German naval expansion, and while conceding
that naval supremacy is vital and indispensable to England, continue:
"Boundless plans are veiled beneath the Navy Bill (1897). The hotspurs
among the water-patriots dream of a first-class navy which might rival,
yes, even surpass the British fleet.

"For the water-patriots the Navy Bill means an instrument to further
their unlimited _Weltpolitik_ and schemes of conquest; a weapon with
which to realize their mad imaginings of a greater Germany. They desire
to employ it as a tool for their absolutist plans and adventurous world
enterprises.

"It increases the risk of foreign conflicts. At the same time it
brightens the prospects of success of those influential circles
which--impelled by an overpowering impulse to deeds, and inspired by a
diseased longing for prestige--press on from excitement to excitement,
from daring to daring, and from crisis to crisis."

This remarkable prophecy has been verified by history, but with its
realization, the party which made it has been converted to the side of
their former opponents. To-day the Social Democrats are just as hearty
in the desire to see Britain overthrown and British naval supremacy
smashed as is the Kaiser's Government.

No impartial thinker dare deny that the British fleet has been the
principal factor in preventing Europe's subjugation to German autocracy,
and the world to German militarism. Yet the so-called party of freedom
prays earnestly that this fleet may be destroyed. This represents the
tone of their daily Press, and the change of attitude has been proved to
be scientifically correct in various books published by their leaders
during the present year. One of these works will be quoted at
considerable length, because of its importance in showing what the
"pioneers of liberty" wish, may be the end of the "home of liberty." The
work bears the title, "German Social Democracy and the World War;"[90]
its author is a Socialist member of the Reichstag.

[Footnote 90: "Die deutsche Sozialdemokratie und der Weltkrieg," by Dr.
Paul Lensch, published by the Vorwaerts Publishing Ho