Mention was made in yesterday's leading article of the fact that at the last election in Germany. no fewer than 28 different parties presented themselves for the suffrages of the electorate. This circumstance, which would pro-ably be quite unintelligible to the average British voter, is capable of explanation on the strength of a very interesting theory put forward by German political thinkers. Until 1918 the Germans as a people. did not have to think politically for themselves, for the constitution of the Reich' provided heads which conducted the affairs of the country with only a very slight reference to the desires of the masses. At the fend of 1918 a different system came into vogue, and finding themselves fu possession of - really representative government every man in the country really became a party unto himself. 'The habit of sinking minor differences and unit ing for broad principles has not yet had time to develop, and until does the country will' find itself composed of a large assortment of panties, many of them differing from the others in nothing more than a particular of detail, It is of course, apt to be forgotten that in Great Britain the political system has grown up through very many generations, and by now a working conception of politics might almost be regarded as hereditary. "(itis to be actually so among the Irish). With Germany it is quite different, and in the case of other countries the absence of this tradition and experience is yet more Pronounced. Noting these, can it be said to be any surprise that China has made such a mess of being a republic?
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.