Search

The article offers news briefs related to various economic issues in the United States as of 1897. Information on the distribution of small banks in western states of the U.S. is presented. Information on a circular letter and a blank form of elementary economics taught in schools and colleges is presented. The explanation of a law pertaining to street railway passed in the Illinois legislature is also mentioned.

The article discusses the German act against socialism. Organized socialism has been an active force in Germany. By 1877, social democracy had a very perfect organization. It had a central organ with 12,000 subscribers, and a paid corps of agitators. The special act of October 21, 1878, against the organized social democracy which by its terms was to expire on March 31,1881, was renewed four times for short periods. A bill for making it permanent was rejected in the Reichstag, the former legislative assembly of Germany, on January 25, 1890. The day the bill was lost, the Reichstag was dissolved, and the country appealed to against the socialists. The new Reichstag spent all of its first session, from September 9 to October 19, 1878, on the new bill against the socialists. This bill, a much more elaborate affair than the previous one, after many amendments, chiefly in the direction of greater clearness, finally became the act now under consideration. The Reichstag in all recent debates has always insisted on this limitation as a means of control over the administration of the law. The penalties for violating prohibitions under the act are, in general, fines varying from 150 to 1,000 marks, or imprisonment of from one month to a year.