votes for the candidates of the party on the basis of an amicable and peaceful settlement with its capitalist opponents. When the social-democratic representatives in the Landtag and in the municipal commissions—with the laudable exceptions of the Prussian and the Alsatian Landtag—with high sounding references to the existing state of civil peace, voted their approval of the war credits that had been demanded, it only emphasized how completely the party had broken with things as they were before the war. The social-democratic press, with a few exceptions, proclaimed the principle of national unity as the highest duty of the German people. It warned the people not to withdraw their funds from the savings banks lest by so doing they unbalance the economic life of the nation, and hinder the savings banks in liberally buying war-loan bonds. It pleaded with proletarian women that they should spare their husbands at the front the tales of suffering which they and their children were being forced to undergo, to bear in silence the neglect of the government, to cheer the fighting warriors with happy stories of family life and favorable reports of prompt assistance through government agencies. They rejoiced that the educational work that had been conducted for so many years in and through the labor movement had become a conspicuous asset in conducting the war. Something of this spirit the following example will show:
"A friend in need is a friend indeed. This old adage has once more proven its soundness. The social-democratic proletariat that has been prosecuted and clubbed for its opinions went, like one man, to protect our homes. German labor unions that had so often suffered both in Germany and in Prussia report unanimously that the best of their members have joined the colors. Even capitalist papers like the General-Anzeiger note the fact and express the conviction that “these people” will do their duty as well as any man, that blows will rain most heavily where they stand."
"As for us, we are convinced that our labor unionists can do
