[14] "At a large Berlin meeting a speaker innocently used the word commune (parish), whereupon the police officer in control, thinking only of the Paris Commune, at once dismissed the assembly, and a thousand persons had to disperse into the streets disappointed and embittered.... 'Militarism is a terrible mistake,' said a speaker at an election meeting, which legally should have been beyond police power, and at these words, further proceedings were forbidden and several persons were arrested. The Socialist deputy Bebel, in addressing some workingmen on economical questions, said that 'In the textile industry it happens that while the wife is working at the loom, the husband sits at home and cooks dinner,' and the meeting was dismissed immediately."--DAWSON, _Germany and the Germans_, Vol. II, pp. 190-1. [15] DAWSON, _supra cit._, p. 192. [16] _Protokoll des Partei-Tages_, 1890, p. 30. [17] Reichstag debates, April 2, 1886. [18] _Protokoll des Partei-Tages_, 1890, pp. 11-12. [19] For discussion of German industrial insurance, see W.H. DAWSON, _Bismarck and State Socialism_, also J. ELLIS BARKER, _Modern Germany_. [20] R. MEYER, _Der Emancipations-Kampf des Vierten Standes_, p. 475. [21] See Appendix for table showing cost of industrial insurance. In Germany the state owns railways, canals, river transportation, harbors, telephones, telegraph, and parcels post. Banks, insurance, savings banks, and pawnshops are conducted by the state. Municipalities are landlords of vast estates, they are capitalists owning street cars, gas plants, electric light plants, theaters, markets, warehouses. They have hospitals for the sick, shelters for the homeless, soup-houses for the hungry, asylums for the weak and unfortunate, nurseries for the babies, homes for the aged, and cemeteries for the dead. CHAPTER VIII GERMAN SOCIAL DEMOCRACY AND LABOR UNIONS I Before we proceed to describe the present organization of the Social Democratic Party it will be necessary to say a few words about the organization of labor in Germany.[1] There are four kinds of labor unions: the Social Democrat or free unions, the Hirsch-Duncker or radical unions, the Christian or Roman Catholic unions, and the Independent unions. All except the last group have special political significance; and only the Independents confine themselves purely to economic activity. The Socialist unions are called "Reds," the Independents "Yellow," the Christians "Black."