le anxious, like myself, to see the
show from start to finish.

The Reichstag's decorative scheme is panelled oak and gilt-paint.
The members' seating space spreads fanlike round the floor, with
individual seats and desks exactly like those used by schoolboys,
which is not an inappropriate simile. On the extreme right are the
places of the Conservative-Junker--landowners--Party; to their left
sit, in succession, the Roman Catholic Clericals (who occupy the
exact centre of the floor and are thus known as the _Zentrum_, or
Centre Party). The "Centre" includes many priests, mostly
Rhinelanders and Bavarians. Then come the National Liberals, the
violently anti-British and anti-American Party, the Progressive
People's Party, and the Social Democrats. The latter are on the
"extreme left." That is why they are often so described in reports
of Reichstag proceedings abroad. The Socialists comprise 111 out
of 397 members of the House, so their segment of the fan is the
largest of all. Next in size is the Centre Party, with eighty-five
or ninety seats, the Conservatives, National Liberals, and
Progressives accounting for the rest of the floor in more or less
equal proportions.

The outstanding aspect of the Reichstag is the tribune for
speakers, which faces the floor and is elevated above it some five
or six feet. It is flanked on the right by the Government "table,"
consisting of individual seats and desks for Ministers. In the
centre of the tribune the presiding officer, who is "President,"
not Speaker, of the House, sits. On his left is a row of seats and
desks, like the opposite Government "table," for the members of the
_Federal Council_. The Federal Council, I may remind my readers,
consists of the delegates of the various States of Germany. They
are not elected by the people, but are appointed by the rulers of
the several States. They constitute practically an Imperial Upper
Chamber, and are the real legislative body of the Empire. Bills
require the Federal Council's approval before submission to the
Reichstag.

On so-called "big days" in the Reichstag a host of small fry from
the Departments collects behind the Government and this dominent
Federal Council. The Chancellor, whose place is at the corner of
the Government "table" nearest the President, is always shepherded
by his political aide-de-camp, Dr. Wahnschaffe. There is always a
group of uniformed Army and Navy officers on the tribune, too, and
t