to tell the German how to
cross it. Were there no policeman there, he would probably sit down and
wait till the river had passed by. At the railway station the policeman
locks him up in the waiting-room, where he can do no harm to himself.
When the proper time arrives, he fetches him out and hands him over to
the guard of the train, who is only a policeman in another uniform. The
guard tells him where to sit in the train, and when to get out, and sees
that he does get out. In Germany you take no responsibility upon
yourself whatever. Everything is done for you, and done well. You are
not supposed to look after yourself; you are not blamed for being
incapable of looking after yourself; it is the duty of the German
policeman to look after you. That you may be a helpless idiot does not
excuse him should anything happen to you. Wherever you are and whatever
you are doing you are in his charge, and he takes care of you--good care
of you; there is no denying this.

If you lose yourself, he finds you; and if you lose anything belonging to
you, he recovers it for you. If you don't know what you want, he tells
you. If you want anything that is good for you to have, he gets it for
you. Private lawyers are not needed in Germany. If you want to buy or
sell a house or field, the State makes out the conveyance. If you have
been swindled, the State takes up the case for you. The State marries
you, insures you, will even gamble with you for a trifle.

"You get yourself born," says the German Government to the German
citizen, "we do the rest. Indoors and out of doors, in sickness and in
health, in pleasure and in work, we will tell you what to do, and we will
see to it that you do it. Don't you worry yourself about anything."

And the German doesn't. Where there is no policeman to be found, he
wanders about till he comes to a police notice posted on a wall. This he
reads; then he goes and does what it says.

I remember in one German town--I forget which; it is immaterial; the
incident could have happened in any--noticing an open gate leading to a
garden in which a concert was being given. There was nothing to prevent
anyone who chose from walking through that gate, and thus gaining
admittance to the concert without paying. In fact, of the two gates
quarter of a mile apart it was the more convenient. Yet of the crowds
that passed, not one attempted to enter by that gate. They plodded
steadily on under a blazing