Our Enemies in Council: A Sitting of the Reichstag in Berlin

A wireless message received from Berlin says that the Reichstag has reassembled, with its usual aspect of similar great days. Practically all the foreign diplomats staying in Berlin were present at the opening, and the galleries were crowded. The Reichstag, or Imperial Diet, consists of 397 members, who are elected for five years by universal suffrage. Vote is by ballot, and one member is elected by approximately every 150,000 inhabitants. The Emperor has the right of proroguing and dissolving the Reichstag, but the prorogation must not exceed sixty days, and in the case of dissolution new elections must be ordered and a new session opened within ninety days. All laws for the regulation of the Empire must receive the votes of an absolute majority of the Reichstag. Our picture is of the great Hall of the Diet, showing the President's seat, in front of which is the tribune from which members address the house. On each side of the tribune are the seats of the ministers and members of the Federal Council.

The Reichstag in Berlin (left plate)
The Reichstag in Berlin (right plate)

In the course of his speech on 28 September Herr von Bethmann-Hollweg, who may be seen in this pre-war picture to the left of the President's chair, made a violent attack on Great Britain: "The French and British, it is true, have achieved advantages. Our first lines have been pressed back some kilometres. We have also to deplore heavy losses of men and material. That is inevitable in an offensive on such a mighty scale. Heavy and hard is the battle out there on the Somme, nor is the end there in sight. It will cost further sacrifices. Still, another village may be lost, but they will not get through . . . . Great Britain is fighting with an expenditure of strength without example in her history and with methods breaking one international law after the other. Great Britain is amongst all the most egoistic, the fiercest, and most obstinate enemy. The German statesman who would hesitate to use against this enemy every available instrument of battle that will really shorten the war – such a statesman should be hanged."