. These regular police officials are paid and entirely controlled by the government; they act independently of the local authorities, and, indeed, often in opposition to them. In the smaller towns and villages of any size, their place is taken by the humbler "Ortsdiener." He, too, is adorned with a swgrd and a uniform, handsome in itself, if not al ways in the highest state of preservation; and is often a somewhat elderly, spectacled, and benevolent looking gentleman, whose rule is probably, on the whole, easy-going and paternal, and who is not above smoking the social cigar and indulging in friendly gossip on his rounds. If we now turn to the duties undertaken by the police, we shall find that their range is as wide as it is various, and includes sev eral matters which, as I have said, hardly come within the cognizance of the Ameri can police at all. The head of the police force in a large town is indeed an important officer. He is usually a man of good fam ily, who has served the state in various capacities, and qualified himself after the thorough-going German fashion, by all man ner of examinations in law, jurisprudence, and what not, for his present office. He may have served for a time as a judge, as as an official of a provincial government, or in any of the hundred and one branches of state officialism. And it is quite necessary that he should be highly qualified, for much of his work requires tact, experience, and skill of a high order. He has, in fact, to represent the central government in all things. We may take the instance of the expulsion of the Queen of Servia from Ger many as a case in point. There the local police president was charged with all the negotiations, and exceedingly well he ap pears to have carried out what must have been a very delicate and a very disagreeable duty. The president sometimes comes into col lision with the " patres conscripti," who are, perhaps, not more free from human failings
than in some other countries that might be named. These differences of opinion arise on very various questions—often in the mat ter of licenses for houses of public entertain ment, where the police have to see that the statutory regulations as to space, etc., are duly insisted on by the local licensing authority, which is sometimes disposed to undue leniency. Or, again, to mention a recent case, the police lay before the town council a recommendation that all owners of houses let in flats should be required to properly light the public staircase during the dark hours. It must be remembered, in this connection, that the "concierge" is un known in Germany; in most of these houses anyone who goes in or out after dark has to grope his way as best he can. Accidents from this cause are not uncommon. The suggestion would seem obvious and reason able enough, but the conscript fathers did not see it in that light. Being most of them owners of house property themselves, the appeal to their pockets was too much for their sense of justice. In this particular in stance the police have not yet carried their point, but will doubtless do so sooner or later. The same kind of paternal super vision is observed in regard to sanitary mat ters, such as house-drainage, removal of re fuse, and water supply. The police utilize their intimate knowledge of local affairs to interfere at the right moment. They also test at intervals all milk sold in the district, and publish the results in the local papers giving the name of each dealer in full, so that adulteration becomes practically impos sible. To mention all the minor details which this many-sided authority takes in charge would prolong this sketch far beyond its limits; but one or two instances may be given. Take, for example, the registration of all arrivals, departures, and changes of residence in a town or district. Woe betide any proprietor of a hotel or pension who neglects to promptly report the arrival and
