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256 nance of the President of the Reich and the Reichswehr Ministry dated Jan. 21 1920. The settlement of the amount of pension or provision to which they might be able to lay claim was reserved.

In accordance with the new constitution of the Reich (Art. 105) the former Military Courts of Honour were abolished, as was the whole system of military jurisdiction, apart from penal proceedings in time of war and on warships in commission. Apart from these courts-martial on land in time of war and in general on sea, criminal cases against members of the army and navy can be tried by the civil courts.

A law of the Reich of May 12 1920 deals with provision for former members of the German forces on land and sea, and with surviving dependents of such in cases where injury or death was incurred in the service. This law applies to claims for pensions or payments arising out of the war. The provision which is made, apart from medical treatment and social aid by means of gratuitous training in a trade or occupation, usually consists in a pension (Rente), the amount of which is regulated in accordance with the disability of the recipient to pursue his calling, and in accordance with the nature of his occupation, the numbers of his family and the place of his residence. The pension for surviving dependents in case of the death of a mem- ber of the army or navy in consequence of injuries received on service takes the form of a pension for widows, orphans and parents. Persons who are entitled to receive support may obtain instead of a pension a capital sum for the purchase of land, or for the economic amelioration of land which is their property.

In execution of Art. 173 seq. of the Treaty of Versailles the dis- armament of the German population was undertaken in accordance with the Disarmament Law of Aug. 7 1920,' under the direction of a commissary of the Reich with an advisory council of 15 members chosen by the Reichstag. By the Law of the Reich for executing Art. 177 and 178 of the Peace Treaty participation in unauthorized military associations was made punishable by a fine not exceeding 50,000 marks, or by incarceration in a fortress or imprisonment for a period not exceeding 3 months.

According to Art. 228 of the Treaty of Peace the Powers of the Entente were entitled to bring before their military courts Germans who were accused of offences against the law and customs of war, and the German Government had undertaken to extradite all Ger- mans demanded by the Entente and described as war criminals an undertaking which was contrary to an express prohibition in the German penal code. The Entente ultimately intimated its assent to the arrangement that the German nationals whom it accused of these offences should be tried by German courts.

For the purpose of carrying out this arrangement a special law was promulgated on Dec. 18 1919 (amended March 24 1920 and May 12 1921). This law declared the Reichsgericht at Leipzig to be competent for trying and judging, as a court of sole instance, cases of crimes or offences against enemy nationals or enemy property committed by .Germans at home or abroad up to June 28 1919, and punishable according to the law of the place where they were com- mitted. Amnesties, proscription by lapse of time or the pronounce- ment of judgment at a previous trial formed, according to these laws, no bar to a new prosecution. Proceedings were to be instituted by the Oberreichsa.maa.lt (chief public prosecutor) before the Su- preme Court of the Reich ; but even when that court found no ground for an indictment, the public prosecutor could demand that the decision should be given in open court after pleadings as to whether the proceedings were to be stayed or continued.

Railways. During the war the Reichstag proposed that prepara- tions should be made for bringing all German railways of any importance into the possession of the Empire. The Governments of the separate states resisted this scheme; they endeavoured by mutual arrangements (the so-called Heidelberg programme) to remove the chief causes of complaint arising out of the coexistence of so many railway systems. When the constitution of the new re- publican Reich was under consideration the unification of the rail- way system was assumed to be the aim in view. Art. 89 of the con- stitution of Aug. II 1919 enacts that " it is the business of the Reich to acquire possession of the railways which subserve general traffic and to administer them as a unified system of communications." According to Art. 171 the railways of the German states were to be transferred to the possession of the Reich by April I 1921 at latest. This transfer was actually effected on April I 1920. In accordance with the treaty of March 31 1920, between the Govern- ment of the Reich on the one part and the states which owned the state railways Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Wnrttemberg, Baden, Hesse, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Oldenburg on the other, the rail- ways of the states which were parties to it passed as a whole, with everything connected with them and all rights and obligations in- volved, into the possession of the Reich. The Reich indemnifies each state in one of two ways according to the option of the particular state. It either hands over the amount of capital invested in the railways of the state calculated on March 31 1920, or it pays the amount calculated to be the average between that amount and

'Another law was passed in March 1921 for the disarmament and dissolution of forces like the Bavarian Einwohnerwehr and Orgesch (Organisation Escherich), the object of which was to organize various voluntary service formations throughout the country.

the capital value computed on the basis of the returns for the financial years 1909-13. In addition, the states are compensated in all cases for deficits which arose between April I 1914 and March 31 1920, during the war and the period of the revolution. The total indemnification will burden the Reich with some 40 milliard marks. The Reich thus took over (according to the situation on March 31 1919) the following kilometric extent of state railways including narrow-gauge lines: Prussia and Hesse, 40,312; Bavaria, 8,545; Saxony, 3,367; Wurttemberg, 2,153; Baden, 1,859; Mecklenburg- Schwerin, 1,095; Oldenburg, 673 km. The total number of persons employed on the German state railways in 4920 was 1,030,000, including some 365,000 officials.

The Treaty of Versailles inflicted a heavy blow upon the German railway system ; according to Art. 67 the German state railways of Alsace-Lorraine passed into the possession of France without any payment, whereas when Germany took possession of Alsace-Lorraine under the Peace of Frankfort (1871) the then French railway lines in those provinces were paid for by the German Empire with a sum of 250,000,000 francs. According to Art. 40 of the Treaty, Germany had further to renounce all her rights with regard to the working of railways in Luxemburg (the Wilhelm-Luxemburg railway). Accord- ing to Art. 256 the state railways in the ceded portions of German territory passed into the possession of the states which acquired these territories; these states have, however, to pay the value of the railways as ascertained by the Reparations Commissions.

The whole organization of the railway system is under the Minis- try of Communications. Subject to that Ministry the rights hitherto exercised by the Prussian Ministry of Public Works, the Prusso- Hessian central office, and the railway central office in Berlin, as well as the Bavarian central office in Munich, were maintained. The authorities for regional administration are the regional railway officials of management (Eisenbahndirektionen), and, subject to them, for local administration the offices for traffic, construction, machines and workshops.

Postal, Telegraph and Telephone System. The unification of the whole German postal system, and its transference to the Reich, was effected by the terms of the new constitution of the Reich of Aug. 1 1 1919. Art. 88 provides that the posts and telegraphs, together with the telephone system, are exclusively the concern of the Reich. According to Art. 170 the posts and telegraphs administrations of Bavaria and Wtirttemberg were to pass to the Reich on April I 1921 at latest. The transfer, however, took place on April I 1920, in accordance with a law of the Reich and treaties which had been previously concluded. Bavaria received an indemnification of 620,- 000,000 marks and Wurttemberg 250,000,000 marks.

The secrecy of the posts, telegraphs and telephone is safeguarded by Art. 1 17 of the new constitution of the Reich. The German post- office, in addition to conveying letters and parcels, conducts business in the nature of banking, such as the issue of postal orders, the collec- tion of the price of goods on delivery or by means of postal mandates, and all payments resulting from the national insurance schemes (excepting sick pay). The post-office also performs the functions of a public recording official. It procures acceptances of bills, serves process in civil and criminal cases, collects and protests bills and cheques in case of dishonour; but its functions respecting bills and cheques do not extend to sums above 1,000 marks. Certain franking privileges which had previously existed were abolished by a law of April 29 1920. Postal tariffs have in many respects been increased by a law of March 22 1921. The postal cheque system is based upon the Postal Cheque Law of March 22 1921 and the postal cheque regulations of April 7 1921. In 1918 there were 300,562 persons who used postal cheques to the amount of 1-2 milliard marks. The whole turnover of the post-office amounted to 151 milliard marks, of which 115-5 milliards were paid without the use of currency. The adminis- tration of the telegraphs and telephone is under the supreme control of the Ministry of Posts for the Reich, subject to whom are 45 higher post directories for district administration, and under the latter are post-offices of the first, second and third class, railway post-offices and postal agencies.

Waterways. According to Art. 97 of the new constitution it is the business of the Reich to take over into its own possession and ad- ministration the waterways which subserve general traffic. The waterways and sea-marks were transferred to the Reich on April I 1921. in accordance with Art. 171 of the constitution. The keenly debated scheme for a Prussian central canal for establishing a con- nexion by water between the Vistula, the Elbe, the Weser and the Rhine, has been extended by laws of Dec. 4 1920 and Jan. 14 1921, sanctioning further expenditure of 436,000,000 and 740,000,000 marks (Weser and Elbe canal). The administration of the water- ways by the Reich is conducted through the section for waterways in the Ministry of Communications.

By Art. 331 of the Treaty of Versailles the sovereignty of the State over the five great rivers the Rhine, the Elbe, the Oder, the Memel and the Danube which flow through German territory, has been considerably restricted. They are " internationalized."

Air Traffic. By an order of the Council of the Commissaries of the People of Nov. 26 1918, an air-traffic office of the Reich was in- stituted in connexion with the Ministry of the Interior until a law should be issued for the regulation of air traffic. An ordinance for the provisional regulation of air traffic was issued on April 30 1920;