Page:In defense of Harriet Shelley, and other essays.djvu/263

 THE GERMAN CHICAGO

governed. Method and system are observable on every hand in great things, in little things, in all details, of whatsoever size. And it is not method and system on paper, and there an end it is method and system in practice. It has a rule for every thing, and puts the rule in force; puts it in force against the poor and powerful alike, without favor or prejudice. It deals with great matters and minute particulars with equal faithfulness, and with a plod ding and painstaking diligence and persistency which compel admiration and sometimes regret. There are several taxes, and they are collected quarterly. Collected is the word; they are not merely levied, they are collected every time. This makes light taxes. It is in cities and countries where a consider able part of the community shirk payment that taxes have to be lifted to a burdensome rate. Here the police keep coming, calmly and patiently, until you pay your tax. They charge you five or ten cents per visit after the first call. By experiment you will find that they will presently collect that money.

In one respect the million and a half of Berlin s population are like a family: the head of this large family knows the names of its several members, and where the said members are located, and when and where they were born, and what they do for a living, and what their religious brand is. Whoever comes to Berlin must furnish these particulars to the police immediately; moreover, if he knows how long he is going to stay, he must say so. If he take a house he will be taxed on the rent and taxed also on his income. He will not be asked what his income is,

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