Saxony Leads Fight On Army Increase.

New York Times 100 years ago today, March 17, 1913:
King Frederick Augustus Lines Up Central Germany Against Prussian Proposals.
FEDERAL COUNCIL CLOSE
Harassed Banks Will Not Discount Bills of Exchange — Woman Urged Not to Buy Finery Abroad.
By Marconi Transatlantic Wireless Telegraph to The New York Times.
    BERLIN, March 16.— The semiofficial Cologne Gazette says that amid the conflicting assertions and emotions of the hour only one thing can be affirmed with certainty. That is that the Imperial Chancellor finds himself "both from financial and political standpoints in an extremely unenviable position."
    "With regard to the $250,000,000 which must be raised for the increase of the army, it is now known that wide differences of opinion exist among the members of the Federal Council of the Empire regarding ways and means of meeting the recurring cost of the increase, which will be $50,000,000 yearly. The Government's newest proposal commands a majority of the Federal Council, but such a small majority that the proposal is already regarded as impracticable.
    The States of Central Germany are leading the opposition to the proposal of Prussia. A military news agency, which has been well informed on all the developments of the army increase and the war tax, asserts that the King of Saxony has organized his non-Prussian fellow-sovereigns against the North German tax projects. The same agency asserts that the taxes on property will take the form in part of fresh stamp taxes. Articles of luxury especially will be affected, and Stock Exchange transactions will be assessed in one way or another.
    The Berlin Tageblatt points out that the position of the Government has its counterpart in the conditions prevailing in the financial and commercial worlds. It is now recognized, says The Tageblatt, that a war tax of $250,000,000 "cannot be hacked out of the German economic body without leaving gaping wounds."
    According to Boerse reports, the shortage of available funds at the banks is so acute that it has been decided not to discount a single bill of exchange during the rest of March.
    The Neueste Nachrichten says it would be timely to make a fervent appeal even to the women of Germany "to keep their money at home" and not to yield to the tempting offers of Paris dressmakers and milliners, who carry on an active campaign for German trade at this season of the year.