But see the insidious working of the system. By German custom
the woman always carries the husband's title. The wife of a
successful builder is known as Mrs. Really Truly Secret Court
Building _Rat_ and her social precedence over the other women
depends entirely upon her husband's position in the _Rat_
class. Titles of nobility alone do not count when they come in
contact with a high government position. Now if a lawyer gets to
be about forty years old and is not some sort of a _Rat_,
his wife begins to nag him and his friends and relations look at
him with suspicion. There must be something in his life which
prevents his obtaining the coveted distinction and if there is
anything in a man's past, if he has shown at any time any spirit of
opposition to the government, as disclosed by the police registers,
which are kept written up to date about every German citizen,
then he has no chance of obtaining any of these distinctions
which make up so much of the social life of Germany. It is a
means by which the government keeps a far tighter hold on the
intellectual part of its population than if they were threatened
with torture and the stake.
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