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27 - Bismarck and the Foundation of the German Empire by James Headlam-Morley · Bismarck and the Foundation of the German Empire

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  Speaker 1: Section twenty seven of Pismack and the Foundation of the
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  Speaker 1: German Empire by James Headlam. This Livery Books recording is
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  Speaker 1: in the public domain recording by Essyschem Seoul, South Korea,
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  Speaker 1: Chapter sixteen. The Triple Alliance and Economic Reform eighteen seventy
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  Speaker 1: eight to eighteen eighty seven, Part one. The year eighteen
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  Speaker 1: seventy eight forms a turning point both internal and in
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  Speaker 1: external politics. Up to this year, Prussia has been allied
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  Speaker 1: with the two Eastern monarchies. The Empire has been governed
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  Speaker 1: by the help of the National Liberal Party. The chief
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  Speaker 1: enemy has been the Clericus. The traditions of the time
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  Speaker 1: before the war are still maintained. After this year, the
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  Speaker 1: understanding with Russia breaks down. Instead of it, the peace
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  Speaker 1: of Europe is preserved by the Triple Alliance with Austria
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  Speaker 1: and Italy. In internal affairs the change is even more marked.
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  Speaker 1: The rising power of the Socialists is the enemy to
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  Speaker 1: be fought against. For this conflict, peace has to be
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  Speaker 1: made with the Catholics. The mails modified or repealed. The
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  Speaker 1: alliance with Liberalism breaks down, and the efforts of the
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  Speaker 1: government are devoted to a far reaching scheme of financial
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  Speaker 1: reform and social legislation. When in April eighteen seventy seven,
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  Speaker 1: the Emperor refused to accept peace Mark's resignation, the whole
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  Speaker 1: country applauded the decision. In the Rakista, a great demonstration
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  Speaker 1: was made of confidence in the Chancellor. Everyone felt that
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  Speaker 1: he could not be spilt. At the time when the
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  Speaker 1: complications in the East were bringing new dangers upon Europe,
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  Speaker 1: and in the seclusion of Varzin, he did not cease
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  Speaker 1: during the next month to direct the foreign policy of
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  Speaker 1: the Empire. He was able with the other governments of
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  Speaker 1: Europe to prevent the spread of hostilities from Turkey to
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  Speaker 1: the rest of Europe. And when the next year the
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  Speaker 1: English government refused is assent to the provisional Peace of
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  Speaker 1: San Stefano, it was the unanimous desire of all the
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  Speaker 1: other states that the settlement of Turkey should be submitted
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  Speaker 1: to Congress at Berlin, over which he should preside. It
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  Speaker 1: was the culmination of his public career. It was the
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  Speaker 1: recognition by Europe in the most impressive way of his
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  Speaker 1: primacy among leaving statesmen. In his management of the Congress,
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  Speaker 1: he answered to the expectations formed of him. We do
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  Speaker 1: not wish to go. He had said the way of Napoleon.
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  Speaker 1: We do not desire to be the arbitrators or school
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  Speaker 1: masters of Europe. We do not wish to force our
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  Speaker 1: policy on other states by appealing to the strength of
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  Speaker 1: our army. I look on our task as or more useful,
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  Speaker 1: though or humbler one. It is enough if we can
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  Speaker 1: be an honest broken He succeeded in the task he
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  Speaker 1: had set before himself, and in reconciling the apparently incompatible
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  Speaker 1: desires of England and Russia. Again and again, when the
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  Speaker 1: Congress seemed about to break up without result, he made
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  Speaker 1: himself the spokesman of Russian wishes and conveyed them to
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  Speaker 1: Lord Beacons filled the English pleny potentially Nonetheless, the friendship
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  Speaker 1: of Russia, which had before wavered, now broke down. A
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  Speaker 1: bitter attack on Germany and Bismarck was begun in the
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  Speaker 1: Russian press. The new German physical policy led to misunderstandings
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  Speaker 1: that Cza, in private letters to the Emperor, demanded in
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  Speaker 1: the negotiations that was still going on, the absolute and
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  Speaker 1: unconditional support of Germany to all Russian demands as the
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  Speaker 1: condition of Russian apprenticeship. In the autumn of the next year,
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  Speaker 1: letters came near to war. It was in these circumstances
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  Speaker 1: that Bismarck brought about that alliance which ever since then
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  Speaker 1: has governed European politics. He hastily arranged the meeting with
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  Speaker 1: Count Andrasi, the Austrian minister, and in a few days
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  Speaker 1: the two statesmen agreed on a defensive alliance between the
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  Speaker 1: two empires. Many years later, in eighteen eighty six, the
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  Speaker 1: Instrument of Alliance was published. It was agreed that if
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  Speaker 1: either of the German states was attacked by Russia, the
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  Speaker 1: other were joined to defend it. If Idol was detected
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  Speaker 1: by France, the other would observe neutrality. But if the
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  Speaker 1: French was supported by Russia, then the first clause would
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  Speaker 1: come into force. The Emperor of Austria willingly gave his ascent.
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  Speaker 1: It was only after a prolonged struggle that Pismack was
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  Speaker 1: able to gain the ascent of his own sovereign. This alliance,
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  Speaker 1: which in the next year was joined by Italy, again
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  Speaker 1: gave Germany the ruling position in Europe. During this crisis.
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  Speaker 1: In foreign affairs, Bismarck was occupied by anado which threatened
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  Speaker 1: to be equally serious in home politics. In the spring
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  Speaker 1: of eighteen seventy eight, an attempt was made on the
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  Speaker 1: life of the Emperor. A young man named Robel, a
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  Speaker 1: shoemaker's apprentice, shot at him in the streets of Berlin.
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  Speaker 1: Fortunately without result. The attempt naturally created intense indignation throughout
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  Speaker 1: the country. This was increased when it became known that
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  Speaker 1: he had been to some extent connected with the Socialist Party,
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  Speaker 1: and it seemed as though the motives of the crime
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  Speaker 1: were supplied by the violent speeches made at socialist gatherings.
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  Speaker 1: Bismarck had long regarded the growth of socialism with concern.
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  Speaker 1: He determined to use this opportunity to crush it. He
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  Speaker 1: at once brought into the Bundesrat a very severe law
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  Speaker 1: forbidding all socialist agitation and propaganda. He succeeded in passing
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  Speaker 1: it through the Council, but it was thrown out in
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  Speaker 1: the Rakista by a very large majority. No one voted
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  Speaker 1: for it except the Conservatives. The law, indeed, was so
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  Speaker 1: drawn up that one does not see how anyone could
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  Speaker 1: have voted for it. The first clause began printed writings
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  Speaker 1: and unions which follow the aims of social democracy may
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  Speaker 1: be forbidden by the Federal Council. But as was pointed out,
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  Speaker 1: among the aims of the Social Democracy were many which
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  Speaker 1: were good in themselves, and many others which, though they
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  Speaker 1: may be considered harpful by other parties, were at least legitimate.
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  Speaker 1: Directly afterwards, the Rakista was prolobed. Ten days later, another
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  Speaker 1: attempt was made on the Emperor's life, this time a
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  Speaker 1: man of the name of Nobelin. Uneducated men who had
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  Speaker 1: studied at the university, shot at him while driving in
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  Speaker 1: the untd in London, and wounded him severely in the
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  Speaker 1: head and arms with large shot. The Emperor was driven
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  Speaker 1: home to his palace almost unconscious, and for some time
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  Speaker 1: his life was in danger. This second attempt, in so
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  Speaker 1: for a short time on the life of men almost
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  Speaker 1: eighty years of age, so diversely loved and respected, who
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  Speaker 1: had comfort such benefits on its country, naturally aroused a
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  Speaker 1: storm of indignation when Bismarck received the news his first
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  Speaker 1: World's war, now the Rahista must be dissolved. This was done.
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  Speaker 1: The general elections took place while the excitement was still hot,
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  Speaker 1: and of course resulted in a great loss to those parties,
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  Speaker 1: especially the National Liberals, who had voted against the Socialist law.
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  Speaker 1: The Center alone retained its numbers. Before this new parliament
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  Speaker 1: fresh law was laid, drafted with much more skill. Is
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  Speaker 1: absolutely forbade all speeches or writings in favoral plans for
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  Speaker 1: overthrowing the order of society, who were directed against marriage
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  Speaker 1: and property. It enabled the government to proclaim in all
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  Speaker 1: large towns or state of siege, and to expel from them,
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  Speaker 1: by the mere degree of the police, anyone suspected of
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  Speaker 1: Socialist agitation. The law, which was easily carried, was enforced
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  Speaker 1: with great civility. A state of siege was proclaimed in
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  Speaker 1: Berlin and many other places. Socialist papers and even books,
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  Speaker 1: for instance, the writing of Lasal was forbidden. They might
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  Speaker 1: not even be read in public libraries, and for the
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  Speaker 1: next twelve years the Socialist Party had to carry on
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  Speaker 1: the propaganda by secret means. This Socialist law is very disappointing.
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  Speaker 1: We find the government again having recourse to the same
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  Speaker 1: means for checking and guiding opinion which Metterniche had used
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  Speaker 1: fifty years before. Not indeed that the Socialists themselves had
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  Speaker 1: any ground for complaint. They avowed and was the overthrow
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  Speaker 1: of government and society they professed to be at war
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  Speaker 1: with all established institutions. If they confined their efforts to
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  Speaker 1: legal measures and did not use violence, it was only
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  Speaker 1: because the time had not yet come. The man who
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  Speaker 1: avowed admiration for the Paris commun who were openly preparing
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  Speaker 1: for a revolution more complete than any which Europe had
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  Speaker 1: hitherto sin, could not complain if the government, while there
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  Speaker 1: was yet time, used every means were crushing them. The
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  Speaker 1: mistake was in supposing that this measure would be successful.
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  Speaker 1: Bismarck would, indeed, had he been able, have made it
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  Speaker 1: far more severe. His own idea was that anyone who
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  Speaker 1: had been legally convicted of holding socialist opinions should be
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  Speaker 1: deprived of the franchise and excluded from the parliament. What
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  Speaker 1: a misunderstanding does this show of the whole object and
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  Speaker 1: nature of representative institutions. It had been decided that in
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  Speaker 1: Germany parliament was not to govern. What was then its
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  Speaker 1: function except to display the opinions of the people. If,
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  Speaker 1: as was the case, so large a proportion of the
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  Speaker 1: German nation belonged to a party of discontent, then it
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  Speaker 1: was above all desirable that their wishes and desires should
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  Speaker 1: have opened expression and be discussed where they could be overthrown.
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  Speaker 1: The government had enormous means of influencing opinion. In the
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  Speaker 1: old days, the man of letters had been on principle
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  Speaker 1: in opposition. Now Germany was flooded by papers, books and pamphlets,
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  Speaker 1: all devoted to the most extravagant pace of the new institutions.
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  Speaker 1: The excuse which was made for these laws was not
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  Speaker 1: a sufficient one. It is seldom necessary to meet political
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  Speaker 1: assassination by repressive measures, for they must always create a
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  Speaker 1: danger which they intend to avert. There was not the
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  Speaker 1: slightest ground for supposing that either Hobel or Nobling had
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  Speaker 1: any confederates. There was no plot. It was but the
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  Speaker 1: wild and wicked action of an individual. It was as
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  Speaker 1: absot to put a large party on the police control
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  Speaker 1: for this reason as it was to punish liberals for
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  Speaker 1: the action of sand And it was ineffective, as the
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  Speaker 1: events of the next year showed, for the Socialist law
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  Speaker 1: did not spare Germany from the infection of outrage which
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  Speaker 1: in these years over in Europe. The Socialist laws was
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  Speaker 1: soon followed by other proposers of more useful kind. And
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  Speaker 1: now we had come to one of the most remarkable
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  Speaker 1: episodes in Bismuth's career. He was over sixty years of age,
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  Speaker 1: his health was uncertain. He had a long complaint of
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  Speaker 1: the extreme toil and the constant annoyance which his public
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  Speaker 1: duties brought upon him. It might appear that he had
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  Speaker 1: finished his work, and, if he could not retire altogether,
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  Speaker 1: would give over the management of all internal affairs to others,
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  Speaker 1: that he would now take upon himself a whole new
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  Speaker 1: department of public duties, that he would, after his prolonged absence,
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  Speaker 1: appear again as leader and innovator in parliamentary strife. This
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  Speaker 1: no one anticipated. Up to the year eighteen seventy six,
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  Speaker 1: he had taken little active path in finance. His energies
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  Speaker 1: had entirely observed by foreign affairs, and he had been
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  Speaker 1: content to adapt and support the measures recommended by his
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  Speaker 1: technical advisers. When he had interfered at all, it had
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  Speaker 1: only been on those occasions when, as with regard to
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  Speaker 1: commercial treaties, the policies of his colleagues had impeded his
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  Speaker 1: own political objects. In eighteen sixty four he had been
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  Speaker 1: much annoyed because difference on commercial matters had interfered with
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  Speaker 1: a good understanding with Austria. Which at the time he
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  Speaker 1: was trying to maintain. Since the foundation of the Empire,
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  Speaker 1: almost the complete control over the commercial policy of the
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: Empire had been entrusted to Delbrick, who held the very
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  Speaker 1: important post of President of the Imperial Chancery, and was
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  Speaker 1: treated by Pismack with the deference and consideration which no
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  Speaker 1: other of his fellow workers received except Moltke and Horne.
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  Speaker 1: Delbrick was a confirmed free trader, and the result was that,
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  Speaker 1: partly by commercial treaties and partly by the abolition of
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  Speaker 1: customs duties, the teleiff had been reduced and simplified. The
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  Speaker 1: years following the war had, however, not been altogether prosperous.
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  Speaker 1: A great outbreak of speculation was followed in eighteen seventy
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  Speaker 1: three by a serious commercial crisis, and since that year
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  Speaker 1: there had been a permanent decrease in the imperial receipts.
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  Speaker 1: This was for political reasons serious inconvenience. By the arrangement
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  Speaker 1: made in eighteen sixty six, the proceeds of the customs
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: and of the indirect taxation, with some exceptions, were paid
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  Speaker 1: into the exchequer of the Federation and afterwards of the Empire.
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  Speaker 1: If the receip from these sources were not sufficient to
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  Speaker 1: meet the imperial requirements. The deficit had to be made
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  Speaker 1: up by contributions paid in proportion to the population by
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  Speaker 1: those separate states. During later years, these contributions had annually increased,
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  Speaker 1: and it is needless to point out that this was
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  Speaker 1: supption to make the relations of the state's government to
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: the central authorities disagreeable and to cause some discontent with
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  Speaker 1: the new constitution. This meant also an increase of the
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: amount which had to be raised by direct taxation. Now
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: Bismarck had always much disliked direct taxes. He had again
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  Speaker 1: and again pointed out that they were paid with great
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  Speaker 1: reluctance and often fell with peculiar hardship on that very
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  Speaker 1: large class which could only just by constantin asidious labor,
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  Speaker 1: make an income sufficient for their needs. Worst of all
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  Speaker 1: was it when they were unable to pay even the
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  Speaker 1: few shillings required, they then had to undergo the hardship
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  Speaker 1: and disgrace of distrength and see their furniture seized and
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  Speaker 1: sold by the tax collectors. He therefore always wished that
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: the income derived from customs and indirect taxation should be
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: increased so as by degrees to do away with the
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: necessity for direct taxation, and if this could be done,
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: then instead of the state's pay on annual contribution to
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  Speaker 1: the empire, they would receive from the central government peculiarly assistance.
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  Speaker 1: The dislike of direct taxation is an essential part of
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  Speaker 1: Bismarck reform. He especially disapproved of the Prussian system, the
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  Speaker 1: barbarous system, as he called it, to which every man
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  Speaker 1: had to pay a small portion it might be even
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  Speaker 1: a few grossian in direct taxes. I ascribed, he said,
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: the large part of our emigration to the fact that
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: the emigrants wishes to escape the direct pressure of the
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  Speaker 1: taxes and execution and to go to a land where
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: the classen stoyer does not exist, and where he will
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  Speaker 1: also have the pleasure of knowing that the produce of
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: his labors will be protected against foreign interference. His opinion
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: cannot be called exaggerated. If it is true that, as
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  Speaker 1: he stated, there were every year over a million executions
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: involving the seizure and sale of household goods on account
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: of or years of taxation. It was not only the
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: state taxes to which he objected, the local rates for
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: municipal expenses and is, especially for education, felt very heavily
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: on the inhabitants of large cities such as Berlin. He
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: intended to devote part of the money which was raised
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: by indirect taxation to relieving the rates. His first proposals
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: for raising the money were over various sweeping nature. He
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: wished to introduce a state monopoly for the sale of tobacco,
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: brent and beer. He entered into calculations by which he
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: proved that, or his policy adopted, all direct taxation might
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: be repealed, and he would have a large supplus for
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: an object which he had very much at heart, the
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: provision of old age pensions. It was a method of
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: legislation copied from death, which prevails in France and Italy.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: He pointed out with perfect justice that the revenue raised
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: in Germany from the consumption of tobacco was much smaller
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  Speaker 1: than it ought to be. The total sum gained by
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: the state was not a tenth of that which was
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: produced in England by texting the tobacco. But no one
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: could maintain that smoking was more common in England than
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: in Germany. In fact, tobacco was less heavily texted in
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  Speaker 1: Germany than in any other country. In Europe. In introducing
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: a monopoly ismak intended and hoped not only to relieve
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: the pressure of direct taxtation, though this would have been
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: a change sufficient in its magnitude and importance for most men,
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: but proposed to use the very large sum which the
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: government would have at its disposal for the direct relief
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: of the working classes. The socialist law was not to
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: go alone. He intended absolutely to stamp out this obnoxious agitation,
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: but it was not from any indifference as to the
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: condition of the working classes. From his earliest days he
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: had been opposed to the liberal doctrine of lass a fear.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: It will be remembered how much he had disliked the
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: bourgeois domination of the July monarchy. As a young man,
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: he had tried to prevent the abolition of guilds. He
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: considered that much of the distress and discontent arose from
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: the unreistic influence of capital. He was only acting in
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: accordance with the oldest and best traditions of the Prussian
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: monarchy when he called in the power of the state
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: to protect the poor. His plan was very bold one.
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: He wished to institute a fund from which there should
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: be paid to every working man who was incapacitated by sickness,
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: excellent or old age, a pension from the state. In
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: his original plan, he intended the workingmen should not be
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: required to make any contribution themselves towards this fund. It
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: was not to be made to appeal to them as
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: a new burden imposed on them by the state. The
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: tobacco monopoly, he said, he looked on as the patrimony
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: of the disinherited. He did not fear the charge of
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: socialism which might be brought against him. He defended himself
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: by the provisions of the Prussian law, the Code of
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: Frederic the Great contained the worlds. It is the duty
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: of the state to provide for the sustenance and support
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: of those of his citizens who cannot procure sustenance themselves.
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: And again, work adapted to their strengths and capacity, shall
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: be supplied to those who lack means an opportunity of
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: owning a livelihood for themselves and those dependent on them,
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: in the most public way. The new policy was introduced
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: by an imperial message on November seventeen, eighteen eighty one,
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  Speaker 1: in which the Emperor expressed his conviction that the social
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: difficulties could not be healed simply by the repression of
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: exaggeration of the social democracy, but at the same time
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: the welfare of the workmen must be advanced. This new
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: policy had the warm approval of both the Emperor and
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: the Crown Prince. No one gritted more heartily the change
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: than Windhorst. Allow me, he once said to Bismarck, to
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: speak openly, you have done me much evil in my life,
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: but as a German patriot, I must confess to you
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: my gratitude that, after all his political deeds, appreciated our
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: imperial master to turn to this path of social reform.
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: There will, he said, difficulties to be met. He approved
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: of the end, but not of all the details. And
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: he continued, something of the difficulty, if I may say so,
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: you cause yourself. You're often too stormy for us. You're
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: always coming with something new, and we cannot always follow
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  Speaker 1: you in it. But you must not take that omiss.
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: We're both old men, and the Emperor is much older
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  Speaker 1: than we are. But we should like ourselves in our
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: lifetime to see some of these reforms established that I
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: wish for all of us and for all our German country,
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: and we will do our best to help in it.
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: Opinions may differ as to the wisdom of Bismarck's social
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: and financial policy, no one can deny the for the
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: energy and patriotism which he displayed. It was no small
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: thing for him, at his age to come out of
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: his comparative retirement to bring forward proposers which would be
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: sure to excite the bitterest opposition of the men with
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: whom he had been working to embark again on a
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: parliamentary conflict, as keen as any of those which had
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: so texed his energies in his younger years. Not content
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: with inaugurating and suggesting these plans, he himself undertook the
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: immediate execution of them. In addition to his other offices.
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: In eighteen eighty he undertook that Minister of Trade in Prussia,
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: for he found no one whom he could entirely trust
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: to carry out his proposals. During the next years he
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: again took a prominent part in the parliamentary debates. Day
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: of the day, he attended to answer objections and to
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: defend his measures in some of his ablest and longest speeches,
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: By his proposals for duty on corn he regained the
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: support of the most of the conservatives, but in the
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: Rakista which was elected in eighteen eighty four, he found
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: himself opposed by a mojority consisting of the center socialists
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: and progressives. Many of the laws were rejected or amended,
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: and it was not until eighteen ninety that, in a
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: modified form, the whole of the social legislation had been
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: carried through. For the monopoly, he gained no support. Scarcely
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: a voice was raised in his favor. Nor can you
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: be surprised at this. It was the proposal very characteristic
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: of his internal policy. He had a definite aim in view,
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: and at once took the shortest, oldest and most direct
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: road towards it, putting aside the thought of all further consequences.
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: In this others could not follow him. Quite apart from
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: the difficulties of organization and the unknown effects of the
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: law on all those who gained their livelihood by the growth,
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: preparation and sale of tobacco, there was a deep feeling
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: that it was not safe to entrust the government with
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: so enormous power. Men did not wish to see so
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: many thousands enrolled in the army of officials already took
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: great They did not desire a new check on the
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: freedom of life and occupation, Not that the government should
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: have the uncontrolled use of so great a sum of money,
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: and then the use he proposed to make of the proceeds,
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: if the calculations were correct, if the results were what
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: he forethold, if from this monopoly they would be able
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: to pay not only the chief expenses of the government,
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: but also assigned an old age pension to every German
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: workman who reached the age of seventy. What would this
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: be except to make the great majority of the nation
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: prospective pensioners of the state, with compulsory attendance at the
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: state schools, with the state universities as the only entrance
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: to public life and professions. When everyone, for three years
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: had to serve in the army, When so large a
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: proportion of the population owned the livelihood in the railways,
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: the post office, the customs, the administration. The state had
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: already a power and influence which many, besides the liberals,
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: regarded with alarm. What would it be when every workingman
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: looked forward receiving, after his working days were over, a
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: free gift from the government. Could not this power be
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: used for political measures. Also, could not it become a
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: means for checking the freedom of opinions and even for
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: interfering in the liberty of voting. He had to raise
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: the money he wanted in another way, and in eighteen
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: seventy nine he began the great financial change that he
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: had been meditating for three years. He threw all his
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: figure into overthrowing free trade and introducing a general system
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: of protection. In this he was only doing what a
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: large number of his countrymen desired. The results of free
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: trade had not been satisfactory. In eighteen seventy six there
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: was a great crisis in the iron trade owing to overproduction.
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: There was a great fog prices in England and Germany
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: was being flooded with English goods sold below cost price.
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: Many factories had to be closed, owners were ruined, and
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: men thrown out of work. It happened there by a
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: law passed in eighteen seventy three, the last duty on
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: imported ion would cease on the twenty one of December
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: eighteen seventy six. Many of the manufacturers and the large
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: party in the reichstaff petitioned that the action of the
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: law might at any rate be suspended. Free traders, however,
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: still had the majority for the greater portion of the
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: National liberals belonged to the school, and the law was
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: carried out. It was, however, apparent that not only the
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: ion but other industries were threatened. The building of railways
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: in Russia would bring about an increased importation of Russian
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: con and threat and the prosperity not only of the
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: large proprietors but also of the peasants. It had always
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: been the wise policy of the Prussian government to maintain
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: and protect by legislation the peasants, who were considered the
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: most important class in the state. Then the trade in
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: Swedish would threaten to interfere with the profits from the
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: German forest on industry, so useful to the health of
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: the country and the prosperity of the government. But if
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: free trade would endure the market for the natural products
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: of the soil, it did not bring any compensating advantages
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: By helping industry. Germany was flooded with English manufacturers, so
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: that even the home market was endangered, and every year
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: it became more apparent that foreign markets were being closed.
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: The singing expectations of the free traders had not been realized. America, France,
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: Russia had high tariffs. German manufactured goods were excluded from
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: these countries. What could they look forward to in the
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: future but the ruined peasantry and the crippling of the
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: iron and weaving industries. I have the impression, said Pismarck,
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: that on the free trade we were gradually bleeding to death.
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: He was probably much influenced in his new policy by
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: Lota Bucho, one of his private secretaries, who was constantly
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: with him at Vartzen. Bucho, who had been on extreme
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: radical had in eighteen forty nine been compelled to fly
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: from the country and had lived many years in England.
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: In eighteen sixty five he had entered Pismarck's service. He
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: had acquired a picq enmity to the Copton Club and
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: looked on that institution as the subtle instrument of a
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: deep laid plot to appreciate other nations to adopt a
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: policy which was entirely for the benefit of England. He
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: drew attention to Coptain's wars. All the desire is the
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: prosperity and greatness of England. We may, in fact look
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: on the Copton Club and the principles it advocated from
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: two points of view. Either they are, as Bucho maintained,
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: simply English and their only result will be the prosperity
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: of England. Or they are merely one expression of a
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: general form of thought which we know as liberalism. It
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: was an attempt to create cosmopolitan institutions and to induce
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: German politicians to take the economic doctrines from England, just
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: as few years before they had taken their political theories.
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: In either case, these doctrines would be very distasteful to Bismarck,
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: who disliked internationalism in finance as much as he did
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: in constitutional law or socialist propaganda. Bismarck, in adopting protection,
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: was influenced not by economic theory, but by the observation
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: of facts. All nations, he said, which he protective duties
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: enjoy a certain prosperity. What great advantage has America riched
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: since it threatened to use duties twice five times ten
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: times as high as ours. England alone glong to free trade?
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: And why because she had grown so strong under the
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: old system protection that she could now as a herculest
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: step down into the arena and challenge everyone to come
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: into the lists. In the arena of commerce, England was
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: the strongest. This was why he advocated free trade, for
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: free trade was really a right of the most powerful
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: English interests were folded under Develope the magic world freedom,
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: and by it German inducersts for liberty were enticed to
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: bring about the win and exploitation of their own country.
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: And of Section twenty seven