GERMANY 1015 



and the portfolio of education for Prussia was given to Herr von: Trott zu Solz. 1 

 In other respects the new Chancellor carried on the policy of his predecessor. His 

 handling of the Polish Question and his attitude to any suggestion for fiscal changes 

 are perhaps as good instances as any. In 1908 a law had been passed facili- 

 tating the passing of land in the Polish provinces of Prussia out of 

 Polish into German hands. The scheme for expropriating Polish land- 

 owners was at once put into execution and continued all through the year 

 1909. In that year the commissioners appointed to purchase land reported that 

 they had entered into possession of 29 large estates and 50 small ones, totalling an 

 area of 21,085 hectares (about 52,000 acres), at a cost of 27 million marks (1,350,000). 

 Of these estates, 5 of the larger and 23 of the smaller had belonged to Poles. So far 

 was the anti-Polish policy of expatriation carried that the Poles were forbidden to 

 build houses on their land. The Poles attempted to evade the letter of the law by 

 living in vans and similar conveyances, but their success was small since the Govern- 

 ment dealt harshly with the offenders. The Polish Question did not come to the 

 fore -again until comparatively late in 1912, having been overshadowed by more im- 

 portant events. But towards the end of October in that year the Government decided 

 on a severe application of the Expropriation Law. This brought about a stormy de- 

 bate in the Diet on October 30, 1912. On the one hand the Government had to face 

 the demands of the extreme " Nationalists "; on the other, the Centre was strongly 

 opposed to the anti-Polish policy. Moreover, there was reason to believe that both 

 the Austrian and Russian Governments looked with displeasure on the German treat- 

 ment of the Poles. Nevertheless, the Chancellor in this matter was following in the 

 footsteps of his predecessor, and the continuity of policy is clear enough. 



As for the fiscal policy, Germany had lived for thirty years under Protection, 

 which Bismarck adopted in 1879 in the hope that the increased custom duties would 

 : make the Empire financially independent. Herr von Bethmann was as 

 re/orm. disinclined to listen to the demand for free trade as Prince Biilow had been. 



The less so as the year 1909 had been a fairly prosperous one. The coun- 

 try recovered from the economic depression of 1907, as was proved by the ready sub- 

 scriptions to loans and the large profits which the joint-stock banks harvested. 



In the colonies likewise there had been an upward movement, partly due, it is 

 possible, to the energetic and enterprising policy of Herr Dernburg, 2 who was above 

 all else a " business " minister. His commercial, and more especially 

 colonies. h* 5 banking experience, stood the colonial administration in good stead. 

 The reports from -the colonies showed an increasing trade, and that may 

 have been one reason at any rate for extensive railway activity. No less than 835 

 miles of new line were being built. It was the first year too in which the colonies 

 were able to make a payment (17,500) to the Imperial Exchequer. Acccordingly the 

 colonial estimates were rather less than in previous years ^ 2 2 million marks, as 

 against 24 millions in 1908. The general prosperity was continued in the following 

 year, and to forward it a permanent industrial committee of the colonial adminis- 

 tration was established (June 27, 1910), composed of representatives of many Chambers 

 of Commerce. The promising picture was only marred by the news of a rising in the 

 Caroline Islands, which occurred on October 18, 1910. 



The great question of the day throughout the first half of the year 1910 was that 



of the reform of the Prussian franchise. Electoral reform had been in the air during 



the last year or two; Baden and Saxony both adopted new electoral systems. 



The Iran- Even the small state of Mecklenburg was awakening to the need of reform- 

 chise question , . . . . ... . , . . . 



in Prussia. ing its constitution and adopting a franchise more in accord with the 



needs of the day. It was no new question in Prussia. It had been dis- 

 cussed in the Chamber as recently as January 25, 1909. That it was the popular will 



1 Augustus von Trott zu Solz, born Dec. 29, 1855; Governor of Brandenburg, 1905. 



2 Bernard Dernburg, born July 17, 1864, Director of the Darmstadter Bank, 1901-1906; 

 Minister for the Colonies 1907-1910. 



