Iol6 GERMANY 



was made abundantly clear in the press and at mass meetings. It could not well be 

 postponed much longer, and it was promised in the speech from the Throne when the 

 Prussian Diet assembled on January n, 1910. When, however, the Bill at last made 

 its appearance (February 10, 1910), it was a sore disappointment to the popular wishes. 

 Manifestly, the Bill wanted to do little. The constituencies that had been formed on 

 the basis of a census of half a century back were maintained. No regard whatever 

 was had to the enormous changes that had taken place in Prussia, making it as much 

 an industrial as an agricultural state. Secondly, the division of electors into three 

 classes, arranged according to incomes, was left unaltered. Nor was it proposed to 

 introduce the secret ballot, long since utilised in the Reichstag elections. The Bill 

 however enlarged the basis of the first class of voters by adding an educational qualifi- 

 cation to the already existing financial one; it also substituted direct for indirect 

 voting. 



The proposal was everywhere condemned. The parties of the Right would have 

 none of it because it did not go far enough ; for the parties of the Left it went too far. 

 All over the country large demonstrations were organised, chiefly by the 

 demon- Social Democrats, in favour of complete electoral reform, with the 



stratioas. secret ballot and universal suffrage. On February 13, 1910 there were 

 processions through the streets of Berlin which occasioned a famous proclamation 

 by Herr von Jagow, the chief of police. Its brevity did not lessen its significance. 

 " There is talk of the right to street demonstrations. But the streets are for traffic 

 only. If public authority is disregarded the police have orders to use their weapons. 

 I give inquisitive people fair warning." The demonstrations took place nevertheless, 

 and the Government must have been impressed by them. A special committee of 

 the Diet knocked the Bill about a good deal, and the Government went so far as to 

 accept secret voting, provided a substantial majority of the House could be obtained 

 for the principle. The Conservatives and Centre were solidly opposed to it, recording 

 238 votes; the Liberals and Social Democrats only had 138. The clause was rejected 

 on March 16; the discussion on the Bill as a whole dragged on until May 27, when 

 the Government announced their intention of withdrawing the measure. The Con- 

 servatives were pleased, since the old system continued; the progressive parties were 

 not displeased, the way being opened to .more extensive reforms in the future. 



Greater success attended the activities of the Reichstag during the year; its pro- 

 gramme included measures of financial, social and legal reform. Of these, the most 



important under the first heading was the extension of shipping dues on 

 dues! " g the internal waterways, Shipping dues already existed on the canals 



and the canalized rivers; they were levied chiefly for the purpose of pro- 

 viding an amortization fund for the cost of construction. But on the free rivers the 

 introduction of shipping dues was still barred by 54 of the German constitution. 

 At the instigation of Prussia a bill was introduced (October 27, 1910) in the Reichstag, 

 which proposed the alteration of the article in question, so that the levying of shipping 

 dues might be extended. Further, a bill embodying an increment tax was introduced, 

 to round off the financial reforms of the previous year. Two important measures of 

 social reform were the institution of Chambers of Labour (parallel to the Chambers 



of Commerce) and the Insurance Consolidation Bill, which codified the 

 'c<>ns"iida- var ' ous insurance laws, reorganised the supervision of local authorities 

 tton BUI. administering insurance benefits, and extended the older schemes in 



various directions (See W. H. Dawson, Social Insurance in Germany). 

 No less weighty was the ordinance amending procedure in criminal cases. But while 



none of these became law in 1910, the Potash Bill did. The supply .of 

 Bill. potash is practically limited to Germany, and it is the aim of the Act 



to regulate the monopoly and husband the supply by putting a check on 

 overproduction and fining prices. 



None of these proposals was calculated to increase party differences, and public 

 opinion was content to tolerate the political situation in view of the approaching 



