GERMANY. 



355 



proposed funds for accident insurance and the 

 support of the superannuated, hut could help 

 in working out regulations to govern the length 

 of the hours of labor, the employment of wom- 

 en, and Sunday labor, which would be better 

 than the establishment of a, normal working- 

 day and general prohibitive laws. Factory in- 

 spection likewise would be more judiciously 

 conducted under the supervision of such socie- 

 ties. The cost of securing shorter hours of 

 labor and of the other contemplated improve- 

 ments in the condition of the toilers would 

 seem to be more than the industries could sus- 

 tain, and would necessitate the extension of 

 state aid. The Government requested counsel 

 and instruction in the elaboration of the pro- 

 jects for realizing the desire of the Emperor, 

 that " the defenseless in the state should grad- 

 ually learn by practical experience that Gov- 

 ernment is not entirely forgetful of them, ex- 

 cept when it needs money or calls upon them 

 to bear arms, but that it thinks also of protect- 

 ing and sustaining them, so that with their fee- 

 ble powers they may not be trampled down in 

 the great highway of life." 



The session was not a barren one, notwith- 

 standing the bitter conflict which was waged 

 on high political and constitutional questions. 

 The Government achieved a moral victory. 

 Even the Liberals were caught in the socialistic 

 current. The Liberal factions submitted con- 

 jointly an employers' liability bill which was 

 intended to be stringent enough to remove the 

 necessity for accident insurance. They did not 

 even refuse a measure for the collection of 

 statistics of trades and callings on which to 

 base the social legislation of the "new era"; 

 although they again struck the appropriation 

 for the Economical Council out of the budget. 



The resolution of Dr. Windthorst for the re- 

 peal of the law of 1874, attaching penalties to 

 the unauthorized exercise of ecclesiastical of- 

 fices, gave the opportunity for some shrewd 

 campaigning on the part of the Liberals, who 

 hastened to announce their willingness to modi- 

 fy the May laws in those portions which had 

 led to religious scandals and privations, in 

 order to thwart the prospective alliance be- 

 tween Bismarck and the Clericals. A large 

 section voted for the resolution, which was car- 

 ried by a two-thirds majority, disclaiming the 

 authorship of the law, and insinuating that the 

 most grievous of the Falk laws were forged as 

 weapons by Bismarck for his unscrupulous 

 methods of political warfare. They still af- 

 firmed, without defining, the general principles 

 of the May laws, but declared themselves in 

 favor of a truce in the Kulturkampf, although 

 believing a permanent peace in the perpetual 

 conflict between the state and the Roman hie- 

 rarchy to be impossible. This particular law 

 was used in the pursuit of the two bishops and 

 in a score or so of other instances, but it had 

 long been a dead letter. Its exercise was made 

 discretional with the Government by a parlia- 

 mentary resolve in 1880. 



A decided victory for the Chancellor's policy 

 was gained by the passage of the measure for 

 incorporating the city of Hamburg in the Cus- 

 toms Union. The policy of the absorption of 

 the two Hanse towns has met with strong op- 

 position on the part of the free-trade elements 

 in the Reichstag, and intense reluctance in the 

 cities themselves. According to the Constitu- 

 tion of the empire, the Hanse towns, Bremen 

 and Hamburg, are to remain free ports until 

 they petition to be taken into the Zollverein. 

 This petition was wrung from the municipality 

 of Hamburg by threats and promises. In ful- 

 fillment of the compact finally extorted by the 

 extraordinary "pressure" of the Government, 

 the Reichstag voted forty million marks as an 

 imperial contribution to the expenses of the 

 inclusion. The right of free entry is limited to 

 a new quarter, to be built on the left bank of 

 the Elbe. No one is allowed to reside in the 

 limited free port, nor can it be connected with 

 the rest of the city by bridges. In time, for 

 the separation of the imports traffic of the free 

 port from that of the Customs Union, in order 

 to simplify the customs regulations, a canal is 

 to be dug along the left side of the river which 

 will cost from fifty to sixty million marks. 

 The merchants of Hamburg would not have 

 given way thus far to the importunities with 

 which the old Free City has been assailed for 

 half a century, to join its economical fortunes 

 with the rest of Germany, if it had not felt that 

 its hope lies more in the growing export trade 

 of Germany, than in its own manufactures and 

 maritime trade in the products of other lands, 

 and that even its present commerce, which is 

 seriously threatened by the competition of 

 other cities, particularly of Antwerp, can be 

 better preserved with the subventions and 

 other favors expected from the Government 

 and the co-operation of the German manufac- 

 turers, which are necessary for the transforma- 

 tion of the city and harbor to meet modern 

 requirements. Yet they would not have ac- 

 quiesced so soon if they had not felt the weight 

 of the Government's displeasure, and were not 

 moved by the threat of Bismarck to erect a 

 rival Hamburg just outside the gates. In the 

 limited free port they can still make up cargoes 

 of foreign goods and carry on the great indus- 

 tries of rectifying foreign spirits, manufactur- 

 ing foreign tobacco, etc. Among the various 

 " ethical " advantages which are expected from 

 the harmonizing of economic interests, the 

 principal one is that the Hamburg commission- 

 merchants will apply their talents more to sell- 

 ing German goods at home and abroad, reliev- 

 ing the manufacturers of the task of finding a 

 market, and less to marketing foreign products 

 in Germany.* 



* The original foundation of Hamburg's prosperity was the 

 northern trade, with Scandinavia, Finland, and the Russian 

 North Sea provinces a trade which it still possesses. But it 

 acquired its important position in the world's commerce in 

 the beginning of this century, after the opening of the South 

 American ports, through the liberation of the Spanish col- 

 onies. The Hamburg ship-owners were obliged to carry 

 English goods, for there were no German wares to export 



