GERMANY. 



poses, 22,192,720 marks), 34,592,720 marks, 

 leave The above and receipts from minor 

 sources 83,702,768 marks to be provided by 

 the matricular quota-shares of the states to 

 make up the total budget of 590,819,344 marks, 

 of which the appropriations were as follow : 



The different loans authorized by the Reichs- 

 tag, and the dates of the laws authorizing 

 them, are as follow : 



DATE. Marki. 



June 14, 1877 77,781,821 



June 14, 1878 97,484,865 



March 18, 1879 68,021,071 



October 13, 1380 87,627,203 



April 5 and December 12, 1381 64,912,885 



February 15, 1882 29,674,405 



July 2, 1885 18,192,720 



Of the amount authorized prior to April 1, 

 1882, there had been issued at that date 319,- 

 239,000 marks. The amount of bank-notes of 

 the empire in circulation at the same date was 

 153,164,210. 



Rescript of the Emperor. On April 14th the 

 Reichstag, after having made no progress with 

 the socialist laws, was stirred again by a re- 

 script from the Emperor, loss provocative, how- 

 ever, than that of the previous one. The aged 

 monarch declared that he deemed it one of the 

 first of his duties as Emperor to address his 

 care and attention to the improvement of the 

 condition of the laboring-class, and urged the 

 Reichstag to grant a biennial budget, out of 

 consideration for his declining years, in order 

 that the autumn session might be devoted to 

 the plans of social reform which he had at 

 heart, and the hope be fulfilled before his death 

 of the development and realization throughout 

 the empire of the reforms begun by his father 

 in the beginning of the century. The Emperor 

 expressed the conviction that since the issue 

 of the anti-socialist law, legislation should not 

 be confined to police and penal measures, but 

 should seek to remedy or alleviate the cause 

 of evils combated in the penal code. Gratified 

 at the first success of his endeavors, in the re- 

 mission of the two lowest grades of the class- 

 tax in Prussia, he hoped to see the accident- 

 insurance bill, presented in an amended form 

 at the beginning of the session, with the sup- 

 plementary project of sick-funds under corpo- 

 rative administration, embodied in laws before 

 the separation of the Reichstag, and the atten- 



tion of the Reichstag devoted in the ensuing 

 winter session to a further proposal to provide 

 for the maintenance of superannuated and in- 

 valided laborers. 



The stubborn determination of Prince Bis- 

 marck was as plainly indicated in the message as 

 were the wishes of the Emperor. The Liberal 

 majority gave vehement expression to their in- 

 dignation, and referred the proposition to the 

 budget committee, a form of indefinite post- 

 ponement. Yet before they separated in June 

 they voted the biennial budget, a procedure 

 which they had repeatedly refused to follow, 

 consoling themselves with the argument that 

 the fiscal year was ended, and that it was there- 

 fore not a violation of the constitutional prin- 

 ciple which they upheld. 



Prinee Bismarck's State Socialism. After even 

 the Progressists had ceased declaiming on theo- 

 retical grounds against the Chancellor's pro- 

 jects for the alleviation of the condition of the 

 working-classes, and after the conciliatory over- 

 tures of the Government toward the Vatican, 

 and the subsequent amendment of the Falk 

 laws, had rendered the Ultramontanes, if not 

 close allies, at least no longer obstructive oppo- 

 nents, Prince Bismarck was able to make bet- 

 ter progress in his comprehensive scheme for 

 the fiscal and social consolidation of the impe- 

 rial power than at anytime since the adoption 

 of the protective policy and of the measures 

 for the nationalization of the Prussian railroads. 

 The aims which the Chancellor set before him 

 in the organization of the finances of the em- 

 pire involved the entire" course of constitutional 

 evolution. In following them he disrupted the 

 great National-Liberal party which enabled him 

 to unite Germany and thwarted the develop- 

 ment of parliamentary government. Prussian 

 officialism naturally prevailed over the more 

 liberal systems of the smaller states, but to se- 

 cure its "acceptance by the thinking part of the 

 population whose hopes were set on parlia- 

 mentarism it was necessary to hold up the new 

 ideal of socialism. The spread of the socialistic 

 doctrines in two years by the help of the press 

 has been remarkable. The measures proposed 

 by Prince Bismarck all have an immediate 

 practical object, and are supported on the 

 ground of expediency by many who disap- 

 prove of their principle and tendency. The 

 projects for the relief of the working-classes 

 are expedient for the sake of enabling the peo- 

 ple to sustain the burden of the military sys- 

 tem, diminishing emigration, and counteracting 

 the agitation of democratic and revolutionary 

 socialism. The adoption of the system of in- 

 direct taxation accomplished the diverse ob- 

 jects of rendering the Imperial Government to 

 a large extent independent of the matricular 

 contributions of the states, of increasing the re- 

 sources to meet the augmenting requirements 

 of the military establishment, and, by allowing 

 the states to share in the customs revenue, of 

 enabling them to reduce burdensome direct 

 taxes. The tobacco-monopoly scheme had the 



