dustrial and commercial congresses, this pressure became increasingly insistent. Projects for Trade Councils and Economic Senates began to abound. On the other side there was Bismarck's conviction that, now, when the legal-State was becoming the welfare-State and abundant planning was necessary, "the doctrinairism of the omniscient ministerial councillors," 1 " private secretaries' decrees" and "schemes issuing from the writing-table were not adequate to the purpose. "You, sirs," he said, in his speech at the opening of the first session of the Prussian Economic Council," will bring us expert knowledge from practical life. You are called together to form a central body which, by accommodatory cooperation, shall promote the common and special interests of commerce, industry and agriculture by free expression of opinion." 2

That Council was called together on four occasions, in 1881, 1882, 1884 and 1887. On the first occasion. it discussed Accident Insurance and Reform of the Guilds; on the second occasion, Sickness and Accident Insurance and introduction of a tobacco monopoly ; at its third assembly it advised on the reform of the Industrial Code and Accident Insurance; on the fourth and last meeting, Old Age and Invalid Insurances came before it. The advice served Bismarck for his Imperial schemes.

A Royal decree had carried the Prussian Economic Council into effect and had saved Bismarck the trouble of dealing with the parties in the House of Deputies: but no such easy method of attaining his will existed in the Empire. His Imperial project-the Prussian Economic Council of 75 with the addition of 50 representatives from the various States-was subjected to the criticism of the Reichstag when the demands for the necessary funds were put into the Imperial Budget of 1881. Party prestige and anxiety. for free govern

1 Curtius, loc. cit.

2 Ibid. p. 17.

E

ment against monarchical encroachment caused the Progressive Party, the National Liberals and the Centre to oppose the project.1 They argued that enough experts were already present in the Reichstag (148 estate owners and 48 manufacturers and merchants); that the English system of special inquiries was good enough; that, particularly, such a body would compete with the Reichstag, and as the importance of economic institutions increased the commercial and industrial classes would leave the Reichstag and pass into the Economic Council; that many of the members of the Council itself would be inexpert in some questions-they would not argue, but would vote; and lastly, as a logical threat, one could on such reasoning fairly demand a council to consider the spiritual and cultural interests of the nation. The impossibility of securing the reconciliation of divergent interests was also emphasised.

The Conservative side of the House, and some members of the Centre (Catholic) party, generally stood by the Bismarckian project. They argued that the technical qualifications of the Reichstag were not of any high level, as people in practical life could not afford the time for political activity; ad hoc inquiries were subject to the suspicion that those who were chosen to serve upon them were appointed by the Government according to their previously known views. Bismarck himself riddled the opposition argument with wit, contempt and reason. The academic education of politicians and bureaucracy were not capable of securing the ends for which statutes were made: the congestion of business in the Assembly, and the purely political conflicts arising there, gave inadequate time for proper discussion. They were out of touch with practical life. "We need to inform ourselves, and I rather like to believe that parliamentary assemblies should equally feel this necessity."

1 Curtius, op. cit. chap. iv.; Tatarin-Tarnheyden, op. cit. Bk. I. Pt. II.; Herrfahrdt, op. cit. p. 72 et seq.

No judges were to be established, but merely witnesses and experts. The too great fear of the Liberal Progressive parties for the very being of the Reichstag caused the project to be rejected. But the idea lived on, and when disillusionment with the work of the Reichstag-" To the German nation," is the dedication above the main entrance to the building-began to be aggravated, the Bismarckian plans proved no mean attraction for the present generation of political leaders. And in the home of the Economic Council, in Prussia, during the discussion of constitutional reform in 1917, the ideas of 1881 inevitably lived again.

Consideration of the German political background to 1914 shows, then, several important elements: final political authority was denied the Reichstag, and therefore the political parties; there was no such conception of parliamentary sovereignty as in England; the representative character of the party system had behind it no such trust as even the English citizen accords to his parties; the idea of vocational representation backed by centuries of theory and practical working was at least as strong as the idea of representation of an amorphous mass of undifferentiated citizens; industry was sufficiently strong in organisation to desire to speak for itself.

THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL BACKGROUND

Meanwhile, the industrial and social development of Germany from about 1860 led clearly to a political system which should give its vocational associations much more of a say in the direction of creative political effort than was afforded by the old constitutional system. Even more of consultation was demanded than could be provided by a system as good, say, as that in operation in England.

An examination of this development discovers several elements of basic importance.

The first is the rapid industrialisation of the country, beginning about the middle of the nineteenth century, and continuing with a tremendous momentum until the outbreak of war. The effects were much the same as are discernible in the first generations of England's industrial revolution : an intricate specialisation of labour, and consequent upon this, but in Germany in a more thorough and logical fashion than in England, a constant establishment of organisations representing the special groups engaged in the pursuit of a craft, or a profession. Beyond this there was the institution of organisations representing the interest of all people engaged in the crafts belonging to a large and fairly definite branch of economic activity, e.g. of transport, metal workers, forestry, agriculture, gardening, public services, commerce, industry. The associations were sometimes local, i.e. for each State (as Germany is of a federal structure), for each town, but inevitably centred in a head organisation for the whole Empire. Further, there was the division of associations dependent upon the existence of the capitalistic system in industry: by employers' associations on the one side, and employees' and workers' associations on the other. Closely following the latter in matters of wage and work conditions, came the associations of officials. Finally, there were the associations of the liberal professions.

The employers' associations concerned with economic, political and socio-political questions (as their primary or secondary purpose) numbered for the whole Empire in 1915, 603, of which 483 covered the whole Empire, 57 covered special districts, and 63 smaller localities.1 The alliance of German Employers' Associations covered in 1913 (end of year) 69 associations, and about 2,000,000 workers; in 1919, 130 associations and

1 25. Sonderheft zum Reichs-Arbeitsblatt, p. 7. In 1922 the numbers were-total, 1514 associations: Imperial, 1294; State and District Associations, 121; and Local Associations, 99.

4,000,000 workers; in 1920 and 1921 followed further increases.1 Besides this, there were insurance organisations of employers' associations against strikes.

The employees (i.e. salaried workers distinct from wageearners in the great Trade Unions) from all branches of industry numbered in their associations in 1914 some 600,000, and in 1919 (in 63 associations) some 1,500,000. The United Association of German Employees' Unions, uniting twelve employees' associations, had in 1920 some 500,000 members.3

Then the great fighting and benefit organisations of the Trade Union movement totalled in 1914 some 2,300,000, and in 1919 some 9,000,000, with numerous craft and industrial sub-associations.

Associations of officials 5 (in 1922) numbered 377, were grouped into 14 classes according to their activity (general associations; general administration; public works, mining, industries; finance; agriculture, domains, forests; railways; posts; police; administration of justice; education and church; army and navy; insurance, health administration; civil servants' associations of various Departments; local government), and contained together 2,206,561 members.

6

The liberal professions, falling, as far as they were publicly known, into eight fairly well-defined groups (general associations; jurists and economists; medicine and welfare; technicians; education and instruction; painting and artistic trades; musical art; literature and the Press), included 135 associations and 380,937

members.

The activities of all these associations were of great diversity. Instruction by lectures and Press, the

1 25. Sonderheft zum Reichs-Arbeitsblatt, p. 9.

2 Ibid. p. 11.

Economic

3 Ibid. p. 13.

Peace. Confessional. Total.

167,074 130,971 2,302,162 I 50,000 83,398 9,072,841

6 Ibid. 23, p. 90 et seq.