“Bismarck has acknowledged that the measures which government has adopted up to this time have not proved successful in weakening social democracy, or in checking, in any effectual manner, its spread among the people. But he claims that he has not as yet carried out his full programme. This is true. During the discussion upon the socialistic law of October 21, 1878, he declared distinctly that he did not expect to cure the masses of the disease of social democracy by repressive measures alone. Something more than external remedies was needed. The social democrats had built upon well-grounded discontent of the people, and he proposed to win back the masses for king and fatherland by removing the grounds of discontent. These grounds were of an economic nature. Wages were low, taxes high, work scarce, and the entire economic existence of the lower classes uncertain and full of anxiety. But what was to be done about it? No one knew exactly, but all looked forward with eagerness to Bismarck’s proposals. Two years passed away without bringing any of his plans to light. People began to think that the promises of relief to the poor had been thrown out simply as a bait to catch votes for the bill which became the socialistic law.”[194] That they were intended to serve this purpose is undoubted. The only question is whether Bismarck really intended to make any attempt to carry through legislation in behalf of the laborers. The lapse of time made men sceptical. The opinion more and more prevailed that the last had been heard of government institutions designed to ameliorate the condition of the poor. “But Bismarck has a good memory and a strong will. When he has once made up his mind to pursue a certain course of action he is not to be diverted therefrom. More than once Germany has thought that he had forgotten some threat or resolve because he allowed years to slip by without making any public move towards the execution of his plans, but in such cases she has reckoned without her host. It now looks as if Bismarck might have meant all he said when he promised to use the power of the state to relieve the poor classes. He had not for a moment forgotten his promise, but was only working out his plans and waiting for an opportune moment to execute them.” The German emperor, too, had been urging him forward in the path he had marked out for government. The old Kaiser—who seems, in his way, to have a warm, fatherly affection for his people—professed his distress at the sufferings of the unfortunate, and maintained his sincere desire to relieve them. He was an old man, he said, and he longed to see the labor question satisfactorily adjusted before his death. To one who realizes the utter impossibility of his seeing this pious wish gratified, there is something undeniably touching in the simple and honest expressions of this good-natured father of his people. “Early in the year 1881 the Reichstag obtained an earnest of Bismarck’s plans for