Not until Minister Thielen came into office was there a change, occasioned by his self-sacrificing work, for which thanks are due him. Realizing correctly what the military requirements were, he pushed forward the completion of the eastern railways. Thielen was an able, diligent, thoroughly reliable official of the old Prussian type, faithful to me and enjoying my high esteem. In common with Miquel, he stood faithfully by the side of his sovereign in the fight for the Central Canal. Characteristic of him were the words which he said in my presence, before a big assembly of people, at the opening of the Elbe-Trave Canal: "The Central Canal must and will be built." Relations between him and me remained harmonious until his retirement. Despite the railway construction work in the western part of Germany, there were in that region likewise serious gaps in the network of railways, from the point of view of mobilization and deployment of troops, which had long since needed remedying. The Rhine, as far up as Mainz, was crossed by one railway bridge only; the Main could be crossed only at Frankfort. For a long time the General Staff had been demanding the remedying of these conditions. Fortunately, general traffic moved in the same direction--for instance, if a traveler coming from the west wished to reach one of the watering places in the Taunus Mountains, or some place on the railway along the right bank of the Rhine, he had to go as far as Frankfort, and then return in the same direction whence he had come, although at Mainz he had almost been opposite Wiesbaden. Minister Budde was the man chosen for the accomplishment of this work. As chief of the railway department of the General Staff he had long since attracted my attention by his extraordinary capacity for work, his energy, and his promptness in making decisions. He had often reported to me on the gaps in our railway system, which would hamper quick deployment of troops on two fronts, and always pointed out the preparations being made by Russia and France, which we were in duty bound to meet with preparations of equal scope, in the interests of the national defense.