In my opinion, the liberalisation of Prussia has been halted
by the fact that there has been no party of protest except that
of the Socialists, and the Socialists, because they have, in
effect, demanded abolition of the monarchy and the establishment
of a republic as part of their programme, have been unable to
do anything in the obtaining of the reforms.
Up to the beginning of the war there was great dissatisfaction.
The people were irritated by certain direct taxes such as the
tax upon matches, and because every Protestant in Prussia was
compelled to pay a tax for the support of the church, unless
he made a declaration that he was an atheist.
The only class in Germany which knows something of the outside
world is the _Kaufmann_ class. Prussian nobles of the ruling
class are not travellers. They are always busy with the army and
navy, government employments or their estates; and, as a rule,
too poor to travel. The poor, of course, do not travel, and the
_Kaufmann_, although he learns much in his travels in other
countries to make him dissatisfied with the small opportunity
which he has in a political way in Germany, is satisfied to let
things stand because of the enormous profits which he makes
through the low wages and long hours of the German workingman.
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