Dr. Solf, the Imperial Colonial Minister, while devoted to the
Emperor and his family is a man so reasonable in his views, so
indulgent of the views of others, and indulgent without weakness,
that he would make an ideal leader of a liberalised Germany.
The great bankers, merchants and manufacturers, although they
appreciate the luscious dividends that they have received during
the peaceful years since 1870, nevertheless feel under their
skins the ignominy of living in a country where a class exists
by birth, a class not even tactful enough to conceal its ancient
contempt for all those who soil their hands business or trade.
In fact such a party is a necessity for Germany as a buffer against
the extreme Social Democrats.
At the close of the war the soldiers who have fought in the mud
of the trenches for three years will most insistently demand a
redistricting of the Reichstag and an abolition of the inadequate
circle voting of Prussia. And when manhood suffrage comes in
Prussia and when the industrial population of Germany gets that
representation in the Reichstag out of which they have been brazenly
cheated for so many years, it may well be that a great liberal
party will be the only defence of private property against the
assault of an enraged and justly revengeful social democracy.
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