In introducing a monopoly Bismarck intended and hoped not only to relieve the pressure of direct taxation,—­though this would have been a change sufficient in its magnitude and importance for most men,—­but proposed to use the very large sum which the Government would have at its disposal for the direct relief of the working classes.  The Socialist law was not to go alone; he intended absolutely to stamp out this obnoxious agitation, but it was not from any indifference as to the condition of the working classes.  From his earliest days he had been opposed to the Liberal doctrine of laissez-faire; it will be remembered how much he had disliked the bourgeois domination of the July Monarchy; as a young man he had tried to prevent the abolition of guilds.  He considered that much of the distress and discontent arose from the unrestricted influence of capital.  He was only acting in accordance with the oldest and best traditions of the Prussian Monarchy when he called in the power of the State to protect the poor.  His plan was a very bold one; he wished to institute a fund from which there should be paid to every working man who was incapacitated by sickness, accident, or old age, a pension from the State.  In his original plan he intended the working men should not be required to make any contribution themselves towards this fund.  It was not to be made to appear to them as a new burden imposed on them by the State.  The tobacco monopoly, he said, he looked on as “the patrimony of the disinherited.”

He did not fear the charge of Socialism which might be brought against him; he defended himself by the provisions of the Prussian law.  The Code of Frederick the Great contained the words: 

“It is the duty of the State to provide for the sustenance and support of those of its citizens who cannot procure sustenance themselves”; and again, “work adapted to their strength and capacity shall be supplied to those who lack means and opportunity of earning a livelihood for themselves and those dependent on them.”

In the most public way the new policy was introduced by an Imperial message, on November 17, 1881, in which the Emperor expressed his conviction that the social difficulties could not be healed simply by the repression of the exaggerations of Social Democracy, but at the same time the welfare of the workmen must be advanced.  This new policy had the warm approval of both the Emperor and the Crown Prince; no one greeted more heartily the change than Windthorst.

“Allow me,” he once said to Bismarck, “to speak openly:  you have done me much evil in my life, but, as a German patriot, I must confess to you my gratitude that after all his political deeds you have persuaded our Imperial Master to turn to this path of Social Reform.”

There were, he said, difficulties to be met; he approved of the end, but not of all the details,