The excitement of party politics, continued the Chancellor, could not
be overlooked, but "what our people desires in the first place is not to be disturbed in its actual work, whether economic or intellectual, either at home or abroad, in the markets of the world, by unrest or experiments. It wishes to be supported and encouraged by a policy of con- tinuity and stability at home and abroad." Germany had won her position by work, and by work alone could she maintain it. All parties must work together in the future, but the question was not one of "actual collaboration" or of nervous anxiety about the creation of a temporary Parlia- mentary majority. In other words, Herr von Bethmann- Hollweg distinctly abandons the policy of governing through a Bloc. Herr Wermuth, the new Secretary of State for the Imperial Treasury, pointed out that for the first time the amount of the matricular contributions was definitely fixed; and argued that the new Estimates represented a standstill in expenditure. But he admitted that the Extraordinary Esti- mates had been charged with a large amount of what was, properly speaking, ordinary expenditure.
