The German Imperial Finance Reform Bill was introduced in the
Reichstag on Wednesday, and expounded in an able speech by the Secretary of State, Baron von Stengel. We deal elsewhere with the curious financial position of Germany and the reform which the present Bill contains, but we may note that its introducer admitted that it was chiefly designed to provide a basis for new taxation, since it was impossible to provide for recurring expenditure out of casual income. The Bill was strongly opposed by the Clerical Centre, chiefly on the ground that it took away any supervision of Imperial finance from the Federated States. Dr. Schadler, a Bavarian Member, who made the chief Opposition speech, contended that Germany had been extravagant in her Imperial expendi- ture, and that the true way to meet the financial difficulty was to economise and go slowly. He delivered an attack on Army administration, and traced all the evils of the State to the materialism which was dominating national life. There is little fear but that the Bill will pass, for the majority of the German people are not prepared to forego their cherished ambitions even to secure national solvency.
