The German Navy Bill, which provides inter alia for six
cruisers for foreign service and for increasing the tonnage of future battleships, was passed in the Reichstag on Wednesday. The Social Democrats opposed the measure, Herr Bebel con- tending that a sensible foreign policy which would secure allies for Germany was of far greater importance than big votes for the Navy; but the Radical Left, though voting against it, did so not from hostility to the proposals, but because, on constitu- tional grounds, they disapproved of binding the House to a pro- gramme of naval construction for a series of years. To meet the additional expenditure the Radicals and Social Democrats proposed a scheme for imposing an Imperial tax on capital similar to that levied for general revenue purposes in Prussia and other German States; but this was strenuously opposed by the Prussian Finance Minister as virtually equivalent to an Imperial Income-tax, which had been rejected by the Federated Governments as impracticable and inconsistent with State rights, and on a division the proposal was defeated by 142 votes to 67.
