for the Colonies, Bell. On July o the National Assembly, by 208 votes to 115, gave its assent to the signature.
The most active member of the Bauer Ministry turned out to be the representative of the Catholic Centre, Erzberger, who gradually gave the whole Ministry its characteristic colour. He was always in the forefront when the Opposition had to be met. He replied to the attacks of the Right with still sharper counter-attacks. The question of responsibility for the war took a leading place in these encounters. Erzberger charged the Right and those who had been behind it with having destroyed all chance of concluding peace before it was too late. The Right, on the other hand, reproached Erzberger with having prema- turely published the news of the Pope's attempt at mediation in Aug. 1917, with the result that the Vatican was compelled to abandon its efforts, so that the effect of Erzberger's action had really been to prevent peace. Erzberger's chief opponent in these controversies was the former Secretary of State for the Imperial Finances, Dr. Helfferich, who was now a deputy be- longing to the German National (Conservative) party. A news- paper feud between Erzberger and Helfferich ensued, and led to an action for libel by Erzberger against Helfferich, the issue of which was delayed until March 1920. These controversies were again and again fought out on every possible occasion in Parlia- ment, and filled columns of the press for many months.
The deliberations on the new Constitution were concluded on July 31 1919, and the final vote was taken upon the project as a whole. The Constitution was carried by 262 votes against 75, the minority consisting of the German National (Conserva- tive) and the German People's (National Liberal) parties. On Aug. 1 1 the formal signature of the Constitution took place, and on Aug. 21 the Provisional President of the Reich, Ebert, solemnly took the oath of fidelity to the Constitution. Accord- ing to the terms of the new Constitution (Art. 41) the President of the republican Reich must be elected by the whole of the Germans who possess the franchise; but, as the future extent of German territory had not yet been settled in accordance with the Treaty of Versailles, seeing that plebiscites had still to be taken in various regions, the first President, Ebert, was elected provisionally. The Minister-President Bauer now assumed the title of Chancellor of the Reich in accordance with Art. 52 of the Constitution. The National Assembly then adjourned till Sept., and decided to return to Berlin, where the situation had meanwhile become calmer, so that there was no longer be- lieved to be any danger of interruption by demonstrations.
When Parliament resumed its session in Berlin at the end of Sept. negotiations were at once opened by the Government parties the Catholic Centre and the Social Democrats with the non-Socialist Democrats, with a view to the reentry of the latter into the Coalition. The result was that the Democrats Schiffer and Koch became members of the Cabinet, Schiffer at the Ministry of Justice and Koch at the Ministry of the Inte- rior. Shortly afterwards the Bavarian Democrat Gessler, chief burgomaster of Niirnberg, was appointed to a new office, that of Ministry of Reconstruction. On Oct. n the Ministry for the Colonies was abolished, as there were no longer any colonies to administer. The Right now started a campaign in favour of having a general election at an early date for the Reichstag, on the ground that the National Assembly had finished its task by passing the Constitution. This demand was extremely unwel- come to the Left, which did not expect to be successful in new elections and wanted to carry with the existing majority a num- ber of laws in fulfilment of its own legislative programme. Per- haps the most important of these measures was the Factory (or Industrial Councils) bill, which contemplated the formation of councils in factories and other industrial and commercial es- tablishments, giving the workers and salaried employees rep- resentative boards as well as a certain influence upon the manage- ment of the business in which they were engaged. Another important bill which was ultimately passed was the Socializa- tion Law, laying down in general terms the principle that the whole mining industry should be transferred to the ownership of the State. The controversies on these matters were conducted
by the interested parties throughout the country as well as in Parliament. The Factory Bill was not passed until 1920.
Particular difficulties were caused by the necessity of opening up new sources of revenue for the State. The public debt had increased to about 220 milliards of marks; the budget had reached the figure of 15 milliard marks of ordinary expenditure and 41 milliard marks of extraordinary expenditure. On June 28 the Minister of Finance, Erzberger, submitted to the National Assembly a number of minor taxation proposals, the most im- portant of which was the War Contribution bill, which contem- plated a levy rising to 50% upon the excess of incomes during the war over peace incomes. Similarly the greater part of capital increases during the war was to be appropriated by taxation, and the taxation of tobacco, sugar, matches, etc., was to be raised. On July 8 Erzberger developed a detailed financial programme in which he announced proposals for the so-called Emergency Contribution for the Reich (Reichsnotopfer) , con- templating the sequestration of a considerable percentage of all personal fortunes. He advocated at the same time the transfer- ence of the administration of all state taxation from the ter- ritories (states) to the Reich. On Nov. 27 the National As- sembly accepted this principle by passing a bill for regulating contributions by the states to the finances of the Reich. On Nov. 17 1919 the law enacting the Emergency Contribution to the Reich was carried by 238 votes against a minority of 43. On Nov. 7 the leader of the Independent Socialists, Haase, died from wounds which had been inflicted upon him by an insane assassin some days earlier as he was entering the Reichstag building. Other noted parliamentarians who died in the second half of 1919 were the leader of the Catholic Centre Grober (Sept. 19) and Friedrich Naumann, leader of the Democratic party and author of the celebrated book Mitteleuropa (1915).
(C. K.*)
After the Revolution. On Jan. 10 1920 the Treaty of Ver- sailles came into- force. On that day the representatives of Germany, von Simson and Lersner, signed the protocol of rati- fication at the French Ministry for Foreign Affairs in presence of representatives of the principal Allied Powers. America was not represented. From this date the time-limits for the fulfilment of the obligations contemplated by the Treaty and for the plebiscites began to run; and the whole course of German politics in 1920 was dominated by the anxieties over these problems. In a New Year's message the President of the Reich, Ebert, said: " Under the pressure of ruthless coercion a Peace Treaty had to be concluded which threatened to place the honour of our nation, its prosperity and the fruits of its past and future toil, at the mercy of foreigners." On the day of the ratification of the Peace, the Government of the Reich addressed a message of farewell to the " hundreds and thousands of mem- bers of the German nation " who were being separated under the Treaty from the Reich. In the occupied Rhineland, at Flensburg, at Malmedy, in the Saar region, in Upper Silesia, in the Memel district, at Bromberg, a foreign sway, which was in some cases to be temporary and in others permanent, came into force in accordance with the terms of the Treaty. In Jan. and Feb. the German prisoners-of-war in France were at last sent home. On Feb. 10 1920 the first of the plebiscites took place, and resulted in the transfer of a strip of territory in northern Schleswig, including Hadersleben, Apenrade and Tondern, to Denmark. The vote in the second Schleswig zone took place on March 14 and resulted in a German majority. A serious eco- nomic consequence of the conclusion of peace was that an even greater quantity of luxuries flooded Germany through the cus- toms " gap in the west " (Loch im Westen) than had been the case in 1919. The consequence was that the exchange value of the mark continued to fall, so that it constantly became more difficult to import the food-stuffs, textile fabrics and raw mate- rials that were urgently needed. Not until March or April was it possible to get the " gap in the west " partially closed by agreements with the Allied Powers.
The German National Assembly resumed its session on June 30 1920. On the orders of the day was the third reading of the
