The total sum gained by the State was not a tenth of that which was produced in England by the taxing of tobacco, but no one could maintain that smoking was more common in England than in Germany.

In fact tobacco was less heavily taxed in Germany than in any other country in Europe.
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.