He was only acting in accordance with the oldest and best traditions of the Prussian Monarchy when he called in the power of the State to protect the poor.

His plan was a very bold one; he wished to institute a fund from which there should be paid to every working man who was incapacitated by sickness, accident, or old age, a pension from the State.

In his original plan he intended the working men should not be required to make any contribution themselves towards this fund.

It was not to be made to appear to them as a new burden imposed on them by the State.

The tobacco monopoly, he said, he looked on as "the patrimony of the disinherited." He did not fear the charge of Socialism which might be brought against him; he defended himself by the provisions of the Prussian law.