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Volume VI · Page 135
| Before the First World War the activity of
the State in the economic field was confined within quite narrow limits in the
German Reich. It was limited to communications, and, through the federal states
(Bundesstaaten) and even the communities, to the field of public utilities. The
remaining fields of economic activity were left to the initiative of free
enterprise. This was basically changed at the end of the First World War. If
the requirements of war economy had brought considerable intervention by the
State in economic questions, after the war the activity of the state in the
economic field was expanded to an even greater extent. The collection of
reparations presupposed a stronger influence of the State upon the economy, and
on the other hand, it was also the political forces which had come into power
through the Revolution of 1918, which, in pursuance of trends toward
socialization, press for a stronger economic activity on the part of the State.
Before the war, the State — as far as it took active part in the economic
field — had been able to fulfill the tasks it met with in this connection,
with a specialized Civil Service which had a very carefully chosen personnel.
The Civil Service of the supreme Reich and State authorities enjoyed, and
rightly so, an extraordinary reputation, because of its specialized training,
its ability, and its uprightness. The Preussische Geheime Rat [Prussian Privy
Council] had become an established concept in the entire world. The leading
officials of the central authorities included prominent personalities who,
partly in their youth, partly at a more mature age, found their way into
business. A break in this development came about after the Revolution of 1918-19; the experienced proven forces of the civil service of the central authorities were put out of office in a short time and replaced by men who had been chosen above all because of their political attitude. This change, which began immediately during the first years of the revolution but extended over a rather long period of time, eliminated the old experts in the economic sector, especially in the field of commercial and communications policy. The experts were thus replaced by politicians, especially in the Reich Ministry of Economics (there was naturally a similar development in the other ministries). It was probably due to this shortage of specialized officials, that the Reich Ministry of Economics at an early date used industrialists for limited government service. Characteristic of the shortage of trained officials was the fact that at the time of the negotiations concerning reparations, the Economy was led by Hugo Stinnes, Sr. in the early years, and at the Paris Conference concerning the Owen Young Plan it was not represented by officials but men from the private business world, — at the time, Schacht and Voegler. This fact, however caused the |
