52 MY MEMOIRS

which would accrue from the purchase of some of his shares which, as was to be expected, had trebled their value in consequence of the naval contracts. Naturally I did not buy any shares, and would have dismissed any official who acted otherwise. Our State always premises in its servants that nobility of feeling by which it had risen to greatness under the Prussian kings. I am reminded of the Finance Minister who arranged the purchase of the Prussian railways, and on resignation left his own office in the most unsatisfactory condition. The salaries in certain high offices were not in just proportion to their importance and the expenses they incurred. When I was Secretary of State I had to draw on my own income at first in order to meet the calls my office made upon me. It goes without saying that our officials worked for the honour of the thing. With a minimum of expenditure we performed a maximum of creative work. ^ vae State administration in the old Prussia-Germany was cheaper and cleaner than anywhere else in the world. After the expenditure of State money, and the creation of innumerable sinecures, which are bestowed upon persons more for their politics than for their fitness for the posts, it is to be feared that the new State will not be like the old. The old German State has been weakened and broken by a period of mediocrity at a time of the greatest danger; but the German nation will never be lost so long as it does not lose the clean character of the old administration. The corrupt German is worse than the corrupt Italian