He pushed on the establishment of a unified currency and of a unified financial system, and he accepted without much thought the Free Trade principles" of the liberals. Each of these accomplishments are the things of which liberal dreams are made! Anything that makes it easier for a bourgeois liberal to make money is welcome! Although Germany was affected by the world-wide economic slump from 1873 to 1896, the national economy continued to grow. Biz must be given credit for these measures. .
Yet with this compliment comes a criticism. According to Richard J. Evans, "the creation of the German Reich and its rise to economic might and Great Power status had created expectations in many people." Evans points out that with Germany's bitter defeat in the First World War, these "expectations" were only temporarily set-back. After the war, Germans "expected" that Germany would rise once again.
Despite these important contributions to German domestic affairs, Biz was unwilling-and with the conservative elements present in Germany, unable-to push the liberal agenda too far. Wilhelm kept Biz in place because he was a hero to the liberals and that would make it easier for Biz to hold the line against any potential Reichstag attempts at parliamentary sovereignty. Although neither the Kaiser, Prussian Junkers, nor Biz knew it at the time, German liberals were satisfied with the gains-in foreign and domestic policy-that Biz had brought Germany, and they were happy to have been given them without having to resort to revolution in order to get them. In essence, they were not as liberal as their liberal brothers in France or England. According to Eugen Weber, "the German middle classes never developed the self-confidence, the values, the capacity for criticism, and self-criticism which would permit them to seize political power or, when entrusted with it, to exercise it.