Nevertheless the product of these negotiations and these transactions constitutes a work whose essential characteristics are clearly enough indicated, and whose bold outline seems to respond to the demands which all constitutions of this kind make.
From the point of view of legal technique the Constitution of Weimar is, on the whole, well made. Conscientiously, scientifically, the men who drew it up studied foreign Constitutions, subjected them to the most stringent criticism, tested them by the particular exigencies of the Reich and by the special character of its people. Here they imitated, there they initiated. Naturally, they were not wholly able to detach themselves from the judgments, preferences and prejudices that prevail in their country. Perhaps from the strictly German point of view it is better that it should be so. The work is strongly marked with their traits. It is logical and fine-spun, audacious, complicated and sometimes obscure, painstakingly conceived and solidly constructed.
But whatever technical merit a legal document may present, it is worth little unless it accommodates itself to the realities for which it is created, unless, too, it is strong enough to resist the thrusts directed against it and to master them. Has the Constitution of Weimar resistance enough to withstand all the inevitable assaults which will be aimed at it, and can it guarantee to the German people a well-ordered public life and a stable government?
We know the bases on which it is constructed; politically--unitarism, parliamentary democracy, the republic; economically--the participation of the working class in the management of industry, evolution toward the nationalization of the industries most important in the national life. The political institutions, under more or less different forms, have been tested by other peoples, who have not complained of them. Will these institutions, adapted as they have been, succeed equally for the German people? The economic institutions are new. What will be their worth?
The question is serious; for in this edifice so logically constructed all parts are mutually interdependent, and the whole will not endure unless the parts are solid. The downfall of any of them will drag down the others. Political institutions will not function unless economic provisions assure industry and commerce sufficient prosperity. But economic institutions will be swept away if the government is overwhelmed and ceases to fulfil its mission.