Acting in this role, Frederick helped transform Prussia from a European backwater to an economically strong and politically reformed state. He protected his industries with high tariffs and minimal restrictions on domestic trade. He allowed freedom of speech in press and literature, and reformed the judicial system, he abolished most uses of judicial torture, except the flogging of soldiers as punishment for desertion. The death penalty could be carried out only with a warrant signed by the King himself; Frederick only signed a handful of these warrants per year, and then only for murder. He made it possible for men who were not nobles to become judges and senior bureaucrats, making the Prussian justice system one of the most prompt and efficient in Europe. Frederick the Great promoted a more active population policy, which meant more tax revenues, but also more soldiers for the army. New agricultural land was reclaimed at the Oder.