PRUSSIA. 



639 



of the provinces, the entire population of Prus- 

 sia amounts to 24,111,212 souls. In the old prov- 

 inces, exclusive of Hohenzollern and the Jade 

 district, the population has increased 9,342,- 

 492, or 90.52 per cent, since the year 1816 ; 

 the average annual increase was therefore 1.77 

 per cent. 



The religious statistics of the present do- 

 minions of the King of Prussia, according to the 

 census of 1864, were as follows : United Evan- 

 gelical Church, 15,413,207; Eoman Catho- 

 lics, 7,803,346; Israelites, 314,797; other 

 religious denominations, 59,289 (including 14,- 

 196 Mennonites, 1,530 Greeks, 43,032 dissi- 

 dents). 



Prussia, according to the census of 1867, 

 had the following cities with more than 

 100,000 inhabitants: Berlin, 702,437; Bres- 

 lau, 171,926; Cologne, 125,172; Konigsburg, 

 106,296. 



With regard to language, the inhabitants of 

 Prussia are divided as follows: Germans, 88.1 

 per cent. ; Poles, 10.0 ; Danes, 0.6 ; Lithuani- 

 ans, 0.6 ; Wends, 0.4 ; Bohemians and Mora- 

 vians, 0.3. 



The budget of 1869 estimates the revenue 

 and expenditure of Prussia at 167,536,494 

 thalers. The amount has been reduced since 

 1867, as a considerable part of the revenue 

 derived from duties, the post, etc., and some 

 items of the expenditure, such as army, fleet, 

 telegraphs, etc., are now administered by the 

 North-German Confederation. The principal 

 sources of revenue for the year 1869 are : 

 domains and forests; direct taxes, such as 

 property-tax, house-tax, income-tax, and trades 

 and professions tax ; and indirect taxes. The 

 Prussian national debt amounted at the begin- 

 ning of 1867 to 248,853,609 thalers bearing 

 interest, and 15,842,347 not bearing interest. 

 In the course of that year a new loan of 27,- 

 760,400 thalers was contracted, which raised 

 the interest-bearing debt to 276,614,009 thalers, 

 but the sum of 5,952,815 was paid off, and the 

 debt was thus reduced at the beginning of 

 1868 to 270,661,194 thalers. The non-interest- 

 bearing debt remained unchanged, so that the 

 entire national debt, at the commencement of 

 of 1868, amounted to 286,503,541 thalers. 

 From this we must deduct 92,266,912 thalers, 

 the interest and capital of whujh are to be 

 paid out of the earnings of the railways, and 

 10,028,000 thalers of the loan of 1856 paid off 

 in 1868 through the Prussian Bank. Deduct- 

 ing these two items, making together 102,294,- 

 912 thalers, the exact amount of the national 

 debt is fixed at 168,366,282 thalers bearing 

 interest, and 15,842,347 thalers not bearing in- 

 terest, or, together, 184,208,629 thalers. Near- 

 ly one-half of this debt, or 82,591,856 thalers 

 pays no more than 3 per cent., and the entire 

 sum is equal to 7.7 thalers per head of the 

 population. 



The Prussian Government is making great 

 exertions to develop the industry of the coun- 

 try. Competent persons are frequently sent to 



report on the industrial condition of other 

 countries; and a number of special industrial 

 schools have been established and endowed. 



Among these institutions the Industrial Acad- 

 emy of Berlin (Gewerle- Academic), which is 

 attended by about 500 pupils, takes the first 

 place. As preparatory schools for this estab- 

 lishment, there are provincial industrial schools 

 in all the provinces, for the education of arti- 

 sans and managers of manufactories. These 

 educational establishments are supported by the 

 state at a cost of about 152,500 thalers per annum. 

 There are, besides, several technical schools 

 for weavers, pattern-designers, etc., exclusive 

 of those founded by various societies to im- 

 prove the education of workmen, in which, in 

 addition to a knowledge of elementary science, 

 they also acquire theoretical instruction in their 

 own calling. The manufacture of metal may 

 be regarded as entitled to the first place among 

 the various branches of Prussian industry, sus- 

 tained as it is by the rich iron, copper, lead, 

 and zinc deposits to be found in the country. 

 The small-arms manufactures in Sommerda, 

 Suhl, and Spandau are celebrated ; Solingen 

 and Eemscheid produce steel weapons and cut- 

 lery ; and Aix-la-Chapelle and Iserlqhn excel- 

 lent needles. Besides the places mentioned, 

 Berlin, Breslau, Konigsberg, Stettin, Magde- 

 burg, Hanover, Elbing, and several other towns, 

 carry on the manufacture and casting of iron 

 and other metals on a large scale. The cot- 

 ton-trade has its principal seat in Ehenish 

 Prussia (Elberfeld, Barmen, Cologne, Glad- 

 bach, and Lennep), in Saxony (Nordhausen, 

 Muhlhausen, and Heiligenstadt), in Silesia 

 (Reichenbach, Schweidnitz, Landshut, and 

 Waldenburg), and in Berlin ; while flax-spin- 

 ning and linen-weaving are pursued mainly in 

 Bielefeld, Freiburg, Erdmannsdorf, Hirschberg, 

 and Waldenburg. The production of silk and 

 velvet goods is carried on in Elberfeld, Crefeld, 

 Yiersen, Cologne, Muhlheim, and Aix-la-Cha- 

 pelle, all in Ehenish Prussia. 



In the year 1867 there were 2,828 mines 

 working in Prussia, occupying 178,476 work- 

 men and producing annually 59,312,950 thalers. 

 The most important of these products are coals, 

 of which 420,571,116 centners, valued at 

 39,157,939 thalers, were raised. The great 

 coal-producing districts are the Government 

 circles of Arnsburg, Dusseldorf, and Oppeln. 

 In the year 1824, in the old provinces of Prus- 

 sia, the entire coal production was no more 

 than 24,000,000 of centners, while in 1867 it 

 reached the immense quantity of nearly 413,- 

 000,000. 



Iron ore is principally found in the districts 

 of Arnsberg, Dusseldorf, Coblenz, Wiesbaden, 

 Oppeln, and in the province of Hanover. The 

 quantity produced in 1867 was 47,699,649 cent. 

 Of the o"ther ores, in the same year, were ob- 

 tained: lead, 1,831,272 cent. ; copper, 3,492,827 

 cent.; and zinc, 7,260,343 cent. 



The movement of shipping of the ports of the 

 Baltic Sea was, in 1867, as follows : 



