; KIM! A NY 



175 



The development of German export* and imports 

 hits been of late yean* rapid ; the export* to Britain 

 have largely increased, ami German manufacturers 

 have now secured a large hold in many markets 

 once ruled !>y Knglish exporters. Between 1NH3 

 and 1893 the value of German manufactured goods 

 imported into Great Britain increased by 30 per 

 cent, or by 5,000,000; in 1894 the value was 

 26,874,470. Meanwhile Britishexports to Germany 

 (17,796,129 in 1894) decreased. And German 

 exports to the United States increased in ten years 

 from 8,750,000 to 14,500,000 ; to Australia from 

 315,000 to 890,000. In 1891 Germany sent us 

 110,000 tons of manufactured iron and steel, while 

 we sent her 32,000. In the five years 1890-94 

 German exports of iron and steel increased from 

 957,903 tons to 1,438,585, while the export of Kng- 

 lish iron decreased from 2, 706,260 tons to 1,735,787. 

 In textiles Germany has also profited to the dis- 

 advantage of (reat Britain. 



The German mercantile fleet is the fourth in the 

 world, being excelled only by those of Great 

 Britain, the United States, and Norway. In 1895 

 it consisted of 2622 sailing ships, of 660,856 tons 

 burden, and 1043 steamers, of 893,046 tons ; mak- 

 ing a total of 3665 vessels of 1,553,902 tons. The 

 leading ports are Hamburg, Bremerhaven (for Bre- 

 men), Stettin, Danzig, Kiel, Liibeck, and Konigs- 

 berg. In 1893 there entered German ports 66,655 

 \e-M-ls, -of 14,621,634 tons, and cleared 67,219 

 ships, of 14,7-24,658 tons. Of the shipping enter- 

 ing, :U>.V_>,4.->0 tons were British, and 699,000 tons 

 Danish; 5,591,000 tons were German. Besides 

 this maritime shipping trade, Germany carries on 

 a very active commerce between its own internal 

 ports, by means of 20,390 vessels ( 1153 steamers), 

 plying on the numerous navigable rivers and 

 canals. 



In her commercial policy Germany has of late 

 years cominitted herself more and more to protec- 

 tion ; and by a law of July 1879 a protective 

 policy was substituted for the previous free-trading 

 principles of the empire. The chaos of coinages 

 in use before the establishment of the empire has 

 been rectified by the substitution (1873) or a uni- 

 form imperial system, the standard being gold (see 

 BIMETALLISM). The silver mark, superseding 

 guldens and thalers, is almost exactly equal to a 

 shilling in value. Since 1872 the metrical system 

 of weights and measures has been in use. 



Railicuys, dec. The first railway in Germany 

 was the Ludwigsbahn between Nuremberg and 

 Fiirth, completed in 1835 ; but the first of any 

 length was built between Leipzig and Dresden in 

 1837-39. In 1887-88 the railways in Germany had 

 a total length of 24,706 English miles. Of that total 

 21,268 miles were state lines, 263 miles were private 

 lines under state management, and 3175 miles 

 were private lines under private management. 



The postal and telegraphic systems of all the 

 German states, except Bavaria and Wiirternberg, 

 are now under a central imperial administration ; 

 and since 1872, in accordance with treaties con- 

 cluded between Austria and Prussia, a German- 

 Austrian postal union has been established. The 

 postal system includes the expedition of passengers 

 and goods by the post-carriages of the several 

 departments. In 1887 there were 19,476 post-offices 

 in the empire, and 14,990 telegraph-offices. The 

 total length of telegraph lines at the end of 1887 

 was 55,748 miles, with 198,214 miles of wire. This 

 double department employed 101,208 hands. In 

 1887-88 its income was 10,672,322, and its ex- 

 penditure 9,157,247. 



Population, <fcc. Four-fifths of the population 

 of this country are of the race called in English 

 Germans, in French Allemands, but by the people 

 themselves Deutsche. The term Deutscn, in 



Gothic //,//////.,/.. in <>|,| IlighGer. diutitc ( Latinined 

 into tin nt item), \x derived from the Gothic imh*>tan- 

 tive Hi, mill, ' people,' and therefore meant originally 

 (lie popular language ; or, in the mouth of the 

 Icaim-d, the vulgar tongue. In the 12th and 13th 

 centuries it became the accepted designation both 

 of this widespread tongue and of the race that 

 speak it. 



The German-speaking inhabitants of the empire 

 number upwards of 43,000,000; but a considerable 

 proportion of these are not of the Germanic stock. 

 Among the peoples retaining their own language 

 (about 3$ millions) are Poles (exclusively in eastern 

 and north-eastern Pmssia), 2,450,000 ; Wends 

 (in Silesia, Brandenburg, and Saxony), 140,000; 

 Czechs ( in Silesia), 50,000 ; Lithuanians ( in eastern 

 Prussia), 150,000; Danes (in Sleswick), 140,000; 

 French (in Rhenish Prussia, Alsace, and Lorraine) 

 and Walloons (about Aix-la-Chapelle in Rhenish 

 Prussia), 280,000. The Germans are divided into 

 High and Low Germans ; the language of the 

 former is the cultivated language of all the German 

 states ; that of the latter, known as Platt-Deuturh, 

 is spoken in the north and north-west. As to J,he 

 colour of the hair, Professor Virchow caused olmer- 

 vations to l>e made on the hair of 1,758,827 school 

 children, four-fifths of the total numl>er. The 

 result showed that 31 "80 per cent, belonged to 

 the blonde type ; 14*05 to tlie brunette type ; and 

 54*15 to the intermediate type. The blondes were 

 most numerous in North Germany, the brunettes 

 in South Germany. 



It is computed that there are 23,000,000 Germans 

 beyond the boundary of the empire, of whom 9J 

 millions are in Austria, 7 in the United States, 2 

 in Switzerland, 400,000 in Poland (l>esides 800,000 

 German Jews). There are also many in the 

 Volga country, in middle and south Russia, 

 Rouinania, and Turkey. 



The average density of the population of Ger- 

 many is about 222 per sq. m. Tlie most densely 

 populated country of the empire is Saxony, with 

 513 per sq. m. ; the most sparsely populated is 

 Mecklenburg-Strelitz, with 87 per sq. m. The con- 

 centration of the population in large towns is not 

 so common in Germany as in some other countries. 

 Although in 1885 there were 137 towns with 20,000 

 inhabitants and upwards, only one of these reached 

 a million, three others 250,000 (see p. 172), and 

 seventeen others 100,000 ; twenty-three had be- 

 tween 50,000 and 100,000. 



Emigration. During the last fifty years emi- 

 gration from Germany has assumed very large 

 proportions ; but since 1881, when the highest total 

 (220,798) was reached, the annual number of 

 emigrants has greatly decreased. Between 1830 

 and 1887 it is calculated that about 4,200,000 emi- 

 grants left the country, five-sevenths of whom were 

 bound for the United States of North America. 

 The others went, in varying proportions, to South 

 America, Australia, Canada, Africa, and Asia. 

 In 1851-60 about 1,130,000 emigrants left Germany ; 

 in 1860-71, 970,000; in 1871-80, 595,150; and in 

 1881-88, 1,143,570. In 1886 the number was 

 83,218; in 1887, 103,055; and in 1888, 98,515, 

 besides .-i Unit 4000 sailing from French ports. By 

 far the largest proportion of emigrants come from 

 the northern parts of the empire : in 1888 the 

 provinces of Posen and West Prussia each con- 

 tributed over 12,000 to the Prussian total of 63,000 

 Bavaria sent 12,200 ; Wiirteinberg, 6500 ; Saxony, 

 2300. In 1894 the total number of emigrants 

 was only 40,964. On the other hand there were 

 in 1890, 508,594 foreigners in Germany, of whom 

 205,545 were Austrians and 15,534 were born in 

 Great Britain and Ireland. 



( 'ninnies. The colonial extension of Germany was 

 inaugurated under Bismarck in 1S84, with the m - 



