GERMANY. 



355 



677 men, with 312,731 horses. The surgeons, 

 veterinarians, paymasters, armorers, saddlers, 

 and other employes, make about 27,000 more. 

 The Landsturm and special formations are not 

 included in these figures. 



The German infantry are armed with the 

 Mauser rifle, which has a range of 1,600 metres 

 and fires a bullet weighing 25 grammes. Ex- 

 periments have been made with a smaller cali- 

 ber, but a suitable kind of powder has not 

 been invented. Experiments with the Weterli 

 and other magazine rifles have failed for the 

 same reason, the cartridges being too small to 

 produce much effect. Every company is pro- 

 vided with a number of trenching spades, 

 which play an important part in offensive as 

 well as defensive tactics. An aeronautic de- 

 tachment of engineers was formed in 1884. 

 An important change in cavalry equipment 

 has the same object as the recent conversion 

 of the Russian cavalry into dragoon soldiers, 

 or mounted infantrymen. In future the Ger- 

 man cavalry will carry their carbines slung 

 over their back and their sabers suspended to 

 the saddle, while the burden of horse and man 

 will be much lightened. 



The Navy. The German navy has 13 line-of- 

 battle ships, of which 7 are ironclad frigates 

 with 103 guns, and 6 ironclad corvettes with 

 42 guns. The cruisers are 11 corvettes with 

 closed and 10 with open decks, 5 gunboats 

 built on the Albatross system, and 5 other 

 gunboats of the first class. The coast-guards 

 are 1 armored ship, 13 armored gunboats, 11 

 torpedo-boats, 4 steamers for laying torpedo- 

 mines, and 1 gunboat of the second class. 

 There are 8 avisos, 2 transports, and 11 school- 

 ships of various kinds. 



The Reichstag in its session of 1884 voted 

 18,000,000 marks for increasing the navy, es- 

 pecially in the matter of torpedo-boats. The 

 naval ministry considers 150 torpedo-boats 

 necessary for the defense of the German coasts. 

 All the ironclads are provided with apparatus 

 for shooting torpedoes. A special torpedo- 

 boat division was added to the navy in July. 

 In the naval manoeuvres at Kiel in 1884 the 

 experiments in torpedo tactics were the lead- 

 ing feature. Every squadron is to be accom- 

 panied with a number of torpedo-boats, which 

 in distant expeditions will be conveyed to the 

 scene of operations in special transport-ships. 

 It was demonstrated in the manoeuvres that no 

 ship is safe from torpedo attacks when at an- 

 chor near a coast plentifully supplied with tor- 

 pedo-boats, that blockading vessels can be fol- 

 lowed and struck when in motion, and that 

 ironclads with water-tight compartments are 

 rendered unmanageable by a blow from a tor- 

 pedo. The German navy possesses the most 

 efficient torpedo in the world. It was invented 

 by an Austrian naval officer, who sold the 

 secret to the German Government for 180,000 

 marks. The weapon has been perfected under 

 the direction of the naval authorities until it 

 has become the most accurate and destructive 



of all the fish -torpedoes. It is directed in its 

 course by electricity, while an automatic ap- 

 paratus keeps it at the desired depth. 



Finances. The budget for 1883-'84, approved 

 March 2, 1883, makes the total receipts 590,- 

 556,634 marks, balanced by the expenditures, 

 of which 537,297,305 marks are under the 

 head of permanent and 53,259,329 are classed 

 as extraordinary. In the budget for 1884-'85, 

 passed July 2, 1883, the receipts from customs 

 are placed at 196,450,000 marks ; from beet- 

 sugar 46,865,000 marks, from salt 37,262,600 

 marks, from tobacco 13,940,920 marks, from 

 spirits' 35,925, 900 marks, from malt 15,791,000 

 marks, the common indirect taxes from ter- 

 ritories outside of the Zollverein 6,255,710 

 marks, the particular taxes 1,382,980; total 

 excise and customs duties, 353,874,110 marks. 

 The receipts from stamps on playing-cards are 

 taken as 1,014,700 marks; from stamps on 

 bills of exchange, 6,312,100 marks; from stamps 

 on bonds and certificates, notes, accounts, 

 and lottery tickets, 12,109,880 marks; the net 

 receipts from posts and telegraphs, 25,832,193 

 marks; from railroads, 10,690,600 marks; re- 

 ceipts from the invalid fund, 28,665,120 marks ; 

 the surplus of 1882-'83, 15.825,000 marks; 

 extraordinary receipts, 34,592,720 marks ; 

 matricular quotas, 83,702,768 marks. The to- 

 tal expenditures are fixed at 590,819,344 marks, 

 of which 544,327,866 marks are under the 

 head of permanent and 46,491,478 extraordi- 

 nary. The permanent expenditures for legis- 

 lation are 407,670 marks ; for the Imperial 

 Chancellery, 126,970; for foreign affairs and 

 the consulates, 6,825,415 ; for the army, 339,- 

 872,490 ; for the navy, 26,908,896 ; for the ad- 

 ministration of justice, 1,824,267; for financial 

 administration, 99,898,408; for the Imperial 

 Railroad Office, 310,365 ; for the debt of the 

 empire, 15,927,500 ; for the audit of accounts, 

 529,073; for pensions, 20,160,404; for the in- 

 valid fund, 28,665,120 marks. Of the extraor- 

 dinary expenditures, 26,762,678 marks were 

 for the army and 10,125,900 marks for the 

 navy. A supplementary credit of 19,092,491 

 marks was voted to the navy, April 12, 1884, 

 of which 18,790,000 marks were for extraordi- 

 nary expenditures. 



The budget for 1885-'86, as fixed by the 

 Bundesrath, amounts to 621,196,051 marks, 

 the ordinary expenditures at 556,314,286 marks, 

 and the extraordinary at 64,881,765 marks. 

 The revenue is estimated at 44,671,996 marks 

 less than the total expenditures, which amount 

 is to be raised by a loan. 



A debt of 370,000,000 marks has been con- 

 tracted since 1877. An addition of 18,192,720 

 marks was authorized in 1883, and one of 18,- 

 790,000 marks on April 12, 1884. The amount 

 of bank-notes of the empire in circulation in 

 1884 was 144,845,570 marks. 



The invalid fund in 1884 amounted to 515,- 

 616,614 marks, the fortress construction fund 

 to 38,385,000 marks, the construction fund of 

 the house of Parliament to 22,453,950 marks, 



