344 



GERMANY. 



sugar, 227,806,000 marks ; of coal and coke, 148,- 

 398,000 marks ; of aniline dyes, 44,267,000 marks ; 

 of wooden goods, 47,123,000 marks; of paper, 

 54,936,000 marks ; of leather goods, 108,652,000 

 marks; of cotton cloth, 56,300,000 marks; of 

 mixed silk and cotton cloth, 114,790,000 marks; 

 of woolen fabrics, 148,140,000 marks; of hosiery, 

 87,155.000 marks; of ribbons and trimmings, 

 113,289,000 marks. 



The commerce with the different foreign coun- 

 tries and the German free ports in 1891, in marks, 

 is set forth in the following table : 



Navigation. During 1891 there were 68,747 

 vessels, of 14,799,937 tons, entered at all the Ger- 

 man ports, and 68,652, of 14.795,738 tons, cleared. 

 Of the vessels entered, 58,204, of 13,558,073 tons, 

 were with cargoes, and 10,543, of 1,241,864 tons, 

 came in ballast; of those cleared, 49,113, of 

 9.965,804 tons, were with cargoes, and 19,539, 

 of 4,829,934 tons, went in ballast. Of the vessels 

 entered, 5,484, of 4,440,819 tons, were British; 

 6,282, of 830,016 tons Danish; 3,068, of 646,- 

 496 tons, Swedish; 1,299, of 204,444 tons, 

 Dutch ; 1,104, of 450,816 tons, Norwegian ; and 

 569, of 160,513 tons, Russian ; while 43,620 ves- 

 sels, of 7,529,700 tons, were flying the German 

 flag. Of the vessels cleared, 5,483, of 4,450,132 

 tons, were British ; 6,332, of 830,006 tons. Dan- 

 ish; 3,082, of 650,956 tons, Swedish; 1,256, of 

 202,002 tons, Dutch; 1,105, of 451,455 tons, 

 Norwegian; and 630, of 181,808 tons, Russian; 

 while 48.562, of 7,514,002 tons, sailed under the 

 national colors. 



The merchant navy, on Jan. 1, 1892, consisted 

 of 3,639 vessels, of 1,468,985 tons. There were 

 809 sailing vessels, of 172,524 tons, and 387 

 steamers, of 154,605 tons, belonging to the Bal- 

 tic ports, while 1,889 sailing vessels, of 531,750 

 tons, and 554 steamers, of 610,106 tons, belonged 

 to the North Sea ports. The total number of 

 sailors in the merchant navy in 1892 was 40,899. 



Railroads. The length of the German rail- 

 roads open for traffic in 1892 was 26,627 miles, 

 of which only 3,057 miles belong to private com- 

 panies, and of these the Government worked 293 

 miles. The capital expended on railroads up to 

 1891 amounted to 10,510,359,000 marks; the re- 

 ceipts to 1,307.416,000 marks; the running ex- 

 penses to 805,339,000 marks. In 1890-'91 there 

 were 215,911,000 metric tons of goods and cattle 



transported, paying 858,169,000 marks, while 

 426,056,000 passengers were conveyed, paying 

 345,83.2,000 marks. 



The Prussian Landtag. During the session 

 of the Prussian Reichstag for 1893 additional 

 measures were introduced to carry out the re- 

 forms in taxation which Dr. Miguel began two 

 years before, when a new income-tax bill was 

 passed (see " Annual Cyclopaedia " for 1891). It 

 went into effect at once, and its results exceeded 

 the most sanguine expectations. It was esti- 

 mated to yield 80,000,000 marks annually. Its 

 actual yield exceeded 124,000,000 marks for the 

 first year, which amount will be increased as the 

 workings and requirements become better un- 

 derstood and enforced. A second bill, forming 

 part of the financial reforms, passed in the same 

 year, but not taking effect until Jan. 1, 1893, 

 completely transforms the system of taxation on 

 trades. According to this measure petty traders 

 whose annual profits do not amount to 1,500 

 marks, or whose working capital is less than 

 3,000 marks, are free from taxation. Commenc- 

 ing with annual profits of 1,500 marks and a 

 stock in trade or working capital of 3,000 marks, 

 a progressive scale of taxation is provided for, 

 divided into 4 classes, graduated according to 

 annual profits and working capital up to 50,000 

 marks and 1,000,000 marks respectively. The 

 highest class pays 1 per cent, in each case upon 

 actual profits. The object of this measure was 

 the relief of small traders and the heavier taxa- 

 tion of large undertakings. 



The third link in Dr. Miguel's scheme of 

 financial reforms was introduced and passed in 

 1893. The income tax having once been estab- 

 lished, it was found equitable to deal differ- 

 ently with incomes derived from funded capital 

 and those from unfunded capital, especially with 

 a view of relieving incomes dependent upon the 

 exercise of physical and intellectual abilities. 

 Dr. Miguel called his bill supplementary to the 

 income-tax bill, although in fact it is nothing 

 less than a property tax. The bill fixes the rate 

 of taxation on the capital value of all property 

 at $ of 1 per mille, which, taking 4 per cent, as 

 a normal rate of interest, is equivalent to 1^ per 

 cent, on the funded income represented by such 

 capital. An approximate basis for this tax is 

 derived from a calculation of the proportion of a 

 man's average earnings, which during the thirty 

 years of his life when he may be credited with 

 the maximum power of productive work, he 

 must set aside in order to secure, at compound 

 interest, a capital producing the same funded 

 income as he has previously derived from his 

 earnings. A man having an unfunded income 

 of 14,457! marks must set aside 4,457! marks 

 annually at compound interest of 4 per cent, to 

 have at the end of thirty years a capital of 250,- 

 000 marks yielding him a funded income of 10,- 

 000 marks, the same which he enjoyed during 

 the thirty years of active life, deducting the 

 4,457^ marks set aside annually; so that an un- 

 funded income of 14,457! marks is equivalent to 

 a funded income of 10,000 marks. Owners of 

 property amounting in the aggregate to 6,000 

 marks, are exempt from the property tax. Due 

 allowance being made for such exemptions, the 

 total value of ratable property in Prussia is es- 

 timated at 73,800,000,000 marks, and the annual 



