256 



GERMANY. 



of Nov. 14, 1899, which the United States accepted 

 and ratified in January, 1900 (see SAMOA). 



The Caroline, Pelew, and Marianne, or Ladrone, 

 Islands passed into German possession on Oct. 1, 

 1899, by virtue of a treaty concluded with Spain 

 on Feb. 12, 1899, for the price of 16,750,000 marks. 

 Until a separate administration shall be organized 

 they are under the authority of the Governor of 

 New Guinea. The estimated annual expenditure 

 is 220,000 marks. In 1899 the sum granted was 

 405,000 marks, of which 355,000 marks were re- 

 quired for permanent improvements. For 1901 

 the grant was 370,000 marks. The Caroline 

 1*1 ft ntls are of coral formation. There are about 

 500 isles, of which Ponape, Yap, and Kusai are 

 the chief, containing about 5,400 inhabitants of 

 Malay blood, with Japanese and Chinese inter- 

 mixture. The Pelew Islands, 26 in number, pro- 

 duce copra, tortoise shell, and mother-of-pearl. The 

 German Marianne Islands are small and the popu- 

 lation is scanty. The total area of the three 

 groups is about 560 square miles, with 40,000 

 population. 



The colonial expenditures of the Imperial Gov- 

 ernment have mounted in a progressive ratio. The 

 Reichstag voted money in 1900 to continue the 

 railroad in East Africa from Tanga toward Karog- 

 we, but would not consent to begin a central rail- 

 road between Dar-es-Salaam and Mrogoro. The 

 employment of the regular marine infantry in 

 Kiaochau is objectionable to the representatives 

 of the people, although the constitutional right 

 of the Emperor to employ the conscripts wherever 

 he wishes can not be disputed. A resolution was 

 passed by the Reichstag requesting the Govern- 

 ment to organize the troops in Kiaochau as far 

 as possible on the basis of voluntary enlistment, 

 and to take measures for the creation of a body of 

 Chinese soldiers. The subsidies granted to the 

 colonies for 1901 exceed those of the preceding 

 budget by more than 5,000,000 marks. The sub- 

 sidy for Southwest Africa is calculated at 9.378,000 

 marks; for East Africa, 9,117,000 marks; for the 

 Cameroons, 2,192,800 marks ; for Togoland, 884,000 

 marks; for German New Guinea, 709,700 marks; 

 for the Caroline, Pelew, and Marianne Islands, 

 286,500 marks; for Samoa, 146,000 marks. This 

 list does not include 3,020,807 marks required to 

 cover deficits in former estimates. A sum is de- 

 manded for the construction of the central rail- 

 road in East Africa in spite of the previous rejec- 

 tion of the project by the Reichstag, and money is 

 wanted to be used in settling agricultural colonists 

 from India, who will receive, in addition to a grant 

 of land, 500 marks each as a bonus to enable them 

 to begin the cultivation of rice and cotton. 



The Reichstag. One of the longest and busiest 

 sessions in the history of the German Reichstag 

 came to an end on June 13, 1899. The first sitting 

 was on Dec. 6, 1898, and when the members sepa- 

 rated in June, 1899, the session was not closed, 

 but adjourned in order that the discussion of 

 certain bills that had not been finally disposed 

 of might be resumed when the house met again 

 on Nov. 14, 1899. One of the more important 

 of these was the penal servitude bill, intended to 

 afford protection to workingmen who refused to 

 go on strike. This measure the Emperor had sug- 

 gested and announced, but while it was being 

 discussed a strong agitation was conducted against 

 it in the country, and it was denounced as tending 

 to interfere with the right of coalition. When it 

 was brought up as soon as the Reichstag resumed 

 it- sittings the Center, the National Liberals, the 

 Radicals, and the Social Democrats were found 

 arrayed against the Government, and it was re- 

 jected on the second reading almost without dis- 



cussion. The Government acknowledged the de- 

 feat, and to make peace with the majority Prince 

 liohenlohe, who in 1896 had promised the Reich- 

 stag to secure the repeal throughout the empire 

 of the laws forbidding the union of political soci- 

 eties one with another, accepted a resolution passed 

 by the house, and shortly afterward promulgated 

 a decree by which the union of political societies 

 was permitted in all parts of the empire, notwith- 

 standing provisions to the contrary in the lawa 

 of some of the states. 



The meat inspection bill was another of the 

 measures that engaged the attention of the Reich- 

 stag at different periods and underwent various 

 vicissitudes. When originally introduced by the 

 Government its ostensible and primary purpose 

 was to safeguard the public health by preventing 

 the sale of diseased or unwholesome meat. The 

 Agrarians, not satisfied with the degree of pro- 

 tection afforded to German producers by the Gov- 

 ernment measure, mustered their full strength not 

 only in the Conservative but in the Clerical and 

 the National Liberty party, and with the large 

 majority that they commanded they carried 

 amendments that practically prohibited the im- 

 portation of foreign meat on the pretext that it 

 is impossible to make sure that meat imported 

 from abroad has been properly inspected in the 

 country of its origin. The Government declined 

 to accept the bill as it passed the second reading. 

 The Government needed the votes of the Agrarians, 

 whose strongest element is the old Junker party 

 of Prussia, joined by the landowning nobility of 

 other parts of Germany. Their support was neces- 

 sary to carry through the naval bill, but the pro- 

 tests against the transformation of the meat in- 

 spection bill that came from the Hanseatic towns 

 and from the trading and working population of 

 the manufacturing centers could not be ignored. 

 To enhance the price of a prime necessary of life 

 was a serious thing, and not less serious was the 

 probable loss of trade and the possible danger of 

 reprisals from the United States, with which an 

 eighth part of the whole foreign commerce of 

 Germany was conducted in 1898. The Agrarian 

 amendments not only placed restrictions of a pro- 

 hibitive character on foreign meat imports, but 

 lightened the regulations for the inspection of meat 

 slaughtered in Germany. All salted meats except 

 ham and bacon, all meat preserved in tin cans or 

 other vessels, and all sausages or mixtures of 

 minced meat were forbidden to be imported at all ; 

 whole carcasses or half carcasses of beef and pork, 

 unskinned and with heart, lungs, and kidneys un- 

 disturbed, could be imported up to Dec. 31, 1903, 

 and cooked meat prepared in a way excluding any 

 danger to health, and after that date the importa- 

 tion of all meat or meat products would be un- 

 lawful with the exception of lard, bacon, mar- 

 garine, and sausage skins. The date is that of 

 the expiration of the commercial treaties, by which 

 time it was expected that Germany would he 

 able to supply all the meat required for domestic 

 consumption. The agitation started by the indus- 

 trial and commercial classes subsided when it was 

 made known that the Government and the Federal 

 Council would not accept the bill as reported by 

 the committee and approved by the Agrarian ma- 

 jority. The compromise that the ministry made 

 with the Agrarians surprised the country, leaving 

 as it did some of the strongest protectionist fea- 

 tures untouched. The concessions obtained from 

 the Agrarians were the excision of the clause prac- 

 tically excluding all foreign meat after the end 

 of 1903 and the permission for pickled meat to 

 enter the country when its origin and the manner 

 in which it has been preserved are known by expe- 



