350 



GERMANY. 



marks for 1896 and 1,086.482 marks for 1*07. 



etsels have taken >ual. while the steam- 



' art- relatively few. A pr.p"-al to 

 MAI in order to aiiract the 

 profitable steamer traffic is under consideration. 



The imiM-rial i*Kt ..fliee in 1V.~> f. Awarded 1 

 891586 letters, 439.183.083 p..-tal cards. 542.4 



:rs, books, etc.. 84.452.57tt mmpl. 

 972 newspaper*, and 21.:t20jBlft18 marks ,,f i. 

 remittance*: the Bavarian |.--t ..:' 

 letter*. 28.964,700 postal cards. 46.380.71>. 



-'.867.490 sample*, 1,285.329 newspapers, and 



>*.114 marks; tl,,. Wurtcmberg post - 

 49.611.884 W9.118 ixtal cards. 27 



566 eirvu !.'JI;.:JH4 samples. 



..I. l.::il.- 



circulaw. etc^ 88,536.450 samples, 1.109,5>< 

 MwipApen. and 24,043^52,157 marks. The receipts 



of the material post offi- narks 



and; >:.'M marks leaving a sur- 



..'368,585 marks, which is increased by tin 1 

 surplus of the Itavarian and NVnrlcmbfrg post of- 

 fices to 29,781,646 marks. 



The telegraph lines belonging to the imperial 

 post office have a total length ..f 7<>.2*1 miles, with 

 969.088 miles of wires. The Bavarian lines have a 

 h of S.551 miles, with 26.998 miles of wire; 

 A iirtemberg lines length of 3.0SJ. with 8,288 

 miles of win*. The number of domestic messages 

 sent over the imperial lines in 1805 was v 

 orer the Bavarian lines. TW the W iir- 



temberg wires, 1.230.858: total. 20,267.662. The 

 number of foreign messages on the imp.-rial lines 

 was 10.333.809: mi the Bavarian. 515.41s ; on the 

 \Vnrtcml>erg.2tU.066; total. 1 



Ite^nlalion of Stork and Produce i:\changes. 

 The Bourse bill of .lune 22. 1896. took effect at 



the beginning of the new year. The immediate 

 supervision of the Berlin St'ock and Produce K\- 

 changes was intrusted to a committee of the Mer- 

 cantile (tuild atul the management was placed in 

 the hands of a Bourse committee of 32 members, of 

 whom 24 must be active dealers aud the others 

 senior members of the .Mercantile (iuild. The com- 

 mittee of the Produce Kxchange must include 5 

 representatives of agricultural interests and 2 of 

 1 at least 2 of the agricultural 

 representatives must be present whenever prices of 

 grain, flour, malt, sugar, etc., are fixed, in order to 

 restrain dealers from unduly depressing the prices 

 of agricultural products. Prices are fixed breach 

 day according to the sworn information of brokers 

 appointed for the purpose. In the Stock Kxchange 

 official quotations settled by the P,,,ursi- committee 

 are made once a day for stocks and bonds, and for 

 foreign exchange at least three times a week. At 

 ud of each month the monthly average of 

 - for grain, oils. s|,; r ju. a ,,d otter produce is 



published. The chief feat lire 'of the Bourse bill is 



al prohibition of time bargains in grain, in 

 IBJning stocks, And in the shares of companies of 

 less than 2O.OOO.ooo mark* capital. Firms engag- 

 ing in the traffic in futures and difference- in other 

 snar must be register..!. In 



Halle the Kxchange was dissolved. In 



Bnin- -in. and other i-.uns the me:- 



of the exchange* organized free asw>< lati.-ns for the 

 purjM*< of carrying on their business independent ly 

 of the Bourse regulations. In Berlin the Bourse 

 conformed to the regulations. The Produce l.\- 

 change members started men ial Tnion 



in a neighboring building known n- . Pal- 



ace. The mercantile community was so incensed 

 against the law that no,,e of th, ,,f the 



Merchants' Guild would accent nomination to the 

 Exchange committee, while the Produce Exchange 



mejnbers, who had all deserti-d their own halls, do- 

 dm. their quota. l-Y.v commercial uii- 



\v-re instituted all over the coui.tr>. They 



refu- ...it an\ n-poi-ts of transactions oV 



quot;i 10 a> to avoid bcin^ tl'catctl as 



BA, and established an or^ani/a! ion ,,f th,. 

 tain and produce trade, with it- center in 

 Berlin. A supplementary bill \\a* brought I 



the Federal Council i.\ I'Vuia ! ine-i the siiua- 



trallie in ' future-, sl.ll coin inued. I he 

 contract MIL: parties reUm^ on each on, 

 faith. In May the Minister of ('<-mmei<, noiilied 

 the free associat ioi.s t hat the\ \\.ieboiirses in the 

 >:iiliof the |;..iir-e la.and mu>l piepare and 



? submit to the linvcnmiciit Authorities their statatet 



and regulations. The prod... . : I'.. rim, 



when their independent exchange was clo>ed b\ the 

 police iii .lune. ajMH-aled to 1 1,. 



TIlC Srssj ...... ( Die Ueicllvl.u. 



form of the military courts, for which there 

 was a st ron;: popular demand, wen- not advanced 

 by the introduction in the bill for the amendment 

 of judicial procedure in t he civil i-ourls of ino.lili- 

 calions intended to give the in on liberal 



character. In conseqm-nce of this action of the 

 Reich-lair the minister withdrew the bill. Prince 

 Iloheiilohe promised to the Keichsta.u' that tin- 

 growing abuse of dueling in the army would be 

 restricted by submitting quarrels and in>ulls to the 

 absolute decision of courts f honor. Such a coini 

 of honor consists of all the ollicers of a reuiincnt or 

 battalion and a council of honor of a captain 

 first and a second lieutenant. <>n .Ian. 1. 188 

 imperial edict was issued, providing that all jirivate 

 (juarrels must be submitted to t he councils of honor 

 for settlement or for further reference to a court of 

 honor, from which one or both parti. - may appeal 

 to the Kmperor. (Quarrels between civilians and 

 ollicers must n\>'> I i to the council of 



honor, which has the same power to enforce its de- 

 cision upon the otlicer in Mich a case as u hen two 

 ollicers are involved. 



The new commercial code for the empire was 

 adopted on April ?. It constitutes the s,.,.,,nd part 

 of the scheme of monumental legislation inaui;n- 

 by the passjni: of the civil code on .July 1. 

 1896, and goes int.. force with this at the be-innini; 

 of 1900. The commercial code contains but few- 

 cut i rely fresh legal enactments. It consisfe rather 

 of a comprehensive collection of existing commer- 

 cial laws, with such additions or alterations a- 

 rendered i by the adoption of the civil 



code or were deemed expedient in ihe inter- 

 modern German trade and commerce. The . 

 the product of long consideration and prodr 

 lalxir. lie fore it received the form in which it was 

 laid before the Reichstag the 11^1 draft was 

 initted to a commissj l( n composed of eminent y 

 and of representatives of trade and industry and 

 of agrarian ii. ' !aus. -s allVcti! 



f trade and industry were in 



subjected to the criticism of represent al i\es of the 



interests eoncerned. The work of codifying com- 

 mercial laws was begun a- earl\ a- i ( i"V- 



ernment of \Vi, and was carried .-n later 



by the Prussian (iovernment and the North 

 nian Confederation, resulting in a code that was 



Cut in force throughout the empire. This horly of 

 iw was the basis of the new code, being sub 



thorough revision by |e- 



mitted to the criticism of 'mercantile communities. 



The experience of a third of a century had brought 



_-ht many shortcomings and the new condi- 



f commerce made it desirable that whole sec- 



tion* should be reca-t in order to frame a measure 



embodying the most modern ideas and u- 



New varieties of trades, the po-iiion of women in 



