GERMANY. 



329 



of 110,000, the Bismarck Archipelago, having an 

 area of 20,000 square miles and 188,000 inhabit- 

 ants, and the northern part of the Solomon 

 Islands, having an area of 9,000 square miles and 

 89,000 inhabitants, all of which are administered 

 by the German New Guinea Company; also the 

 Marshall Islands and dependencies, having an 

 area of 150 square miles and 13,000 inhabitants, 

 which are administered by an imperial commis- 

 sioner. There were 198 Europeans, of whom 71 

 were Germans, in the Bismarck Archipelago and 

 the Solomon Islands in 1897. The areca and sago 

 palms flourish in the protectorate, as well as the 

 bamboo and ebony. Cotton, coffee, and tobacco 

 have been planted by Europeans, and of the last 

 a crop of 79,000 pounds was obtained. Cocoa- 

 nut palms, numbering over 36,000, are carefully 

 preserved, and copra is prepared by the natives, 

 who barter it and trepang and pearl shells for 

 trade goods. The local revenue for 1897 was 

 estimated at 93,000 marks, the expenditure at 

 273,000 marks. The Imperial Government gave a 

 subvention of 657,000 marks for 1899. In the 

 Bismarck Archipelago there are 46,200 cocoanut 

 trees. The chief products are copra and cocoa- 

 nut fiber, but cotton is grown, yielding 77,360 

 pounds in 1897. The value of the imports for 

 1897 was 700,000 marks. The Solomon Islands 

 export sandalwood and tortoise shell. The Mar- 

 shall Islands had a European population in 1898 

 of 74 persons, of whom 43 were Germans. The 

 chief commercial product is copra, of which 2,366 

 tons were exported in 1897. The port of Jaluit 

 was visited during that year by 84 vessels, of 

 12,333 tons. The Bismarck Archipelago and Solo- 

 mon Islands were visited by 47 steamers and 113 

 sailing vessels, having an aggregate burden of 

 52,679 tons. 



Legislation. The session of the Prussian 

 Landtag witnessed a sharp contest between the 

 Government and the Agrarians controlling the 

 Conservative party, which has heretofore for a 

 long period been distinctively the Government 

 party. The subject of contention was the con- 

 struction of a canal connecting the Rhine and 

 the Elbe, an important artery in the system of 

 internal water ways that was projected by the 

 Prussian Government a long time ago and was 

 regarded as a settled part of its policy. The Em- 

 peror attempted to break down opposition by 

 the exhibition of his royal will and authority, 

 and the curious outcome of his declarations was 

 that the Junkers of Brandenburg, Pomerania, and 

 East and West Prussia, who have been the cham- 

 pions of absolutism and the guardians of the 

 royal prerogative for generations, derided his 

 power and appealed to the Constitution they had 

 fought against. The reason for their resisting 

 the GoA^ernment project with such determination 

 was that the canal will benefit the iron and coal 

 districts of Westphalia and the Rhine province 

 at their expense, crushing out the primitive in- 

 dustries of their own provinces and stimulating 

 the emigration of their agricultural population 

 to the manufacturing centers of the west; fur- 

 thermore, that it will facilitate the entrance of 

 sea-borne grain and other agricultural produce 

 from foreign countries into the central parts of 

 Germany to compete with their own. The Cler- 

 icals, whose adherents in Silesia have coal mines 

 and factories, asked compensation for these as 

 the price of their support. The proposed canal 

 is the continuation of a series of canals that 

 cross Germany from east to west, connecting the 

 great rivers running from south to north, and 

 so form new outlets for the products of the west- 

 ern provinces of Germany. The railroads, al- 



though admirably planned and constructed, are 

 already insufficient to transport the constantly 

 increasing produce of the coal and iron districts. 

 The canals are intended to facilitate not only 

 internal and foreign commerce, but also military 

 transport, and thus improve the defensive re- 

 sources of Germany. The Prussian Government 

 ordered a preliminary survey to be made as early 

 as 1863. The project then met with violent op- 

 position from local interests. The Franco-Prus- 

 sian War prevented anything being done for some 

 years. In 1877 the Government laid before the 

 Landtag a memorandum on the water communi- 

 cations of Germany, and in the following year 

 the necessary technical and commercial investi- 

 gations were begun, with the result that in 1882 

 a scheme was drawn up by engineers for the 

 construction of a canal from the Rhine to the 

 Elbe. The proposals were laid before the Land- 

 tag in 1883, and they were rejected. In 1886 a 

 bill for the construction of a canal between the 

 Oder and the Spree was submitted to the Diet, 

 and at the same time the Government again in- 

 troduced the proposal for the Rhine-Elbe Canal. 

 Both houses agreed to the construction of a canal 

 connecting Dortmund with the Ems. A canal 

 commission was intrusted with the execution of 

 the project, and the canal, begun in 1892, was, 

 completed and opened to navigation in August, 

 1899, having a length of 160 miles, but built for 

 less than 80,000,000 marks. As scan as the 

 Dortmund-Ems Canal was decided upon the Gov- 

 ernment was urged to extend it westward to the 

 Nile. Accordingly, this matter was laid, in April, 

 1899, before the Landtag in a comprehensive bill. 

 The Government proposals include the construc- 

 tion of a canal through the valley of the Em- 

 scher from Herne to the Rhine, and of a feeder 

 to supply it with water; the construction of locks 

 at Heinrichsburg and Miinster to improve the 

 present Dortmund-Ems Canal; the construction 

 of a central system from the Ems to the Elbe, 

 to consist of a main canal from Bevergern to 

 Heinrichsburg, two feeders to bring water from 

 the Weser and the Leine, and eight branch canals 

 to connect the main canal with Osnabriick, Min- 

 den, Wiilfel, Hildesheim, Lehrte, Peine, Bruns- 

 wick, and Magdeburg; also the works necessary 

 to make the Weser from Bremen to Hameln suit- 

 able for canal traffic. The bill was opposed by 

 the Conservatives in the Chamber of Deputies on 

 the first reading, and was referred to a commit- 

 tee, which condemned it by a vote of 18 to 10. 

 The Diet adjourned in July for six w r eeks, and 

 at the conclusion of the debate, after the re- 

 assembling of the Chamber in August, both canal 

 bills were rejected by large majorities. The Gov- 

 ernment, determined on crushing opposition if 

 conciliatory means failed, issued an edict men- 

 acing officials who engaged in political opposi- 

 tion to measures advocated by the ministers with 

 disciplinary penalties. When the Landrathe, or 

 rural magistrates, in the east still continued to 

 participate in the agitation against the canal 

 project, the majority were dismissed. As the 

 ones selected for discipline were those who voted 

 against the bill as members of the Diet, the Radi- 

 cals raised a protest against the action of the 

 Government as constituting an infraction of the 

 Constitution, which guarantees the parliamentary 

 independence of all Deputies. In consequence of 

 the defeat of their measure in the Landtag, Frei- 

 herr Von der Recke and Dr. Bosse resigned their 

 portfolios. Freiherr Von Rheinbaben succeeded 

 the former as Minister of the Interior on Sept. 4, 

 and Herr Studt was appointed Minister of Edu- 

 cation and Worship in Dr. Bosse's place. 



