GERMANY. 



287 



duty that would destroy the export trade in 

 beer. The maximum duties in the Government 

 bill were 6.50 marks on wheat, 6 marks on rye, 

 and 4 marks on barley and oats. The committee 

 adopted the rates of 7.50 marks on wheat and 7 

 marks on rye, barley, and oats. The tariff scheme 

 did not include maximum and minimum rates 

 for any of the 946 articles excepting cereals. 

 When the scale of duties on grain had been al- 

 tered against the protests of the ministers by the 

 Tariff Committee, the Government proposed that 

 all the other items should be passed in a lump 

 as a basis of negotiation in making commercial 

 treaties with different countries. The commit- 

 tee, which had rendered the task of negotiating 

 treaties difficult by altering the proposed grain 

 duties, especially in fixing a barley duty that 

 threatened the trade with Austria-Hungary in 

 that article and had placed obstacles in the way 

 of all foreign commerce by requiring a certificate 

 of origin to accompany every invoice, would not 

 yield up its powers so easily. It went on to im- 

 pose protective duties on all kinds of vegetables, 

 2 to 4 marks per 100 kilograms, with the object 

 of killing a large trade with Italy and France 

 for the benefit of German gardeners, and similar 

 duties on flowers, fruits, trees, and plants. While 

 the tariff was under discussion the Prussian Min- 

 ister of Commerce instituted an inquiry into the 

 number, origin, and development of cartels, or 

 industrial trusts, and their economic effects in 

 lowering the cost of production, preventing over- 

 production, and raising or fixing prices. The 

 potash, coal and coke, and iron cartels were ex- 

 cluded. The coal and iron trades have made an 

 agreement to pay to exporters of iron and steel 

 manufactures the whole difference between the 

 price they realize abroad and the current prices 

 in Germany. Costly plants continued to be erect- 

 ed when the market was glutted with merchan- 

 dise; yet in the economical use of fuel and mate- 

 rial and scientific methods of production, as well 

 as in the cheapness of labor, German iron manu- 

 facturers have an advantage over their competi- 

 tors. When the Socialists on the Tariff Committee 

 proposed to admit free of duty all kinds of goods 

 sold by trusts or rings cheaper abroad than in 

 Germany Count Posadowsky promised a thor- 

 ough investigation into the operations of rings. 

 It is estimated that 300 cartels, syndicates, and 

 combinations have arisen in Germany within a 

 few years, of which 80 are concerned with trade 

 and 220 with production, including 80 in the 

 metal, 40 in glass and pottery, 30 in the chemical, 

 20 in the textile, 10 in the coal, 10 in the paper, 

 and 10 in the provision industries. By the rules 

 of the United States Treasury Department im- 

 port duties on German goods on which a syndi- 

 cate of manufacturers has paid export bounties 

 are assessed on the prices current in the open 

 market in Germany, not on the reduced export 

 prices. Against this method of valuation Ger- 

 mans have protested, but it is the law. 



The Tariff Committee not only raised the pro- 

 posed duties on live animals from 10 or 12 to 18 

 marks per 100 kilos, but insisted that this rate 

 should not be lowered more than 20 per cent, in 

 commercial treaties. The Government duties on 

 horses were from 30 to 300 marks; those of the 

 committee vary between 90 and 360 marks. The 

 duty on tea was lowered from 100 to 25 marks. 

 A protective duty was even imposed on milk. 

 The duty on butter and cheese was raised from 

 20 to 30 marks. The duty on eggs the Agrarians 

 proposed to increase from 2 to 20 marks, al- 

 though Italy was specially concerned in this 

 item, too. As a sop to the working classes they 



abolished the duty on herrings, which the Gov- 

 ernment desired particularly to maintain so as 

 to fo&ter the deep-sea fisheries, and thus increase 

 the number of seamen available for the navy. 

 The states of south Germany Wiirtemberg, 

 Baden, Bavaria were strongly opposed to the en- 

 hanced grain duties, which would not benefit even 

 their agriculture. Before accepting the rates 

 fixed by the committee the ministers succeeded 

 in allaying the opposition in this quarter, but if 

 the still higher rates demanded by the Agrarians 

 were granted the Chancellor declared that com- 

 mercial treaties for long terms could not be con- 

 cluded. The Socialists exclaimed against the 

 bread usury. All the cities and towns of the 

 empire sent representatives to protest against the 

 duties as disastrous to industry and commerce. 

 The committee reduced the Government duties on 

 various manufactures and raised some to please 

 manufacturers in certain branches of trade, but 

 at the request of ministers the Government 

 schedules were left almost intact in regard to 

 manufactured articles. The tariff bill, still in- 

 complete in the hands of the Reichstag commit- 

 tee, could not be presented before the autumn 

 meeting of the Reichstag. The committee was 

 authorized to continue its deliberations during 

 the recess, and by a special law its members re- 

 ceived payment, 2,000 marks each. The bill ap- 

 propriating money for the purpose was an inno- 

 vation hailed by the Socialists and the Radicals 

 as the preliminary step to the payment of mem- 

 bers of the Reichstag, which they have constantly 

 demanded, while the Government has adhered to 

 Bismarck's idea that salaries would lower the in- 

 tellectual and social standard of the Reichstag. 

 Meanwhile the unsuitableness of the English 

 precedent to the conditions of public life in Ger- 

 many has been shown in the increasing difficulty 

 of keeping the members together in sufficient 

 numbers to form a quorum for the transaction 

 of business. When the Prussian Landtag closes 

 its session so many of its members who are also 

 members of the Reichstag and who receive pay 

 as Prussian Deputies leave for their homes that 

 the Reichstag is forced to adjourn. The Reichs- 

 tag voted to give 30,000 marks to the Colonial 

 Society to establish a bureau for the information 

 of intending emigrants, but not in the form of an 

 annual subsidy, as the Government proposed. 

 The proposal to spend 1,550,000 marks in extend- 

 ing the Tanga and Korogwe Railroad in East 

 Africa to Mombo was rejected by the Budget 

 Committee, which reduced the estimates for 1902 

 so that they could be balanced by borrowing 

 112,000,000 marks, instead of 182,000,000 marks, 

 as proposed by the Government. All parties are 

 proportionally represented on the Budget Commit- 

 tee. Still its conclusions are not invariably fol- 

 lowed by the Reichstag. The credit of 24,000.000 

 marks to maintain a garrison of 3,030 men in 

 China was reduced to 20,000,000 marks on the 

 motion of the Radical leader, Eugen Richter. 

 The Government is desirous of building up sepa- 

 rate military and naval forces for colonial pur- 

 poses, and the majority of the representatives of 

 the people are suspicious of proposals which may 

 indirectly further this object. Expenditures for 

 fortresses, siege-artillery, and other military re- 

 quirements were cut down and other reductions 

 effected so as to save 23.250,000 marks in recur- 

 ring expenditure. A deficit of 40,000,000 marks 

 was still left, and one of 50,000,000 marks was 

 anticipated for 1903. The railroad revenue in 

 particular had fallen off. The accounts for 1901 

 showed a deficit of 48,000.000 marks, the income 

 of the Imperial Government having decreased 



