June 22, 1893J 



NATURE 



177 



industry, containing historical and statistical notices of 

 every exhibiting firm. Generally the effort of the editor, 

 and the commission which he represents, has been to 

 convey to the American people and to the world a faith- 

 ful picture of a state of development of the industrial arts 

 in Germany, which may well inspire,in the English reader, 

 impressions of a mixed order, pleasure in the contempla- 

 tion of a great national growth, based upon a true 

 conception of the right methods, and regret that in our 

 own country a similiar consummation still appears a 

 great way off. The selection, as editor of this publica- 

 tion, of the eminent chemist. Dr. Otto N. Witt, professor 

 oftechnology at the great Berlin Polytechnicum,isin itself 

 a forecast of its scope and purpose, and an evidence of 

 the position which the man of pure science occupies in 

 official Germany. To summarise in the briefest manner 

 the work which he and his collaborators have given to the 

 world would carry us far beyond the limits of this article. 

 There are two points, however, of paramount interest, to 

 which we desire to call attention, the one social-political, 

 not to say socialistic, the other industrial — both of 

 national importance. 



Among the provisions made and establishments created 

 by the newly-founded empire avowedly in the interest of 

 national industry and commerce, such as the Imperial 

 Post Office, the Imperial Bank, the Imperial Patent 

 Office, none bear the stamp of originality in the same de- 

 gree as the great system of compulsory insurance, "the 

 object being to secure for that portion of the population 

 which is dependent upon the work of its hands, and is 

 rarely in a position to save money or properly to ad- 

 minister its savings, a provision for the days when 

 through accident, sickness, or advancing age the worker 

 is incapacitated from further earnings. Insurance is 

 applicable in three different forms. In assurance against 

 illness, introduced in 18S3, the means are provided, two- 

 thirds by the insured and one-third by their employers, 

 in weekly contributions, to an amount not exceeeding 3 

 per cent, of the average wage. It entitles the insured to 

 free medical treatment and a fixed allowance over a given 

 period. It includes 7,000,000 persons in more than 

 20,000 clubs, and involves an annual expenditure of more 

 than 100 million marks. The system of insurance against 

 accident, which came into existence in 1884, is intended 

 to transform the personal liability of the employer, in 

 case of accident during the execution of work into an 

 econo/nical charge upon the entire trade concer?ied, to se- 

 cure to the worker an indemnity /« all cases, and to put an 

 end to troublesome lawsuits between employer and em- 

 ployed. At the present time 15 millions of persons are 

 insured, and 10 millions of marks have been paid in in- 

 demnities. The insurance against incapacity for work, 

 and the old-age pension fund, inaugurated in 1891, com- 

 plete this system of workers' insurances. It insures an 

 income to those unable to earn a living, without reference 

 to age, and an old-age pension to septuagenarians, with- 

 out reference to any capacity for earning which they may 

 still retain. The necessary means, in addition to a 

 yearly Imperial contribution of 50 marks per income, are 

 supplied in equal proportions by the insured and their 

 enriployers. This form of insurance includes 12 

 millions of persons, and has, up to the present time, in- 

 volved an outlay of 30 millions of marks. On the 

 whole, there has been, in connection with the objects of 

 the operatives' insurance, an expenditure of well-nigh half 

 a milliard of marks, which has exclusively benefited the 

 working-classes.'' 



Thus, in the course of eight years, the German Govern- 

 ment and people have given practical form to these grave 

 social problems, which, in our own country, are still 

 waiting for solution. Whether the German system is 

 based on sound principles it is not for the present writer 

 to decide. It is admitted that it imposes a heavy burden 

 upon industry, and yet most of the exhibiting firms 



NO. 1234, VOL. 48] 



appear to bear it with equanimity. Nay, it is refreshing 

 to note that the obligations imposed upon manufacturers 

 by the Legislature have not in any way dried up the 

 springs of voluntary charitable effort. Most of the large 

 firms, in addition to the requirements of the law, make 

 generous provision for their workpeople in the shape of 

 baths, refreshment-rooms, dormitories, supplies of fuel 

 at cost price, model cottages at low rent, allotments, and 

 various funds in cases of sickness and death, funds for 

 widows and orphans, &c., &c. It must be borne in 

 mind, as a set-off to all this benevolence, that wages are 

 low. The average remuneration in chemical factories, 

 for example, is something less than £1 per week for a 

 ten hours day. 



The other point suggested by a perusal of the cata- 

 logue is the rapid and, in some cases, triumphant pro- 

 gress of German industry. For our present purpose it 

 will be sufficient to consider two departments of chemical 

 manufacture — namely, the industry of general and fine 

 chemicals and that of artificial colouring matters. They 

 are typical of the spirit which pervades every branch of 

 technical activity in Germany. The former, we are told, 

 has developed to an extent unknown in any other coun- 

 try in the world. Imperial statistics show that in 1891 

 there were in Germany 521 factories engaged in the 

 manufacture of chemico-pharmaceutical preparations, 

 their 14,842 workpeople drawing 12,615,700 marks in 

 wages. The exports in 1890 of chemical preparations, 

 not specially named, exceeded the imports by 5000 tons, 

 valued at more than 15,000,000 marks. If to these are 

 added the chemicals quoted by name in the official list, 

 we obtain a total excess of exports over imports amount- 

 ing to 25,690,000 marks ; and as the home consumption 

 must at least be equal, we arrive at a grand total of 

 52,000,000 marks annually. 



More remarkable still is the history of the great dye 

 industry, which, as is well known, originated in England 

 with the labours of Hofmann, Mansfield, and Perkin, 

 closely followed in France by those of Verguin and 

 Girard and de Laire. What has become of it? The 

 chemical catalogue tells us that nine-tenths of the pro- 

 duction of artificial dye-stuffs in the world must be 

 credited to Germany. 



There are altogether some 20 factories belonging to 

 this industry in Germany, nearly all of which can claim 

 to be important. Three of the largest are represented at 

 Chicago. One of them, with a capital of 6,000,000 

 marks, employs 600 men and 90 women ; another, with a 

 capital of 12,000,000 marks, occupies 1600 men with a tech- 

 nical staff of 300, and produces nearly every known dye 

 stuff, the alizarine dyes included. A third, with a capital 

 of i6i million marks, is said to be the largest chemical 

 factory in the world. It began twenty-eight years ago 

 with a staff of 30 men, and now employs 4000. These 

 three factories have played a conspicuous part in the 

 building up of the industry of artificial colouring matters. 



To what causes must these great results be traced.'' 

 Many minor causes are mentioned in the catalogue. 

 Let us, however, go at once to the root of the matter. 

 The two main factors are organisation and the conse- 

 quent intimate connection between pure science and 

 manufacture. When, at the beginning of the century, 

 Germany lay crushed at the feet of Napoleon, it was felt 

 by German patriots that nothing but the complete re- 

 organisation of the country could lead to its emancipa- 

 tion. Since those days, side by side with the military 

 forces, the scientific forces of the country have been care- 

 fully and patiently organised. At the instigation of 

 Liebig, great State laboratories for pure scientific research 

 were erected all over the country, and from these have 

 issued an army of highly-trained workers, whose ser- 

 vices manufacturers have vied with each other in securing. 

 Nothing is more striking, in the special notices of the 

 exhibiting firms, than the large number of competent and 



