Miltitz near Leipzig, October, 1909 1 ). 



When in April of the present year we reported upon the state 

 of business in our industry, we felt it incumbent upon us to ex- 

 press both hopes and fears with regard to the probable development 

 of affairs during the summer months; — hopes, because the crisis 

 of the year 1907 could now at last be considered as overcome, and 

 because in the United States a more confident tone in commercial 

 life could already be felt and was bound, according to previous ex- 

 perience, to react upon European trade; fears, because serious ex- 

 pectations of war exercised a restrictive influence upon the desire to 

 engage in business undertakings, and heavy thunder-clouds threatened 

 to discharge themselves at the political horizon in the East. Thanks 

 to the energetic attitude of Austria, which, trusting in the peaceful 

 inclinations of the civilised nations of Europe, knew how to assert its 

 authority in the imbroglio in the Balkan states, these clouds soon 

 faded away, and in other respects our hopes have also been realised, 

 although not in their entirety. Peace, although at one time placed 

 in grave danger, has been maintained among the nations of Europe, 

 and we may now look without anxiety upon the feud which is being 

 fought out in Morocco and upon the quarrels in Crete, both of which 

 are more or less of a local character. International commercial relations 

 and the exchange of commodities with foreign nations are gradually 

 returning to their normal course, and although from some of the 

 commercial centres, such as Hamburg, the reports concerning the trade 

 in drugs and chemicals are as yet not very cheerful, yet we should 

 be placing the state of affairs in an incorrect light if we disguised 

 the fact that, especially in our branch of industry, a more animated 

 tone has become noticeable in the course of the summer. 



There is every justification for anticipating a gradual but healthy 

 improvement in the business situation in all departments of industry 

 where our products are consumed. It is true that, up to the present 

 time, the uncertainty respecting the financial reforms in Germany and 

 the ultimate shape which the American customs tariff would assume, 



*) The commercial part of this Report was compiled in September. 



