Miltitz near Leipzig, April 19142). 
The retrospect which it is our custom, in our April Report, to cast upon the past 
year, may on the present occasion again be characterized as, on the whole, a very 
gratifying one, and although the commercial result of the year 1913, considered from 
a purely financial standpoint, falls somewhat below that of 1912, the fact must be 
taken into account that the last-named year constituted a record, and that from the 
beginning it appeared to be out of the question, in view of the backward movement 
of the world’s markets, that similar results would again be achieved. Further on in 
these introductory notes we shall have occasion to show that the chemical industry 
of Germany was one of those which suffered least by the downward turn of the 
markets, and we are fortunately able to affirm that the same thing applies to our 
own branch of industry. With few exceptions, our turnover in all the numerous 
selling-markets, and in the various industries in which our manufactures are used, 
has again made notable steps in advance; no new disturbances have to be registered 
in the international exchange of commodities, and it is only due to the downward 
course of prices in the principal articles of our trade (a tendency which was assu- 
redly to be expected after the upward movements of the preceding year), that the net 
profits realized bore no proper proportion to the increase in the turnover. 
During the greater part of the year 1913 the political situation of Europe con- 
tinued to suffer directly from the effects of the Balkan war, the consequences of 
which might have been immeasurable but for the cautious and peace-loving attitude 
of the Great Powers. These threatening complications naturally alarmed trade and 
industry, and the warlike preparations of Russia and Austria, as well as the increase 
in the armies of Germany and France, were factors which provoked a feeling of 
nervousness in all countries of Europe, which were attended by restriction in the 
desire for new enterprises, and which impeded the profitable development of most 
branches of commerce. The Triple Alliance has again proved to be the sheet-anchor 
of peace. Compared with the grave political occurrences in Europe, the disorders in 
Mexico and the revolution in China, which reached their culminating point in the 
course of last year, recede altogether into the background. The civil war between 
North and South in China which preceded the Presidential election, concealed within 
itself the germ of complications into which Europe might easily have been drawn. 
This danger, too, has fortunately been overcome. 
The restoration of composure in international politics during the closing months 
of the year has brought about that relaxation of tension in the money-market which 
we forecast in our last Report, and’ bas’ consequently removed an impediment of 
which the far-reacting effects cannot be over-estimated. “Under the influence of the 
economic upward movement and the political apprehensions” (the Report of the Board 
of Directors of the Deutsche Reichsbank for 1913 begins), “the strain on the money-market 
1) The introduction to the present Report, and the Commercial part, were written in the month of March. 
