Miltitz near Leipzig, April 1915. 
Ip, for the first time since its inception, we refrained from publishing our Report 
in the usual way last October, there were several reasons for our action. Apart from 
the fact that the major part of our German readers were probably at the front and 
that those left behind to fight the economic battle of the nation had little leisure for 
reading, we were unable since the beginning of the war to collect the necessary 
statistical material from abroad about the various oils and raw materials, which 
originate mostly from foreign countries. Our silence was due in no small degree to 
the fact that even the most trivial publication of ours finds its way into the alien 
enemy’s technical press. We consider that we should render a bad’service to our 
trade, were we to furnish our enemies with any indications as to the influence of 
the war on our commerce and industry, on the reaction on our production, on stocks 
and supplies of raw material and finished articles and the possibility, or otherwise, 
of replenishing the former in view of the blockade from every side, or of turning over 
the latter. All informations on these important questions would no doubt be highly 
welcomed by our enemies, as they would enable them to arrange their tactics accordingly 
in the economic part of the war, the more so as even our enemies had to recognize 
for decades the reliable tenor of our publications. We are firmly convinced, an 
opinion which does not unfortunately appear to be appreciated in certain quarters in 
our own country, that the greatest possible reticence is required in compiling commercial 
reports during the present war, so that our opponents, who procure such reports with 
comprehensible eagerness, should be left entirely in the dark about all the events 
and incidents within the scope of German commerce and industry, whether they be 
favourable to us or otherwise. We go so far as to maintain that even after the 
re-establishment of peace, an event which we trust is not too far off, all and every 
' statement as to influence and effect of the war on Germany’s commerce and industry 
should be avoided which might enable our antagonists and revilers to draw conclusions 
about the weal and woe of our trade during the war. 
As our hope for peace did not materialize so far, we decided, in order to obviate 
too great an accumulation of matter, to allow the scientific part of our Report to make 
its appearance without any further delay, but we refrain, for the reasons stated 
above, from enlarging upon matters commercial and economic, or on market conditions 
or any other incident in our department of German industry during war time. 
' May we be in a position to resume our Reports in the old manner before long! 
SCHIMMEL & Co. 
