1904.] 



German Bounties. 



103 



were, therefore, established under Customs control in which 

 grain could be stored until its destination was determined 

 upon, either for foreign or German consumption. When the 

 1894 Law was passed, these transit warehouses lost their 

 chief importance to dealers, in consequence of the identity of 

 the grain having no longer to be maintained, as before, in 

 order to obtain the benefits of the drawback. But, in spite of 

 the efforts of the Agrarian Party to have them abolished, 

 traders and millers have managed to keep them in existence for 

 the distinct advantages which they afford. These consist 

 mainly in their not having to pay the import duties, if eventu- 

 ally sold into the German Empire, for some three months, thus 

 enabling them to work with a smaller capital than would other- 

 wise be possible. After the passing of the 1894 Law, it was no 

 longer necessary to have the transit warehouses for grain 

 under special Customs control. They are now, however, under 

 special regulations, and can only be established at places 

 designated by the Bundesrath. They are called mixed ware- 

 houses ("Gemischte Transitlager "), from which the corn can 

 issue either for export to foreign countries or into German 

 territory. 



From the point of view of the Agrarians, the special arrange- 

 ments, sanctioned by the 1894 Law, are viewed with great 

 disfavour. They object to their specially favouring the milling 

 industries and the grain merchants, and they consider it to be 

 injurious to German agriculture that this system should be 

 allowed to further increase foreign imports of grain ; though, 

 at the same time, they acknowledge that the exportation of 

 grain from Eastern Germany has been assisted by the measure. 

 As regards the advantages given to mill products, they con- 

 demn them as giving to the larger mill-owners, who mostly 

 consume foreign grain, an undue predominance, harmful to 

 the interests of the smaller, who chiefly use corn grown in 

 Germany. 



Both the systems of transit warehouses and Customs 

 credits are denounced by them as equivalent to a grant of 

 Government loans, without interest, to particular classes ot the 

 population, thus contributing largely to enable them to import 

 foreign instead of buying home-grown corn. 



