Dec. 1894.] EXTRACTS FROM DIPLOMATIC AND CONSULAR 233 



REPORTS. 



Consumption of Breadstuffs in Germany. 



Sir Charles Oppenheimer, Her Majesty's Consul- General at 

 Frankfort-on-Main, has recently forwarded to the Foreign 

 Office a Report on the Commercial Relations of Germany with 

 Foreign Countries. In this report, it is stated that one of the 

 economical effects of the recent commercial treaties has been to 

 facilitate and cheapen the supply of breadstuffs in Germany : 

 the industrial export being positively favoured partially by duty 

 reductions on the part of foreign countries, and partially by the 

 duties having been fixed so as to avoid new protective measures, 

 which, whenever they are resorted to, create confusion in com- 

 merce and industry, and often curtail the latter for a length of 

 time. The most important results of the Russo- German Com- 

 mercial Treaty, which came into force on March 20, 1894, will, 

 it is thought, probably be found to be the security now obtained 

 against protective surprises, and the stability given to the 

 customs laws of Europe for a period of 10 years. While it would 

 be premature to give a definite verdict to-day as to whether the 

 commercial treaties will actually accomplish what is hoped from 

 them, nevertheless it seems as if the actual development is going 

 on as was originally planned by the founders and advocates of 

 this commercial-political work. In the former autonomous 

 protective customs system of Germany, the weakest point was 

 the high grain duties. It has been proved that the introduction 

 of the grain duties, especially the raising of them to 2s, 6d. per 

 cwt. in 1885, with the consequent rise in the prices of grain has 

 successively reduced the grain, i.e., bread consumption of the 

 German population, and partially had the eff'ect of causing an 

 enlarged potato consumption to take its place ; in fact, it 

 impaired the conditions of sustenance for the population of 

 Germany. The disclosure of this fact has not failed to have a 

 deep effect, dearer bread and inferior quality of the people's 

 food mean a fatal attack on the foundation of all industry, 

 which surely is formed of a well-fed working population. The 

 example of England, \vbich at an early period did away with 

 the corn duties for the benefit of her labouring population, is 

 said to have exercised a stimulating influence on the free trade 

 party in Germany. The new commercial treaties with their 

 reduction in the grain duties from 2s. 6d. to Is. 9d. per cwt. have 

 only just come into force, and yet the statistics already tend to 

 prove the fact that the consumption of bread and consequently 

 the nourishment of the German population has increased. 

 According to the official statistics, the quantity of wheat avail- 

 able for consumption in Germany during the 13 harvest years 

 1879-80 (i.e., since the introduction of the grain duties) until 

 1891-92 (when the reduced grain duties came into effect) was 

 on the average 2,898,147 tons per annum, and, in the harvest 

 year 1892-93, the first year entirely under the influence of the 

 reduced grain duties, the proportion of wheat remaining for the 



