Dec. 1896.] AGRICULTUEAL DEPRESSION IN GERMANY. 



253' 



whether the rise in price which it would occasion would really 

 benefit agriculturists, it was therefore, rejected both by the 

 Council of State and the Reichstag. The Government and the 

 majority in the Reichstag were also agreed that measures for 

 the rehabilitation of silver could only be carried out by inter- 

 national agreement and with the co-operation of England. 



There were still greater objections to the proposals for the 

 general division of land into small holdings. Although it is 

 admitted that the peasant proprietor who grows corn for his 

 own use only is not so much affected by its price in the general 

 market, a change of tenure of this nature could not be carried 

 out at once, and would therefore not afford relief in the present 

 depression. Above all, however, it is considered necessary for 

 social and political reasons to maintain in the greater part of 

 Prussia a certain number of large and medium landowners. 



The efforts of the Government have therefore been chiefly 

 directed to such legislative and administrative measures for the 

 relief of agricultural depression as tend to increase the pro- 

 ductiveness of the land, and, further, to lessen the cost of 

 production by reducing the cost of carriage and relieving the 

 land from the burdens which have accumulated upon it. 



Among such measures may be mentioned the action taken by 

 the Government for the reform of the corn exchanges. For 

 many years past agriculturists have pointed out the injurious 

 influence of speculation on the exchanges upon the price of 

 agricultural produce. A commission was appointed to inquire 

 into the subject, and upon their report a Bill was laid before the 

 Reichstag for the reform of the exchanges, providing among 

 other things that the Federal Council should be empowered to 

 make dealings in " futures and options " conditional, or to pro- 

 hibit such dealings in certain classes of goods, and further to 

 determine the quality of the grain to be delivered. The Reich- 

 stag passed this Bill with some alterations, but accorded the 

 right to the State Governments of appointing representatives of 

 agriculture and of the flour-milling industry on the governing 

 boards of the corn exchanges, and totally prohibited futures and 

 options in cereals and mill products. 



A Bill was also introduced into the Reichstag, containing 

 provisions calculated to restrict the operations of the larger 

 establishments producing alcohol from molasses, and to afford 

 further encouragement to the rural distilleries whose existence 

 was threatened by the competition of the molasses distilleries. It 

 also established a bounty on exportation, the funds to meet 

 which were derived from a new graduated distillation tax, which 

 increased with the size of the distillery, and was intended to 

 restrict over-production. This Bill was adopted by the legislative 

 bodies in all its principal points, and was promulgated as an 

 amendment to the excise laws on the 16th of June 1895. It is 

 stated to have had a good effect on the price of spirits, as, in 

 spite of the cheapness of the raw materials and of a largo 

 production, prices have shown a moderate upward tendency. 



