80,173,000 marks for petroleum, exports of fats and oils, 31,272,000 marks; imports of chemicals, drugs, and colors were 281,190,000 marks, and exports 377,842,000 marks; imports of stone, clay, glass, and manufactures thereof were 71,803,000 marks, and exports 154,825,000 marks; imports of metals, raw and manufactured, were 654,966,000 marks, and exports 739,391,000 marks; imports of timber and wood manufactures were 396,349,000 marks, and exports 133,112,000 marks; imports of paper and paper manufactures were 26,536,000 marks, and exports 103,443,000 marks; imports of hides and leather were 248,991,000 marks, and exports 236,685,000 marks; imports of textile materials and manufactures were 1,092,424,000 marks, and exports 890,682,000 marks; imports of rubber and rubber goods were 68,614,000 marks, and exports 54,781,000 marks; imports of machinery and instruments were 101,433,000 marks, and exports 264,653,000 marks; imports of hardware and cutlery were 21,510,000 marks, and exports 106,483,000 marks; imports of books and art objects were 42,117,000 marks, and exports 136,191,000 marks; miscellaneous exports, 826,000 marks. The value of wheat imported was 231,447,000 marks; of rye, 102,595,000 marks; of barley, 132,776,000 marks. The imports of coffee were 137,028,000 marks in value. The value of raw hides imported was 141,479,000 marks. The main textile materials imported were raw cotton for 250,792,000 marks, wool for 241,406,000 marks, and raw silk for 103,135,000 marks, and 92,239,000 marks were paid for imported woolen yarns. The chief exports of textile manufactures were woolen goods for 133,647,000 marks, mixed silk and cotton cloth for 103,192,000 marks, coarse cottons for 67,272,000 marks, and hosiery for 80,709,000 marks, and trimmings and haberdashery were exported to the amount of 96,661,000 marks. The exports of leather goods were 76,548,000 marks in value; of paper, 59,280,000 marks; of wooden wares, 66,715,000 marks. The value of aniline dyes exported was 71,950,000 marks. Coal exports amounted to 200,493,000 marks. The exports of sugar reached 212,357,000 marks; hop exports, 27,135,000 marks. Home manufactures and agricultural products are encouraged by protective duties, and on spirits, malt, salt, sugar, and to bacco internal taxes are levied. Of the total imports in 1898 the value of 2,853,988,000 marks paid duties amounting to 515,326,000 marks, an average of 18.1 per cent. of the values of dutiable goods; and the value of 2,585,688,000 marks were free of duty. The imports of gold and silver in 1898, included under metals, were 337,372,000 marks; exports, 253,511,000 marks.

The year 1899 was one of extraordinary business activity in Germany, and was marked by a general advance of prices, especially in coal and iron, the increasing want of which was felt more than at any time in the previous five years, and was likely to become more acute on account of the prospective rapid increase of the German navy. The enhancement of prices was in part brought about by the operation of combinations and rings among producers, the number of which had in creased in three years from 350 to about 550. The imports of iron and iron manufactures were 839.839 tons in 1899, an increase since 1897 of 275.094 tons and an increase in value of 32.060,000 marks. The imports of machinery and implements were 150,439 tons, an increase of 67,982 tons in quantity and 26,855,000 marks in value. The exports of iron and iron manufactures amounted to 1,509,887 tons in 1899, an increase of 116.934 tons in quantity and 82,001.300 marks in value; exports of machinery and implements were 283,245 tons, an in

crease of 72,727 tons and in value of 59,800,000 marks. The rapid growth of manufactures in Germany has produced a dearth of both labor and capital that tends to check continued expansion. The constant rise of industrial wages has not only depleted the agricultural districts of their laborers and diminished emigration, but attracts laborers from Slavic countries and Italy. The lack of capital has several times caused a stringency in the money market, which may be rendered acute when the Imperial Government applies for loans to build the new navy and the Prussian Government for the money to dig the Midland Canal.

The distribution of the special commerce of 1898 is shown in the following table, giving in marks the value of imports from and exports to each country:

Navigation.-The German merchant navy, on Jan. 1, 1899, comprised 2,490 sailing vessels, of 601,161 tons, and 1,223 steamers, of 1,038,391 tons; total, 3,713 vessels, of 1,639,552 tons, counting all seagoing craft of more than 17.65 tons, but not vessels engaged in coasting and inland navigation, of which, on Jan. 1, 1898, there were 22,564, of 3,371,247 tons. Of the sailing vessels trading with foreign ports 431, of 48,861 tons, and of the steamers 427, of 170,857 tons, belonged in the Baltic, while 2,059 sailing vessels, of 552,300 tons, and 796 steamers, of 867,534 tons, belonged to North Sea ports. The crews of the merchant vessels numbered 43,146 men. Of the sailing vessels 578, and of the steamers 1,214, were of iron or steel. There were 46 sailing vessels and 303 steamers over 2,000 tons, 211 sailing vessels and 195 steamers between that and 1,000 tons, 107 sailing vessels and 236 steamers from 500 to 1,000 tons, 339 sailing vessels and 343 steamers between 100 and 500 tons, and 1,787 sailing vessels and 146 steamers under 100 tons. The length of navigable rivers in Germany is 5,831 miles, not counting 1,371 miles of canalized rivers; the length of canals, 1,452 miles. The Kaiser Wilhelm Ship Canal, connecting the naval ports of Kiel and Wilhelmshaven, 61 miles long, with a breadth of 213 feet at the surface and 72 feet at bottom and a depth of 293 feet, was built at a cost of 156,000,000 marks, primarily to afford a safe and quick passage of naval forces between the North Sea and the Baltie. In aggregate tonnage the German commercial marine stands second in the world, and its proportion to that of the whole world has risen in twenty-five years from 5 to 9 per cent., the German steam tonnage having increased tenfold.

Railroads, Posts, and Telegraphs.-The mileage of completed railroads in Germany in

of Nov. 14, 1899, which the United States accepted and ratified in January, 1900 (see SAMOA).

The Caroline, Pelew, and Marianne, or Ladrone, Islands passed into German possession on Oct. 1, 1899, by virtue of a treaty concluded with Spain on Feb. 12, 1899, for the price of 16,750,000 marks. Until a separate administration shall be organized they are under the authority of the Governor of New Guinea. The estimated annual expenditure is 220,000 marks. In 1899 the sum granted was 465,000 marks, of which 355,000 marks were required for permanent improvements. For 1901 the grant was 370,000 marks. The Caroline Islands are of coral formation. There are about 500 isles, of which Ponape, Yap, and Kusai are the chief, containing about 5,400 inhabitants of Malay blood, with Japanese and Chinese intermixture. The Pelew Islands, 26 in number, produce copra, tortoise shell, and mother-of-pearl. The German Marianne Islands are small and the population is scanty. The total area of the three groups is about 560 square miles, with 40,000 population.

The colonial expenditures of the Imperial Government have mounted in a progressive ratio. The Reichstag voted money in 1900 to continue the railroad in East Africa from Tanga toward Karogwe, but would not consent to begin a central railroad between Dar-es-Salaam and Mrogoro. The employment of the regular marine infantry in Kiaochau is objectionable to the representatives of the people, although the constitutional right of the Emperor to employ the conscripts wherever he wishes can not be disputed. A resolution was passed by the Reichstag requesting the Government to organize the troops in Kiaochau as far as possible on the basis of voluntary enlistment, and to take measures for the creation of a body of Chinese soldiers. The subsidies granted to the colonies for 1901 exceed those of the preceding budget by more than 5,000,000 marks. The subsidy for Southwest Africa is calculated at 9,378,000 marks; for East Africa, 9,117,000 marks; for the Cameroons, 2,192,800 marks; for Togoland, 884,000 marks; for German New Guinea, 709,700 marks; for the Caroline, Pelew, and Marianne Islands, 286,500 marks; for Samoa, 146,000 marks. This list does not include 3,020,807 marks required to cover deficits in former estimates. A sum is demanded for the construction of the central railroad in East Africa in spite of the previous rejection of the project by the Reichstag, and money is wanted to be used in settling agricultural colonists from India, who will receive, in addition to a grant of land, 500 marks each as a bonus to enable them to begin the cultivation of rice and cotton.

The Reichstag.-One of the longest and busiest sessions in the history of the German Reichstag came to an end on June 13, 1899. The first sitting was on Dec. 6, 1898, and when the members separated in June, 1899, the session was not closed, but adjourned in order that the discussion of certain bills that had not been finally disposed of might be resumed when the house met again on Nov. 14, 1899. One of the more important of these was the penal servitude bill, intended to afford protection to workingmen who refused to go on strike. This measure the Emperor had suggested and announced, but while it was being discussed a strong agitation was conducted against it in the country, and it was denounced as tending to interfere with the right of coalition. When it was brought up as soon as the Reichstag resumed its sittings the Center, the National Liberals, the Radicals, and the Social Democrats were found arrayed against the Government, and it was rejected on the second reading almost without dis

cussion. The Government acknowledged the defeat, and to make peace with the majority Prince Hohenlohe, who in 1896 had promised the Reichstag to secure the repeal throughout the empire of the laws forbidding the union of political societies one with another, accepted a resolution passed by the house, and shortly afterward promulgated a decree by which the union of political societies was permitted in all parts of the empire, notwithstanding provisions to the contrary in the laws of some of the states.

The meat inspection bill was another of the measures that engaged the attention of the Reichstag at different periods and underwent various vicissitudes. When originally introduced by the Government its ostensible and primary purpose was to safeguard the public health by preventing the sale of diseased or unwholesome meat. The Agrarians, not satisfied with the degree of protection afforded to German producers by the Government measure, mustered their full strength not only in the Conservative but in the Clerical and the National Liberty party, and with the large majority that they commanded they carried amendments that practically prohibited the importation of foreign meat on the pretext that it is impossible to make sure that meat imported from abroad has been properly inspected in the country of its origin. The Government declined to accept the bill as it passed the second reading. The Government needed the votes of the Agrarians, whose strongest element is the old Junker party of Prussia, joined by the landowning nobility of other parts of Germany. Their support was necessary to carry through the naval bill, but the protests against the transformation of the meat inspection bill that came from the Hanseatic towns and from the trading and working population of the manufacturing centers could not be ignored. To enhance the price of a prime necessary of life was a serious thing, and not less serious was the probable loss of trade and the possible danger of reprisals from the United States, with which an eighth part of the whole foreign commerce of Germany was conducted in 1898. The Agrarian amendments not only placed restrictions of a prohibitive character on foreign meat imports, but lightened the regulations for the inspection of meat slaughtered in Germany. All salted meats except ham and bacon, all meat preserved in tin cans or other vessels, and all sausages or mixtures of minced meat were forbidden to be imported at all; whole carcasses or half carcasses of beef and pork, unskinned and with heart, lungs, and kidneys undisturbed, could be imported up to Dec. 31, 1903, and cooked meat prepared in a way excluding any danger to health, and after that date the importation of all meat or meat products would be unlawful with the exception of lard, bacon, margarine, and sausage skins. The date is that of the expiration of the commercial treaties, by which time it was expected that Germany would be able to supply all the meat required for domestic consumption. The agitation started by the industrial and commercial classes subsided when it was made known that the Government and the Federal Council would not accept the bill as reported by the committee and approved by the Agrarian majority. The compromise that the ministry made with the Agrarians surprised the country, leaving as it did some of the strongest protectionist features untouched. The concessions obtained from the Agrarians were the excision of the clause practically excluding all foreign meat after the end of 1903 and the permission for pickled meat to enter the country when its origin and the manner in which it has been preserved are known by expe

rience to exclude all danger to health and when it is possible to bring satisfactory proof of its innocuous nature on its introduction into the country. It was further provided that the meat must be imported in pieces not less than 4 kilogrammes in weight. The prohibition of the import of canned meat and of sausages was retained, and the restrictions on the importation of fresh meat were not removed. The bill was passed on the third reading on May 23 by 163 votes to 123. As the bill affects the stock-raising and meat-exporting interests of the United States and Australia, the American and British governments made inquiries. Meat extracts were not included in the prohibition, though the Government has power to extend the application of the bill to them. The bill went into force on Oct. 1. The discriminations which attended the enforcement of former statutes had gone so far toward extinguishing the American trade in meat products with Germany that it was hoped that simpler methods of inspection under this act might even help to revive trade in the meats not prohibited.

A bill known as the ler Heinze, intended to regulate certain phases of public morality revealed in recent criminal trials, gave occasion to scenes of obstruction such as have not been witnessed in the Reichstag since the days of the Kulturkampf. The Clericals introduced amendments making the bill more stringent in regard to the exposure and sale of books and works of art of an objectionable character and the censorship and supervision of theatrical and other public amusements. The Conservatives supported the bill, the National Liberals also in principle, making a large majority in favor of the most puritanical restrictions. The Social Democrats, joined by the Radicals, declared an uncompromising opposition to the measure as placing restrictions on the freedom of art and of literature. Nearly the whole intellectual world of Germany, the leading representatives of letters, art, learning, and culture in Perlin, Munich, Leipsic, and other cities, and the general public opinion of the country sustained the Socialists in their resistance. In dignation meetings and signed remonstrances showed that the measure was regarded as an invasion of the most highly valued of German liberties. The majority was not deterred, however, from the determination to force it through, and the Clerical President of the Chamber, Graf Ballestrem, whose impartiality till then had won good opinions of all parties, strained the rules to aid its passage and thereby alienated the National Liberal supporters of the bill, enabling the Socialists to block it completely. As it was an amendment of the penal code, the calling of the roll could be demanded by 50 members. The Socialists called for a roll call on each separate clause, and by leaving the hall with the Radicals left the house without a quorum unless the majority parties were present in their full strength. When later the National Liberals joined them in these tactics they were able to prevent action at all times. The result was that the bill was withdrawn and another substituted, identical with the old one in the paragraphs dealing with immorality, but not containing the paragraphs affecting art and literature. This was passed rapidly through the house without opposition. A motion passed the Reichstag for the abolition of the dictatorship in AlsaceLorraine, the execution of which rested, however, with the Government.

The new navy bill was presented in the beginning of February, 1900. The nonrecurring expenditure for construction and armament of new vessels was estimated at 1,600,000,000 marks and

VOL. XL.-17 A

for docks and harbors at 261,000,000 marks. Of the total sum it was proposed to raise 769,000,000 marks by loans spread over the sixteen years required for the completion of the new navy, while 1,092,000,000 marks will be met from the revenue. The recurring expenditure is expected to increase 5,400,000 marks each year during the period, rising from 140,800,000 marks in 1901 to 306,270,000 marks in 1916. The bill provides that supplies must be settled every year by the estimates, fixes a maximum which the naval expenditure of each year may not exceed, and retains the paragraph of the old naval bill which lays down the principle that expenditure on the navy shall not be met by increasing indirect taxes on articles consumed by the masses. The bill was supported by the Conservatives, though without enthusiasm, and by the National Liberals. The Clericals withheld their approval until they could learn how the financial means could be provided, as with disappearing surpluses and a cutting down of the amortization of debt the country was staggering under the demands for the former navy bill and army act of 1899. The Socialists were unanimous in their opposition to the bill. Enthusiasm for a navy in Germany has never been developed except among the manufacturing class, the shipowners, and exporters of the Hanse towns, and the colonial enthusiasts. The efforts of a navy league organized for the purpose of awakening an interest in the sea power of the country failed to influence the agricultural classes or to stir the vast bulk of the population living remote from the seaboard. The Clericals and the Conservatives of Agrarian tendencies thought that the trading and industrial classes ought to bear the whole cost of naval expansion, while the Social Democrats were of the opinion that, no matter how the cost might be met, it would cause an increase in the price of bread and other articles of popular consumption. The financial aspect of the question was the first and the principal subject of discussion, and on its solution depended the extent of the increase. The vote of the Clericals was not obtained until the amount of the proposed expenditure was cut down 390,000,000 marks by reducing the number of ships for foreign service. The Government insisted that two double squadrons were necessary, as the German fleet would have to maintain its superiority both in the Baltic and the North Sea. As amended by the budget committee, the navy bill, superseding the sexennate act of 1898, provides that the future strength of the navy shall be two double squadrons, each consisting of a flagship and 16 battle ships, 8 great and 24 small cruisers for service with the fleets, 3 great and 15 small cruisers for service on foreign stations, and a reserve of 4 battle ships and 4 great and 6 small cruisers. It is expected that the fleet will be brought up to the stipulated strength by the end of 1920. The Budget Committee reported in favor of fresh and increased taxation, although the Government had taken the ground that none would be necessary. A resolution from the Center restricted the amount to be raised by loans and enjoined the Government to use any surplus that might ensue from the new taxes in the reduction of debt. The stamp duty on lotteries was doubled, and a stamp duty of 1 per cent. on every mining share issued and of 0.1 per cent. on sales of mining shares was decreed. On the sale of other securities a transfer tax of 0.03 per cent. is levied. The import duty on foreign champagne was increased 50 per cent., that on foreign spirits 33 per cent., and the protectionist principle was carried further by increasing the duty on foreign beer 50 per cent., affecting the Pilsen beer of Bohemia, which

is consumed enormously in northern Germany, and to a less extent English ale and porter. A stamp duty of 10 pfennigs was levied on bills of lading, trade between German ports being exempted. The navy bill passed the final reading as the last act of the session by the vote of 201 National Liberals, Moderate Radicals, Clericals, and Conservatives against 103 Social Democrats, Extreme Radicals, and South German Democrats, with 17 Clericals and 2 Conservatives.

After the prorogation of the Reichstag the crisis in China led to the organization of an expedition to the far East. The Emperor in his public utterances assumed for Germany a leading part in the political adjustment of the Chinese question since German activity in Shantung had precipitated the troubles and the German minister to China had paid for it with his life, and as Germany was willing to send out a powerful expedition the other powers accepted as commander in chief of the allied forces in the Chinese imperial province of Chih-Li, the German Field-Marshal Graf Waldersee. The strength of the expedition was 582 officers, 188 officials, 120 surgeons, and 18,712 men, with 5,579 horses, and the cost was estimated at 152,770,000 marks up to March 31, 1901. The Reichstag was not summoned to vote supplies as the Constitution requires, the Government presuming that the country approved the expedition and being unable to present preliminary estimates of sufficient accuracy. When the first soldiers departed the Emperor enjoined them to take no prisoners and give no quarter, and to make the name of German a terror in China that would be remembered like that of Attila and his Huns for a thousand years. Such vindictive utterances jarred on the ears of the public, and when soldiers wrote home about unmilitary barbarities appropriate to Huns, saying they were obeying the Emperor's orders, satirical strictures in the newspapers directed against the Emperor were plainer and sharper than they ever were before. The prosecutions for lèse-majesté multiplied at an alarming rate, and noted journalists were among the persons convicted. When the Reichstag met, the utterances and acts of the Emperor were openly discussed for the first time without the ministers or the president intervening to stop the discussion. The principle was asserted in the press and accepted in the Reichstag that when the Emperor acts as his own chancellor and takes the direction of affairs into his own hands the immunity of his acts from public or legislative discussion which custom hitherto prescribed must cease forthwith. Prince von Hohenlohe was absent and apparently had no part in shaping the Chinese policy of the Government, and before the autumn session of the Reichstag began he offered his resignation. The Emperor accepted it on Oct. 17, and appointed Graf Bülow to succeed him as German Imperial Chancellor, Prussian Minister President, and Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The new session was opened on Nov. 14. Among measures foreshadowed were one to regulate the legal status of sailors, a reform in the system of state insurance against accidents, fresh taxation of the wine trade, and a bill dealing with insurance companies. The long-pending difference between the German and United States governments regarding the right of American insurance companies to do business in Prussia had been amicably settled. The companies that formerly had their agencies in that country were expelled because they were foreign corporations which invested the money received for premiums elsewhere beyond German jurisdiction and supervision. Under the new arrangement they are required to keep a cer

tain reserve in Germany, and the opportunity arose when the German Government required advances in September for the Chinese expedition for an advantageous investment in imperial treasury bonds which, owing to the tightness of the Berlin market, the Government disliked to offer in Germany because the best rates obtainable would compare unfavorably with the high showing for German public credit made when the last loan was emitted, and would furnish a bad precedent for future credit operations. Nevertheless there were bitter criticisms from Agrarians, Clericals, Radicals, and Socialists when the issue of 80,000,000 marks of treasury bonds was placed in the United States, thus demonstrating the financial difficulties of Germany at the very moment when a new development of German world politics was boastingly pro

claimed.

Increased estimates for the Workmen's Insurance fund and for the defenses of the country were hinted at in the speech from the throne. The treasury statement made the estimate of expenditure for 1902 2,240,947,301 marks, 174,303,289 marks increase upon the estimate for the previous year. The estimated revenue is 2,137,192,606 marks, 103,754,695 marks less than the estimated income, the deficit to be met by a loan. The principal measure to be considered by the Reichstag was the new autonomous tariff, or general tariff, which is the scale of maximum duties to be levied on imports coming from countries that do not enjoy the most-favored-nation treatment, and is to be taken as the basis on which the new commercial treaties will be negotiated. In framing the new tariff the views of all the agricultural, industrial, and commercial interests have been carefully ascertained and considered, and the Minister of the Interior has been in constant consultation with experts. The provisional tariff agreement with England was continued by vote of the Reichstag for one year longer.

The Prussian Diet.-Although the ministry, in spite of the personal efforts of the Emperor-King, failed to obtain the assent of the Diet to the construction of a ship canal from the Rhine to the Elbe in 1899, the project was brought before the Diet again in 1900 and urged as a necessary measure for the relief of the state railroads and the

development of inland commerce. The bill was even extended so as to include other proposed ship canals and the improvement of natural water ways in the interests of traffic and of the amelioration of land, notably a ship canal between Berlin and Stettin, the provision of a sufficient quantity of water in the Oder Bruch, the improvement of the state of the lower Oder, the Spree, and the Havel, the development of the water ways between the Oder and the Vistula, and a Masurian lake canal; also the deepening of the harbor of Emden for the accommodation of transatlantic steamers, so as to provide a German port for Westphalia. The Diet was asked further to vote considerable sums to extend and complete the railroad system. A special tax on great department stores was proposed, with the object of strengthening the position of the middle classes in commerce and industry. A store may deal in groceries, provisions, tobacco, and drugs; in dry goods and clothing; in household utensils, crockery, glass, and furniture; or in jewelry, fancy articles, art goods, stationery, tools and instruments, hardware, and arms. If its business is confined to one of these departments it pays no tax except the existing trade tax. Any firm or corporation doing a retail business combining two or more of these departments must pay an extra tax, varying in proportion to the extent of its turnover from 1 per cent. on sales