Up To Date Business Part 7

III. THE TRADE FEATURES OF GERMANY

GERMANY THE MOST PROSPEROUS NATION IN CONTINENTAL EUROPE

The greatest and most prosperous commercial nation in the old world after Great Britain is Germany. Its population is 52,000,000, as against France's 38,500,000; and while France's population is scarcely increasing at all, Germany's population is increasing the most rapidly of any in Europe. Since the Franco-Prussian war France has gained in population only a little over 2,000,000, while Germany in the same time has gained 12,000,000. In the middle of the present century the populations of Germany and France were equal, being each about 35,000,000. Since that date Germany's population has increased by about fifty per cent. and France's by only about ten per cent.

Similarly, the commerce of Germany not only greatly exceeds that of France, but is growing much faster than that of France. The total exports and imports of Germany, exclusive of bullion, now foot up to nearly $2,000,000,000 a year. The total exports and imports of France, exclusive of bullion, foot up to only $1,500,000,000 a year. The total commerce of Germany is therefore about one third more than that of France. At the close of the Franco-Prussian war the total commerce of France considerably exceeded that of Germany.

THE CHARACTER OF GERMANY'S INDUSTRIES CHANGING

Germany, like England, is rapidly changing the character of her industries and becoming a manufacturing and commercial nation instead of an agricultural nation. This is the cause of her well-known anxiety to secure control of territories in Africa, Asia, etc., as exclusive markets for her manufactures, for, unlike England, Germany is at present a believer in exclusion in trade, both at home and in her colonies. Fifty years ago about four sevenths of the people of Germany were engaged in agriculture; now only about one third of the people are so employed. The growth of the great cities of Germany is eight times faster than that of the rural districts, and in fifty years the aggregate population of the six largest cities of the empire--Berlin, Hamburg, Leipzig, Munich, Breslau, and Dresden--has grown sixfold, namely, from 600,000 to 3,600,000. In fifty years, too, the manufactures of Germany have nearly doubled, the commerce nearly trebled, the s.h.i.+pping increased more than fivefold, and the mining output more than sixfold. While all this is true, it nevertheless is also true that the area of cultivated soil in Germany is double what it was fifty years ago. But this is because much land, formerly waste or in pasture, has been brought under cultivation. Yet even now only one half of the land of Germany is cultivated, and thirty-three per cent. of the total food consumption of the people has to be imported.

Fifty years ago only five per cent. of the total food consumption was imported, and this small fraction consisted almost wholly of luxuries.

GERMANY'S SUCCESS IN TECHNICAL EDUCATION

[Ill.u.s.tration: Approximate size of the German Empire.

NOTE.--The population of that part of the United States included within the circle is about 10,000,000. The population of the German Empire is about 52,000,000.]

Germany's prosperity and progress cannot wholly be measured by statistics. No one can predict what it will be, for it is partly based upon elements that unfortunately other countries have not taken much account of. Germany pays greater attention to the PRACTICAL EDUCATION of her people than any other nation in the world. Her system of technical education extends over the whole empire, and provides technical instruction for every cla.s.s of the people and for every occupation of the people--night schools for those already engaged in life's work, agricultural schools, forestry schools, commercial schools, mining schools, naval schools, and schools in every branch of manufacturing industry, besides, of course, schools for the education of those intending to follow the learned professions. As a consequence of this very general provision of technical education, there is engaged in German manufacturing pursuits a cla.s.s of workmen not found in the workshops of any other country--men of industrial skill and experience, and at the same time of the highest scientific technical attainments in the branches of science that bear particularly upon their work. These men work at salaries that in other countries would be considered absurdly low.

In almost all other countries the possession of a sound scientific education is a pa.s.sport to social distinction, and every profession is open to him who is deserving to enter it. In Germany, however, the learned professions, and especially the official positions of the army and navy, are almost the exclusive preserves of those who are born to social rank. The educated commoner, therefore, has to betake himself to manufacture, trade, or commerce. It follows that scientific skill and intelligence are more generally diffused in German commercial industries than in those of all other nations. So far, however, the German artisan has not been the equal in special technical skill of his more rigidly specialised English compet.i.tor, and as a consequence of this more than one sixth of Germany's total imports consist of goods brought from England--princ.i.p.ally the finer sort of textile fabrics and articles of iron and steel. This inferiority in specialisation in the German workmen cannot continue long, and the successful rivalry of Germany with the manufacturing pre-eminence of Great Britain may soon be a startling fact.

GERMANY'S MINES AND HARDWARE MANUFACTURES

It is in the development of her mines and of manufactures in which MINERALS are employed that Germany has made most noticeable progress.

She produces four times as much coal as France, and she has over 1000 separate iron-mines. Her production of iron has increased tenfold in fifty years. She employs over 400,000 men in her mines, and by the use of labour-saving machinery one man can now produce as much as three men could produce fifty years ago. Her HARDWARE manufactures are one sixth of her total manufactures, and in the past half century they have increased sixfold. They are now double those of France, and are only one fourth less than those of Great Britain. She has 750 factories devoted to the making of machinery alone. Two of these--Krupp's at Essen, and Borsig's at Berlin--are among the largest in the world. Krupp's employs 20,000 men, has 310 steam-engines, and covers an area of 1000 acres. Borsig's employs 10,000 men, and in fifty years, starting from nothing, has turned out nearly 4000 locomotives. One of Krupp's hammers (a fifty-ton hammer) cost $500,000.

GERMANY'S INTERNAL TRADE

Germany's commercial energies up to the present have been mainly concentrated on her INTERNAL TRADE. The total amount of this trade foots up to $7,000,000,000, against France's $6,000,000,000, and in fifty years it has trebled, while that of France has scarcely doubled. Germany has more miles of railway than any other country in the world except the United States, her mileage being nearly 30,000, against France's 25,000 and Great Britain's 21,000. Her natural and artificial waterways are also the best in Europe, and her vast production of mineral wealth is transported from mine to foundry and factory, and her vast production of lumber and grain is transported from forest and field to seaport, largely by means of water carriage.

The Rhine, the Elbe, the Oder, and the Vistula are all navigable throughout their whole courses through German territory, while the Weser and the Danube are also navigable throughout great parts of their courses. All these navigable rivers are interconnected by ca.n.a.ls. The total length of possible river navigation is nearly 6000 miles, while the total length of ca.n.a.ls and ca.n.a.lised rivers is 2700 miles. Besides, in 1895 there was completed the Kaiser Wilhelm Ca.n.a.l, a lockless sea-going vessel ca.n.a.l, twenty-nine feet six inches deep and sixty-one miles long, connecting the North Sea and the Baltic, and constructed at a cost of nearly $40,000,000. This ca.n.a.l effects a saving of almost one whole day for commercial steamers, and of three days for all sailing-vessels, engaged in the Baltic and North Sea trade.

GERMANY'S FOREIGN TRADE

But while it is true that Germany's internal trade is her most important trade, it is also true that her FOREIGN TRADE has during the last half century made more progress than that of any other European country, and during the last three or four decades more progress than even that of the United States. Since 1840 it has increased six and two third times, while that of Great Britain has increased six times, and France only four and one fifth times. It is now second in the world, being more than half of that of Great Britain, ahead of that of the United States,[1] and very considerably ahead of that of France, while in 1860 it was much less than half of that of Great Britain, less than that of the United States, and considerably less than that of France. Germany, however, is not well favoured with respect to seaports, for in its transmarine trade it is largely dependent on foreign seaports--namely, ports in Belgium, Holland, France, Italy, and Austria. Rotterdam in Holland and Antwerp in Belgium are much more favourably situated with respect to the commerce of its chief mining and manufacturing regions than any of its own ports. There are only two German seaports with water of depth sufficient to accommodate the deep-drawing vessels in which foreign commerce is now mainly carried on--namely, CUXHAVEN, the outport of Hamburg, sixty-five miles from Hamburg, and BREMERHAVEN, the outport of Bremen, thirty-five miles from Bremen, though recent improvements in the navigation of the Elbe allow vessels of even twenty-six feet draught to ascend the Elbe wholly to Hamburg. But HAMBURG (625,000), for the reason that for centuries it was a free port of entry, has built up a very large foreign trade, being the fifth in the world in this respect, London, New York, Liverpool, and Rotterdam, alone being ahead of it. Hamburg's foreign trade is almost one half greater than the whole foreign trade of all other German ports put together, while the foreign trade of Bremen is about one fourth that of Hamburg. BREMEN, like Hamburg, was for centuries a free port of entry, but in 1888 both Hamburg and Bremen gave up in great part their free port privileges and entered the general customs union of the empire. Both cities were extremely loath to give up their ancient unique commercial privileges, for they feared an immense loss of trade in doing so, but it was hoped that what they lost in foreign commerce would be made up to them in increased commerce with other parts of the empire. One reason for the great development of Germany's foreign trade in late years is found in the facilities that it possesses for rapid transit to and from Italy by means of tunnels through the Alps.

[Ill.u.s.tration: North central Germany, showing the s.h.i.+p ca.n.a.l and the leading commercial arteries.]

FOOTNOTE:

[1] During the last two or three years the foreign trade of the United States has greatly expanded and has exceeded that of Germany, and is making a close push upon that of Great Britain. The above statement was intended to represent the situation as existing during a period of some years.

THE SPECIAL TRADE CENTRES OF GERMANY

BERLIN (1,700,000), the capital of the empire, is a chief seat of machinery manufacture. For many years FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN enjoyed the pre-eminence of being next to London the greatest money market in the world; but since the establishment of the German Empire Frankfort's financial business has been absorbed by Berlin. LEIPZIG (400,000) has the distinction of being the seat of a book-publis.h.i.+ng trade that turns out over 60,000,000 volumes in a year, amounting in value to $30,000,000. Leipzig has also the honour of being the greatest fur market in the world. DANTZIG (120,000) is Germany's chief port on the Baltic, and the chief seat of its great export trade in timber, grain, flax, hemp, and potatoes. Its harbour, however, is closed in winter because of ice. DRESDEN (330,000) is noted for its porcelain manufacture, but the porcelain is not manufactured chiefly in Dresden, but in MEISSEN, fifteen miles from Dresden. MUNICH (407,000) manufactures largely the national beverage, beer. Finally, NUREMBERG (162,000), in southern Germany, is remarkable for its continuance into modern days of manufactures for centuries carried on domestically. Of these the most noted are watches, clocks, pencils, and toys.

IV. TRADE FEATURES OF SPAIN AND ITALY

ITALY, TURKEY, AND SPAIN, THE THREE DECADENT NATIONS OF EUROPE

The Mediterranean from the very earliest epochs of civilisation has been a chief highway of trade, and along its sh.o.r.es every sort of commercial activity has been prosecuted. For centuries and centuries the nations upon the borders, especially those upon its northern borders, were the leading nations of the world, and their empire, indeed, comprised the empire of the world. But during the last two or three centuries, and especially during the nineteenth century, commercial pre-eminence and pre-eminence in empire have departed from the Mediterranean. Italy, the ruler of the whole ancient world, and even in modern times a ruler of almost equal potency; Turkey, during the middle ages a chief power both in Europe and in Asia; Spain, for two centuries at the beginning of our modern epoch a chief power in Europe and the mistress of almost the whole Western world as well,--these countries have all sunk to positions of comparative insignificance, and Italy alone shows signs of effectual regeneration.

And yet on the whole earth's surface there are no lands more richly endowed by nature as abodes for man than Italy, Turkey, and Spain.

SPAIN: ITS TRADE AND ITS SPECIAL TRADE CENTRES

Spain, because of the varied climate of her several parts, is capable of producing almost all the edible fruits and grains known to both temperate and tropical regions. Though there are some desert areas, a great portion of the soil is abundantly productive, and were agriculture pursued with the same skill as it is in other countries--in England and Scotland, for example--Spain would be one of the richest agricultural regions on the globe. But not only is agriculture very inefficiently pursued, but the country is also spa.r.s.ely inhabited (only 90 to the square mile, as compared with 270 to the square mile in Italy) and only one fourth of it is cultivated.

As a consequence only those products are raised in Spain in which, because of her advantages of climate, etc., she has least compet.i.tion.

The princ.i.p.al commercial agricultural product is WINE, the vine being cultivated in every province in the kingdom. Six hundred million gallons of wine are raised annually, which is more in value than the total quant.i.ty of grain raised. Only one fifth of this, however, is exported (princ.i.p.ally to France), and even of this the greater portion is wine of inferior grade, used for mixing. The remaining agricultural products of Spain exported are chiefly oranges, lemons, grapes, raisins, nuts, olives, and onions. Of these over $15,000,000 worth go to England annually. England and France, indeed, enjoy the great bulk of Spain's foreign trade, but of late years Germany and the United States are taking a small share of it. The MINERAL WEALTH of Spain is enormous, and as the mines are often controlled by foreign capital they are worked with energy. The iron ore of the Basque provinces of the north and the copper ore of the district about Cadiz have been renowned for ages. Thirty-five million dollars' worth of copper, iron, lead, silver, and quicksilver are exported to Great Britain annually.

There are manufactures of cottons, woollens, linens, and silks, but none of these can be said to be very prosperous, although during the last twenty-five years, owing to a high protective tariff, the quant.i.ty of raw material used in textile manufacture in Spain has doubled. Spain produces excellent wool, but her woollen manufacture is unable to use it all and one fourth is exported. Similarly, although Spain is especially rich in iron-fields, she gets about one third of the hardware she needs for her own consumption from England. The total area of Spain's COAL-FIELDS is estimated at 5500 miles, but hitherto little coal has been mined, partly because it is somewhat inaccessible. Four million dollars' worth of coal is annually imported from England. Whole mountains of ROCK SALT exist, but little is mined and none is exported, although bay salt obtained in the south is exported to the fishermen of Cornwall. Another important export is ESPARTO GRa.s.s, which is sent to England to be used in paper-making.

And still another is CORK, although Portugal, which adjoins Spain, is the chief seat of the cork-producing industry. MADRID (470,000) is the capital and largest city. BARCELONA (250,000) is the chief seaport of Spain and the chief manufacturing centre. VALENCIA (145,000), in the southeast, and SEVILLE (135,000) and MALAGA (115,000), in the south, are the princ.i.p.al seats of the fruit export trade of the country.

CADIZ (65,000), Spain's princ.i.p.al naval seaport, has a famous export trade in sherry wines. The total population of Spain is 17,500,000.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Spain compared in size with California.]

ITALY'S LAMENTABLE CONDITION

Italy's condition is in some respects better than that of Spain, but in others worse. Its population is 30,500,000, being three times more to the square mile than that of Spain, and fifty per cent. more to the square mile than that of France. Since 1830 the population has increased forty-five per cent., and this notwithstanding the fact that the loss by emigration is equal to one half of the natural increase from the surplus of births over deaths. Two million people of Italian birth are to-day residing in foreign countries. Again, the Italians, except those in the southern parts (the Italians of Naples and vicinity, for example), are the MOST INDUSTRIOUS PEOPLE in Europe, with a special apt.i.tude for gardening and tillage. In fifty years they have reclaimed 20,000,000 acres from forest, and increased the area of land under cultivation by one hundred per cent. In fifty years, too, they have trebled the amount of capital invested in agriculture. Since 1860 they have increased the amount of material which they use in their textile manufactures (cotton, wool, silk, and linen) nearly fivefold. Since 1850 they have increased their external commerce two and one half times. Finally, since 1830, they have increased their internal trade two and one quarter times. But all these signs of prosperity in Italy are negatived by the constantly increasing magnitude of her NATIONAL DEBT. This now amounts to more than $2,500,000,000, or more than two and one half times the total net national debt of the United States, and about one fourth more than the total national, state, county, munic.i.p.al, and school-district debts of the United States. And this vast debt for a people of 30,500,000 is exclusive of the provincial and communal debts, which amount to $275,000,000 additional. Italy since her reorganisation as a kingdom in 1870 has set out to be a first-cla.s.s military and naval power, and the cost is more than she can stand. She has a permanent army of nearly 800,000 men, 250,000 of whom she keeps under arms constantly.

She has a fleet of seventeen battles.h.i.+ps, two coast-defence s.h.i.+ps, eighteen cruisers, and 272 torpedo craft, most of these being of modern type and first-cla.s.s rating. She spends on her army nearly $50,000,000 annually, and on her navy nearly $20,000,000 annually.

This, with an annual interest payment of $115,000,000, all unproductive expenditure, makes a demand upon her revenue that is draining her people of their life's blood. EVERY SORT OF TAXATION is resorted to--direct and indirect; land, house, and income; succession duties, registration charges, and stamps for commercial papers; customs, excise and octroi; besides government monopolies; and all this exclusive of communal taxation. And yet since 1891 there has been an annual deficit of national revenue under national expenditure averaging $2,250,000. As a consequence of these taxes, and of the repressive effect they have upon industrial enterprise, the net earnings of the country per inhabitant are lower in Italy than in any other European state except Turkey, Russia, and Greece--lower, even, than in the Danubian states and Portugal and Spain.

ITALY'S TRADE AND SPECIAL TRADE CENTRES

The most distinctive natural product of Italy is SILK, and the amount of raw and thrown silk exported is about $57,500,000 annually. Silk culture is carried on all over the kingdom, though the industry flourishes most extensively in Piedmont and Lombardy, in the north.

Over 550,000 people are engaged in rearing silkworms, and the annual coc.o.o.n harvest approximates 100,000,000 pounds. Silk-"throwing,"

or-spinning, is the princ.i.p.al manufacturing industry, and the amount of silk spun and exported is about 45,000 tons, most of which goes to France. After silk the products of the country that const.i.tute the princ.i.p.al exports are OLIVE OIL, FRUIT (oranges, lemons, grapes, almonds, figs, dates, and pistachio nuts), and WINE (in casks). The olive-oil export and the fruit export are each about a fifth of the export of silk, and the wine export about a sixth. Other important and characteristic exports are raw hemp and flax, sulphur, eggs, manufactured coral, woods and roots used for dyeing and tanning, rice, marble, and straw-plaiting. The princ.i.p.al import is WHEAT, for agriculture, though generally pursued, is still in a backward state of efficiency, and the average grain crop is only one third what it is in Great Britain. One eighth the total amount of wheat needed to support the people has to be imported. In fact, the total amount of food-stuffs raised in the kingdom is much less than the amount required, being, for example, per inhabitant, not more than one half of what is raised in France. In particular, there is a deficiency of meat, and the amount of meat raised per inhabitant is the lowest in Europe. As a consequence the Italians are poorly fed, and it is estimated that four per cent. of the annual death loss is occasioned by impoverishment of blood due to insufficiency of wholesome food.

After wheat and raw cotton, the next princ.i.p.al import is COAL, for Italy has no workable coal-fields. As far as possible water power is used as a motive power instead of coal, especially in the iron industries. An important import also is FISH, for, owing to the great number of fast days which the Italian people observe, and to the dearness and scarcity of meat, fish is a very general article of consumption. Six million dollars' worth is imported annually, and perhaps an equal amount is obtained from local fisheries, for there are over 22,000 vessels and boats and over 70,000 men engaged in this industry. After silk-throwing, the most characteristic Italian manufacturing industries are those which are of an artistic or semi-artistic nature, such as the making of fine earthenware, porcelain, gla.s.sware, mosaics, and lace. VENICE (154,000) and GENOA (225,000) are still the princ.i.p.al seaports and trade centres of Italy, but in commercial importance these famous cities are only the mere shadows of what they once were. NAPLES (529,000), the largest city, is a place of little enterprise, for its imports, princ.i.p.ally cereals, are three or four times the value of its exports, which are mainly cheap country produce. MILAN (457,000) and TURIN (348,000) are the great trade centres of the north interior, and the most prosperous places in the kingdom, being the chief seats of the silk-throwing industry. Milan is also the chief seat of the Italian cutlery manufacture. PALERMO (284,000) and MESSINA (150,000), in Sicily, are the chief ports for the export of Italian fruits, and also of Italian fish (anchovies, tunnies, etc.). ROME (474,000) and FLORENCE (207,000) owe their chief importance to their art interest and to their historic a.s.sociations, but Florence has an important manufacture of fine earthenware and mosaics. Rome is the chief seat of government. CATANIA (127,000), in Sicily, is the chief seat of the Italian sulphur export trade. LEGHORN (104,000), the port of Florence, is the chief seat of the export straw-plaiting trade. It should be noted that notwithstanding Italy's extent of coast-line a large part of her foreign commerce is transacted northward by means of the railways that tunnel the Alps.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Italy and its chief commercial centres.]

V. THE TRADE FEATURES OF RUSSIA

RUSSIA, A COUNTRY WHOSE FUTURE IS A PROBLEM

The position of Russia in the world is a sort of problem. Its area is immense. More than one seventh of the land surface of the globe is included within its compact borders. Of this vast territory the area of European Russia alone is only a fourth; but even so it is larger than the area of all other European states put together. The population of Russia is over 129,000,000, of which over 106,000,000 belong to European Russia. But taking even European Russia this is a population of only fifty-four to the square mile, the lowest proportion in Europe, except in Sweden and Norway. And the population is increasing. The birth rate is the highest in the world. And though the death rate is very heavy, being fifty per cent. more than it is in England, the increase from births is so great that the population doubles in forty-six years. There is thus apparently a prospect that Russia will, in the near future, play an important part in the drama of nations, her capacities and capabilities for growth seem so prodigious. And yet there is a reverse side to the picture. Of the 106,000,000 inhabitants of European Russia 10,000,000 belong to a cultured, progressive cla.s.s, quite the equal of any people in Europe.

But the remainder are princ.i.p.ally a low grade of peasantry, not long removed from slavery. The princ.i.p.al occupation of these peasantry is farming. But their farms are small, not more than ten acres apiece, and the total revenue they get from them does not average more than $65 a year per farm. The food of these peasantry is the poorest in Europe. In the main it consists of rye bread and mushroom soup, worth about four cents a day. The houses are often mere huts, not more than five feet square. Women as well as men work in the fields, and yet the total amount of food raised is not more per head of population than one tenth of what is raised by the peasantry of France. The value of food raised per acre, too, is but little more than one third of the average per acre for all Europe.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Russia, the British Empire, the United States compared.]

RUSSIA A COUNTRY OF SOCIAL EXTREMES

The degradation of the peasantry of Russia is not simply material. It is also moral. In the language of a recent traveller, "they are the drunkenest people in Europe." The princ.i.p.al intoxicant is a sort of whisky called "vodka." With drunkenness exist also dirtiness, idleness, dishonesty, and untruthfulness. And as yet little has been done to ameliorate this degradation. Ignorance prevails everywhere.

Even of the young people of the peasant cla.s.s more than eighty per cent. can neither read nor write. There is no middle cla.s.s. The gulf between the upper cla.s.s and the lower is so wide as to be absolutely impa.s.sable. And for the most part the upper cla.s.s is quite content to have this state of affairs continue.

THE "ARTELS" OF THE RUSSIAN PEASANTS

There is, however, some hope for the lower cla.s.ses of Russia. This is because of the prevalence among them, especially in villages, towns, and cities, of a communal custom in which self-restraint and self-government are necessary conditions of existence. In every branch of common industry "artels" are found; that is, communistic organisations, where all labour for a common purse in accordance with rules and regulations determined by the members of the organisations.

These "artels" have done much toward increasing the industry, the honesty, the truthfulness, the thrift, and also the sobriety of their members. They exist throughout all Russia, but in some parts more prevalently than in others. As yet, however, they scarcely affect the character and condition of the rural peasantry, and it is these who are most in need of elevation. It should be said, too, that the government is doing something to lessen the evil of drunkenness.