Chapter III: Part 3

Similarly, the enterprise of the ship merchants of LIVERPOOL has converted a port, that high tides and impassable bars would naturally render unfit for modern ships, into the greatest shipping port in the world. One hundred million dollars were spent in making the improvement, but $5,000,000 is the annual revenue derived therefrom in dock dues alone. And because of this enterprise Liverpool can now boast of controlling one fourth of all the imports of the kingdom, and two fifths of all the exports, and of handling three fourths of all the grain and provision trade of the kingdom, and of having the largest grain warehouses in the world.

But MANCHESTER, a wholly inland city, forty miles distant from Liverpool, its nearest port, has outdone even Glasgow and Liverpool in its endeavour to bring the sea to its own doors. It also has spent $100,000,000--not, however, in amounts spread over a number of years, and as occasion seemed to demand, but all at once, in one lump sum, in one huge enterprise. It has built a canal to the Mersey where it is navigable, thirty-five and one half miles in length, and sufficiently deep and wide, so that the whole of its vast importation of cotton, and the whole of its vast manufacture of cotton and other textile fabrics, and as much else as may be desired, may be brought in from the sea or taken to the sea in merchant vessels of the very largest size now afloat. And it has done this in the face of engineering difficulties, and of obstacles raised against it by jealous competing interests that were almost insurmountable.

GREAT BRITAIN'S SPECIALISATION OF HER INDUSTRIES IN DEFINITE CENTRES

In no part of the world are manufacture and trade carried on with such strict regard to the conditions of economic production and the economic handling of goods as in the British Isles. The free-trade policy of the empire permits everywhere within its borders not merely national but world-wide competition; and yet it is but truth to say that wherever Great Britain attempts to sell her goods abroad every nation and every community in the world rises against her. Even her colonies are against her. Her markets are open to every one's trade, and yet in almost every market in the world which she does not absolutely control barriers are raised against her trade. She is able to sell goods in foreign markets only because, despite these barriers, she is able to undersell all competitors in them, or to give better value for the same money than they. Even when she obtains the control of new markets, as she has in India, China, Egypt, West Africa, etc., she allows every nation to trade in these markets on precisely the same terms as she herself trades in them. In the face of this world-wide competition, therefore, the industries of Britain would cease to exist if every condition conducive to economy of production--climatic suitability, availability of cheap motive power, accessibility to cheap raw material, and accessibility to natural and cheap means of transportation--were not taken advantage of to the utmost. But this is just what Britain does. She does take advantage to the utmost of conditions conducive to economy of production; and this is why, to a degree nowhere else attempted in the world, she has specialised her industries in definite favouring localities.

THE NATURAL APTITUDES OF COMMUNITIES IN GREAT BRITAIN FOR SPECIAL INDUSTRIES

A result of this specialisation of industries in definite centres is that a natural aptitude for the industry specialised in a locality is developed among the inhabitants of the locality, and this, being stimulated by association, is transmitted from generation to generation with ever-increasing efficiency. Again, this inherited aptitude of the community for the industry historically associated with it is a prime element in the economic prosecution of the industry. Also, in turn, it acts as an important influence in continuing the industry in the locality where once it has been successfully specialised. In no country in the world, outside of Asia, have great industries had such long-continued successful existence in definite localities as in Britain. And therefore in no country in the world do the natural aptitudes of communities for special industries constitute such an important element of economic industrial production. A community of efficient "smiths," for example, has existed in and about Birmingham since the fifteenth century. As a consequence of this the Birmingham country has for several centuries been the greatest seat of the metal or hardware industries in the world. Again, the manufacture of woollen cloths has been an industry successfully specialised in West Yorkshire from the fourteenth century. It results that nowhere in the world is the woollen manufacture carried on more prosperously than in West Yorkshire to-day. The potteries of Staffordshire have been in existence time out of mind, and in the eighteenth century they took a pre-eminent place among the industries of the world. They hold that place of pre-eminence now, even though since then the methods of manufacture have been several times revolutionised.

THE COTTON MANUFACTURES OF GREAT BRITAIN

But the influence which more than anything else has determined the specialisation of industries in certain places in Britain rather than in others has been the presence of coal-fields. In only a very few instances have great industries been maintained in districts that are not coal-producing. The busiest industrial centre in all Britain is, perhaps, South Lancashire, the great seat of the COTTON MANUFACTURE. South Lancashire is one great coal-field. LIVERPOOL, the great cotton port of the world, is at one edge of this field. MANCHESTER, the cotton metropolis of the world, is at the other edge. Between and near these two chief towns is a whole nest of large towns and cities--PRESTON, BURNLEY, BLACKBURN, ROCHDALE, BOLTON, BURY, ASHTON, STOCKPORT, OLDHAM, etc.--every one of which is wholly devoted to the cotton interest. From their position all these towns obtain both their motive power and their raw material at the lowest possible cost. But, in addition to its advantages of cheap coal and cheap raw material, South Lancashire has one other great advantage in favour of its special industry--its climate is eminently suited to the industry. Its atmosphere is moist, and not too moist, and its temperature is not too cold. Cotton thread can be spun and woven in Lancashire which elsewhere would break. In scarcely any other place in England has cotton-weaving or cotton-spinning ever proved a success. The cotton industry of Scotland is not so localised as it is in England, but PAISLEY (65,000) is famous all the world over for its identification with the manufacture of cotton thread. Ireland has no important cotton manufactures except in BELFAST. One third of the cotton manufactured in the world is manufactured in the United Kingdom. The total product is about 14,000 miles of cloth daily. The number of separate mills is over 2500. The annual product is $500,000,000, which is one hundred times what it was one hundred years ago. The quantity of raw cotton imported annually to sustain this immense production is 1,750,000 pounds.

THE WOOLLEN MANUFACTURES OF GREAT BRITAIN

A second great industry of Great Britain is its WOOLLEN MANUFACTURE. This industry is specialised in England, principally in West Yorkshire, a district which is as well supplied with coal as is South Lancashire. LEEDS (410,000) and BRADFORD (232,000) are the two principal seats of the industry, but HUDDERSFIELD and HALIFAX are also important "cloth towns," and many other communities are identified with the manufacture of woollens. The noted "West of England" cloths are made principally in Gloucestershire, where their manufacture in the town of STROUD is a survival of an ancient industry once general throughout the whole county. In Scotland there are two centres of the woollen industry. The first and most important is in southeast Scotland, where, in the valley of the Tweed (in GALASHIELS, HAWICK, JEDBURGH, etc.), the celebrated "Scotch tweeds" are manufactured. The second is in the valley of the Teith (STIRLING, BANNOCKBURN, etc.). At one time the sheep that were pastured on the wolds of Yorkshire were the chief supply of the raw material for this industry in the whole of Britain, but that time is now long past. The total annual import of wool into the United Kingdom is about 750,000 pounds, of which about one half is retained for home manufacture. Two thirds of this import comes from Australia. The number of wool and worsted factories in the kingdom aggregates over 2750. The value of the woollen goods produced annually is about $250,000,000, which is about one fourth of the total product of the world.

THE LINEN MANUFACTURES OF GREAT BRITAIN

The third great textile manufacture of the United Kingdom is that of LINENS. This is the one manufacture in which Ireland surpasses her sister kingdoms, England and Scotland. The cultivation of flax and the spinning of linen yarn have been domestic industries throughout all Ireland from time immemorial. But at the present time the linen-manufacturing industry of Ireland is almost wholly concentrated in BELFAST. In Scotland, which now almost rivals Ireland in the extent and perfection of her linen manufactures, the industry is principally located in Fifeshire and Forfarshire, especially in the towns of DUNDEE and DUNFERMLINE, the latter town being greatly famed for its napery and table linens. Linen, like cotton, requires a peculiar atmospheric condition of temperature and moisture for its manufacture, and only in few localities has the linen industry been successfully established. The total value of the annual linen manufacture of the United Kingdom is $100,000,000.

OTHER TEXTILE MANUFACTURES OF GREAT BRITAIN

The annual value of the total manufacture of textile fabrics in the British Isles is about $1,000,000,000--not far short, indeed, of one fourth of the total manufacture of textile fabrics in all the world. Great Britain has over $1,000,000,000 invested in her textile industry, and one half of her total exports consists of textile manufactures. Cotton, woollen, and linen cloths are the chief staples of this industry, but there are many other branches of it and many other localities in which it is specialised besides the ones already mentioned. LEICESTER (204,000), which, like so many other manufacturing cities of England, lies at the centre of a coal-field, is the chief seat of the WOOLLEN HOSIERY manufacture. DUMFRIES is the chief seat of the woollen hosiery manufacture in Scotland. KIDDERMINSTER, in Worcestershire, is the chief seat of the "Brussels" carpet industry; WILTON, in Wiltshire, of the Wilton carpet industry. KILMARNOCK, in Ayrshire, is the chief seat of the carpet manufacture in Scotland. NOTTINGHAM (233,000) is the metropolis of the cotton hosiery and lace manufacture of England. NORWICH (110,000), in eastern England, has a noted manufacture of muslins and fine dress-goods. The Norwich textile manufacture is an instance of the continuance of an industry in a community historically associated with it, although its seat is far removed from a coal-field. The SILK manufacture of Great Britain is almost entirely confined to the county of Derby and adjacent districts in England. MACCLESFIELD, in Cheshire, is the chief centre. COVENTRY is noted for its silk ribbons and gauzes. But the manufacture of silk in Britain is not prospering like that of her other textile fabrics. In fact, in forty years it has depreciated three fourths. British silk manufacturers are not as adept in weighting their products with dyes as their French competitors are, and in consequence English silks, though intrinsically better than French silks, look inferior and therefore cannot be sold at profitable prices. But, on the other hand, the JUTE manufacture of Great Britain is increasing by leaps and bounds. Established only sixty years ago, the value of its annual output is now twice that of the whole manufacture of silk, and in twenty-five years has tripled. The chief seat of this industry is DUNDEE (160,000), in Scotland.

THE HARDWARE MANUFACTURES OF GREAT BRITAIN

The textile manufactures of Great Britain are in the aggregate first in importance, but the HARDWARE manufactures come a close second. The total amount of Great Britain's hardware products is about $750,000,000, or one fourth of the total product of the world, and of this about one third is exported. Even more than her textile fabrics, the hardware manufactures of Great Britain are associated with her coal-fields. The most distinctive "hardware centre" is that one which is identified with the great coal-field in the middle of England known as the "Black Country." BIRMINGHAM (506,000), the chief place in this centre, is unrivalled in the world for the multifariousness and extent of its metal manufactures. It is literally true that everything from a "needle to an anchor" is made within its limits. But though its industries comprise principally those of iron and steel, its manufactures in gold, silver, copper, zinc, lead, and aluminium are also very important. Birmingham, too, is unrivalled in the world in the application of art to metal work. Its manufacture of jewellery, and gold and silver ornaments, is enormous. Its manufacture of small wares is also enormous. For example, it turns out 15,000,000 pens weekly. Its manufacture of buttons runs into the hundreds of thousands of millions. WOLVERHAMPTON (88,000), also in the Black Country, is noted for its manufacture of heavy hardware and machinery. So also in OLDHAM, in the Lancashire district. So also in LEEDS, in the West Yorkshire district. SHEFFIELD (352,000), also in Yorkshire, is historically identified with its celebrated cutlery manufacture, an industry that first began there because of the quality and abundance of the grindstones found near by. With the coal-beds of Durham and Cumberland are identified the great ship-building and locomotive-building industries of NEWCASTLE (218,000), SUNDERLAND (142,000), and DARLINGTON, on the northeast side of England, and the great steel manufactures (the largest in the kingdom) and ship-building industries of BARROW-ON-FURNESS, on the northwest side. With the coal-fields of South Wales (noted for its smokeless coal) are identified the smelting industries of SWANSEA (70,000). Ores of copper especially, but also of silver, zinc, and lead, are brought from all over the world to Swansea to be smelted. These South Wales coal-fields also account for the fact that in respect to amount of tonnage CARDIFF (160,000) is one of the chief ports for exports in the world, ranking in this respect next after New York. The exports of coal from Cardiff are now 12,000,000 tons annually.

II. THE TRADE FEATURES OF FRANCE

FRANCE A RICHLY FAVOURED COUNTRY

France by nature is one of the most highly favoured countries in the world. Its climate is genial. Its temperature is so varied that almost every vegetable, grain or fruit needed for the sustenance of man may be raised within its borders. Its soil, though not surprisingly fertile, yet yields abundantly such products as are suited to it. Its mineral resources, especially in coal, iron, lead, marble, and salt, are very considerable. Its area is compact. Its facilities for foreign commerce are unsurpassed. It lies between the two bodies of water--the Atlantic and the Mediterranean--of greatest commercial importance in the world. And its people, especially those in rural parts, are exceptionally frugal and industrious. But France as a nation has not made the progress in the world that its natural advantages call for. It has been cursed with expensive and unstable governments and sanguinary wars. Its upper classes, the natural leaders of its peoples, are excessively fond of pleasure and military glory, and the energies of the nation have been much misdirected. As a consequence, despite its natural advantages, France is losing ground among the nations of the world. Its national debt amounts to nearly $7,000,000,000, the largest national debt known in history, being per head of population seventeen and one half times as great as that of Germany, six times as great as that of the United States, and much more than one and one half times as great as that of Great Britain. But, what is of more serious consequence, the vitality of its people seems debilitated. For years the annual number of births in France has been steadily decreasing, while the annual number of deaths has been more or less increasing. Over a great part of the country the number of deaths annually exceeds the number of births. In numerous years this is so for the whole country. The birth rate is the lowest in Europe. The death rate, while not the highest, is yet higher than in many other countries. As a consequence of all this the population of France is almost stationary. During the last seventy years it has increased only 18 per cent., while that of Great Britain has increased 63 per cent., Germany 75 per cent., Russia 92 per cent., and Europe as a whole 62 per cent. And even this increase, small as it is, is largely due to immigration from other countries. Nor is the emigration of Frenchmen to their colonies or to other countries to be set down as a sufficient explanation. The French are averse to emigration. At the present time the number of Frenchmen residing abroad is only a little more than half a million, while of foreigners residing in France the number is not far short of a million and a quarter.

THE FRENCH A THRIFTY, FRUGAL PEOPLE

When France is compared with other countries in respect of commercial development and progress, the results will in almost every particular turn out unfavourable to France. For example, since the close of the Napoleonic wars eighty-three years ago the national trade of Great Britain has quadrupled, while that of France has only trebled. At the close of the Franco-German war France was eighteen per cent. ahead of Germany in the carrying power of her shipping. Now Germany is seventy per cent. ahead of France in that respect. But it must be remembered that the Franco-German war cost France in army expenses and in indemnity no less a sum than $3,250,000,000. The effect of that tremendous expenditure upon the prosperity of the nation can be estimated by one comparison. Since that war the annual average savings per inhabitant in France have been $17. For the same period the annual average savings per inhabitant in Great Britain have been $19.50. Had that war not occurred the average annual savings per inhabitant in France would have been $21.50. In short, no people in Europe are comparable with the working classes of the French people in frugality and thrift, and because of this characteristic, if France were well governed, its prosperity would be equal to that of any country in the world, and this would be so in spite of the fact that France's interest bill imposes a tax of $6.50 a year on every inhabitant of the country.

THE IMPORTANCE OF AGRICULTURE IN FRANCE

France has one element of stability, one characteristic inducive of thriftiness, that most other countries of Europe lack. In most other European countries the land is held by few proprietors. In France it is held by many. In Great Britain and Ireland, for example, the land that is devoted to agriculture is held by only 19,000 proprietors. In France it is held by 3,500,000 proprietors. There are also 3,500,000 district farms in France, though only sixty per cent. of the farm land of the country is cultivated by the owners. It follows from this that agriculture has in France a hold upon the affections and self-interest of the people that it has in no other country in the world. About forty-two per cent. of the total population of the country able to work are employed in agricultural pursuits. Agriculture, therefore, is one of the most important industries of France. One fifth of the total earnings of her people are made in agriculture. It cannot be said, however, that agriculture in France is pursued as successfully as it is in some other countries--in Great Britain, for example. France, with sometimes the exception of Russia, is the largest wheat-grower of all the nations of Europe, but its production of grain per acre is not more than four sevenths that of Great Britain, while its production of grain per farming hand is only two thirds that of Great Britain. But so much of the agricultural effort of France is devoted to such industries as can be carried on in small farms or holdings--potato-raising, for example, and fruit-raising and poultry-raising--that the total money product per acre in France is not far short of what it is in Great Britain. That is to say, while agriculture is more profitably carried on in Great Britain than in France, it proportionately supports a larger number of people in France than in Great Britain.

FRANCE'S WATERWAYS AND RAILWAYS

France, like Germany, is well supplied with navigable rivers, and these, with its canals, constitute a complete network of navigable waterways that cover all the country and greatly promote the internal commerce of the nation. These navigable rivers aggregate 5500 miles, and the navigable canals over 3100 miles. The tonnage of goods carried on these waterways compares quite favourably with that carried by the railways. The railways aggregate 25,000 miles.

THE DISTINCTIVE AND IMPORTANT MANUFACTURES OF FRANCE

The most distinctive manufacture of France, the one in which she surpasses all other countries of the world, is the SILK MANUFACTURE. France's total production of silk is not far short of one third of the total production of the world. LYONS (466,000), on the Rhone, is the chief seat of the industry, having had this pre-eminence ever since the Jacquard loom was invented there at the beginning of this century. Its production is not far short of three fourths of the total production of the country. The most important manufacture of France, however, is her manufacture of WOOLLENS. In this manufacture she comes next after Great Britain, her total production being a little ahead of that of both Germany and the United States. Her woollen mills number over 2000. Her consumption of wool for this industry is about three fourths that of Great Britain, but the value of her production is only two thirds that of Britain. LILLE (216,000) and RHEIMS (108,000) are the chief seats of the woollen industry. Of about equal value with the woollen manufacture of France is its HARDWARE manufacture, but the importance of France's hardware manufacture is national rather than international. Of next importance is the manufacture of COTTONS and LINENS. The chief seats of these industries are, for cottons, ROUEN (113,000), the "Manchester of France," and for linens, LILLE. Near Lille is CAMBRAI, the chief place of manufacture for that finer class of linens known as cambrics. A second distinctive manufacture of France is that of GLASS and PORCELAIN. In this manufacture France quite equals Great Britain in respect of value, and surpasses her in respect of the artistic character of the wares. LIMOGES (77,000) and ST. CLOUD (near Paris) are the chief seats of the French porcelain manufacture. It is at St. Cloud that the celebrated "Sèvres" porcelain is made.

PARIS AND THE GREAT SEAPORTS OF FRANCE

Paris (2,536,834) is, of course, the chief trade centre of all France, but the trade interests of Paris are general rather than special. The manufactures that are most localised in Paris are those of articles of luxury, such as jewellery, perfumery, gloves, fancy wares, novelties, and fashionable boots and shoes. Paris is also a great financial centre. MARSEILLES (442,000), one of the oldest cities in Europe, is the great seaport of France. Its trade amounts to over $350,000,000 annually, and it ranks next after Hamburg among the great seaports of central Europe. Its specialty is its great trade with the Mediterranean and the East. The opening of the Suez Canal has been of incalculable advantage to Marseilles. Next as shipping port comes HAVRE (119,000), at the mouth of the Seine, with a total trade not far short of that of Marseilles. Havre is in reality the port or "haven" of Paris. It is the great depot for French imports from North and South America. These comprise principally cotton, tobacco, wheat, animal produce, and wool. Its import of South American wool is enormous, for three fourths of the wool used in France now comes from the region of the La Plata. Recently the Seine has been deepened and now both Rouen and Paris may be considered seaports. By this means Paris has direct water communication with London, and is, indeed, the third seaport in the country. Next comes BORDEAUX (257,000), the chief place of export for French wines and brandies. About twenty years ago the wine industry of France suffered tremendous loss from the ravages of the insect phylloxera. Over 4,000,000 acres of vineyard, representing a value of $1,000,000,000, were wholly or partially ruined by this terrible pest. The plague, however, has now been stamped out, but nearly 2,000,000 acres of vineyards have been permanently destroyed and have been devoted to potatoes and the sugar-beet root. The result is that the production of wine in France is now less than what is needed for home consumption, and over fifty per cent. more wine is imported than is exported. The remaining great shipping ports are DUNKERQUE (40,000) and BOULOGNE (37,500). CALAIS (57,000) has a great passenger trade with England.

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 shipping 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

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 class 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 class 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 passport 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 competitor, and as a consequence of this more than one sixth of Germany's total imports consist of goods brought from England--principally 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 canals. The total length of possible river navigation is nearly 6000 miles, while the total length of canals and canalised rivers is 2700 miles. Besides, in 1895 there was completed the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal, a lockless sea-going vessel canal, 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 canal 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.

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-publishing 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 shores 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 sparsely 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 competition. The principal 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 quantity of grain raised. Only one fifth of this, however, is exported (principally 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 quantity 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 GRASS, 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 principal seats of the fruit export trade of the country. CADIZ (65,000), Spain's principal naval seaport, has a famous export trade in sherry wines. The total population of Spain is 17,500,000.

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 aptitude 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, municipal, 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-class 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 battleships, two coast-defence ships, eighteen cruisers, and 272 torpedo craft, most of these being of modern type and first-class 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 cocoon harvest approximates 100,000,000 pounds. Silk-"throwing," or-spinning, is the principal 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 constitute the principal 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 principal 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 principal 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, glassware, mosaics, and lace. VENICE (154,000) and GENOA (225,000) are still the principal 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, principally 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 associations, 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.

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 class, quite the equal of any people in Europe. But the remainder are principally a low grade of peasantry, not long removed from slavery. The principal 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.

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 principal 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 class more than eighty per cent. can neither read nor write. There is no middle class. The gulf between the upper class and the lower is so wide as to be absolutely impassable. And for the most part the upper class is quite content to have this state of affairs continue.

THE "ARTELS" OF THE RUSSIAN PEASANTS

There is, however, some hope for the lower classes 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.

RUSSIA PRINCIPALLY AN AGRICULTURAL COUNTRY