Page 757 : GERMAN EMPIRE — GERMAN EMPIRE
Individual articles:
Bavaria have a high reputation; the chicory grown there and in the district between the Rhine and the Elbe is used all over Europe as a substitute for coffee; potatoes are an important crop; and Madgeburg is the center of a large beetroot-growing industry.
Manufactures. The oldest and most important of the German industrial arts are the manufactures of linen and woolen goods. The silk-industry is also notable, he making of toys and wooden clocks and wood-carving, which are almost a specialty of Germany, flourish in the hilly districts of Saxony, Bavaria and the Black Forest. The iron and steel-works of Silesia, Hannover and Saxony; the glass-works of Silesia; the china and earthenware of Saxony and Prussia; the silver, gold and jewelry-work of Augsburg, Nuremberg, Munich and Berlin; and the typefounding, printing and lithography of Leipsic and Munich are among the most important manufactures. Over a thousand million gallons of beer are brewed yearly.
Education. Education is more widely spread in Germany than in any other country of Europe. There are 21 universities, numerous scientific schools, 1,340 gymnasia or academies and other schools, besides 60,000 common schools. Public libraries, museums, botanical collections, picture-galleries, schools of music and design and academies of art and sciences are to be met with in most of the capitals and in many of the other cities. The press annually sends forth from 8,000 to 10,000 works, while about 3,000 newspapers and journals circulate throughout the empire.
Commerce and Communication. The German mercantile fleet is the fourth in the wrorld, being excelled only by those of Great Britain, the United States and France. It consists of 2,702 sailing vessels and 1,973 steamers, with a total of 73,993 sailors. Its total tonnage is 2,903,570 tons. Hamburg, Bremerhaven, Stettin, Dantzic, Kiel, Lübeck and Königsberg are the chief ports. About 24,817 vessels ply on the numerous navigable rivers and canals. The first railroad in Germany was built in 1835, and there is now a total length of railroads of 37,441 miles. The postal and telegraph systems of all the German states, except Bavaria and Wurttemberg are now under a central administration, and since 1872 a German-Austrian postal union has been in operation. There are over 224,794 kilometers of telegraph lines in the empire.
Army and Navy. The imperial army has a grand total of 589,676 men and 24,687 officers on a peace-footing and on a war-footing about 3,000,000, besides the landsturm, a reserve-force called out only in the last necessity. Every German who is capable of bearing arms must serve in the standing army for seven years, three years in active service and the remainder in the army of reserve. He then spends five years in the first class of the landwehr or militia, after which he belongs to the second class until his 39th year. Besides this, every German from 17 to 21 and from 39 to 45 is a member of the landsturm. The yearly cost of the army is over $200,000,000. The fleet consists of over 200 vessels, (cruisers, battleships and torpedo-vessels) manned by 11,246 seamen and officered by 10 admirals and 688 other officers. The seafaring population (estimated at 80,000, of whom 50,000 are serving in the merchant-navy) is liable to service in the navy instead of in the army.
People and Cities. Four fifths of the population (now 64,903,423) of this country are of the race called in English, Germans, in French, Allemands; but by the people themselves, Deutsche. Among the peoples who retain their own language are Poles, Wends, Czechs, Lithuanians, Danes, French and Walloons. The Germans are divided into High and Low Germans; the language of the former is the cultivated language of all the states, that of the latter is spoken in the north and northwest. There are believed to be about 25,000,000 Germans beyond the boundary of the empire. During the last 50 years emigration from Germany has been very large; but since 1881, when the number was 220,798, it has decreased. About five sevenths of the emigrants came to the United States. The average density of the population in Germany is 310 to the square mile; while Saxony, the most densely populated state, has 829 people to a square mile. There are about 83 cities with a population of 50,000 and upward; 45 with over 100,000; and 116 with between 20,000 and 100,000. The largest cities are Berlin (2,070,695), Hamburg (932,078), Breslau (511,891), Munich (595,053), Dresden (546,882), Leipsic (587,635) Cologne (516,167), Frankfort (414,598), Nuremberg (332,651) and Hannover (302,384).
Colonies. Germany has colonies and dependencies with a total area of 1,027,120 square miles, with an estimated population of close upon 15,000,000. In Africa she has Togoland, Kamerun, German East Africa and German Southwest Africa; in Asia she has Kia-chau Bay; and in the Pacific, besides Kaiser Wilhelm’s Land, Bismarck Archipelago and the Solomon Islands, Germany has the Marshall, Caroline, Pelew and Marianne Islands, with possessions in Samoa. These have been acquired chiefly since 1884. In 1905 the value of the imports from the colonies was over 18,000,000 marks; while the exports to the colonies amounted to 46,346,000 marks.
Government. The position of emperor of Germany is hereditary. There are two legislative bodies: the bundesrat or federal
