Denmark. Among non-European countries as sources of imports
the United States was the chief factor, with British India, the
Dutch Indies, Australia, Brazil and Chile well represented.
TABLE XIII. Principal Exports (in 1,000 double-owl.).
| A table should appear at this position in the text. See Help:Table for formatting instructions. |
1913
1920
Sugar-beet seeds
296-5
I50-5
Hpps
64-9
98-1
Products of forestry . . . . .
7,885-2
10,188-7
Wood for building
3,938-4
8,521-7
Earths and stones
41,784-8
27,730-2
Coal and anthracite
345,984-i
73,049-8
Coke .
64,329-9
9,814-0
Chemical products
49,032-6
26,324-6
Salt, brine, etc
4,321-1
12,533-2
Rough salt
11,248-1
3,29i-7
Mineral manure (potash, etc.) Sulphuric magnesia, chloride of potassium
4,608-7 5,859-4
4,952-3 l,583-7
Dyes and dyestuffs
2,620-0
1,015-4
Aniline dyes, etc
642-9
142-1
Alizarin, etc
110-4
33'3
^6-1
66-7
Fibrous textiles
OO" '
4,264-3
w i
782-7
Silk
137-1
33-7
Wool
755-2
121-7
Cotton
1,330-4
143-5
Leather
251-6
43-2
Leather goods
115-2
31-8
Furriers' goods
34-5
10-3
Rubber goods
197-1
3i-i
Wooden goods
790-0
1,050-3
Paper and paper goods
5,426-1
262-8
Books, pictures and paintings
243-0
118-7
Stone and mineral goods ....
1,881-0
3,184-1
Pottery
7,787-5
3,843-8
Glass and glass goods
2,458-1
1,184-3
Base metals and goods therefrom
68,519-4
18,478-8
Iron and iron alloys
65,024-9
17,506-0
Aluminium and aluminium alloys
83-7
84-1
Machinery
5,956-7
3,976-7
Electrotechnical goods
1,338-5
671-4
Vehicles
1,089-9
2,078-0
Watches
85-7
60- 1
Musical instruments .....
285-9
463-0
In 1920 there were no imports from Russia. The European States which had been belligerents were sending very little ; and the largest importing countries were the United States, Argentina, and the European neutrals. In the import of iron ore, Lorraine and Luxem- burg began to play a considerable part.
As regards German exports, on an average for the years 19103, Great Britain took 14% of the total, Austria 1 1 -2%, Russia 7-9%, United States 7-7%, Holland 6-7%, Switzerland 5-8%, Belgium 5-3 %, Italy 4-2 %, Argentina 2-9 %, Denmark 2-8 %, Sweden 2-3 %, Brazil 1-9%, and Norway 1-6%. According to a calculation for the first eight months of 1920, the proportionate shares of the different countries in Germany's total export trade that year were as follows : Holland 21-2%, Switzerland 9-2%, Sweden 7-1%, Norway 3-0%, Denmark 6-1 %, Finland 1-7%, Spain 2-7%, Austria, Hungary and the " succession states " 7-8%, Balkans and Turkey 1-1%, Russia and Poland 2-5 %, Great Britain 6-4 %, France 3-0 %, Belgium 3-0 %, other European States 5-1 %, America 7-2 %, and other non-European countries 10-0 %. It will be observed that the United States, and in a less degree Italy, maintained somewhat similar places in the pro- portion taken of German exports in 1920, to those occupied in 1913. More than half the total export (51 %) went to European countries that had been neutral in the war. If the larger European States are regarded under three groups (Neutral States, Entente States, East- ern and South-eastern Europe), the distribution of German exports in the first eight months of 1913 and 1920 respectively (Jan.-Aug.) will be seen in Table XIV in millions of marks (i.e. gold marks in 1913, and only depreciated paper marks in 1920).
TABLE XIV. German Exports to Europe.
German
exports
Percentage of total German exports
Holland, Scandinavia, Switzer- land and Spain Great Britain, France, Belgium and Italy Russia, Austria-Hungary, Bal- kans and Turkey
1920
1913
1920
1913
20,714 6,291
4,6i5
1-430 2,115
1.532
50-9% 15-4% n-3%
21-2%
31-4% 22-8%
Railways. In 1913 the full-gauge German railway lines had at- tained an extent of 57,481 kilometres. The lines were the property of the several states. On April I 1920, in accordance with the inter- state convention of April 30 1920, the German State railways were transferred to the Reich. By the cession of territory under the
Treaty of Versailles about 7,000 km. of the former German railway system passed to other countries, 1,436 km. of the railways of the Saar coming under French administration. At the end of 1921 the total length of the German railways may be reckoned at 53,797 kilometres. The amount of rolling stock (without that of Alsace and Lorraine) was as follows: locomotives (1913) 28,111, (1920) 30,000; passenger carriages and luggage vans (1913) 79,034, (1920) 60,000; goods wagons (1913) 631,323, (1920) 546,800. Before the war, the railways were a considerable source of income for the states. In 1918 there was for the first time a deficit, which increased in 1919, and in the financial year 1920 amounted to 16-4 milliard paper marks. The cause of this deficit lay first and foremost in the in- creased cost of working materials, partly also in the increased wages and numbers of the railway officials, and also in the impossibility of raising the rates for passenger and goods traffic in proportion. A large increase of rates, intended to lower the total deficit, came into force on June I 1921. For 1920 the total receipts were 14-9 milliard (paper) marks and the expenses 31-3 milliards. The railway staff numbered 740,505 in 1913 and 1,044,379 in 1920.
Postal Service. Before the war years, the imperial postal ad- ministration did not include the states of Bavaria and Wurttem- berg, which had their own separate services. It was only in 1919, with the foundation of the German Republic, that the postal system as a whole became an affair of the Reich. The German Post Office staff (for the whole area of the Reich) numbered 334,064 in 1913 and 476,563 at the end of 1920.
International telegraphic communication by means of deep-sea cables does not belong to the postal system properly so called. At the beginning of the war, in 1914, Germany possessed 1 12 deep- sea cables with a length of 43,500 km., of which 5,474 km. were the property of the State. By the Peace Treaty of Versailles, Ger- many was deprived of all her cables, except about 6,500 km., which consisted for the most part of the end sections of the former great cable lines. As Germany's means of communication with the world was thus severed, her wireless system became of most vital impor- tance to her. By means of her wireless stations Germany can now communicate with the whole world. The largest is. at Nauen.
Shipping. The German mercantile marine grew from 4,658 vessels of 4,430,227 tons in 1910 to 4,935 vessels of 5,238,937 tons in 1914. Of the 4,935 ships (including a tonnage of 4,694,190 steam ships), 3,968 were merchant vessels proper and 621 fishing vessels. The personnel of the German merchant service amounted to 83,898 officers and seamen. The demand for ships was supplied almost entirely from the German shipyards. In 1913 there was launched from the German yards a total registered tonnage of 465,000. The war made a sharp break in this development. On the one hand, there was no need for new shipping, as Germany's foreign trade was interrupted by the blockade; on the other hand, the shipyards had for the most part to be transformed for war purposes. Launches of new ships dropped to 199,000 tons in 1915, 38,000 tons in 1917, and 16,000 tons in 1918. In 1919 shipbuilding was practically at a standstill, only 12,000 tons being launched. The Peace Treaty of Versailles, with its stipulations as to the surrender of German ton- nage, dealt German shipping a deadly blow. Of the more than 5,000,- ooo registered tons in 1914, in the middle of 1920 there only remained to Germany 419,000 registered tons, the rest having all had to be handed over. Germany was also bound by the Treaty to build each year 200,000 registered tons for the Entente.
Only a short time before the outbreak of war the great plans embodied in the Prussian Waterways Law of April I 1905 had been realized the Berlin-Stettin ship canal, the Rhine-Hanover canal, the enlargement of the Bromberg canal, etc.
The central idea of future German policy as regards the water- ways lay in 1921 in establishing connexions between the different natural river channels, the courses of which, with the exception of that of the Danube, generally speaking run from S. to N. The most important Schemes for intercommunication are the Lake of Constance and Danube canal, the Main-Danube canal, the Neckar Danube canal, these last forming the so-called Rhine-Danube canal scheme. There are, moreover, the North Seaports canal, the Central (Mit- telland) canal to connect Hanover and the Elbe, and the Elbe-Oder canal. Finally there are numerous plans for communication in the regions of the Oder, the Netze, the Weichsel and the Pregel, ex- tending as far as the riyer Memel. Of these projects the Central canal and the canalization of the Upper Main, the Neckar and the Danube below Regensburg had been already approved. The execution of the plans for waterways is, however, extremely difficult. The reason for this is partly the internationalization of certain rivers, partly the lack of capital. An extension of the waterways according to the general scheme will only be possible in combination with the construction of great electrical works which could use the water-power and make the waterways pay. The prospect of this, however, is not very great in view of the slightness of the fall on most of the German rivers.
Education. The school system in Germany is very highly de- veloped. The number of illiterates is therefore very small, the few , that exist being mainly foreigners who have come to Germany for work. The whole educational system is divided into general-school training, technical-school training, and training in higher institutes such as universities and technical colleges. For general-school train-
