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flour. This duty corresponds to the rate originally proposed by the allied governments in the bill of April 4, 1879. But inasmuch as the Reichstag raised the duty intended for rye from 0.50 mark (11.9 cents) per 100 kilos (220 pounds avoirdupois) to 1.00 mark (23.8 cents), making it equal to the duty levied on wheat, complaints are now made by the parties engaged in the flour-mill industry that the duty on flour is too low as compared with that of grain, and that no sufficient protection is afforded thereby to the German flour-mill industry. To justify this complaint it is claimed that since those rates of duty have taken effect (January 1, 1880) the importation of rye flour from France and of wheat flour from the United States has been constantly increasing. And it is indeed a fact that in 1880 there has been a considerable importation, steadily increasing from quarter to quarter, of flour chiefly from Austria Hungary, France, and Belgium, and also from the United States of America. The increased importations as regards the neighboring countries mentioned are all the more significant in view of the circumstance that a simultaneous decrease has ensued in the exporting capacity of the mills in the southern and western parts of Germany, the very regions having the closest connections with said countries. Under these circumstances the flour-mill industry naturally had in a greater degree to rely on the home market for the sale of its products. That the foreign flour mill industry is able nevertheless to participate to a very large extent in the supply of the home market goes to establish the fact that the duty on flour in proportion to that on grain is insufficient for the interests of the home industry, a state of things the more strongly affording cause for apprehensions, as, according to consular reports received, an enormous production of flour is going on in the United States for the sale of which in the German market all means are to be resorted to.

No doubt can well be entertained, therefore, that an increase of the duty of flour is required. Fixing it at 3 marks (71.4 cents) per 100 kilos (220 pounds avoirdupois) the protection afforded to the flour-mill industry under the tariffs in force from the year 1857 to the first of July, 1865, when all duties on flour and grain were repealed, will not be attained; but, in view of the high state of perfection the German flour-mill industry has reached it is to be hoped that said rate of duty of 3 marks (71.4 cents) per 100 kilos (220 pounds avoirdupois) would suffice to secure for this industry the home market to the required extent.

In addition to flour, such other mill products of grain and pulse as crushed or shelled grain, peeled pearl barley, groats, &c., as well as ordinary bakers' wares, are subject also to the rate of duty fixed in No. 25, Q. 2, of the tariff; any increase of duty on flour, therefore, would extend in like measure to those articles also. No doubt seems to be entertained of the passage of the bill.

H. KREISMANN,

CONSULATE GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES,

Consul-General.

Berlin, May 7, 1881.

EFFECT OF TARIFF ON FOOD PRICES.

REPORT BY CONSUL SCHOENLE, OF GIESTEMUNDE-BREMERHAVEN.

The fact that the cost of the necessaries of life has almost invariably increased in ratio with the increase of import duties on household articles cannot be argued away by German economists, and this fact remains suspended, like the sword of Damocles, over all economical and social relations in the German Empire. These high prices, put in juxtaposition with the low rate of wages, are very acutely felt by the laboring classes, and to pull through these hard times is a very difficult task for them.

The following comparative statement of the prices of the necessaries of life, compiled by the chamber of commerce at Bothum, Westphalia, shows that the prices of almost every article for family use have increased since the adoption of the German tariff laws. The prices are given in marks and pfennigs per kilogram:

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It will be seen by the foregoing table that the increase of the price in petroleum, lard, and bacon is very considerable, just in those articles upon which high import duties have been laid, and also in bread, owing to the import duty on flour. Sugar and potatoes have not been affected by the new tariff law, as the duties on sugar remain unchanged, and potatoes enter free of duty. Most of the bacon, and especially lard, was imported from the United States.

When we regard the fact that the laboring classes of Germany have to work hard from one year to another to procure for themselves and their families the necessaries of life, the accumulation of small savings for "a rainy day" is of rare occurrence. Thus, it is not to be wondered at that every year hundreds of thousands turn their back on their native land and seek better earnings and cheaper as well as substantial living in the United States, and that the socialistic agitation will, in spite of all restrictive and prohibitory laws, not come to a halt and rest. WOLFGANG SCHOENLE,

UNITED STATES CONSULATE,

Consul.

Barmen, October 28, 1881.

CUSTOMS RULINGS AGAINST AMERICAN CANNED MEATS.

REPORT BY CONSUL SCHOENLE, OF BARMEN.

There is much ingenuity in the persistent warfare waged in most of the European countries against American provisions, especially salted pork, lard, and canned meats, and these attacks still continue as bitter and persistent as ever. The contest is, at intervals, taken up and fiercely carried on under the pretense of protecting the sanitary condition of the people, and while the masses have been systematically frightened into the trichina scare another method has been resorted to in Germany for the purpose of hampering the importation of canned meats, if not putting a regular embargo on them. The reckless reports circulated lately in several German prints that the canned meats are prepared in the United States from the flesh of diseased animals, together with other vindictive diatribes setting forth the danger of using these preserved provisions, did not cause any great falling off in the consumption of the same. Their superiority over other conserved meats has been recognized and appreciated, and they have grown so rapidly in popular favor that they are now sold in almost every retail grocery in the principal German cities. In order, however, to drive these articles of food out of market and render their importation impossible, recourse has been had in Germany to an extraordinary customs contrivance, which has hardly a parallel in the history of tariff laws.

Since the adoption of the new German tariff, about two years ago, canned beef, tongues, meats, soups, and minced meats have been classified under the head of "slaughtered and prepared meats," and are subject to a duty of 12 marks ($2.86) per 100 kilos (220 pounds avoirdupois), a duty which represents about 15 per cent. of the value of the merchandise.

One day, however, a custom-house official in Flensburg made a startling discovery. He found that labels were affixed to these tin boxes, and consequently the cases are, technically, in connection and coherence with another material. Inasmuch, according to instructions, as the packing thus classified is liable to the duties on the whole object, such goods, according to the official register, came under another heading in the tariff, and we find corned beef and similar articles classified by this custom-house wiseacre under the head of iron wares, such as knives, scissors, hair-pins, &c., and subjected to a duty of 24 marks ($5.72) per 100 kilos, just doubling the amount to be paid. The custom-house director for Schleswig-Holstein, to whom the interested party applied for redress, confirmed the decision of the subordinate officer, and the minister of finance at Berlin sustained it, and issued instructions (June 30, 1881) to all the head custom houses to be guided by said decision, so that henceforth duties on corned beef, &c., in labeled boxes are to be collected"under the classification of knives, scissors. hair-pins," &c. Thus the contents of the boxes are not treated as dutiable, but simply the labeled boxes themselves. And some dealers in imported meats at Hamburg and Leipsic, who were not able to comprehend the profundity of this ingenious interpretation of the tariff laws, submitted a memorandum in reference to the case to the Bundesrath, the last resort and final arbiter in customs affairs. But this august body has not yet rendered decision on the subject, and the Imperial chief custom-house, with

out waiting for such decision, has made arrangements to proceed to the collection of the after-payment of duties on the articles above referred to, so that by this operation the retail dealers are simply the losers of this additional duty of 15 per cent., as the contents of these boxes had been eaten up long ago. It is obvious that this arbitrary and unjustifiable increase of import duties on canned meats must work as a prohibitive clause, and such an interpretation of the tariff laws is in direct violation of international comity, and unjust in its application. As a result of such proceedings, the question may probably arise for consideration and legislation of the American Government, whether it be not time to devise retaliatory measures against any oppressive and unfair ruling, prejudicial to the interests of American commerce with Germany. WOLFGANG SCHOENLE,

UNITED STATES CONSULATE,

Consul.

Barmen, November 24, 1881.

CUSTOMS RULINGS BY WHICH THE CONTENTS ARE ASSESSED ACCORDING TO THE MATERIAL OF WHICH THE PACKAGES ARE COMPOSED.

REPORT BY CONSUL-GENERAL VOGELER, OF FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN.

Considerable interest has lately been excited by the action of the German customs authorities with reference to the rate of import duty levied upon certain articles of foreign production and manufacture. Reports of changes in the assessment of import duties on American articles have been made to the Department of State by consular officers of the United States from different points of the German Empire, accompanied by such comments and criticisms as the nature of these changes in each particular instance seemed to justify or require.

Without examining how far these comments or any of them were just, and without desiring in the least to criticise the reports of these consular officers, who deserve the commendation of the Department for their vigilance and zeal in the discharge of their official duties, I desire to submit to the Department of State a general review of the whole question, and of the action of the German authorities with reference thereto, in order that the Department may be able to judge of these proceedings with all the light which it is possible at the present time to throw upon them.

The aim of the founders of the North German Confederation-the precursor of the German Empire-was so to coalesce by uniformity of laws and proceedings, of taxes and duties, of money, weights, and measures, and of postal, telegraph, and railroad arrangements, the different states and people composing the German nation, as that in case of an attack by a hostile neighbor the feeling of unity engendered by these powerful material agencies should be so spontaneous and strong among the people as to exclude the possibility of internal dissensions, or of a refusal on the part of any of the German states to aid in the common defense. How wisely the plan was conceived, how admirably carried out, and how fully vindicated when the shock of 1870 came, is a matter of history. It was a masterpiece of farseeing statesmanship.

But not only the political, but also the material, results, growing out of this commercial and financial consolidation of Germany, have been,

on the whole, beneficial. Obsolete internal customs regulations have been annulled, the multifarious weights, measures, and coins of more than 30 independent German principalities superseded by a uniform system of weights, measures, and money; in short, the thousand and one vexatious regulations which impeded the free and wholesome commercial intercourse between the people of the different German states have been abolished, and an era of greater commercial activity and enterprise inaugurated.

The German Customs Union-" Deutsche Zollverein"-was one of the agencies put into operation to foster and strengthen the feeling of German unity. The agitation in favor of it antedates by many years the formation of the North German Confederation. The idea originated with Prussian statesmen, and was finally consummated through the influence of Prussian diplomacy on June 4, 1867. The first uniform tariff law was passed October 1, 1870. It was amended by the law of July 7, 1873. Finally, both these laws were repealed and superseded by the law of July 15, 1879. This is the tariff law now in force. It was promulgated by the Emperor of Germany in the name of the German Empire, with the consent of the "Bundesrath" and "Reichstag." The Empire (Reich), it should be stated, had succeeded to the rights and duties of the Zoll Parliament. The law of July 15, 1879, took effect on January 1, 1880. It was the result of a radical change of policy on the part of the German Government with reference to the method of raising the revenues of the Empire. The policy of the Government had been, up to the year 1879, essentially a free-trade policy. The tariff of 1870, as amended in 1873, had been very low. No protective power, or even intent, was claimed for it. Until the year 1879 it had not been thought expedient to raise any considerable portion of the revenues of the Empire by indirect methods of taxation. Direct taxes, enabling every citizen to calculate precisely what the protection of the Government cost him, had been the boast of the leading German state.

In 1879 all this was changed. By a skillful consolidation of different parties in the German Reichstag, brought about by means of political influences, a solid phalanx was formed in favor of a revision of the tariff. To this phalanx were added many members of other parties, representing constituencies interested in a high protective tariff, and thus the German chancellor succeeded in procuring the passage of a tariff law which, as compared with that of 1870, is, in its intent and operation, a protective tariff law. More than that, it is the declared purpose of the Imperial Government, as announced in imperial messages and ministerial speeches, to raise all or nearly all its revenues by duties on imports on the one hand and the proceeds resulting from the operation of the post, the telegraph, the railroads, the mines and forests, and the monopolized manufacture of tobacco and cigars on the other.

A characteristic feature of the German tariff law, the one which distinguishes it most widely from that of the United States, is the almost entire absence of all "ad valorem" duties. It is essentially a "tariff of weight." Only a few articles, such as horses, cattle, sheep, hogs, &c., and some minor articles of manufacture, are assessed by the piece, while the only articles which pay an ad valorem duty are plain and uphol stered railway carriages, the latter paying 6 and 10 per cent of their value, respectively. This fact should be borne in mind in order to apprehend the points hereinafter discussed.

The tariff is fixed in marks, the monetary unit of Germany (one mark equal to 23.8 cents of the money of the United States). The unit of

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