Evening Post. SATURDAY, MARCH 11, 1905.

Evening Post, Volume LXIX, Issue 59, 11 March 1905, Page 4

Evening Post. SATURDAY, MARCH 11, 1905.

A LESSON FROM GERMANY. «

Mr. 0. Eltzbacher, whoso name betrays ■ his origin, though his idiomatic English and his sturdy British patriotism do not, has been taking an active purt in the nmgazino warfare provoked by Mr. Chamberlain's fiscal proposals, and has used thu opportunity for urging tho electors of tho United Kingdom lo protect tho country against German competition by following tho lead of Germany in tho matter of tho tarilf. But in tho December number of tho Contemporary Review ho forsakes for once a subject which has never had much attraction for the colonial mind, and has at last begun to pull upon tho British reader «Jjso, uud strikes new gronud in an exceedingly interesting and suggestive articlo on 0110 of tho chief causes of German prosperity. " Germany," ho says, " owes, no doubt, much of her industrial succi'j* to her wise policy of Protection. But with her Protection in not merely a fiscal policy, but a goncial and comprehensive policy. . . . Germany protwU her population, not only ugainst tho tarilf attacks of foreign 11a I nms, but also againxt tho far moro dangerous attacks upon their prospority from w ithin. llencu Germany protects and fosteis her industries, not only by her tariff, but also by a practical national education, by equitable and cheap laws, and beforo nil by tho provision of adequate,, ollieiont, and cheap means of transport." Tho title of his article is accordingly " The Lesson of the German Waterways," and this, ho believes, is tho most valuable lesson that- Germany has to tench us. The enormous development of tho industries of Germany, and especially of her sea-borne commerce, during recent years is a fairly fumiliar tiilo to British curs, and wo all know something of tho great cannl which, by opening a way through Ilolstein from tho Baltic to tho* North Sea, has not only removed tho Monk spot in her naval dcfenco and greatly increased her powers of naval ajfgrcs^on, but also enables her merchantmen to make tho voyage fiom her eastern to her western ports without being- committed to tltn long- ami (Ullicult circumnavigation of Jutland. But how many of us have boen awuro of the striking contribution to the development of Germany which litis boon mode by the systematic extension of less imposing waterways all over the country? The enormous natural diflkultieß .with:

which German manufacturers have had to contend in the matter of freight and transit aro very well contrasted by Mr. Eltzbaclier with tho comparatively easy lot of their Rrilibh competitors. The gieat industrial towns of " the tight little Inland " are situated as 0, rule on the sea. coiust, or wilbui n ft'H' jnjjwf of il. it is iuic)y limt a great industry lm« to bo curried on moie than thirty miles from the sea, and the maximum di;rtanco in very exceptional j. cases may be pu( at sixty miles as the crow (lies. But in Germany tho capital itself is ninety miles fiom tho coast; the towns of tho Rhenibh-WcstphaliuH district, (he thief seat, of tho great iron and coal industries of the country, aro from 100 (o 150 miles distant from Antwerp, their nearest harbour; and other centres* are hopariitcd from their seaboards by about tMico these distances. " II may be said, if we look at German industries as 11 M'holc," nays our authority, " that they are carried on at an aveiage distance of more than 200 miles from their harbours. . . . Evidently tho German industrial army has to fight far away from its base, and its lines of communication me exceedingly long." How hits it succeeded in overcoming difficulties Mhich aro eight or ten times as groat as (hose confronting Great Britain? Mainly, bays Mr. Ellzbacher, by tho cheapening of internal communication through tho development of her waterMays. In some ways, of course, naluic hits been bounteous. The Rhine is a, great natural assot, M'hich has for centuries carried a continuous stream of commerce between its banks, but it 'is not by tho work of imtiu 0 (hat Cologne, at a distance of 160 miles in a straight line from the sea, has practically become a seaport ; that Straiburg, which at double that distance Mas formerly reached only by binall river boats, is now solved by 600-ton steamers; and that Frankfort, situated twenty miles up tho Main, which was once a. shallow stream, with a depth of lews Hum three feel, has now a channel inoro than eight feet deep to connect it with the Rhine, and so with the North Sea. Equal energy has been shown in tho construction of purely artificial waterways. While in England, "(hanks chiefly to tho ruthless hostility of her railway monopolists, this class of cutcrprUo has for years been not only stagnant, but retrogressive, and Haydn's Dictionary of Dates under tho hculiug "Canals" hns no entry to record between "Norwich and LoM-estoft navigation opened, 1831," and "Manchester Ship Canal opened, 1894"— and the lallcr, of coime, is a w<i canal — Germany has made immense pi ogress. During tho years 1871 to 1900, Kays Mr. ElUbaeher, " Germany has built 1091 kilometres of inland canals, sho has immensely improved all her navigable rivers, and the GermanAustrian canalH lately proposed or begun Imvo (i length of 5657 kilometres, whilst their probnblo cost has been estimated at the gigantic ium of about. £50,000,000." And while tho English canals "in reality iiic only shallow ditches filled with M-atcr," along which toy barges are laboriously towed by man or hor.sa at a speed of threo or four milos an hour, just as was done a century ago, "011 tho German rivers nnd canals boats nnd trains of bnrgM of 300, 500, or 1000 tons cadi, which aro hauled by kI en liters, may at every hour and on every day bo Keen proceeding i>t a vory considerable speed." Tho relative eflici-en'-y and economy of two such systems are too obvious to require discussion; and j the figures which tell tho story of Germany's projjrm in this direction are astonishing indeed. Tho wonderful develop, ment of her met chant marino is absolutely dwarfed by (hat of her inland whipping*. Not only is the latter more than twice uh targe us Iho former, but ifcis increasing nioro than twico n» fast. " Whilst tho German inland shipping has incrcahcd between 1882 and 1902 from 1,658,266 tons to 4,873,502 tons, the Oeinian merchant marine hud between 1881 ami 1902 only increased from 1,181,525 tons to 2,093,033 tons. Tho tonnage of German inland shipping, which twenty years ago was but 50 per cent, hirfjer than tho tonnage of German sea shipping, is now, notwithstanding the marvellous growth of tho German merchant marino, 150 per cent, larger thau the (011111150 of German sea shipping." Relatively also to tho great increase, in railway traffic, tho inland shipping has moro than held its own. In 1875 the waterways transported 20,800,000 toiui nnd tho railways 167.000,000 tons ; in 1895'tho figures wero 46,700,000 and 331,000,000 reHpectively. Thus in twenty years tho rail-M-ay freight had increased by a- littlo less than 100 per cent., and that of tho waterways by a good deal more. Spaco will not permit us to yield further to tho temptation to quoto further from (he writer's vary striking figures ; and we can but barely mention so stupendous a work as the Dortmund-Ems Canal, 168 miles long and navigable by shins of 1000 tons, by M-hich it is hoped to divert the Rhine trade from its natural outlet through tho harbours of Holland. It is a commonplace that- Liverpool and London aro further from tho average British producer than from the merchants' of Hamburg or New York ; and Mr. Eltzbacher has shown one May in which the dilference can be diminished without a 5s dnty on corn.