German Empire

Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)

a union of twenty-six north German states and cities, dating from April 16, 1871. According to the constitution, it was the intention of these states to "form an eternal union for the protection of the realm and the care of the welfare of the German people." The empire consists of the kingdoms of Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, and Wurtemberg, six grand duchies, five duchies, seven principalities, three free towns, and the province of Alsace-Lorraine. The supreme direction of the military and political affairs of the empire is vested in the king of Prussia and his successors under the title of the German emperor. William I, king of Prussia, became the first emperor. The emperor has power to declare war and to conclude peace. GOVERNMENT. There are two legislative bodies. The Bundesrath, or Federal Council is composed of 58 members, appointed by the governments of the several states. Each state has at least one member. Prussia has seventeen. The second legislative body is the Reichstag, composed of 397 members, one for each 131,000 inhabitants. The members of the Reichstag are elected by universal suffrage for a term of five years. The empire has about 12,000,000 voters. Somewhat less than 8,000,000 votes are actually cast. Of the 397 districts, 252 are under ordinary circumstances Protestant. The remainder are Roman Catholic. The emperor is assisted by over fourteen secretaries. They do not, however, form a ministry or cabinet, but act independently under the general supervision of the chancellor. The first chancellor of the empire was Bismarck. AREA AND POPULATION. The total area of the empire, including Alsace-Lorraine, is given by the Statesman's Year Book at 208,830 square miles. It is nearly as large as Texas. The total population in 1900 was returned at 56,367,178, an average of nearly 270 per square mile. Of the total population about 5,000,000 do not speak German. They are Poles, Wends, French, Czechs, Danes, Dutch, Italian, English, and Walloons. Of 2,000,000 births a year, there are 60,000 more boys than girls. The annual emigration to other countries, taken for a considerable period of time, ranges from 20,000 to 35,000 a year. Eighty percent of these emigrants go to the United States . Hamburg, Antwerp, and Rotterdam are the principal ports of departure. Berlin, the capital, is the largest city in the empire. Humburg, Munich, Leipsic, Breslau, Dresden, Cologne, Frankfurt, and Nuremberg follow in the order named. There are 33 cities having a population in excess of 100,000. There are 12,703 newspapers and periodicals. A fourth of them are published in languages other than German. EDUCATION. Education is compulsory in all the states of the empire. As a rule, the school age is from six to fourteen. The schools differ greatly in character. The rural population lives almost entirely in villages. The village schools and the schools provided for the poorer people in the cities charge a very slight tuition. Each teacher is assigned a large number of pupils. The instruction is meager. The children have little reading in school and no juvenile papers or library facilities. The schools drill them in the duties of obedience, industry, and piety, but little attempt is made to make the children intelligent. Schools of a more efficient character are provided for those who are able and willing to pay a slightly higher tuition, and above these are the gymnasia, and the other high schools for boys for which Germany is famous. Some are classical schools; others are scientific. The high school course consists of nine years. It extends to what we would call our junior year in college. There are twenty-one universities in the German Empire. Over 50,000 students are in attendance; 300 from America. Upon the completion of a preparatory course the student may enter any one of these universities and choose his own line of study. In the university instruction is given almost entirely by means of lectures. A professor holds his position for life. He is not expected to cover much ground, or to lecture too freely. In this way he becomes a thorough student in his own chosen field. This feature has given Germany the reputation for the highest scholarship in the world. The student is free, in return for a small fee, to attend any course of lectures he may choose, or to neglect his work, as he may see fit. In order to attain admission to any of the learned professions, however, he must pass a final examination. This day of reckoning is quite sufficient to keep the great body of students steadily at work. There are also normal schools. No one can begin teaching until he has graduated from one of these or from a university. Teachers are appointed by the government as postmasters are appointed in this country. They hold their positions for life, or until they are promoted. PUBLIC UTILITIES. The general government and the various states own nearly all the railroads. The government manages the postal, the telegraph, the telephone, and the express business. Telegrams and expressage are very much cheaper than in this country. One can send a heavy valise half way across the empire for a few cents. The government derives a part of its income from these sources. It also levies duties on foreign goods brought into the empire. MILITARY. The total frontier length of the empire is 4,570 miles. Large sums have been expended in the construction of defensive fortifications, both around the coast and inland. There are seventeen forts of the first class and nineteen minor fortresses. All ablebodied men between the ages of seventeen and forty-five are liable to military service in case of invasion. Beginning with the completion of his seventeenth year, every German man capable of bearing arms is required to serve in the army for six years. Two of these must be spent in active service, and the remaining four in the army of the reserve. A very large number of wage earners are thus withdrawn from industrial life. A third of a million young men reach the age of military service each year. As a matter of fact, the government is unable to feed and drill all of them, so that some are allowed to remain at home and work. Many young men, especially those living near the border, emigrate secretly to other countries in order to escape military service. In time of peace the empire keeps half a million men under arms; two and one-half million more may be called upon at any moment. AGRICULTURE. To an American Germany seems a sad, cloudy country. The sunniest district, that about Jena, has an average of 4.8 hours of sunshine daily. The cloudiest districts are said to be at Aix-la-Chapelle and Hamburg. Germany is essentially an agricultural country. Over one-third of the people are engaged in agricultural pursuits; ninety-two per cent of the entire country is classed as productive. This, however, includes not only arable land, vineyards, pastures, and meadows, but groves and forests as well. The principal crops named in order of area are rye, hay, oats, potatoes, wheat, barley, grapes, hops, and tobacco. In many parts of the country the roads are shaded by fruit trees. Whether the people are afraid to take fruit, or are trained to leave it alone, as a matter of fact tempting fruit trees stand unmolested even in the vicinity of village schoolhouses. Owing to a system of dividing land equally among all the children of the family, the fields of Germany seem very small. The roads follow usually the valleys. The meadows rise from the stream to the road. The fields lie on the opposite side of the road. They stretch like ribbons up the hillside to the forest land, or to the boundary line which separates them from fields coming up the opposite slope. As subdivision goes on from generation to generation, the fields become narrower and narrower. It has been found necessary in some provinces to enact a law that they shall not be subdivided after they become too narrow for an animal to turn around on them. When young people marry and begin farming it may be that their joint inheritance comprises fifteen or twenty strips no wider than a wagon track, inherited from as many great grandparents, and scattered over a district two or three parishes in extent. By a system of exchanges it is possible, of course, to bring the holdings of a family more nearly together. When, however, the holdings in a country side become too confusing it is customary for the government to step in. Each owner is given a receipt for as many acres of meadow, field, and forest as his entire holdings amount to. All boundary lines are then obliterated, and the entire section of country surveyed and reallotted to the different owners in proportion to their various claims. The fields are well tilled, and are highly productive. Methods of work, however, seem exceedingly crude. More women than men are seen in the fields. Plowing is done not infrequently with the family cows, or if there be but one cow to a family, neighboring women unite their forces and exchange work. The grain is cut, usually, with rude cradles and tied into bundles. It is carried home frequently on the backs of its owners to be threshed and winnowed there. When a couple start homeward at noon it is not unusual to see the wife toiling beneath the huge heap of bundles, while her husband shuffles along in wooden shoes at her side, steadying the pile with his wooden pitchfork. Not infrequently, however, the grain is taken home in a rude cart drawn by the cow. Notwithstanding an uneventful life of toil and small means, the people appear on the whole contented. The government has, of late, been at great pains to provide a system of pensions for all wage earners. Anyone who is industrious and behaves himself is certain of being taken care of in reasonable comfort in his old age. The empire is rich in coal and useful ores. Of late manufacturing has grown very rapidly. Steel, woolen, linen, cotton and silk goods, beet root sugar, glass, porcelain, earthenware, woodenware, and beer are the chief articles produced. The German Empire is a federation with a written constitution, as is the case of the United States, but the federating states are nearly all monarchies, and the presidency--the emperorship--is hereditary. The assent of the Bundesrath is necessary to the enactment of a law, but the real legislative body is the single chamber of the Reichstag. The composition of the empire is: Kingdoms-- Area. Population (1905) Members in Bundesrath. Members in Reichstag. Prussia 134,616 37,293,324 17 236 Bavaria. . . . . . . 29,292 6,524,372 6 48 Saxony. . . . . . . 5,789 4,508,601 4 23 Wurtemberg. . . . . . . 7,534 2,302,179 4 17 Grand Duchies-- Baden. . . . . . . 5,823 2,010,728 3 14 Hesse. . . . . . . 2,966 1209,175 3 9 Mecklenburg-Schwerin. . . . . . . 5,068 625,045 2 6 Saxe-Weimar. . . . . . . 1,397 388,095 1 3 Mecklenburg-Strelitz. . . . . . . 1,131 103,451 1 1 Oldenbur. . . . . . . 2,482 438,856 1 3 Duchies-- Brunswick. . . . . . . 1,418 485,958 2 3 Saxe-Meiningen. . . . . . . 953 268,916 1 2 Saxe-Altenburg. . . . . . . 511 206,508 1 1 Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. . . . . . . 764 242,432 1 2 Anhalt. . . . . . . 888 328,029 1 2 Principalities-- Schwarzburg-Sondershausen. . . . . . . 333 85,152 1 1 Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. . . . . . . 363 96,835 1 1 Waldeck. . . . . . . 433 59,127 1 1 Reuss Aelterer Linie. . . . . . . 122 70,603 1 1 Reuss Jungerer Linie. . . . . . . 319 144,584 1 1 Schaumburg-Lippe. . . . . . . 131 44,992 1 1 Lippe. . . . . . . 469 145,577 1 1 Free Towns-- Lubeck. . . . . . . 115 105,857 1 1 Bremen. . . . . . . 99 263,440 1 1 Hamburg. . . . . . . 160 874,878 1 3 Imperial Territory-- Alsace-Lorraine. . . . . . . 5,604 1,814,564 -- 15 Total, 26. . . . . . . 208,780 60,641,278 58 397 STATISTICS. The following statistics are the latest to be had from trustworthy sources: Land area in square miles 208,780 Miles of frontier 4,570 Population (1908) 63,406,520 Cities, 1905: Berlin 2,040,148 Hamburg 802,793 Munich 538,983 Dresden 516,996 Leipsic 503,672 Breslau 470,904 Cologne 428,722 Frankfurt-on-Main 334,978 Nuremberg 294,426 Dusseldorf 253,274 Hanover 250,024 Stuttgart 249,286 Chemnitz 244,927 Magdeburg 240,633 Charlottenburg 239,559 Essen 231,360 Stettin 224,119 Konigsberg 223,770 Bremen 214,861 Strassburg 167,000 Population per square mile 290 Married people 19,600,000 Protestants 38,000,000 Catholics 22,000,000 Jews 568,000 Poles 3,100,000 Resident foreigners 1,000,000 Emigrants to United States (1907) 30,400 National revenue $696,000,000 National debt $1,058,000,000 Soldiers--peace footing 600,000 Soldiers--war footing 1,760,000 Additional reserves available 1,500,000 Modern battleships (1909) 20 Acres of cultivated lands 65,000,000 Agricultural Products-- Wheat, bushels 138,000,000 Rye, bushels 386,000,000 Oats, bushels 267,000,000 Barley, bushels 108,000,000 Potatoes 1,656,000,000 Beet sugar, pounds 4,648,000,000 Beer, gallons 1,606,000,000 Alcohol, gallons 88,000,000 Wine, gallons 66,000,000 Hay,tons 25,000,000 Hops, pounds 50,000,000 Tobacco, pounds 62,000,000 Acres of forest 35,000,000 Apple trees 52,000,000 Pear trees 25,000,000 Plum trees 70,000,000 Cherry trees 22,000,000 Domestic Animals-- Horses 4,337,000 Mules and asses 11,000 Cattle 20,000,000 Sheep 7,700,000 Swine 22,000,000 Goats 3,500,000 Coal lifted, tons 205,000,000 Iron ore, tons 27,000,000 Zinc ore, tons 698,000 Lead ore, tons 147,000 Copper ore, tons 771,000 Rock salt , tons 1,285,000 Persons engaged in fishing 32,000 Value of fish caught $5,000,000 Operatives in iron works 524,000 Operatives in machine works 582,000 Operatives in paper mills 153,000 Operatives in wooden ware fact'r's 598,000 Operatives in leather 160,000 Operatives in textile works 993,000 Cotton spindles 9,882,000 Miles of railway (1906) 35,760 Miles of canals 1,315 Miles of river ways 4,989 Sailing vessels (1908) 2,649 Steamers 1,922 Exports (1908) $1,650,000,000 Imports $2,045,000,000 Leading Imports-- Food $1,380,000,000 Textile material, wool, cotton, silk, etc $175,000,000 Copper $60,000,000 Leather, fur, and hides $25,000,000 Iron ore $40,000,000 Leading Exports-- Iron and iron manufactures $300,000,000 Cotton goods and yarn $103,000,000 Woolen goods and yarn $70,000,000 Silks $50,000,000 Clothing $30,000,000 Hosiery $22,000,000 Gloves $16,000,000 Books $12,000,000 Aniline dyes $28,000,000 Sugar $50,000,000 Furs and leather goods $85,000,000 Copper goods $40,000,000 Telegraph cable $14,000,000 Beer $5,000,000 Public schools 60,000 Teachers 166,509 Pupils 9,737,000 Private schools 643 Secondary (high) schools 1,200 Normal schools 226 Universities 21 Students 47,000 Postoffices 40,000 Letters forwarded (1907) 2,882,000,000 See Prussia ; Saxony ; Baden ; Hanover ; Bavaria ; Berlin ; Leipsic ; Hamburg ; Cologne ; Frankfurt ; Bremen ; Nuremberg ; Dresden ; Strasburg ; Rhine ; Black Forest ; Forestry ; University ; Franco-Prussian War ; Bismarck ; Humboldt ; Toys