EUROPE--GREAT BRITAIN AND GERMANY
Almost all the commercial activity of Europe is south of the parallel
and west of the meridian of St. Petersburg. Most of the great industries
are controlled by Germanic and Latin peoples, and among these Great
Britain and Germany stand first.
=Great Britain and Ireland.=--The United Kingdom, or Great Britain and
Ireland, are commonly known as the British Isles. The British Empire
consists of the United Kingdom and its colonial possessions; it includes
also a large number of islands occupied as coaling stations and for
strategic purposes. All told, the empire embraces about one-seventh of
the land area of the world and about one-fourth its population.
The wonderful power and great commercial development is due not only to
conditions of geographic environment but also to the intelligence of a
people who have adjusted themselves to those conditions. The insular
position of the United Kingdom has given it natural protection, and for
more than eight hundred years there has been no successful invasion by a
foreign power. Its commercial position is both natural and artificial.
It has utilized the markets to the east and south, and has founded great
countries which it supplies with manufactured products.
[Illustration: THE BRITISH EMPIRE]
The position of the kingdom with respect to climate is fortunate. The
movement of the Gulf Stream on the American coast carries a large volume
of water into the latitude of the prevailing westerly winds, and these
in turn carry warm water to every part of the coast of the islands. As a
result, the harbors of the latter are never obstructed by ice; those of
the Labrador coast, situated in the same latitude, are blocked nearly
half the year.
The high latitude of the islands is an advantage so far as the
production of food-stuffs is concerned. The summer days in the latitude
of Liverpool are very nearly eighteen hours in length, and this fact
together with the mild winters, adds very largely to the food-producing
power of the islands.
The highlands afford considerable grazing. Great care is taken in
improving the stock, both of cattle and sheep. In the north the cattle
are bred mainly as meat producers; in the south for dairy products.
Durham, Alderney, and Jersey stock are exported to both Americas for
breeding purposes. The sheep of the highlands produce the heavy, coarse
wool of which the well known "cheviot" and "frieze" textiles are made.
Elsewhere they are bred for mutton, of which the "South Down" variety is
an example.
The lowland regions yield grain abundantly where cultivated. The average
yield per acre is about double that of the United States, and is
surpassed by that of Denmark only. Both Ireland and England are famous
for fine dairy products. These are becoming the chief resource of the
former country, which is practically without the coal necessary for
extensive manufacture. The fishing-grounds form an important food
resource.
The cultivated lands do not supply the food needed for consumption. The
grain-crop lasts scarcely three months; the meat-crop but little longer.
Bread-stuffs from the United States and India, and meats from the United
States, Australia, and New Zealand make up the shortage. The annual
import of food-stuffs amounts to more than fifty dollars per capita.
The growing of wool and flax for cloth-making became an industry of
great importance just after the accession of Henry VII. With the advent
of peace, it became possible to manufacture into cloth the fibres that
before had been sent for that purpose to Flanders. The utilization of
the coal and the iron ore years afterward brought about an economic
revolution that was intensified by the invention of the steam-engine and
the power-loom.
These quickly brought the country into the foremost rank as a
manufacturing centre. Moreover, they also demanded the foreign markets
that have made the country a maritime power as well--for an insular
country must also have the ships with which to carry its merchandise to
its markets.
The development of the manufactures, therefore, is inseparably connected
with that of the mineral and metal industries. From very early times the
metal deposits of the country have been a source of power. Copper and
tin were used by the aboriginal Britons long before Cæsar's
reconnaissance of the islands, and it is not unlikely that the Bronze
Period was the natural development that resulted from the discovery of
these metals.
Coal occurs in various fields that extend from the River Clyde to the
River Severn. The annual output of these mines at the close of the
century was about two hundred and twenty-five million tons. In the past
century the inroads upon the visible supply were so great that the
output in the near future will be considerably lessened. Not far from
one-sixth of the output is sold to consumers in Russia and the
Mediterranean countries, but a growing sentiment to forbid any sale of
coal to foreign buyers is taking shape.
[Illustration: BRITISH ISLES]
Iron ores are fairly abundant, but the hematite required for the best
Bessemer steel is limited to the region about Manchester and Birmingham.
The shortage of this ore has become so apparent within recent years that
Great Britain has become a heavy purchaser of ores in foreign markets.
The coal in the Clyde basin is employed mainly in the manufacture of
railway iron, steamship material, and rolling stock. The manufacture of
Bessemer steel is gradually moving to the vicinity of South Wales, at
the ports of which foreign pig-iron can be most cheaply landed. In
west-central England the several coal-fields form a single centre of
manufacture, where are located some of the largest woollen and cotton
mills in Europe. It also includes the plants for the manufacture of
machinery, cutlery, and pottery.
The import trade of Great Britain consists mainly of food-stuffs and raw
materials.[67] Of the latter, cotton is by far the most important. Most
of it comes from the United States, but the Nile delta, Brazil, the
Dekkan of India, the Iran plateau, and the Piura Valley of Peru send
portions, each region having fibre of specific qualities designed for
specific uses. The native wool clip forms only a small part of the
amount used in manufacture. The remainder, more than three million
pounds, comes from Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.
The supply of flax is small, and 100,000 tons are imported to meet the
wants of the mills. The greater part is purchased in Russia, but the
finer quality is imported from Belgium. Jute is purchased from India and
manufactured into burlap and rugs.
But little available standing timber remains, and lumber must,
therefore, be imported. The pine is purchased mainly in Sweden, Norway,
Canada, and the United States. A considerable amount of wood-pulp is
imported from Canada for paper-making. Mahogany for ornamental
manufactures is obtained from Africa and British Honduras. Oak, and the
woods for interior finish, are purchased largely from Canada and the
United States.
The export trade of Great Britain consists almost wholly of the articles
manufactured with British coal as the power. These are made from the raw
materials purchased abroad, and the stamp of the British craftsman is a
guarantee of excellence and honesty. Of the total export trade,
amounting yearly to about one billion, two hundred million dollars,
nearly one-third consists of cotton, woollen, linen, and jute textiles;
one-fifth consists of iron and steel manufactured stuffs made from
British ores. About one-third goes to the colonies of the
mother-country, with whom she keeps in close touch; Germany, the United
States, and the South American states are the chief foreign buyers.
For the handling and carriage of these goods there is an admirable
system of railways reaching from every part of the interior to the
numerous ports. The rolling stock and the locomotives are not nearly so
heavy as those used in the United States; the railway beds and track
equipment, on the whole, are probably the best in the world. Freight
rates are considerably higher than on the corresponding classes of
merchandise in the United States. The public highways are most
excellent, but the means of street traffic in the cities are very poor.
The harbor facilities at the various ports are of the best. The docks
and basins are usually arranged so that while the import goods are being
landed the export stuffs are made ready to be loaded. The facilities for
the rapid transfer of freights have been improved by the reconstruction
of the various river estuaries so as to make them ship-channels. The
estuaries of the Clyde, Tyne, and Mersey have been thus improved, while
Manchester has been made a seaport by an artificial canal. The British
merchant marine is the largest in the world, and about ninety per cent.
of the vessels are steamships.
_London_ is the capital; it is also one of the first commercial and
financial centres of the world. The Thames has not a sufficient depth of
water for the largest liners, and these dock usually about twenty miles
below the city. The colonial commerce at London is very heavy,
especially the India traffic, and it is mainly for this trade that the
British acquired the control of the Suez Canal.
_Liverpool_ is one of the most important ports of Europe, and receives
most of the American traffic. The White Star and Cunard Lines have their
terminals at this port.
_Southampton_ is also a port which receives a large share of American
traffic. The American and several foreign steamship lines discharge at
that place. _Hull_ and _Shields_ have a considerable part of the
European traffic. _Glasgow_ is one of the foremost centres of steel
ship-building. _Cardiff_ and _Swansea_ are ports connected with the coal
and iron trade. _Queenstown_ is a calling point for transatlantic
liners.
_Manchester_ is both a cotton port and a great market for the cotton
textiles made in the nearby towns of the Lancashire coal-field. _Leeds_
and _Bradford_ and the towns about them are the chief centres of woollen
manufacture. _Wilton_ and _Kidderminster_ are famous for carpets.
_Birmingham_ is the centre of the steel manufactures. _Sheffield_ has a
world-wide reputation for cutlery. In and near the Staffordshire
district are the potteries that have made the names of _Worcester_,
_Coalport_, _Doulton_, _Copeland_, and _Jackfield_ famous. _Belfast_ is
noted for its linen textiles, and also for some of the largest
steamships afloat that have been built in its yards. _Dundee_ is the
chief centre of jute manufacture.
=The German Empire.=--The German Empire consists of the kingdoms of
Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, and Würtemburg, together with a number of
small states. The "free" cities of Hamburg, Bremen, and Lübeck, whose
independence was purchased in feudal times, are also incorporated within
the empire. The present empire was formed in 1871, at the close of the
war between Germany and France. The merging of the states into the
empire was designed as a political step, but it proved a great
industrial revolution as well.
The plain of Europe which slopes to the north and the Baltic Sea, the
flood-plains of the rivers excepted, is feebly productive of grain. It
is a fine grazing region, however, and the dairy products are of the
best quality. Among European states Russia alone surpasses Germany in
the number of cattle grown. The province of Schleswig-Holstein is famous
the world over for its fine cattle. Cavalry horses are a special feature
of the lowland plain, and the government is the chief buyer. The wool
product has hitherto been important, but the sheep ranges are being
turned into crop lands, on account of the increase of population in the
industrial regions.
The midland belt, however, between the coast-plain and the mountains, is
the chief food-producing part of Germany. Rye and wheat are grown
wherever possible, but the entire grain-crop is consumed in about eight
months. The United States, Argentina, and Russia supply the wheat and
flour; Russia supplies the rye.
[Illustration: GERMANY AND SCANDINAVIAN COUNTRIES]
The sugar-beet is by far the most important export crop, and Germany
produces yearly about one million, eight hundred thousand tons, or
nearly as much as Austria-Hungary and France combined. This industry is
encouraged by a bounty paid on all sugar exported.[68] A considerable
amount of raw beet-sugar is sold to the refineries of the United States;
Great Britain also is a heavy buyer. The home consumption is relatively
small, being about one-third per capita that of the United States.
Silesia, the Rhine Valley, and the lowlands of the Hartz Mountains are
the most important centres of the sugar industry.
Germany is rich in minerals.[69] Zinc occurs in abundance, and the mines
of Silesia furnish the world's chief supply. Most of the lithographic
stone in use is obtained in Bavaria. Copper and silver are mined in the
Erz and Hartz Mountains. During the sixteenth century the mines of the
latter region brought the states then forming Germany into commercial
prominence and thereby diverted the trade between the North and
Mediterranean Seas to the valleys of the Rhine and Elbe Rivers.
These two metal products made Germany a great financial power. The
Franco-Prussian War added to Germany the food-producing lands of the
Rhine and Moselle, and the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine. At the same
time it gave the Germans organization by welding the various German
states into an empire. As a result there has been an industrial
development that has placed Germany in the class with the United States
and Great Britain.
By unifying the various interstate systems of commerce and
transportation, the iron and steel industry has greatly expanded. The
chief centre of this industry is the valley of the Ruhr River.
Coal-measures underlie an area somewhat larger than the basin of the
river. To the industrial centres of this valley iron ore is brought by
the Rhine and Moselle barges from Alsace-Lorraine and Luxemburg, and
also from the Hartz Mountains.
In the importance and extent of manufactures, Germany ranks next to
Great Britain among European states, and because of the extent of their
coal-fields the Germans seem destined in time to surpass their rivals.
The manufacture of textiles is one of the leading industries, and, next
to Great Britain, Germany is the heaviest purchaser of raw cotton from
the United States. The Rhine district is the chief centre of cotton
textile manufacture. Raw cotton is delivered to the mills by the Rhine
boats, and these carry the manufactured product to the seaboard. Central
and South America are the chief purchasers.
Woollen goods are also extensively manufactured, the industry being in
the region that produces Saxony wool. In Silesia and the lower Rhine
provinces there are also extensive woollen textile manufactures, but the
goods are made mainly from imported wool. Argentina and the other Plate
River countries are the chief buyers of these goods. There is a
considerable linen manufacture from German-grown flax, and silk-making,
mainly from raw silk imported from Italy.
The great expansion and financial success of the manufacturing
enterprises is due very largely to the admirable organization of the
lines of transportation. The rivers, with their connecting canals,
supplement the railways instead of competing with them. They are
utilized mainly for slow freights, while the railways carry the traffic
that demands speed. The possibilities of both inland water-ways and
railway transportation have been utilized by the Germans to the utmost,
with the result of a very low rate both for coal and ore, and for
structural iron and steel. The latter is carried from the various
steel-making plants in the Ruhr Valley to the seaboard at a rate of
eighty to ninety cents per ton.[70]
[Illustration: LÜBECK]
[Illustration: BREMEN]
All this has resulted in a wonderful commercial expansion of the
empire. In 1875 Germany was neither a maritime nor a naval power. At the
close of the century it ranked about with the United States as a naval
power, and far surpassed that country in the tonnage of merchant marine.
The German steamship fleet includes the largest and fastest vessels
afloat.
German trade may be summed up as an export of manufactured goods and an
import of food-stuffs and raw materials. At the close of the century the
annual movement of industrial products amounted to nearly two and
one-half billion dollars. About one-half the trade of the empire is
carried on with Great Britain, the United States, Austria-Hungary, and
Russia. A large part of the foreign trade is carried on through the
ports of Belgium and Holland.
_Berlin_, the capital, is one of the few cities having a population of
more than one million. It is not only a great centre of trade, but it is
one of the leading money-markets of Europe; it is also the chief railway
centre. _Hamburg_ and _Bremen_ are important ports of German-American
trade, the former being the largest seaport of continental Europe.
_Breslau_ is an important market, into which the raw materials of
eastern Europe are received, and from which they are sent to the
manufacturing districts. The art galleries of _Dresden_ have had the
effect of making that city a centre of art manufactures which are famous
the world over. _Lübeck_ is one of the free cities that was formerly in
the Hanse League.
The twin cities, _Barmen-Eberfeld_, in the Ruhr coal-field, form one of
the principal centres of cotton manufacture in the world. _Dortmund_ is
a coal-market. At _Essen_ are the steel-works founded by Herr Krupp.
They are the largest and one of the most complete plants in the world.
The output includes arms, heavy and light ordnance, and about every kind
of structural iron and steel used. About forty thousand men are
employed. _Chemnitz_ is an important point, not only of cotton
manufacture, but also of Saxony wools, underwear and shawls being its
most noteworthy products. At _Stettin_, _Danzig_, and _Kiel_ are built
the steamships that have given to Germany its great commercial power.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
In what ways are Great Britain and Germany commercial rivals?
What are the advantages of each with respect to position?--with respect
to natural resources?
From the Statesman's Year-Book make a list of the leading exports of
each;--the leading imports of each. What exports have they in common?
From the Abstract of Statistics find what commodities the United States
sells to each.
FOR COLLATERAL READING AND REFERENCE
Adams's New Empire--Chapter III.
Gibbins's History of Commerce--Book III, Chapters III-V.