holidays to Easter, and as the present Reichstag will expire by limitation on June 3 next year, there is a growing belief that, with all the opposition which is now arrayed against the measure, it will be impossible for the revised tariff act to reach a third reading and enactment by the present legislative body, in which event it would. be left over as the dominant issue in the election of a new chamber. However the event may prove, the present state of suspense and the uncertainty throws its shadow across the industrial and commercial revival which has been so hopefully awaited during the past year.

Another element in the problem which must be taken into account is the fact that the population of Germany is increasing at the rate of 800,000 a year. There is a steady, rapid growth in the number of persons to be sheltered, employed, clothed, and fed. Certain food materials, especially meats, have recently grown abnormally scarce and dear. How far this is due to the inability of the farmers to raise sufficient swine and cattle for the food of the people, and how far this circumstance is aggravated by the new difficulties laid in the way of importing animals by the meat-inspection law, or whether the higher prices are due rather to the greed of butchers and meat dealers, are disputed points concerning which public opinion is divided and excited. Add to this the far-reaching effect of the pending abolition of sugar-export bounties by the Brussels conference, and it will be apparent that the task of adjusting a governmental policy in all its details to the needs of the German Empire of to-day and the future is one which calls for the exercise of the highest attributes of statesmanship. No one doubts that the German people, with their highly trained intelligence, their industry, enterprise, and energy, will in due time surmount all difficulties and reach a basis of solid, enduring prosperity.

The vitality which still exists in the iron and steel trades, machinery, and other leading industries is fully attested by the exposition at Düsseldorf, which was opened on May 1 and is still in successful progress. Although representing only the manufactures of the Rhenish-Westphalian provinces, the exposition is conceded to be one of the most important and interesting of its class ever held in any country. American and English expert electricians, engineers, and machinists, who have visited it in large numbers, are unanimous in saying that it gives a new and impressive picture of Germany's high position among industrial nations and her power to meet on equal terms the competition of Great Britain and the United States in the markets of the world.

BERLIN, September 27, 1902.

FRANK H. MASON,
Consul-General.

SALABLE AMERICAN PRODUCTS FOR GERMANY.

Notwithstanding the industrial depression and commercial disturbances incident to the period of reorganization and adjustment to new conditions through which Germany is now passing, business in many lines, both domestic and foreign, is normally active and healthful. This is particularly true of the trade in food materials. and many articles of household utility. As an experienced merchant recently said: "This is a good time to do business in Germany, if one only knows what is really needed and in demand." For the information of American manufacturers and exporters who may be seeking, more or less earnestly, to find a market for their products in this country, the following hints and suggestions, which have been obtained from merchants of standing and experience and confirmed by inquiries received as correspondence at this consulate, are respectfully submitted. Among the articles which appear to be now demanded in Germany, and in which a more or less prosperous export trade to this country can be developed by exporters in the United States who will take the trouble to secure good connections and proceed by correct methods, are the following:

Dried, smoked, and salted fish.-Salmon, halibut, herrings, sturgeons, eels, flounders, sprats, etc., are favorite articles of food in Germany, and as the native supply is always wholly inadequate they are relatively expensive. Smoked salmon, for example, costs from 20 to 30 cents per pound, and halibut is unknown except as a costly luxury. So inadequate is the supply that there is a large import of fresh fish of common varieties, which are dried, smoked, and otherwise cured here and sold at large profits. American codfish is recognized as superior to Scandinavian, but, being somewhat more expensive, it is received in limited quantities and classed as a luxury. There are caught in abundance along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States several ordinary varieties of fish, of which comparatively little account is made, at least as merchandise for export. In the opinion of competent dealers, this whole line of trade between the United States and Germany may be indefinitely increased. Thus far, the foreign supply for Germany has been almost wholly in the hands of Russia, the Netherlands, and Scandinavia, the only imports from our country in 1901 being 539 tons of fresh fish and 859 tons of pickled fish, whereas Great Britain alone sent to this country 22,333 tons of fresh fish, and the whole fish import of Germany was not less than 71,428 tons. The present scarcity and high prices of all kinds of meat give especial emphasis to the demand for fish, and the

opportunity thus offered should not be left unimproved. The duty on cured fish is 3 marks (71 cents) per 100 kilograms (220 pounds). Goose fat.-Another article of prime importance is goose fat, which is used throughout Germany by the working classes as a substitute for butter, both at table and for cooking purposes. Notwithstanding the large production of geese in Germany, the native supply is so inadequate that 6,431,247 live geese were imported last year from Prussia, Austria, and Italy, besides large quantities of dressed geese and goose fat from Poland, Austria-Hungary, and Denmark. The proportions of the trade may be inferred from the fact that one prominent dealer in Berlin is now ready to take from America, or wherever it can be produced in good marketable condition, 200,000 pounds per month, from November to February, both inclusive, of edible goose fat, at the current market rate. This is at present about 20 cents per pound in large wholesale shipments, the import duty being 10 marks ($2.38) per 100 kilograms (220 pounds), or, approximately, 14 cents per pound. Proposals, giving price f. o. b. New York or c. i. f. Hamburg or Bremen, sent to the care of this consulate, will be forwarded to the proper address and receive prompt attention.

Paper bags for certain kinds of merchandise.-In America, sacks or bags made of tough manila paper are used as packages for flour, Portland cement, and various other articles. Germans still pack cement in wooden barrels, which, in consequence of the high cost of wood in this country, are unduly expensive for the value of the material which they are to contain. Paper bags from America were introduced some time ago by one or more German cement factories and were fully approved, but their further use was prevented because the American makers could not furnish the required sizes or guarantee prompt delivery. If some enterprising maker of manila bags in the United States will take up the business seriously, produce the bags in sizes to contain specified quantities (in kilograms) of cement, flour, coffee, etc., and then establish a wholesale depot of his goods in Hamburg, it is practically certain that a large and permanent business could be built up. The duty on such goods is 12 marks ($2.85) per 100 kilograms, and double that rate if the bags are cloth lined. All bags destined for Germany must be arranged for metric weights in respect to contents. Such of these bags as are now used here are made principally by English and French firms, who send a traveling salesman once or twice a year to look after their trade.

Insulating materials for electrical appliances.-These, whether in the form of vegetable fibers, okenite, or various products of caoutchouc, are in large and constant demand in Germany. It is stated by

persons familiar with the trade that certain American producers of insulating materials who sought entrance to the German market have made the mistake of giving the exclusive sale of their product to one electrical manufacturing company, which would import all it could use itself, but not make any special effort to extend sales among other firms or companies, which are naturally its competitors. It is stated that if American exporters in this line would open a direct wholesale branch in, say, Berlin or Cologne, as the Carborundum Company, at Niagara Falls, has so successfully done, they would secure thereby a large part of the German trade, particularly that of the numerous small electrical manufacturers who do not like to be dependent for any part of their material upon their more powerful competitors, and so resort to cheap, inferior insulating materials of European origin.

Fire extinguishers.-Extinguishers, which are so universally employed in the United States and Great Britain, have, for some reason, been to a much more limited extent adopted and put into use in Germany. As nearly as can be ascertained, only one extinguisher of any importance is made in this country, and that is said to be of inferior efficiency and at the same time more costly than the best extinguishers made in the United States. The German Postmaster-General has, however, lately given an order for 10,000 such extinguishers, to be used in buildings belonging to that Department. This will certainly give a new and definite impetus to the appreciation and use of fire extinguishers in this country, and it is more than probable that other departments of the Government may follow the lead thus taken by the Postmaster-General. These facts are cited to show that this is a favorable time for American makers of fire extinguishers to introduce and push their goods in this country. Due care should be taken, of course, to protect by patent any special features which are of value; but the special advantages of the American manufacturers will be their long experience, the high and fully established efficiency of their appliances, and the cheapness with which they can be manufactured and put on the market. Fire extinguishers which operate by ejecting a fluid are free of duty; those of other construction are subject to a small duty, not enough to be taken into serious account.

Paper for newspaper printing.—If there is any surplus news-paper stock in the United States, there is an open and ready field for it in Germany, where the consumption is steadily increasing and the native supply always rather below local requirements. The duty on imported print paper is $2.38 per 100 kilograms, and in order to build up a successful trade in this country a wholesale depot should be established at Hamburg or Berlin-preferably the former-where a permanent stock should be kept for the supply of newspaper

publishers, many of whom, particularly in the smaller cities, would be glad to make contracts for a regular supply. Such a depot should have a clever, active traveling salesman to make a tour of the Empire once or twice a year and work up the trade. It is not probable that much can be done with American print paper through native firms now in the trade, most of whom are interested in European sources of supply, and would consider proposals from America, if at all, only to meet some temporary contingency.

Wood alcohol and crude acetate of lime.-It is stated that by reason of the failure of the notorious Trebertrocknung Gesellschaft last year, and the consequent disturbance in that branch of manufacture, there is now a scarcity of wood alcohol and crude acetate, the latter of which is used as a convenient vehicle for acetic acid. Both the materials named are largely consumed by the chemical industries of Germany, and, according to the information received at this office, the demand is at present unusually active.

Animal hair. There is in Germany a large manufacture of brushes, felt, upholstery, and toys, which consumes vast quantities of bristles and the hair of various wild animals, such as hares, antelopes, deer, etc. A specialty of great importance in this line is the hair used for making wigs, beards, etc., for dolls and mechanical toys, the supply of which now comes mainly from Australasia. There is no duty on these materials, and if there is any available supply of them in the United States, at prices which can compete with those which prevail here, there ought to be in Germany a ready and permanent market. The subject might profitably be investigated on the spot by an expert familiar with qualities, values, and conditions of supply.

Axes and shovels.-There is in Germany a large and long-established trade in American axes, spades, shovels, mining picks, etc., the superior lightness and efficiency of which are fully understood. But this trade is all in the hands of two large importing firms, who, it is said, maintain an unduly exacting monopoly and charge extravagant prices. In these lines, it is probable that an American drummer could pick up a good many more or less important orders from dealers who have an established trade and would gladly cut loose from their present dependent position and open direct connections for future supplies with independent American manufacThe information on which this suggestion is based comes directly from persons concerned in and familiar with the whole economy of the trade, and is believed to be entirely trustworthy.

turers.

Oysters. It is frequently remarked by the large number of Americans who visit Berlin each year that the oysters supplied here by hotels and restaurants are small, inferior in flavor, and exorbitantly dear. The question is constantly heard, why, with the regular fast