GERMAN TARIFF ON AGRICULTURAL MACHINES AND TOOLS. In reply to special instructions of May 13 from the Department,* I have to report that the duty on agricultural implements, machines, and tools imported into Germany is specific and based upon the material of which the implement or machine is principally composed, modified again by the polish, painting, and finish, or outward decoration that has been applied. These conditions, while theoretically simple, are in practice often exceedingly complicated, so that it is frequently impossible, even for an expert importer, to say positively what the duty on a new article will be until a sample has been imported and subjected to actual classification and appraisal by the customs officials. In so far as the questions submitted by the Department can be answered from the imperial German tariff schedule, supplemented by the testimony of a leading importer of American machinery, such imports are classified for duty as follows, the rate given in marks, with equivalents in United States currency, being for 100 kilograms (220.46 pounds). (a) Machines and parts of wood or cast iron or both........ Marks. 3=$0.71 5= 1.19 8= 1.90 In classifying machinery, the principle holds that where a machine is composed of several different materials belonging to two of the above groups or designations, the machine as a whole shall be assessed under the class to which the greatest weight of its materials belongs, viz, wood and cast iron at 3 marks, wrought iron and steel at 5 marks, and brass, zinc, copper, and all other base metals and ordinary materials at 8 marks per 100 kilograms. Thus, if a machine weighing 100 kilograms contains 40 kilograms of brass and copper, 30 kilograms of wrought iron, and 30 kilograms of cast iron, it would be assessed for duty under class c at 8 marks ($1.90) per 100 kilograms. If, on the other hand, it contains. wood and cast iron weighing together more than all the other materials, it would be assessed under class a at 3 marks per 100 kilograms. In all cases the rate of duty is governed by the polish or *This report was requested in order to enable the Department to definitely answer inquiries in regard to the duties on these articles imported into Germany, no specific mention of them being made in the German tariff. outward finish of an article, and in this respect the German tariff is peculiar and leads to some curious decisions. Thus the rating of a fire-proof safe is changed if, as is usual with safes of American manufacture, a picture is painted for decorative purposes on one of its panels. Thus, also, plows and other agricultural implements, if rough and unpainted, are dutiable at 6 marks; but if polished, varnished, or painted are assessed 10 marks ($2.38) per 100 kilograms. The duty on carriages is doubled when any portion of the vehicle is upholstered. Tools of iron or steel alone or in combination with wood and not polished, varnished, or painted are dutiable as follows: (a) Rough, as anvils, shafting, etc....... Marks. ..per 100 kilograms... 3=$0. 71 ..do...... 10= 2.38 ....do...... 24= 5.71 (6) Finished, as axes, hatchets, and mechanics' tools.... (c) Fine tools, polished and varnished..... The following machinery imported from countries which enjoy by treaty with Germany the privileges of the most-favored nation* may be imported in detached parts and assembled or set up in this country, and in this condition pay duty according to the rate pertaining to the chief material of composition, that is, greatest aggregate weight in the entire machine, as above explained: Flouring-mill machinery, electrical, cotton-spinning and weaving, steam engines and boilers, paper-mill equipments, machine tools, turbines, woolen spinning and weaving, pumps, ventilators, blowing machinery, steam hammers and rollers, shearing, punching, and boring machines, etc. FRANK H. MASON, BERLIN, June 1, 1899. Consul-General. SUGGESTIONS FOR EXPORTERS TO GERMANY. Almost daily, letters reach this consulate-general from United. States manufacturers asking how to proceed to find a market in Germany, for addresses of German firms, or for local agents. Desiring to aid in the expansion of our country's trade, I give a great deal of my time to personal interviews with German dealers, etc., but my experience teaches me that these efforts to gain markets are, in the main, futile. The American manufacturers who have been successful in acquiring a large export trade to Europe are those who have sent agents from home to exploit and work the foreign fields. These agents should not only be familiar with the character, quality, and technical features of the products which they offer for sale, but they must have culture, business tact, and full command of the language *Including the United States. of the country in which they will operate. We have plenty of such young men who were born or educated in European countries; these are the proper pioneers to open a path for American exports. It is a mistake to send out persons who speak English only, or who are unacquainted with European customs, social as well as commercial. In giving the agency of American goods to German firms or individuals, our manufacturers and exporters have no guaranty that their interests will be protected or properly pushed. We hold yearly industrial exhibitions in our own country, each of which costs many millions of dollars. If this money were expended in holding expositions in foreign countries, the results would be more profitable to our business interests and would increase our export figures quickly and largely. Each exposition should comprise only one leading line of goods and should be migratory, remaining in the most suitable center of each country for six months, and then moving to another. The ablest representatives of our trade should act as exhibitors, canvassers, and selling agents. FRANKFORT, June 12, 1899. SIMON W. HANAUER, Vice-Consul-General. GERMAN-AMERICAN BALANCE OF TRADE. Mr. Fisk, second secretary of embassy at Berlin, under date of May 18, 1899, sends translation of an official memorandum as to the trade balance between Germany and the United States, as follows: The estimates given by the Secretary of State of the Interior, Count von Posadowsky, in the session of the Reichstag of February 11 last, regarding the excess of the imports into Germany from the United States, as compared with the exports from Germany to the United States, has been stated by far too low, as, according to later investigations of the imperial statistical bureau, the amount has been 551,000,000 marks ($131,138,000) in favor of the United States. The excess in favor of the United States increased from 260,000,000 marks ($61,880,000) in 1897 to about 551,000,000 marks ($131,138,000) in 1898, while during the fiscal year 1893 the exports from Germany to the United States were larger than the imports into Germany from the United States. Never before has more been imported into Germany from the United States than in 1898, and only once during the last ten years has Germany exported less to that country than in 1898. According to United States statistics, the exports of the latter country to Germany for the year 1898 have exceeded the German exports to the United States by more than $86,000,000. The difference of the two statistical estimates may, in a large degree, be explained by the fact that the importation of goods from the United States into Germany, especially southern Germany, come via the Netherlands and Belgium, and that the American statistics give the goods as coming from America only when they are sent by German ships to German harbors, or whenever the place of designation is made clear by the marking of the shipment, which, however, is rarely the case. The difference of the statistical results is thereby explained. Finally, the assumption seems justified that each country would be in the best position to establish the amount of goods it receives from foreign countries. As regards the present increase of exportation of goods to the United States for the first quarter of 1899, this is due mainly to a larger exportation of sugar. The increase for the first quarter of 1899 amounts to $4,000,000 in round figures, and of this about 14,500,000 marks, or about $3,500,000, falls to sugar alone. As in 1898 only a minimum amount of sugar was sent from Germany to the United States, an increase in the exports for this year can not be surprising. In individual articles there is a decrease; in others a small increase. But even though it be presumed that the exports of Germany to the United States would increase during the following quarters, as has been the case during the first three months of 1899, German exports to the United States would nevertheless not reach the amount of 1897. GERMANY'S FOREIGN INTERESTS. Hitherto few have had anything like a definite idea of Germany's interests abroad. German economists are not exaggerating when they say this Empire's people and capital are operating in every part of the world. Not only Hamburg, Bremen, Stettin, Lübeck, and Kiel-i. e., the seaport cities-but towns far inland, have invested millions in foreign enterprises. In the Americas, North and South, in Australia, in Asia, in a large part of Africa, German settlements, German factories, German merchants, and German industrial leaders are at work. Nor is it always in settlements under the Empire's control that this influence is strongest. In Senegambia, on the Gold Coast, the Slave Coast, in Zanzibar and Mozambique, in Australia, Samoa, the Marshall Islands, Tahiti, Sumatra, and South and Central America there are powerful commercial organizations aiding the Empire. From Vladivostock to Singapore, on the mainland of Asia, and in many of the world's most productive islands, the influence of German money and thrift is felt. In Central America and the West Indies, millions of German money are in the plantations; so, too, in the plantations along the Gold Coast. In Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Trinidad, Venezuela, Brazil, etc, German capital plays a very important part in helping to develop the agricultural and in some cases the manufacturing and commercial interests. A consequence of this development is seen in the numerous banking institutions whose fields of operation show that German commerce is working more and more in foreign parts. These banks look after and aid foreign investment as well as the Empire's other commercial relations. They help the millions of Germans in all parts of the world to carry on trade relations, not only with the Fatherland, but with other countries. These are the links in a long and very strong chain of gold uniting the colonies with the Mother Country. Quite recently, large quantities of German capital have been invested in various industries. The Empire's capital in United States railroads is put down at $180,000,000. In America, Germans have undertaken manufacturing. They have used German money to put up breweries, hat factories, spinning, weaving, and paper mills, tanneries, soap-boiling establishments, candle mills, dye houses, mineral-water works, iron foundries, machine shops, dynamite mills, etc. Many of these mills use German machinery, and not a few German help. The Liebig Company, the Chilean saltpeter mines, the Chilean and Peruvian metal mines, many of the mines of South Africa, etc., are in large part controlled by German money and German forces. Two hundred different kinds of foreign bonds or papers are on the Berlin, Hamburg, and Frankfort exchanges. Germany has rapidly risen to a very important place in the financial, industrial, and mercantile world. Will she keep it? Much will depend on her power to push herself forward on the sea. History has told no more eloquent tale than the one that records the progress of maritime powers. From Phoenicia and Carthage to England, Germany, France, and the United States is a long way; but every hour of it is luminous with the wonderful prosperity that awaits nations strong in their merchant and fighting marines. The Empire is eager to increase her fleet. Every effort known to intelligent leaders is being put forth to secure as large and efficient a navy as possible. J. C. MONAGHAN, CHEMNITZ, April 24, 1899. Consul. GERMANY'S WOOL IMPORT. A noteworthy change in favor of South American wool has taken place in German imports within the last few years. Whereas formerly wool from the English colonies, especially Australian wool, formed the main portion of German wool imports, the Argentine Republic has taken since 1897 first rank among the countries interested in supplying this market. |