the repurchase price agreed upon being the amount paid for the loan, and the transferring of the article is a guaranty for such loan. The above-mentioned imperial laws have been supplemented by special laws of the various German states. For example, the Prussian law of March 17, 1881, determines a maximum rate of interest to be charged, compels the pawnbrokers to keep records of all the business transacted by them, and prescribes that the unredeemed pledges shall be sold at public auction. The respective paragraphs of this law read: (1) The pawnbroker shall not take more interest than (a) 2 pfennigs for each month per mark on the sum loaned up to 30 marks; (b) 1 pfennig for each month per mark on sums above 30 marks. (2) The pawnbroker does not acquire a lien on the objects transferred to him until he has entered the transaction in a pledge book, in which he must record all such transactions in the order in which they occur. This record must contain (a) a consecutive number for each article as it is accepted, (b) place and date of transaction, (c) Christian and family name of pledger, (d) amount of the loan, (e) amount of monthly interest, (ƒ) description of the pledge, (g) maturity of the loan. (3) The sale of unredeemed pledges shall be carried out at public auction by an official of the Government or by a person designated to conduct such auctions, according to paragraph 36 of the trades law. Gold and silver articles can not be sold at less than their intrinsic value. The number of private pawn shops in the German Empire is about twelve hundred. In Cologne there are ten independent private establishments, besides four sworn brokers and about twenty-two persons authorized to act as mediators between the people and the public or municipal pawn shop. The business of these private institutions in Cologne is very active, because many prefer to go to private pawnbrokers, perhaps because they lend more money on the articles or because the business is more expeditiously conducted than in the municipal house. Although they are compelled to keep a record of their transactions, the amount of business done by the private brokers is not generally known, as they are obliged to give only authentic information to the police and tax officials. For this reason, no statistics as to the exact amount of such business can be given. Under the head of "lombard business" are included loans on securities, mortgages, deeds, precious metals, wares, raw products, etc.; these belong to the active business of banks. The imperial bank lends money, to one-half or two-thirds of their value, on raw products, such as grain, spirits of wine, oil, sugar, petroleum, etc., which have been appraised by special inspectors. CHAS. E. BARNES, COLOGNE, July 27, 1899. Vice and Deputy Consul. ELECTRIC PLANTS IN GERMANY. A most interesting feature of this Empire's development is found in the number of electric plants in course of construction and projected. French writers, notably Emile Gautier, Charles Bos, and J. Lafargue, are trying just now to arouse French emulation. It seems to me that American manufacturers might obtain contracts to furnish some of the materials needed in the plants. A large company has been organized here to build an electric railroad from this city (Chemnitz) to Burgstaedt, 12 or 15 miles away. As projected, the road is to run through many large and important villages. If continued to Mitweida, as some think it will be, should no rival concern open an opposition line, the distance covered will amount to 30 or more miles. There is also a project to build a central electric plant for supplying the road with power and the villages through which the road is to pass with electricity for light. Chemnitz has a population of nearly 200,000 souls; the towns included in the plans referred to contain about 75,000. The company expects to expend $357,000 on the road, and a similar amount on the buildings. Besides this, a cable road is being surveyed to Augustusberg, a well-known resort a few miles outside the city. While the disposition to patronize home industries is very strong here, I can not help thinking that we must have certain things which, once seen, would win their way to favor. An interesting question is, How can an American house hope to obtain concessions or contracts? The best way, it seems to me, would be to send one or two experts, familiar with electric plants and their needs, to study the situation. What is true of Chemnitz is true of almost every city in the Empire. In the month of June there were 330 railroads projected in the Empire. Of these, 73 were electric roads; 122 electric plants were projected during the same time. It would be easy for an expert to keep himself posted, by visiting or communicating with the United States consuls-general in Berlin, Frankfort, and Dresden. Patriotism has seldom been pushed so far as to force private companies to take inferior or dearer home products. The market here just now is so large-consequently so important-that an effort should be made to sell in it, even at the risk of not making a great deal of money at the outset. The methods that have helped at home must help here. A report made by an expert who has gone carefully over the ground would supply specific details in a way not possible to consuls. CHEMNITZ, July 25, 1899. J. C. MONAGHAN, Consul. GROWTH OF GERMAN INDUSTRIES. Germany is enjoying an era of unprecedented activity, if not prosperity. The persistency with which Germans study foreign methods of agriculture, commerce, and manufacture has resulted in as successful a system as will be found anywhere. In one monthJune, 1899—1,600 new building projects were noted in the nation's newspapers. Comparisons are often made with England and the United States, and in these comparisons Germany seldom or never suffers. Of the 1,600 projects reported for the month of June, the railroads numbered 300; electric roads, 73; factories, 212. Of these factories, 43 were for railroad supplies, 20 for stone works, 22 for mines, 16 for gas works, 14 for textile branches, and 10 for building. industries. Among 122 electric plants projected, 96 are for factories and central stations, 26 are lighting plants for towns, etc. There were 184 waterworks projected, and of these 118 were for large waterworks or sewer systems, 19 for large bathing establishments, 13 for canals. There were also projected 71 churches, 100 sanitariums, 114 schools, and 142 large buildings. Of these, 92 are to be Government buildings-post-offices, prisons, court-houses, city halls, and town buildings. In the list are 50 theaters, museums, villas, etc., against 20 in May. Besides all these, June saw 38 railroad stations and 25 large bridges projected. During the month of June, 47 large factories were either partially or entirely destroyed by fire. These are to be rebuilt. What value have these facts for us? It is well known that many of our house, electric-station, office, and factory equipments are far superior to any made here. It is a source of wonder that the Germans, in many ways as practical as any people on earth, have not adopted American locks. House after house, factory after factory, have gone up, equipped with locks little less cumbersome than those of the Middle Ages. Keys weighing from an ounce upwards have to be lugged around by anyone wanting to enter his house without calling a servant. A number of the water-closet fittings find their way in from England. We should be able to sell a great many ornamental woods for finishing and decorating purposes. Our tools, too, so much simpler and better than the ungainly and clumsy ones used here, ought to make their way among a people willing to adopt anything new, if it promises to pay. Time, material, and money saving machines must sell. The tools and machines of no other people are so much copied as are ours. It may interest American manufacturers to read a great French writer's remarks on Germany's industrial progress in recent times. Emile Gautier says: All thoughtful minds to whom patriotism is something better than a mask for sowing dissensions feel more or less certain that France is losing her hold and position among nations in the industrial arena. The fact is forcing itself upon us that business is bad; and that if it goes on as it is going on at this moment, and as it has been going on for some time, our competitors, particularly Germany, will take the food from our mouths-literally eat the butter from our bread. Some people, far from pessimistic, prophesy that the world's exposition in 1900 will be an industrial Sedan, if not a Waterloo. Every national industry is affected. The manufacture of jewelry, essentially a Parisian specialty, is threatened. Twelve years ago I was told in Pforzheim, a small city in Baden, on the borders of the Black Forest, that that city furnished Paris and, through Paris, a large part of the world with jewelry. Two industries in particular which play prominent parts in modern civilization and industrial developments, the chemical and electrical, are hurt most. The wounds are seemingly deep and incurable. The chemical industries are tumbling to pieces. Years ago the cry was first sent forth; it was not heeded. Since then Germany, toiling unceasingly, moving with gigantic strides, has gone on till to-day it is master or mistress of the world's chemical markets, supplying fourfifths of the total demand. All nations, including France, pay Germany tribute for the necessary and profitable products used by apothecaries. It is the same with electricity. A 500-page book, just out, puts Germany's position in electricity in a very bright light. The book is entitled The Distribution of Electrical Energy in Germany (Die Verteilung der Elektrischen Energie in Deutschland). Charles Bos, an ex-Parisian city councilor, an electrical engineer of Paris, and one J. Lafargue tell of their travels in Germany. The people in this Empire lent willing hands to help make the book as perfect a piece of advertising as possible, by lending excellent illustrations and photographs. One can notice that it is only the French who believe in industrial and military secrets. Almost everywhere else, manufacturers are so sure of themselves that they scorn petty and annoying regulations. They open wide their doors to visitors.* "That is the rule in Germany," continue the writers referred to. Germany does not lose by this boldness. The progress in electricity is astonishing. One can count not less than 40 companies with a capital of at least $90,000,000. These pay dividends running from 7 to 25 per cent. The field of their activities is not bounded by the borders of the Empire; the whole world is full of their fame. It is all the more astonishing when one remembers that the year 1891 saw the beginning of the large plants. Since then one company alone, the Allgemeine Elektricitaetsgesellschaft, turned off and delivered, from 1896 to 1897, 5,189 machines, erected more than 100 central stations, and equipped and started 65 railroads. How is this progress, unprecedented in the history of the Empire, to be explained? As a rule, victory and defeat are always deserved. Doubtless, the Germans had trumps in their hands-first of all, the fame of their arms which assured them customers, because it encouraged self-reliance and obedience to the moral as well as to the political authority of the country; again, the low prices of wages and the surplus coal; finally and principally, German patience, perseverance, disciplined forces, race characteristics. Still, all these would not have availed without a fixed programme carried out with mathematical severity and in accordance with a sys *This is not borne out by the facts as I have found them; at least, it is hard to reconcile it with my own ten or eleven years' experience in certain lines. The efforts being made just now to keep foreigners out of the technical, industrial, and industrial-art schools do not tally with M. Gautier's statement. -J. C. M. tem. Filled with an ambition to make their industrial and commercial achievements equal to their military record, they went to work resolutely, uniting all their efforts on one and the same object. The governments and every public power contributed their share. May the exhibit to be presented by the Germans at Paris in 1900—which, according to the opinion of experts, threatens to be an apotheosisconvince the good people of France that it is necessary to shake off the palsy under which our country seems to suffer. She must do this if she is to avoid death and complete ruin. This is the voice of one crying out in a wilderness of neglect and wanton indifference. CHEMNITZ, July 31, 1899. J. C. MONAGHAN, Consul. TRADE AND LABOR IN GERMANY. According to a statement recently published by the Imperial German Bureau of Statistics, the foreign trade of this Empire in 1898 amounted to 5,439,700,000 marks ($1,295,554,860) in imports and 4,010, 500,000 marks ($954,499,000) in exports. The trade by These figures do not include precious metals, of which Germany imported to the value of 359,000,000 marks ($85,442,000) and exported 254,000,000 marks ($60, 152,000). IRON AND COAL. Of late, a new phase in Germany's economic life has become apparent, which affects her labor market. Some branches of trade can work only with half power because they lack the raw materials. This refers especially to rolling mills, which suffer from a dearth of pig iron; and industries using steel, coal, and coke, though fully at work, are not making much profit on their output, as the advance in the cost of the raw materials is not compensated by the prices |