manufacture. Owing to the high price of sugar, France has heretofore imported from England a very considerable percentage of her fruit preserves. One result of the new law will probably be the largely increased manufacture of products of this nature in France and consequent loss to British exports. NANTES, FRANCE, August 20, 1903. BENJ. H. RIDGELY, Consul. COMMERCIAL CONDITIONS IN NIUCHWANG AND MANCHURIA. (From United States Consul Miller, Niuchwang, China.) NIUCHWANG. The ice broke up in the river and the port opened for trade much earlier than usual, and the traffic of the first quarter was heavier than ever known. The import of American goods on the whole is about equal to the same period of last year, and that was one of the best. American drills were far in excess of any previous half year. American sheetings fell below last year, but are greater than in any previous year. American flour imports were less than any year since the importation began. American kerosene imports were heavy, due to the light imports of last year and the absolutely bare market. when the port opened. During July the largest shipment of Russian oil that ever came to this port-25,000 cases-arrived direct from Russia. It reached here in excellent condition. It was put up in strong cases and the waste was nominal, while American oil reaches here with broken cases, in a damaged condition, and with heavy wastage. MANCHURIA. Lumber.-Most of the timber and lumber coming into Manchuria is for the Russian Government. As this comes in free of duty, it does not appear in the customs returns. Considerable has come to Dalny, Port Arthur, and Niuchwang from America during the first half of the year, but the competition from Siberia and the Yalu is likely to drive out most of the American lumber. That from Siberia and the Yalu is fairly good for general building purposes, but that which I have seen is not the equal of Oregon pine, especially for bridge timbers. Grain exports.-The Chinese Government did not permit the export of wheat, millet, or grain of any kind to a foreign country, but the Russian administration removed this embargo and as a result large quantities of grain have been exported to Korea and Japan during the past three years. As the export of grain is not now per mitted from other ports of China to foreign countries, extensive shipments of wheat from Shanghai have been coming to this port recently and going to Japan. Of late, an order has been issued. prohibiting further exports. Opening of new ports.-Formerly, almost the entire trade of Manchuria passed through the treaty port of Niuchwang, and the customs returns gave the amount of exports and imports; but since the completion of the Siberian Railroad, and its opening for traffic to Vladivostock, Dalny, and Port Arthur last year, considerable quantities of both exports and imports have passed through these ports and the local customs returns-no longer reveal trade conditions. Inasmuch as there has been no customs established at either Dalny or Port Arthur up to the present time, it is not possible to give any reliable returns of the total trade of Manchuria; besides, the deviation of trade makes the comparative statement of the true state of trade in this territory unsafe. American trade. -I would advise all Americans doing business in this territory, and those expecting to do so, to make a careful study of Russian systems, ideals, methods, and character. In four lines— cotton goods, kerosene, lumber, and flour-our goods will be met by Russian competition. In the matter of economic conditions, I think Russia has every advantage in flour and lumber and will soon be our most active rival in these lines in the general trade of China. Kerosene, I am advised, Russia can produce cheaper, and I know it sells cheaper, although the product is inferior in quality, but this is not so serious a drawback for the Chinese trade. In cotton goods, while her trade is growing, it is handicapped by inability to meet American prices. Manchuria is a rich and undeveloped country and is capable of sustaining many millions more people than now occupy it. Under the Chinese Government it was growing fast in population and in trade. Its growth of exports and imports were far in excess of any other part of China, and in no part was American trade improving so fast. All of this growth was a result of expansion in agriculture alone. Manchuria has great opportunity for further expansion in agricultural lines, and under Russian occupation there should be a splendid market here for plows and various kinds of agricultural implements. If the iron, coal, copper, silver, and gold mines of Manchuria are developed, it ought to become a good field for American capital, machinery, and skill in mining. For the present the market ought to increase for beer, wines, tinned meats, vegetables, milk, fruits, Harbin, Liao-Yang, Dalny, and Port Arthur are increasing in Russian population and should be good markets in all of these lines. etc. affect the manufacture of steam machinery. It is mentioned that as the United States had plenty of orders for their home trade, competition from this source was not felt to the extent of former years. The manufacture of steam boilers, saws, files, and machine knives and saws was very light, owing to foreign competition, and caused a reduction of hands employed as well as of working hours. Trowels, chopping and mincing knives, planes, chisels, screws, locks, gas and water meters, and enameled tinware were in fair demand, although prices tended downward. The demand for hinges was very light, owing to American and Swedish competition; the same is true of lock pins and rivets, due to the increased production of these articles in Russia and Austria,. on account of tariff protection in these countries. The reason given for a considerable decline in the manufacture of hoes, axes, hammers, hatchets, and axles for freight wagons is the decrease of export orders as well as the influence of certain unions or organizations. Building hardware was in good demand during the spring and summer, so that additional help was employed, but an advance in the price of tin and band iron cut into the expected profits very decidedly. JOSEPH J. LANGER, Consul. SOLINGEN, GERMANY,' August 11, 1903. BREWING INDUSTRY OF KULMBACH.* (From United States Commercial Agent Harris, Eibenstock, Germany.) For many centuries the brewing of beer has been the chief occupation of the inhabitants of Kulmbach. Until about 1835 the production of beer in this part of Bavaria was only sufficient for local consumption. The introduction of machinery aided by steam, however, greatly increased the output, so that it soon found a ready sale, not only in Germany, but in every country in the world. following table will show the increase in the export of this beer during the past seventy years: 1831......... 1851.... 1871..... 1891.. 1899..... Gallons. 4,385 351, 851 1,950, 631 11, 933, 690 19, 020, 240 *The best literature on the beer industry of Germany is as follows. Jahrbuch für die Deutschen Aktien Brauerein, von Richard Wolf, Brauerei-Industrie Deutschlands u, des Auslandes, Bennig hoven; Allgemeine Brauer und Hopfenzeitung in Nürnberg. The capital necessary to run the different breweries in Kulmbach, with all the side lines connected with them, for one year is estimated at $2,500,000. This sum is spent chiefly in the purchase of barley, hops, malt, coal, etc. Fully 1,000 skilled laborers are employed, while the number indirectly dependent upon the industry. is much larger. The annual sum paid out to directors, clerks, and technical overseers amounts to $166,000. The breweries of Kulmbach keep alive many side industries. The numerous steam engines of all the breweries together furnish 1,600 horsepower, while four of them have their own railway switch. yards. Over 200 refrigerator cars carry the beer of the 17 breweries, not only to every part of Germany and neighboring countries, but especially to the seaports of Hamburg and Bremen for shipment to distant lands. The brewing of beer, as an industry, is of incalculable value to the agricultural interests of Bavaria, as immense quantities of grain and hops are necessary to keep the breweries running at their utmost capacity. The internal arrangements of these great establishments are kept at the highest point of technical perfection. Their proportions will be appreciated from the following statistics covering one of the leading establishments: One seasoning tank of 6,340 gallons capacity; three huge malt vats with 3,434, 5,943, and 6,868 gallons capacity, respectively; two cooling reservoirs which will hold 4,642 and 5,679 gallons of beer, respectively; together with malt elevators, ice-making machines, fermentation tanks, and revolving cranes. The steam necessary to drive the machinery is generated in two large boilers, each having an extraordinary capacity for creating heat. In connection with these boilers there are four subterranean pits, each capable of holding 27,557 pounds of coal. The entire brewing outfit, with tanks, vats, reservoirs, etc., was furnished by a Munich firm, while the machinery and engines were manufactured by a machine factory in Augsburg. The electrical dynamos and apparatus were furnished from Berlin and by a local firm. The smokestack which rises over the brewery is 147 feet high and nearly 5 feet in diameter. The beer brewed in Kulmbach is usually heavy in character, dark in color, and especially adapted for export. The sale of this beer in Saxony, Silesia, and North Germany has been considerably curtailed since 1901. Kulmbach beer is regarded as an article of food in Germany, especially by laborers who work in factories. When better times were prevalent throughout the country, the middle classes, as well as the working classes, preferred this genuine Bavarian beer in spite of the fact that it was more expensive. The present depressed. industrial conditions generally throughout the Empire have imposed. upon the people the necessity of using the greatest economy, and the mild local beers produced all over Germany are coming more and more into favor, not on account of the quality, but because the price is such that these grades of beer are always within reach of the masses. The following will show the difference in price between local and imported beer as it is sold in Eibenstock per quart: Ordinary local, 3 cents; local lager, 7 cents; local white, 10 cents; Munich, II cents; Kulmbach, 12 cents; Pilsen, 14 cents. EIBENSTOCK, GERMANY, July 28, 1903. ERNEST L. HARRIS, RECOVERY OF GOLD IN COMBINATION WITH AND SELENIUM. TELLURIUM (From United States Consul-General Mason, Berlin, Germany.) In compliance with a personal letter dated June 29 from the chief of the Bureau of Foreign Commerce, asking for a special report in regard to the most effective process known and practiced in Germany for recovering gold from ores containing also tellurium and selenium, I have to report as follows: Tellurium, which has been known as a primitive element for more than a century, and selenium, which is of more recent discovery, are distinguished in metallurgy as metals which combine chemically with gold. The extraction of gold from telluride and selenic ores is therefore one of the most difficult problems in practical metallurgy. The discovery in recent times of extensive deposits of telluride-gold ores in Western Australia and the United States-notably at Cripple Creek, Colo. has given special importance to this subject, and it has been found on investigation that, so far as can be ascertained, the most improved and effective method known in this country is one perfected and practiced by the London and Hamburg Gold Recovery Company, which has extensive reduction works at Hamburg, with offices at No. 20 Frauenthal in that city. This company works the telluride-selenic ores from Western Australia. Of the process itself it has only been possible to ascertain that it is partially patented and partially held as a secret which the specifications of the patent do not disclose. What is known is that by this process telluride and selenic ores containing gold are pulverized and digested in a solution of cyanide of potash and cyanide of bromium, in proportions of 75 per cent of the former to 25 per cent of the latter The method by which the gold is precipitated from the solution is part of the carefully guarded secret concerning which no information can be obtained, but it is certain that the process |