In 1913, Germany had the most bounteous harvests on record. During the war and the post-war years agriculture was neglected. The reduction of live-stock led to a serious reduction in the supply of animal manure, and the use of chemical manure was seriously curtailed, partly because during the war the chemical industries were engaged in the supply of ammunition and partly because German farmers and peasants could not afford to buy chemical fertilisers, imported feed, etc., during the years of inflation which followed. The extraordinarily high productivity of the German soil is not due to its natural quality or to the climate of the country; but to the intensive and intelligent work of farmers and peasants who have fully doubled production per acre in a few decades. The increased application of intelligent industry and science to agriculture has brought German agricultural output almost back to the miraculous figures of 1913. If space allowed it could be shown that Germany produces per acre at present three times as much bread corn, vegetables, potatoes, and meat as does the United Kingdom. While the German potato crop comes annually to about 40,000,000 tons, that of the United Kingdom, including both Northern and Southern Ireland, averages only about 7,000,000 tons. Germany has about twice as many head of cattle and five times as many pigs as the British Isles, including the Irish Free State. Apart from these comparable crops and herds, German agriculture produces great quantities of tobacco and far more sugar than she can consume. Besides, the German forests have a vast output of timber. During the war German live-stock numbers were drastically reduced, but those losses have been practically made good.

During the war and the post-war years the German people, who are rather gross feeders, were kept on short commons, and the national physique suffered accordingly.

The shortage of food was largely responsible for dissatisfaction which found its expression in friction between employers and employed and attempts at revolution. The improved food position, due to the increased productivity of agriculture, is made apparent by the following figures:

Between 1920 and

These figures are remarkable. 1925 the number of oxen, cows, and young cattle killed increased approximately by 50 per cent. As in 1920 the cattle were half-starved and small, the supply of beef and veal must have been approximately doubled since then. Between 1920 and 1925 the number of pigs slaughtered was quadrupled, and as now larger pigs are produced than immediately after the war, the supply of pork has far more than quadrupled and is the most popular meat eaten in Germany. It is the food of the masses. The physique of the people and their contentment have improved in accordance with the improvement in the supply of home-produced bread corn, beef, pork, milk, butter, and cheese.

During the last few years Germany has made energetic efforts to improve her economic position. That may be seen by comparing her production of the staple crops during the post-war years. The great increase, in agricultural production and in the number of animals kept, is not due to the chance of good harvests, but to energetic and intelligent management. This fact is confirmed by the remarkable developments which have taken place in the manufacturing industries, in mining and elsewhere. Germany produces two kinds of coal, black coal of various kinds, and a very soft brown coal called lignite, which is rather quarried than mined, and has a relatively low caloric value, but can be converted into a high-class

patent fuel by compression. During the last few years production of coal and lignite has developed as follows:

The number of workers employed in 1925 cannot be given. In 1924 coal production was practically identical with the 1922 output. However, it will be noticed that the number of workers was smaller by 135,000 than in 1922. Between 1922 and 1924 lignite production was reduced by 10 per cent., but the number of workers was reduced by more than 40 per cent. While in British mining, output per worker has shrunk, it has materially increased in Germany, and if the figures for 1925 were available, they would probably show a further reduction of men, notwithstanding a considerable increase in the output of both coal and lignite. As Germany has lost large coalfields in Silesia, she is concentrating her energy upon developing alternative sources of power by exploiting her huge lignite beds. In 1913 she produced 87,228,000 tons of lignite, but in 1925 she produced 139,804,300 tons, or 52,600,000 tons more. That is a remarkable advance. Part of the lignite is used industrially and domestically in the form of compressed fuel. Part of it is converted into electrical power. If we compare 1913 and 1924 we find that electrical power has increased as follows:

ELECTRICAL POWER SUPPLY IN KILOWATTS.

From hard coal. From brown coal. From water-power. Total. 1913 1,202,160 1924 1,859,120

268,340 1,167,320

153,510
561,510

1,624,010

3,587,950

Between 1913 and 1924 German electrical power supply has more than doubled. Electrical power derived from water-power has almost quadrupled, and electrical power generated from brown coal has increased fourand-a-half fold. Although power supply has been greatly increased, the number of stations has been drastically reduced by the scrapping of smaller and less

efficient plant. The report, 'The Electrical Industry in Germany,' published by the British Electrical and Allied Manufacturers' Association, shows the astonishing increase of this source of economical power and its possibilities of further development cannot be calculated.

Vast developments are taking place in improving electricity supply in Germany, and these changes may become ominous to this country. The Reich, the individual States, and private enterprise, vie with one another in endeavouring to improve and cheapen electric power. The recent Report on Germany issued by the Department of Overseas Trade correctly stated:

'The prices of electric current in Germany are moderate on account of the enormous increase in output for which, unfortunately, no recent statistics are available. As to power for large consumers, prices in most cases are below the prewar level, amounting to between 3 and 4 pfennigs (less than a halfpenny) per kilowatt-hour.'

In Germany electricity is not a rich man's luxury. Electric light is used in all the towns, even by the poor, and electric power has been made available to millions of German peasants to the great advantage of their work. In matters electrical, Great Britain is humiliatingly backward when compared with Germany. Unfortunately England can neither derive millions of hydro-electrical horse-powers from waterfalls, as Germany can do, particularly in the south of the country, nor has she cheap fuel, such as German black coal, and especially she has no lignite. By developing power from lignite and from falling water, Germany wisely preserves her precious and irreplaceable hard coal, of which she has a much larger supply than the United Kingdom, notwithstanding her great territorial losses.

After the war Germany had to deliver a great quantity of locomotives and rolling stock in reparation of the mischief she had done during the struggle. Throughout the Reich the outcry was raised that the Allies wished to destroy the great State railway system, and that Germany was not left with a sufficiency of engines and cars to carry on the business of the nation. In reality, the German railway system has been improved to an extraordinary degree as regards the permanent way,

As to the

installations of every kind, and rolling stock.
last, the following official statistics tell their tale:

Compared with 1913 the number of locomotives per 100 kilometres has increased by 40 per cent., and the number of passenger cars and freight cars by almost 30 per cent., and as more powerful engines and larger freight cars have been introduced, the efficiency of the railway system and its ability to transport goods cheaply have been raised materially. The increased efficiency of German railways may further be seen from the following changes which have taken place in the number of railway workers employed:

1922
1923

1924

1,034,662

917,518
724,964

It will be noticed that the superfluous have been eliminated ruthlessly. Between 1922 and 1924 no less than 310,000 railway workers were dismissed. We find a drastic reduction in workers employed, notwithstanding greatly increased output, not only in the railways and in the coal mines and lignite mines, as has previously been pointed out, but similar developments have taken place in all the industries. While British production per worker has declined during the last few years it has been vastly augmented in Germany, where intensive production and mass-production on American lines are becoming universal. That movement has only begun. German labour is not only more productive than English labour, but it is cheaper. Money wages in Germany are at present about 20 per cent. lower than in England, while working hours are longer, ranging in many industries from 54 to 60 hours per week. Owing to the longer hours worked, and the lower wages paid, German industries and the export trade in manufactured goods