The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-12-22

In accordance with her high DIGNITY.
Other cities claimed proportiouate cmbI-
li.hment, and we might compile a list OF
more than hundred compamc- created
for this specific purpose LII Berlin some-
thing was actually accomplished; streets
were opened, palaces and handsome man
SONS went up on every han /, aud the
Thierg1rten was pres ATTY cncOmpassed
by new quarter tecming with sumDtuOus
residences. We need not say that thes,
lavish improvements provoked a notable
appreciation i'm the value OF real estate aud
an alarming rise in rents, whereby persons
OF moderate incomes were relegated to
shabby lodgings, and the very poor driven
from the city. Like our petroleum COM
panies, however, the majority of these
building societies and construction banks
built nothing but the fortunes Of their pro-
moters. The existence Of such corpora
tions was of course brief. being measured
by the period during which it was deemed
cxpodient to pay dividends out Of capital.
On the other hand the losses entailcd by
them were enormous. At the epoch of tho
highest quotations the capital stock of con
siruction companies figuring on the Berlin
stock Exchange alone. aggregated three
hundred millions OF dollars Most of these
have disappeared, and the few which
linger must soon perish, loaded rs they are
With mortgages far exceeding the value Of
he land which they NORMALLY own.
The history Of the building societies Is
but chapter i'm the disastrous record of
those joint stock Associations which, dur
ing three Years, by turns stimulated aud
paralyzed every department of industry.
We cannot recount the many revers's
suffered by q people which appeared t.
think it could enrich itself by wo king
less, producing worse, and selling more
dearly.
II lisa sad outcome Of her victorie. and her
millinrds, that Germany Is no longer alb le to
sustain foreign competition. # is sirnin-
cant that in 1s12 her imports exceeded her
exports by some two hundred millions OF
dollars aud IN the following year by four
hundred and nifty millions. Wherever the
national industry ventures t. cope with
rivals it H. defeated. Tho Commissioner of
the empire nj Philadelphia reported his
countrvmens exhibit to he the object of
universal laughter, aud IT is doubtless
from natural aversion to a repetition of
that experience that the Rechsiag la.
declined to participate in the next Worlds
FAIR at Paris.
It would be abs" !. however. to suppose
"a some French observers would infer that
the existing crisis Will prove lasting. or
that the commercial ruin OF Germany l.
assured. The fever has passed, and the
symptoms OF prostration. though still man
fest. are diminishing every dav. II Is
probable. too, that thu economical re
sources of the empire have been greatly
| uuderratel There IS no doubt that German
manufactures have made an immense al-
vance IN the present century. We may look
TO see the mineral yield and other natural
products Of the soil receive a permanent
impetus from the concentrated capital OF
The new nation. Aud chief among the
factors II prog ess may h. re koucd fru-
gal, hard working popullti n, steadily
augmented by natural increase, and no
l1ngcl decimated by emigratic1.