New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-08-13
INDUSTRIAL GERMANY.
poREpr P. PORTER MEMBER OF THE LATE
6i TARIFF COMMISSION.
AZ, rrrcs WAGES AND TRADE IN THE IRON
REGION.

cOJTTICS WAOEo AM ihHN~ A~' $500 ~'
REGION.
sprc1AI CORRESPONDENT THE TRIBUNEl
noprMuNp, Prussia. june ia popular eiectioh
D,S.ontr.i town of the great coal region of Ger
~ !. not an undressing sight even to one &C
..,,ea 70 popular elections at home. The DAY
,,A". osann had promised to accompany me TO
1,.tmund turned out our arrival to be election
ssr in that district, and the people were IN the
,St of AN animated contest for seat in the heich-
too. The polls were situated In various parts oi
81. ancient town, and small groups OF ticKee peu-
,.r,u ouietly worked for their respective candi-
S.,as The town was placarded with posters an
nouncing in large type the principles OF lie
.and,dates prominent among whom were those OF
,he Socialists and Liberals aud Radicals out
no,,pund. in spite of its ancient history did not
80 Conservative candidate. Order prevailed
.nrorcbont the day. saw no fighting, no buster.
- Arunkenness. vet all seemed interested in the
;ssue especially the workingmen. During the day
iron and steel works and railroad
nartlv sbut down the workmen leaving IN gangs
for the purpose OF voting. but atterward returning
to their work. At the Union Mining iron ana
Steel Works, employing about "ooo wolAmeh, L
watched hundreds there gong 10 anu ironi 'ne
,ous A the men passed each other on the road
thsre was no boisterous behavior All seemingly
xvere impressed with the seriousness Oh the outy
ihev had performed. An American could hardly
observe an election in Germany without tee
thought occurring that the great mass
Of the people of the Empire had Outgrown
,hsr institutions. The day is not far distant
when these thinking men who WELD the power OF
IN. ballot will have more unfettercd representa-
tive Government In the evening there was great
cheering at the headquarters Of the candidates.
especially when favorable returns came in from the
seyeral districts. The beer gardens did flourish
ing business, but IN some of the largest which 1
visited few of the patrons were talking about the
election or on politics, and there was not half the
noise and crazy and heated discussion of a similar
occasion in the United States-
Dortmund is town of great antiquity around
which clusters much of historic interest. Its an
tiouities however are fast disappearing, and The
immense iron and steel works, the railroad shops
the half hundred breweres, the textile mills and the
surrounding coal mines combine TO give the place
very modern, not to say smoky and unnteresting
appearance. The present Dortmund. with Its
10000 population, Its tall chiinneys, It's blast
furnaces its industrial DIN, its cheap shops, its
large railway station, and its popular elections.
must be a strange contrast to the gray-waled town
of o thousand years ago-tbe Throtmanni. 1rut-
mamma, Trutmonia, Tremonia and Trotmunde of
early history Before William conquered England
the shades of this now busy place were chosen for
the scene OF ecclesiastical council, and later
imperial diets, with all their pomp and show.
divided up kingdoms and duchies aud settled the
fate of provinces amid the lindens and the chest
nuts of the many named village on Die Emscher.
The supreme court of the celebrated Vehmic
Tribunal of the Dark Ages used TO
meet here. and the spot where the
secret councils were held Is marked by one of the
ancient linden trees which, doubt, the
Of of ALI ed has bee de
cded and the victims soon after seized and executed
Toward the close of the fourteenth century, bort
mund successfully withstood a twenty months
siege By the troops of robber probate, the Arch
bishop of Cologne.
Stanch in war; it was alike ahead in peace. and
was among the first German towns to join the Han-
seattle league in the thirteenth century and at this
early period must have possessed mercantile advdn-
tages. Like all German towns 1t suffered greatly
from the Thirty Years War, and at the close its
population had been reduced to 5000. At the
beginning Of the preseSt century the French
occupied 1t. bur in 1915 IL became Prussian town.
There are a couple of Gothic churches of The If
tenth century, and very old houses which
still remain. and. indeed, are inhabited. In 1850
iron ore was discovered in the coa-felds on which
Dortmund is built, which, with the great increase
Of the coal output has been the main cause OF its
present industrial importance.
IL my letter on Industrial Germany written from
Du ssedOrf the present wages of coal-mIners IN this
district of Germany compared with the rate of
wages paid In two of the most important coal re-
gons of Great Britain. The yearly production of
the great Westphalia region, of which Dortmund is
the chief town, has risen since 1850 from 100000
10 about 25. 900 ions. In 1850 the production
was 100000 tons; in 1870 it was 1l.500OOO
and last year it reached 25.000000 tons. Thus
great development in which the coal-mining indus
Try has kept pace since the year 1850 with
the iron and several other branches
Of manufacture. has given an entirely
different aspect to this part OF
Germany The principal cities-Essen. Bochum,
Dortmund-unt then small, antiquated country
towns have grown TO be great centres of industries
and formerly Insignificant villages such as ODER
hauscn Gesenkirchen, Horde, and Schalke. are now
the seat of the most important manufacturing in
dustry In this coalregon is found the best coal for
eoking, and within the district the COnnellsville
OF Germany Iaay be found The Union works Of this
town has no less than 900 cokiBg ovens The pro-
ductou for sale of ali the coking coal collieries
amounts TO nearly half the product of the district.
For some years under free trade the German coal
industry was engaged in an energetic struggle
against the importation Of English coal into Ger
many. On this subject DR.. Gustav Natorp sand,
soon after the German tariff came into force:
We shall succeed within IA short time in supplying
alaree part of the coal consumed the German
coasts of the North Sea and the Baltic from our
native mines" In referring TO the tariff and to the
attempts in Germany to overcome the prejudice
which once existed against native COAL DIR. Natorp
SAD: We are fully justified in these endeavors to
"auce our countrymen to use their native coal"
This is.Derhaps ali that need be said on coal mining
mSermany as have already shown that the new
poicy has gwen renewed vigor to the industry and
increased both the pay of the workmen and the num-