The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1894-09-20
THRIFT OF GERMAN PEOPLE.

Z
Billions OF Dollars In Homo and Foreign
Securities Held in the Fathorland.
The thrifty Germans are piling up
wealth in the form Of cash and se-
curities at rate which promises to
make them OF great Importance as q
creditor nation, according to a
writer in the st. Louis Globe Demo- +
@crat. In view of the information
sent to the state department atWash-
ington and lately given pu bllcity,
the course of the German govern
ment is sticking close to the British
government on the silver question is
not surprising. Germany has to a
marked degree the same interests
that Great Britain has in opposing
anything that tends toward infa-
tlon. Herr MIGUEL. the Prussian min
lister of finance, according to the re-
port received by Secretary Gresham,
estimates that the people of
Prussia have at the present time
| $7,O75,740,O00 in stocks, bonds and
/ loans. It is calculated that 25 per
cent of the wealth of Germany is in
vested in stocks and bonds and that
oAAo Will HI1o0 W ~ VI Nv
| per cent in the next generation.
1 Professor Schneider, a leading
| authority on economies in the EN-
| pire, estimates that of the 40, $780,,
! 900 people who make up the German
empire 100000 to 400, 900 are in
receipt Of incomes from invested
| capital, says of those about one half
hold public securities In Prussia,
| in the last ten years, the deposits in
the savings banks are claimed to
have augmented about $44. 100000
/ per annum, and throughout Ger
1 many probably 81, 100000 to $685.,
! 100000, from which it is inferred
that the German nation is laying up
from $476,000,0o0 to $595, 100000
annually, one-half of which goes into
1 securities In the last ten years
there have been, in the aggregate,
about $952,00o, 900 to $1,190, 100000
worth of foreign and $1,904, 900, 900
worth of domestic securities put
upon the German market.
With reference to the question:
whether Germany is wise in taking
/ SO much foreign paper, Professor.
4
healthy symptom, and indicates a.
thriving state of the people. and that,
although much money has been lost
thereby, it has been, on the whole, a
valuable experience and the means
Of placing the German stock ex-
changes on equal footing with those
of London, Paris and New York, a
position which they did not occupy
twenty-five years ago The losses
of the country from investments in
foreign securities have been great, but
they are argued to have been amply
Offset by the profits realized. From
1860 to 1892 the Germans are reck-
oned to have made $239, 100000 in
American and Russian securities
alone, independent OF all indirect
: benefits which may have accrued to
the general business Of the country
! through the connections made in the
handling of such stocks and bonds.
Germany now holds probably $2,300,-
q 600, 900 worth Of foreign securities,
which is presumably double what il
t possessed ten years ago. The inter
:. est and dividends on these add about
) $119, OOO, 900 Of wealth annually tC
5 the country This has marked
: effect on the well being of the coun-
t try and it's trade balance. What the
, country has lost in recent years
through unfortunate investments il
foreign securities has probably beer
, about $500, OOl.O0o, which. as re
marked above, has been fully com
censated for by gains made.