New-York tribune., 1902-02-08

| IN large part through the energy and nteI-
| gence with which mercantile empire has been
| established during the last twenty-five years.
Another moral which may be drawn from the
experience Of Germany during the last year IS
| that the influence of combinations and synd-
cafes is helpful in a monetary and commercial
Crisis. While there few trusts in Germany
of the improved American pattern the Krupp
combination, with its works in Essen, its ship
yards in Kiel its machine shops in Berlin and
It's mines and blast furnaces in WestphaIia
marking the closest approach to consolida ton
OF ownership. there are hundreds of selling
syndicates and pooling arrangements under CEN
tralized direction. Every branch of the coal
iron, steel, chemical, textile wood, leather and
oil trades is controlled by syndcates for the
regulation Of production. prices and distribution
and for the prevention of indiscriminate COM
petition. These syndicates. after serving use
ful purpose in the development of foreign trade
during long period of prosperity have pre-
vented ruinous fluctuations in prices and de-
structive competition when the times are bad
There would have been a general break in
prices, and foreign countries would have been
converted into dumping grounds for surplus
stock, if the manufacturers and merchants had
not been bound together by carteIs and syndi-
cate agreements AS il was, every branch Of
foreign trade was prudently managed. When
domestic markets We're dsordered production
was limited foreign markets We're not over
stocked prices were steadied and the interests
of merchants and manufacturers were scien-
tif1cially studied and harmoniousy conducted
Scientific organization became great resource
in a crisis. In this way the reserves of foreign
trade in an economic emergency have been hus-
banded wisely by combined effort, and the inter
ests of allied industries and OF investors have
been protected against unnecessary sacrifices
and reckless nagement. The great Rhenish
and Westphalian Coal Syndicate has been unduly
rigorous in enforcing contracts for long terms
and at high prices and there have been other
instances Of unwise management OF industries
combined under central direction, but, on the
whole, the trade agreements respecting produc-
ton, transportation and sale Of goods abroad
have operated well, and have impaired stabiI-
ity to foreign commerce. Without doubt the
economic crisis would have been more dsas-
trous, the losses of investors more serious and
the chances of industrial revival re-
mote and uncertain if the mercantile, manu-
featuring and banking interests had not been
combined for mutual protection and harmoni-
ously and effectively directed.
The pressure of hard times has been felt by
a working population of over 100000 through
out the empire, and in Berlin even more acutely
than in other industrial centres. While no other
German city has equalled the capital in growth
of population and in multiplication of industries,
the relief offered by the stability Of foreign
commerce has been less effective here than
elsewhere. Berlin, with its circuit of manu-
featuring suburbs, has supplied goods mainly
for domestic consumption within the empire.
The aggregate Of its foreign trade has been
small in comparison with the volume of produc-
ton for the great home market, secured by the
operation of a protective tariff. When the
home markets were demoralized by lack of
confidence and by commercial depression hun
dreds Of machine shops engine building works
chemical factories, and woollen. worsted jute
cotton and silk mills in and around Berlin were
either closed or kept in operation on half time
There was an enormous working force unem-
ployed in the capital, and time went on IT
became necessary for the government to pro
vide temporary sources of labor in public works
and even to adopt measures for feeding sys-
tematcaIIy a considerable body of helpless
working people. This imperial city. with its
splendid palaces and gilded domes. has been
overshadowed by the calamitous consequences
of prolonged Industrial depression. Yet the bur
dens have been borne with patience, and there
has heen no menace of bread riots mob
agitation against public authority or capitalists;
and it is in Berlin that there is to-day the most
hopeful feeling respecting a speedy improve
ment of general business and a revival of do
mestic as well as foreign trade. The subscrip-
tions to the national loan have disclosed the
MAGNITUDE of the reserves Of capital available
for financing the business interests of the en-
pire and the extent to which boarding has been
carried by small investors, timidly and eau
tiously awaiting the restoration of public con-
fdence. It is from Berlin that the first signal
for resumption of business activities has been
raised, after a prolonged period of uncertainty
and depression n. F.