Evening star., 1909-02-14
IN GERMANY
Uncertain Financial and Eco
nomic Conditions.
MEASURES IN REICHSTAG
Alliance of Conservatives and the
Radicals.
PUBLIC CONFIDENCE SHAKEN
New Coalition Known as the Bloc
Cheapness of Money-Treatment
of Prince Eulenburg.
MEASURES IN REICHSTAG
PUBLIC CONFIDENCE SHAKEN
Special Cablegram TO Tho Star.


BERLIN, February 13-Rarely. if ever
has there prevailed in Germany so pro-
found and general state of suspense
with regard to financial and economic
conditions as exists today. The retchstag
has met. and its deliberations are domi-
mated by one issue-the issue OF finance
Three important legislative measures. the
prospective influence of which cannot be
other than decisive. are in contemplation
at the same time A comprehensive
scheme of imperial financial reform, a
new charter to the Imperial Bank of
Germany and deposit bill as yet un-
born. for the better protection of de-
positors with banks, are to be considered.
Nobody can tell what will be the fate
Of these proposals. whether they will be-
come law at all or what will be their
final shape after the innumerable negO-
tiations and discussions of which they
have been the subject between the i'm
perial government and reichstaG bloc" :"
VIII this unnatural alliance of conserva-
tives and radicals formed the finan-
cial issues and which is termed the "bloc." ="
last over the present session? Even this
Is uncertain.
1t is. however. significant that Herr Won
SydoW, who has only just become chan
cellor of the imperial exchequer, Is al
ready said to be tired of his duties and
to have threatened resignation. Such ru-
morS have been promptly denied and they
may be false, but they serve to show
how confused and apprehensive is the
state Of the public mind with regard to
finance and how uncertain Is the future.
Public Confidence Shaken.
To this state of uncertainty another
factor must be added. Public confidence
in the wisdom of official financial pro-
posals has been severely shaken by the
complete failure of the so-called smaller
imperial finance reform measures which
were inaugurated only two years ago.
and of which the principal clauses are
doubt that it would be of the very great
est Importance to the country. and es-
pecially for industrial and commercial in
terests. to know exactly and at once how
the new scheme of taxation will look
when ii passes into law?
1t Is necessary to quote only one in
stance-the tax on artificial light and its
appliances-to show how deeply inter-
ested large branches of industry must
be in the coming legislation.
The differences prevailing in the bloc"
with regard to financial reform are al
ready grave enough, SO that the task Of
reconciling them will be of immense diff
ficulty. and if at some time or other
D.
arise in the conglOmeration of parties
the fate of the imperial proposals would
be sealed for another year or two. at
least. and the empire would have to go
on procuring the means necessary for
covering it's unavoidable deficits by large
loans.
In 1906. when the smaller proposals
brought forward by Herr Won Stengel
began to be discussed everybody be-
lieved and hope that the era of per-
,4t, yrov ut 1snn nnnr fner q
end. and yet there is still another i'm
perial loan In the air of the usual bur-
densome type, although we are only in
the year 1909
The Reichsbank Charter.
The general uncertainty extends also
to tho question of the renewal of the
there will be. no matter what the dis
tribution of parties at the time of the
second and third readings. but it will
matter a great deal whether at that time
the agrarian party will still be fettered
by it's adhesion to the Bloc" or whether
II will be separa ted from it's radical part
ners, and at liberty once more to indulge
in those partisan doctrines which have
often in the past been exercised in
sense adverse to the interests Of the
bank.
And if apprehension reigns in regions
purely financial the industrial world is
no more at ease The kart els in iron
which Were dissolved some months ago.
owing principally to the initiative of that
great irOEmaster and business man.
Prince Won Donnersmarck. have not yet
been even partly renewed. Neither party
in the great iron dispute has shown the
slightest inclination to yield. the head of
one side Herr Kirdorf proving just as
stubborn as Prince Won Donnersmarck.
who leads the other Ultimately some
sort of agreement Is bound to he reached,
but meanwhile severe damage is being
done to a great national industry now
almost at a StandStlll.
Meanwhile hopes are being entertained
that the coming spring may prove
turning point in the iron crisis. and such
expectations are fostered by slightly
increased home demand for steel and iron
products which is already noticeable.
This increase may, however. possibly be
due to speculative purchases only. and
some doubt exists as to near revival
in the building industry, which is being
looked for by Optimists. At the present
time, and, indeed throughout the past
few years. The whole vast and seemingly
stable German "AufschWung. the great
movement of industrial progress. is. and
has been. closely interlocked with real
estate speculation in the towns.
Cheapness of Money.
If one looks around today and sees the
truly enormous area of new domestic
and residential buildings added to Ger
man cities. and especially to Berlin. in
recent times. he cannot bring himself to
believe that part at least of this
stupendous growth is not Of a purely
mushroom character. The recent eco
nomical crisis may be thing of the past.
so far as the money rate is concerned,
the present cheapness OF money may be
only a consequence of the deeply rooted
distrust still existing to the industrial
condition of Germany today. This dis
trust exists In menacing form in all
classes of society.
Money still lies accumulated enmasse
but it is no longer available for every
body and everything as it used to be
not long ago. Many people on whose
increasing spending capacity the estate