The Commercial Policy of the German ZollvereinIf any nation whatever is qualified for the establishment of anational manufacturing power, it is Germany; by the high rank whichshe maintains in science and art, in literature and education, inpublic administration and in institutions of public utility; by hermorality and religious character, her industry and domesticeconomy; by her perseverance and steadfastness in businessoccupations; as also by her spirit of invention, by the number andvigour of her population; by the extent and nature of herterritory, and especially by her highly advanced agriculture, andher physical, social, and mental resources.
If any nation whatever has a right to anticipate rich resultsfrom a protective system adapted to her circumstances, for theprogress of her home manufactures, for the increase of her foreigntrade and her navigation, for the perfecting of her internal meansof transport, for the prosperity of her agriculture, as also forthe maintenance of her independence and the increase of her powerabroad, it is Germany.
Yes, we venture to assert, that on the development of theGerman protective system depend the existence, the independence andthe future of the German nationality.Only in the soil of generalprosperity does the national spirit strike its roots, produce fineblossoms and rich fruits; only from the unity of material interestsdoes mental power arise, and only from both of these nationalpower.But of what value are all our endeavours, whether we arerulers or subjects, nobles or simple citizens, learned men,soldiers, or civilians, manufacturers, agriculturists, ormerchants, without nationality and without guarantees for thecontinuance of our nationality?
Meanwhile, however, the German protective system onlyaccomplishes its object in a very imperfect manner, so long asGermany does not spin for herself the cotton and linen yarn whichshe requires; so long as she does not directly import from tropicalcountries the colonial produce which she requires, and pay for itwith goods of her own manufacture; so long as she does not carry onthis trade with her own ships; so long as she has no means ofprotecting her own flag; so long as she possesses no perfect systemof transport by river, canal, or railway; so long as the GermanZollverein does not include all German maritime territories andalso Holland and belgium.We have treated these subjectscircumstantially in various places in this book, and it is onlynecessary for us here to recapitulate what we have already thustreated.
If we import raw cotton from Egypt, Brazil, and North America,we in that case pay for it in our own manufactured goods; if, onthe other hand, we import cotton yarn from England, we have to paythe value of it in raw materials and articles of food which wecould more advantageously work up or consume ourselves, or else wemust pay for it in specie which we have acquired elsewhere, andwith which we could more advantageously purchase foreign rawmaterials to work up for ourselves, or colonial produce for our ownconsumption.
In the same way the introduction of spinning linen yarn bymachinery offers us the means not only of increasing our homeconsumption of linen, and of perfecting our agriculture, but alsoof enormously increasing our trade with tropical countries.
For the two above-named branches of industry, as well as forthe manufacture of woollens, we are as favourably circumstanced asany other nation, by an amount of water power hitherto notutilised, by cheap necessaries of life, and by low wages.What welack is simply and solely a guarantee for our capitalists andartisans by which they may be protected against loss of capital andwant of work.A moderate protective duty of about twenty-five percent during the next five years, which could be maintained for afew years at that rate and then be lowered to fifteen to twenty percent, ought completely to accomplish this object.Every argumentwhich is adduced by the supporters of the theory of values againstsuch a measure, has been refuted by us.On the other hand, we mayadd a further argument in favour of that measure, that these greatbranches of industry especially offer us the means for establishingextensive machine manufactories and for the development of a raceof competent technical instructors and practical foremen.
In the trade in colonial produce Germany, as France and Englandhave done, has to follow the principle -- that in respect to thepurchase of the colonial produce which we require, we should givea preference to those tropical countries which purchasemanufactured goods from us; or, in short, that we should buy fromthose who buy from us.That is the case in reference to our tradewith the West Indies and to North and South America.
But it is not yet the case in reference to our trade withHolland, which country supplies us with enormous quantities of hercolonial produce, but only takes in return disproportionately smallquantities of our manufactured goods.
At the same time Holland is naturally directed to the market ofGermany for the disposal of the greater part of her colonialproduce, inasmuch as England and France derive their supplies ofsuch produce for the most part from their own colonies and fromsubject countries (where they exclusively possess the market formanufactured goods), and hence they only import small quantities ofDutch colonial produce.
Holland has no important manufacturing industry of her own,but, on the other hand, has a great productive industry in hercolonies, which has recently greatly increased and may yet beimmeasurably further increased.But Holland desires of Germany thatwhich is unfair, and acts contrary to her own interests if rightlyunderstood, inasmuch as she desires to dispose of the greater partof her colonial produce to Germany, while she desires to supply herrequirements of manufactured goods from any quarter she likes best.
