Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 10.djvu/483

Rh rr_vA.*cE.] the imperial treasury (reichskasse). Of the excise duties those on beet-root sugar, salt, and tobacco are connnon to all the states; but the imperial malt tax is not imposed in Bavaria, Wiirtemberg, Baden, or Alsace-Lorraine. The three first-named states are likewise exempt from the im- perial excise on spirits. Additional receipts are derived from the duty on bill stamps, from posts and telegraphs (excluding Bavaria and Wilrtemberg), from the railways in Alsace-Lorraine, 630. These receipts are, however, insuffi- cient to meet the expenses of the administration, and for that reason the separate states have to make contributions to the revenues of the empire, varying in proportion to their population. Bavaria, Baden, Wiirtemberg, and Alsace-Lorraine pay proportionally higher direct contri- butions, because they impose taxes on their own account on malt and spirits; so also do Bremen and Hamburg, because they are situated outside the customs territory. For the last few years the average contributions have ranged from £3,000,000 to £4,000,000, but they are increasing with the diminution of the funds available from the French war indemnity. These contributions press heavily upon the minor states. The imperial budget is voted every year by the reichstag. The ordinary and extraordinary expenses for the financial year endinrr March 31, 1879, were distributed as follows :- I;'.r;pnulz'lmc, 1878-79. Ordinary. Extraordinary Imperial chancery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. £226,799 £116,516 lleichstag ................................. .. 16,100 1,500 Foreign ollice  .. . . 305,233 26,350 Army ..........................  ........ .. 16,125,914 1,368,927 Navy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 1.205,526 1,729,008 Invalid fund ............................ .. 1,602,658. Military pensions ........................ .. 829,072 Civil pensions ............................ .. 48,586 Imperial judicature .......... .. . . . . . . .. 40,309 1,750 Imperial court of railway affairs ..... .. 13,637 505,117 Posts and telegraphs ................... .. 664,967 Imperial audit ........................... .. 22,526 500 lnterest of debt of the empire ....... .. 339,075 ilintage of imperial coins .............. .. 1,135,000 Iixpenditure in remission of war-ta.'es 499,766 Total ............... .. 20 775,438 6,049,402 Rrrcnzw, 187879. 1. Customs, net .............................................. .. £5,327,524 2. Excise, net ................................. . ...... .. 6,951,768 Beet-root suglr .£'3.368,336 Common duties. Salt ................ .. 1,699,009 Tobacco ........... .. 47,075 - - S )l1"ll . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 2. "0 Svcm1<1ut1es- ll.“ 5. .............. .. 939133 3. Contributions by territories outside the Zollverein... 237,050 4. Stamps ...................................................... .. 332,655 5. Posts and telegraphs (gross revenue £6,443,000), net 764,420 6. I-iailways in Alsace-Lorraine (gross £1,908,600), net... 567.800 7. Imperial printing—oflice, net ............................ .. 8,716 8. Imperial bank (share of profits) ............... . . . . .. 100,500 9. Various revenues .......................................... .. 381.509 10. Invalid fund ............................  .................. .. 1,602,658 11. Interest of imperial funds .............................. .. 366,210 Total direct revenue ................... .. 16,640,810 Extraordinary supply (loans, various funds) ........ .. 5.826 753 Contributions of states to revenue ..................... .. 4,357,276 Total revenue to cover e.'penditure... 26,824,840 The direct contributions of the principal states of the empire to the revenue for 1878—79 were as follows :— Prussia ................ ..£2,074.730 ' Saxony ................. .. £228,786 Bava.ria ............... .. 984,137 Alsaee-Lorraine ....... .. 103,020 'r'u'temberg ......... .. 340,330 Hesse ................... .. 71, 125 Baden ................. .. 241,828 Mecklenburg .......... .. 40,602 Customs Ir’evenue.—The revenue from the customs duties has increased but little since 1872. In that year it was £5,534,000, and in 1873, £6,131,000; but in 1877-78 it GERMANY 465 was only £53,: 68,000. No export duties have been raised in Germany for many years. On the other hand, all imported goods were taxed till 1865, with very few excep- tions. Since then free trade has been more in favour, and a considerable reduction has taken place in the number of taxed articles. There are still, however, according to the official lists, about 148 articles on which custom duties are levied under 43 divisions. Raw materials are duty free. Four-ﬁfths of the receipts (£4,323,000) are derived from articles of consumption, coffee being the principal item, after which come tobacco, wine, spirits, &c. The sub- joined table shows the customs receipts, in round numbers, from the following items in 1878 :— Coffee .................. ..£1,838,000 Herrings ................ .. £108,000 '1‘obaeco ................ .. 821,000 Pork ................... .. 103,000 Wine and spirits .... .. 517,000 Sugar and molasses. 101,000 Salt ...................... .. 259,000 Rice ...................... .. 83,000 Fruit ................... .. 258,000 Miscellaneous .......... .. 235,000 The preceding table shows great differences when com- pared with the corresponding list for Britain. The coil- sumption of coffee is considerably larger,——Germany having imported 2,128,000 cwts. in 1876, Great Britain only 1,361,000. The duty is at the same time much higher than in England, where the revenue from coffee was only £200,000. 011 the other hand, tea yields only £36,000 duty in Germany, but in England £3,700,000; wine and spirits in Germany £517,000, in England £7,500,000; tobacco, in Germany £821,000, in England £7,800,000. The German customs tariff serves as a protective duty for several industrial products, although in general a free-trade policy has prevailed in Germany during the last ten years. In 1873 the duties on iron were abolished; still its im- portation, owing to the stagnation of trade, has not increased. The following is a statement of the produce of the duties on speciﬁc manufactured articles in 1878 :— Textile fabrics .......... ...£604,000 Furniture, &e. ......... .. £23,000 Glass and earthenwares 50,000 Copper-wares ........... .. 16,000 Oil ......................... .. 147,000 I ron-wares .............. .. 10,000 Leatherand leather-wares 62,000, Paper ..................... .. 12,500 In 1879, however, Germany has suddenly returned to an extreme protective system. The present import duties are 1nucl1 increased, and duties are imposed on many articles hitherto duty free. The Government hopes to make a gross revenue of about £8,000,000 by the new customs. E'.z'cise.—Tlie excise duties on articles of consumption have for the most part been considerably increased since 1872, especially the duty on sugar. The tax on tobacco is, how- ever, still triﬂing (in 1877, £47,000). Bavaria, Wiirtem- berg, and Baden are exempt from the duties both on spirits and on malt, Alsace-Lorraine from that on spirits. Jlcccipts from Excise Ditties. Beetroot - ,. _ sugn“ Spn its. Salt. Malt. £ £ £ £ 1872 1.726.000 1.631.000 1.644 .000 601.000 1874 '2.-578,000 1.902.000 1,70-1.000 766.000 1877-7S 3.274.000 2.632.000 1.786.000 922.000 FLLIMZS oftlw Empz'rc.—Tl1e extraordinary funds, from which verv large sums appear annually in the budget, were created after the French war. Part of the indemnity was invested for fixed purposes. The largest of these investments served for paying the pensions of the invalided, and amounted originally to £28,000,000. Every year not only the interest, but also part of the capital of this fund is expended in paying these pensions. Another fund, of about £5,200,000, serves for the construction and armament of fortresses; a third for building new houses of parliament; a fourth for the con- struction of railways in Alsace-Lorraine. Further, the empire has put aside £6,000,000 as a Reiehs-Kriegs-Schatz, or imp_erial _war reserve fund, which is not laid out at interest, but exists in _co1ned gold and bullion at Spandau. The railways i_n .-lsa_ce-Lorraine are also the property of the empir9,—Fra11ce hav1ng_p-.ud an allowance 4--59