trade had undoubtedly forfeited its leading position. The mining and smelting industry probably assumed that place; this industry employed only 813,956 persons in 1907, but must certainly have given occupation to considerably more than a million persons at the end of 1921. Similarly, the extent of the textile industry greatly diminished. During the war and afterwards this industry suffered particularly severely from the lack of raw materials, so that many Factories were forced to close down. This shortage had not yet been made good in 192 1 . The clothing industry had also certainly suffered. On the other hand, the number of persons employed in the metal and chemical industries, in the production of wooden and carved goods, and in the paper industry, was proportionately far greater in 1921 than in 1907. It was impossible, however, in 1921 to obtain definite statistics. There had been no new industrial census, and the various branches of industry were in such a state of flux that it might happen that an industry was at an absolute standstill one day, so that persons engaged in it were forced to enter another, while the next day this same industry had become a refuge for large numbers of unemployed.
An approximate idea, however, of the decline in production may be derived from the exports of Germany in 1920, as compared with those of 1913, in different categories of products of the iron industry (Table X).
TABLE X. Exports of Iron Goods.
Class of goods
Export
. 1913 (in cwt.)
Export 1920 (in cwt.)
Decrease (-)or In- crease (+) per cent
Ornamental castings and other
fine castings, non-malleable,
fireplaces, ovens, etc.
811,409
675,004
-16-8
Parts of machines of non-malle-
able cast iron. Parts of en-
ginesfships, etc.
578,873
7LI95
-87-7
Tin raw, annealed, worked,
dressed, polished, cut, etc.
6,651,324
2,478,807
-62-7
Wire rolled or drawn in the
rough or finished product
4,626,586
839,079
-81-9
Tramway and railway rails,
railway sleepers, fishplates,
chairs, plate screws, etc.
6,574,144
1,520,159
-76-9
Railway axles, wheels, spokes,
mountings of railway car-
riages, etc
1,255,342
368,796
70-6
Bridges and component parts of
bridges. Iron building ma-
terials of wrought iron
1,098,710
435.886
-60-3
Locomotive and traction engine
boilers and funnels of worked
iron, combined parts of the
same, etc. ....
288,658
'IO8,'14.O
+ 6-8
Ploughs (excluding traction
O ,OT^
power ploughs), ploughshares,
harrows, etc
375,515
163,918
-56-3
Heavy forks for hay, dung, tur-
nips, coke, stones, etc. .
24,43
13.335
-45-4
Scythes, sickles, knives, straw-
cutters, picks .
38-312
27,806
-27-4
Pieces for cross-saws, hand-
saws . . .
40,264
32,727
-18-7
Files, rasps
27,672
18,611
32-7
All classes of rough cutlery with
the exception of rough knives
and shears ....
58,295
53,446
- 8-3
Scales (for weighing) except
automatic scales and scales of
precision, flat-irons, etc.
68,377
105,298
+54-0
Wire ropes and cords, barbed
wire, plaited wire, wire net-
ting, wire clamps, etc.
468,231
226,858
-SI'S
Pins, cut nails (tacks, brads,
drawing pins) ....
661,466
305,802
-53-8
House and kitchen equipment.
Cooking-utensils made of sheet
iron and several parts of these
320,891
207,590
-35'3
Building, furnishing appurten-
ances, doors, furniture (chains,
and similar component parts
of furniture, doors, ventila-
tors, etc.)
226,020
147,418
-34-8
In contradistinction to the iron industry, the German textile industry rests only partially on indigenous production. Germany's dependence in her textile industries on foreign markets for raw ma- terials became very apparent during the World War, when resort had to be made to substitutes to a large extent. The manufacture of cloths made of nettles, and particularly of paper, was developed. The former was, however, very expensive, and the latter produced wares which, though fairly durable, were on the whole very uncom-
fortable to wear. Both branches greatly diminished in importance when the import of raw materials once more became possible. How severely the cotton industry was still suffering in 1920 is best shown by the fact that the total imports of raw cotton in the first 10 months of 1920 amounted to only 1,070,543 double-cwt. compared with 4,223,071 during the same period in 1913. To meet this deficiency, 92,487 double-cwt. of prepared, bleached, dyed, printed and woven calico and embroideries had to be imported as against an export of 272,279 double cwt. in the same period of the year 1913.
The German chemical industry increased enormously during the war years. Germany's severance from the world's markets (especially from the supply of nitrate) compelled her to provide her own ma- terials. Enormous works sprang up in Upper Silesia and particularly in Thuringia for the artificial production of nitrogen.
Before the war, Germany possessed almost a world monopoly in the production of aniline dyes. In 1907 24 establishments employing 9,071 people were engaged in this industry. In 1920, however, the export of dyes and dyestuffs was only 40 % of the pre-war amounts.
Labour Market, Wages, Prices. German production had received a tremendous blow through the war and the political revolution of Nov. 1918. In a still higher degree than for the output of raw materials does this hold good for the manufacture of finished articles. The diminution there was due not merely to the cessions of territory, the introduction of the 8-hour day and the diminished working capacity of labour, but also to the increased difficulty of obtaining raw materials and of finding markets. The result of these 'conditions in the first years after the Armistice was a vast amount of unemploy- ment. The statistics compiled with regard to unemployment and applications for work give only an incomplete picture of the situa- tion. The greater part of the unemployment was not total but partial. The number of workers affected by short-time represents many times the number of the totally unemployed. According to the demobilization commissioner's figures, on Jan. 15 1920 there were 454,775 heads of households in receipt of relief, and 379,071 receiving supplementary grants; and on June I 1921 the corresponding figures were 357,850 and 384,003. At the different trade unions 26,144 persons reported themselves at the end of Nov. 1918 as out of work; at the beginning of 1920, 129,972; and at the be- ginning of 1921, 225,581. At the end of Nov. 1918, 264 applications were made at the labour exchanges for every 100 vacant situations for male workers; in May 1921 the figure was still high, 204. To relieve the distress of the unemployed masses the system of doles was introduced by ordinance in Nov. 1918.
The difficulties of the labour situation were only affected in a comparatively small measure by the question of wages. It ;s true that the political revolution of Nov. 1918 was accompanied by a demand for higher wages ; but the rise was only rarely out of propor- tion to the increase in the cost of living. What was specially notable in the wage movement was the approximation to a uniform level in the cost of the wages of workers who were formerly paid on different scales. This levelling arose from the fact that the wages of the lowest-paid classes rose comparatively far higher than those of the classes which were formerly highly paid. For instance, in the mining industry of the Ruhr the wages of the actual miners (who were occupied below ground) did not rise quite 900%, while the wages of young male workers rose by almost 1,500%. A similar development took place in all occupations and in all social strata. Among commercial salaried employees, for instance, between 1913 and 1921, salaries rose 500% for men over the age of 30; for men under 20 they rose by 790 %; for females over 30 years of age salaries rose by 830 %, and for females under 20 by 970 %.
Generally speaking, however, it may be said that, in the summer of 1921, except in a very few strata at each end of the social scale, the standard of living was very much below that of 1913.
The rise in wages was largely governed by the cost of living. If the average cost of normal rations for a family of five persons in 1913 be represented by 100, the following index figures emerge for 1920 and 1921:
Feb. 1920 March 1920 April 1920 May June July Aug. Sept.
Oct. Nov.
1920 1920 1920 1920 1920 1920 1920
635 747 648 868
845 856 790 779 843 882
Dec. 1920 Jan. 1921 Feb. 1921 March 1921 April 1921
May June July Aug.
1921 1921 1921 1921
934 944 901 901
894 880 896 963 1,045
In connexion with these figures it must be borne in mind that the prices of certain classes of goods, on which the index figures are based, were kept down by means of considerable subsidies from the Reich. For what are called " free goods," i.e. uncontrolled commod- ities, the rise in prices was much greater and more sudden. This may partly be observed in the index of wholesale prices which the Statistical Office of the Reich issued subsequently to Jan. 1921. The index figures for the prices of these articles' were as follows (too being taken to represent the index figure of 1913): Ian. 1920 . . . 1,243 March 1920 . . . 1,694 Feb. 1920 . . . 1,670 April 1920 . . . 1,556
