Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 10.djvu/472

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
GAB—GYZ

454 instance, the iron districts of Xassati, of the Sieg valley, and of Hesse, Thuringia, Lorraine, -‘»-.1var1a, and 1'1l‘teIl1l)CI‘g, Iron. Or-‘ Pr: lu- lion, 1843-1876. Quantities. Value. Tons 5-7 1548 l Lorraine , 694,000 191,000 1853 not 903,000 250,000 1957 3 1llL‘ll1lt‘.t1.| 1,902,000 533, 000 1357 I 3,-201.000 919.000 1372 5,890,000 -2.113.000 1873 6,177,000 '3.117,000 1874 5,137,000 1,430,000 1875 4,730,000 1,387,000 1876 4,712,000 1,181,000 Ores free of phosphorus, suit-able for the manufacture of Bessemer pig-iron, are also very scarce. The following table shows the number and production of furnaces in blast i11 1876 :— Government Districts. : F“"1';,::f:: m Pig 11011 1111100- Tons. Arnsberg ............................. .. 37 337,640 Diisseldorf...: ....................... .. 21 278.110 Oppr.-111 ................................ .. 32 223, 750 Coblentz .............................. .. ‘.27 212,470 Lorraine ............................. .. 18 193,450 Treves ............................... .. 10 103,080 llildesheiiu .......................... .. 4 55 , 750 Osnabriiek ...................... .. .. 4 4 5,200 Upper Palatinate ................. .. 10 31 ,060 Wiesbaden .......................... .. 1 4 26, 550 Cologne .......... .................. .. 3 25,130 Hesse (grand- luchy) ............ .. 5 18,150 'iirte1nberg ............ ... ......... .. 5 1 0,810 Saxe-lleiningen .... .. 1 13,840 Other districts .................... .. 34 39, 690 Total ................ .. 225 1,614 050 The iron manufacture has not been iii a thriving eo11di- tion since 1873 ; the total number of furnaces i11 Gern1a11y in 1876 was 435,—2:?-5 i11 blast as above, and 210 blown out. The following table shows the progress of pig-iron production, including castings :— | Quantities. Value Tons. £ 1 848 200.000 1,230,000 1862 about 640,000 2. 630,000 1867 990,000 3,600,000 1871 1,421,000 5.946,ooo 1873 1.983.000 11,238,900 1874 1,660,000 7,243,000 1875 1,759.000 6,632,900 1876 1,615,000 I 5,‘2:3'2,000 1 Since the incorporation of Lorraine with the German empire the pig-iro11 production of Germany exceeds that of France. The following table shows the comparative increase 111 those countries, as well as i11 Jrreat Britain and the United States :— Quantities of Pig-Iron. Tons. ' Tons Great Britain 1866 4,596,000 1876 6,660,000 United States ,, 1,‘.2'25,000 18.77 2,351,000 Germany ........ .. ,, 1,000,000 1876 1,615,000 France .......... .. ,, 1, 260,000 I 1877 1, 453,000 Iron Ind-u.slr_2/.—'l1ile the produce of pig-iron has thus been adva11cing, similar progress appears iii the iron in- dustry, in some branches of which Germany l1as already emancipated herself from dependence on England. During the last few years, it is true, this trade has suffered G E 11 M A N Y [1*.11.'131zA Ls. lseverely from the overproduction of 1872 and 1873, a..- may be seen from the following table, showing tl1e quantities and values of worked pig-iron in 18722 and 1876:—— 1s70. ' Articles. Value. I 157'). ' I Quantities. Value. ' Qlltlntill-.‘S. I I 1 Cwls. £ Cwts. l .6 “"°“3“t "°“§ 19,194,000 12,255,000 15,515,000 5,013,000 & rolled iron lron plate . . 2,348,000 2,007,000' 2_190,000' 1.09.1000 lron wire ...... .. 2,053,000 1,00.'.,000 2,050,000‘1,:::-2.000 Raw steel ....... .. 2,703,000 2,333,000 2,050,000 1,101.000 Custsteel ....... .. 3,542,000 2,840,000 4,877,000 2,4~.~.«m0 Tl1e greatest advance has been made in the production of steel. In 1863 the quantity was only 1,400,000 cwts., but 111 1872 it was about 6,500,000. The greater part of this is produced at the celebrated works of Krupp in Essen and the cast-steel works i11 Bochum. M-.n1y European states have for a considerable ti111e been supplied by Krupp with cast-steel guns. The production of rails not only covers the l1ome demand, b11t has allowed a11 a1111ual exportation of 3,000,000 cwts. since 1877. llardware also, the protlnctinn of which is centred in Solingen, lleilbronn, Esslingen, L'r., is largely exported. Ger1na11y sta11ds second to (treat Britain iii the manufacture of machines a11d engines. There are in 111a11y large cities of North Ger111a11y extensive establislnnents for this purpose, but the industry is 11ot limited to the large cities. It must be admitted that in agricultural machinery Germany cannot as yet com- pete with England. The locon1otives and waggons for tl1e German railways, however, are almost exclusively built i11 Germany; a11d Russia, as well as Austria, receives larcre 511 1 »lies of railway nlant from German works. In sliicpbuildilng likewise Gerlmany is beco111i11g indepc11de11t of England; a11d dockyards have been erected on the coast for the construction of large ironclads. Silver and Gul¢l.——Ger1na11y produces 1nore silver than any other European state, and the quantity is annually increasing. Silver and gold are extracted from tl1en1‘e>'- in the mines of Freiberg (Saxony) and 11ear the 1--larz; but silver is also refined fro111 lead a11d copper ores i11 l'ppt1 Silesia, Merseburg, Aix-la-Cliapelle, Wiesbaden, a11d Arn.~— berg. The gold-1ni11i11g is of far less importance. The value of silver produced was, in 1867, £791,370; 1873. £1,539,590; 1876, £1,098,474); and that of gold, 1867, £11,750; 1876, .£39,'23 t. Lc'cul.—The quantity of the lead produced allows Ger- many to export from 300,000 to 400,000 cwts. a111111ally. Nearly half the produce is obtained near Aix—la-Clrtpellc (651,:273 cwts. i11 1876); next come Upper Silesia (:265,000 cwts.), Harz (176,5.30 cwts.), Nassau (143,'770 cwts.), Saxony, Arnsberg, &e. The value in 1867 was only £898,140; but in 1876, £1,565,280; the q11a11tity was 987,090 cwts. in 1867, and 1,512,000 cwts. in 1876. Copper. Although Germany yields 111ore copper than any other European state, the native supply docs 11ot meet the demand. In recent years n1ore than 200,000 cwts. have been imported. The Harz mountains a11d their environs (Mausfeld) alone produce five—sixths of the whole an1ou_nt, which has been doubled during the tc11 years ending 1876 :—1867, 77,44;):64clw'ts.,0 value .£31:.’,750; 1876, 168,430 cwts., value . ,75 . Zinc.—About 90 per cent. of the zinc produced in Europe is yielded by Belgiuin and Germany. The exportation fro111 the latter amounts to 111ore than half a million of cuts. per a1111un1. The production doubled during the period from 1850 (620,000 cwts.) to 1860, but l1as n1ade only slow

progress since that time. I11 1867 it was only 1,277,000